Posts Tagged ‘stars who care’

Stars Who Care — Jaslene Gonzalez

November 6th, 2007 / Author: OK! Staff

It takes a strong woman to stand up for herself and realize that being in an abusive relationship is not worth it. For America’s Next Top Model winner Jaslene Gonzalez, it was definitely one of the harder things she has had to do in her life.

“The abuse is in control,” she tells OK! “It was all about trying to figure out how much do I love myself and how much do I want in life.” Because of her will, Jaslene got out of her four-year relationship. “He saw I was really trying to change my life,” she explains why the abuse started. “He became more protective and jealous.”

Now Jaslene is joining forces with Liz Claiborne and their Love Is Not Abuse campaign to spread the word. “Abusers are usually the weakest man who use our power and strength so they can gain control and power,” says this Chicago native. “Recognizing your strength and beauty help you come out of something so horrible.”

And how did Jaslene learn about this great organization that aids many in abusive relationships? “I didn’t know about it until I did my photo shoot with Seventeen,” the spokesperson adds. “They asked me if I wanted to wear a Claiborne shirt that said, ‘Love is Not Abuse,’ and that’s when I became involved.”

Abuse doesn’t discriminate and thanks to Jaslene and Liz Claiborne, they are showing women and men alike to stand up for themselves and keep their power theirs.

By Alisandra Puliti

Stars Who Care — Shelley Morrison

October 26th, 2007 / Author: cwillett

For someone whose laugh was so infectious every week on Will & Grace, it is amazing to realize that Shelley Morrison has battled breast cancer thrice over. She is a survivor in every sense, and in her spare time, she is getting the word out there and attending as many charity events as possible. She tells OK!, “Now, I’ve got it down to two a month because I’m going to be 71.”

Growing up in the Bronx during the World War II, Shelley was introduced to philanthropy at an early age. “My mother would pick me up from school, and we would go to the Red Cross headquarters and put on these little white gloves and fold bandages for the soldiers overseas,” this do-gooder says. “They introduced me at a very young age to volunteerism and that empowered me.”

Ever since then, she was a woman with a mission. With the support of her husband of 34 years, Walter Dominguez, and friends, Shelley was able to get through her own battles. “That kind of support, we need each other and we need to talk and we need to express our feelings,” she explains. “It wasn’t until this year that I got ticked off ‘cuz I missed my boobs!” One of her biggest supporters was co-star Megan Mullally. “She is an angel,” the former maid to Megan’s character mentions. “She took very good care of me and made sure I wasn’t tired or if my tubes were leaking she would rush me to my dressing room and help me pat it down.”

One of Shelley’s causes near and dear to her is Bosom Buddies. Started by her oncologist, it is an organization that helps women who are going through this to ease their fears. “I don’t wake up in the morning and think that I’m a cancer survivor; I wake up in the morning and I say, ‘Okay, I’m going to ease into the day,” this comedian says. Since her first bout with breast cancer, a lot of gains have been made in terms of locating the areas without doing massive surgeries.

“Every day there are breakthroughs,” Shelley adds. “But when you stop and think that we spend two billion dollars a week on the war in Iraq and cancer kills over 500,000 people a year (this is all cancers), and they have been begging the government for five billion dollars which would be two and a half weeks of the war in Iraq for cutting-edge research.” While this is a great point, Shelley continues, “The Susan G. Komen Foundation, all the foundations, are trying to get insurance to cover mammograms for women who are younger to catch it in the early stages.”

Another charity that Shelley invests her time in is Anamali that is the only animal adoption and shelter in Leon, Mexico. “A friend of ours runs it, and we try to raise funds to help him by doing virtual adoptions,” this animal lover says. “I also work with Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.”

We may only see ‘Rosario’ on reruns of Will & Grace, but Shelley is out there more than ever. She proves age is just a number that giving never ceases.

By: Alisandra Puliti

Stars Who Care: Cindy Crawford

October 9th, 2007

For Cindy Crawford, a day of beauty and pampering could be just another day in her glamorous life. But the Mom’s Day of Beauty event dedicated to pampering the mothers of ill children from Childrens Hospital Los Angeles was not just any other day for the supermodel mother of two. Cindy was on hand recently to help P3 Beauty and Forbeslife Executive Women give the tireless Childrens Hospital Los Angeles mothers a little R&R.

As the mothers arrived at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel’s peaceful penthouse suite, beauty volunteers including Cindy were there to welcome them with relaxing treatments, beauty goodies and camaraderie.

“I lost a brother to leukemia when we were young so being involved in children’s hospitals has always been important to me. If, God forbid, something ever happened to my children, Childrens Hospital is absolutely where I would take them,” Cindy tells OK!

The nonprofit Childrens Hospital Los Angeles admits more than 11,000 sick children from various social and financial backgrounds each year — 50% of whom are under the age of four. It is not only recognized as the preeminent children’s hospital in the country but in the entire world. “I want to do anything I can to help this facility,” Cindy says. In addition to her support for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Cindy generously donated her Meaningful Beauty skincare line to each of the mothers at the event. “I’m happy to give what I can give, but no beauty product comes remotely close to the real work people at Childrens Hospital do every day,” she mentions.

Though she acknowledges that the diagnoses the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles patients and their families face are devastating, she finds hope in the effort to bring attention to the hospital’s mission. “This is what I can do today,” this beauty adds. “We can all do a little something each day just by being aware.”

For more information, please click here

 


By Katie Christopher

Stars Who Care: Melissa Etheridge

October 8th, 2007

Knowledge is power. And as breast cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge knows, it’s never too early for women to start learning about themselves. “It’s important to know yourself and your body,” Melissa tells OK! “But unfortunately, our society and educational system and whole Western way of living does not support the female experience. ??

 

“We are so much more than pretty things that go to work,” adds the Awakening singer, who was diagnosed in 2004. “The best thing you can do as a healthy girl is to understand what health is and that it is balanced. Don’t worry about how thin you are—it’s acidic behavior and it’s toxic. It’s a bad road to go down and you will kill yourself.”

With the support of her love, Tammy Lynn Michaels, Melissa not only won her battle but has dedicated herself to promoting awareness through events such as Hard Rock’s Rocktober series, a live-music driven campaign to help educate and inspire during Breast Cancer Awareness month. “I remember three years ago, all the cards and fan letters came, and three people said cancer,” she says. “People don’t like to say cancer.”

Despite the fear associated with breast cancer, Melissa, 46, knows that facing the disease is the first step toward fighting it—even though the road to recovery can be painful. “The chemotherapy is barbaric and it’s horrible,” Melissa told OK! at the Rocktober kickoff event in New York’s Times Square. “It takes you as close to death and it brings you back and it takes you back again. It’s insanity, but I knew I would come out of it.” ?

To support The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Melissa is auctioning a signed guitar and front-row ticket package, including a backstage meet & greet, for her Summer 2008 tour. The auction ends Oct. 25, 2007.

By Alisandra Puliti

Stars Who Care: Nikki Sixx

September 25th, 2007

As bassist for platinum-selling rock band Motley Crue, Nikki Sixx has certainly led the rock star life. But growing up, it wasn’t all adoring fans and groupies.

Abandoned by his father at the age of three, Nikki was a runaway at 13. “I was basically a house built on an unsturdy foundation,” he reveals to OK!. But he was able to perservere in the face of adversity and addiction and now Nikki, who has been sober for years, takes great pride in Running Wild in the Night, a fundraising initiative for the Covenant House California that helps keep runaways and homeless teens off the street.

“It’s a wonderful organization,” Nikki explains to OK!. “Their outreach program alone is groundbreaking, but once they get the kids into the organization, what they do to get them on level ground, get them education, get them healthcare, get them therapy and eventually back into the system is just phenomenal to me.”

Given Nikki’s high profile in the music industry, he’s been indispensable in creating a music program inside Covenant House. “Part of the hope is that the music program will give one incentive to stay,” he explains.

Wanting to share his words of encouragement and survival without sounding like a lecture, Nikki recently penned the book Heroin Diaries and a soundtrack to coincide that takes a very personal look at his downward spiral in 1986. “There’s something in the book, in the brutal honesty, in the blood and guts and gore of addiction and also in the story of recovery that I think gives hope and faith.”

 

Twenty- five percent of the proceeds from sales of the book will go to Running Wild in the Night. Both Heroin Diaries and the Heroin Diaries Soundtrack are available in stores now.

By Alisandra Puliti

Stars Who Care: Alek Wek

September 11th, 2007

Few can say they escaped the current atrocities in Sudan, but supermodel Alek Wek, who fled the war-torn African nation with her family in 1991, has a rare story of inspiration and survival. And now the gorgeous gal is putting her celebrity to good use, shining light on this poverty stricken country.

“There are many regions, which don’t have safe drinking water readily available, affecting more than half of the population,” Alek told OK! during brunch at the Mercedes Benz Star Lounge. “Many people have to walk sometimes an hour each way.”

Three years ago, Alek returned to Sudan with Doctors Without Borders and witnessed firsthand how the littlest bit of nutrients brought these malnourished children back to life within a matter of days.

“Organizations like UNICEF have done a great job of helping to remedy water and environmental sanitation crises and health and nutrition concerns, but there is still so much more work to be done,” she says.

In fact, she even started her own non-profit organization called W.E.K. (Working to Educate Kids), which provides educational tools and resources to underprivileged children of Sudan as well as inner city schools in New York City.

“When I last visited Sudan, children begged for such basic things as books and pens, things that we often taken for granted,” the author of Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel explains. “My father was a teacher, so the importance of education has long been in my blood.” To learn more about her struggles and triumphs, pick up her book.

By Alisandra Puliti

Stars Who Care: Sophia Bush

August 29th, 2007
Saying that celebrities love the beach is like saying fish like the ocean. It’s kind of a no-brainer. That being said, only a handful of celebs ever take to the sand and surf for more than the occasional rest and relaxation. Not Sophia Bush, who hit the beaches of North Carolina recently with the folks from Barefoot Wine and the Surfrider Foundation to keep America’s shoreline “barefoot-friendly.”

As Barefoot and Surfrider’s around-the-country tour made its way into Wrightsville, N.C. in August, One Tree Hill’s Sophia was there with a crew of other volunteers to "heel" its beach. The gorgeous actress, who lives nearby while filming her hit TV show, chatted with OK! about her involvement in the event.

“I grew up in Los Angeles, so keeping beaches clean has always been important to me,” the actress says. “The ocean helps sustain the planet, and we should respect that.”

Each year, 18,000 beaches are closed or posted as unhealthy and The Barefoot Wine Rescue Beach Project is seeing to it that this trend doesn’t continue. Sophia adds, “Caring for the environment isn’t a hobby, it’s a responsibility everyone should take seriously.”

As for when she’s on land and not splashing in the waves, Sophia still tries to stay eco-friendly. “I drive a hybrid car, carpool whenever possible," she explains to OK!. "I use energy efficient light bulbs, and take reusable bags to the grocery store.” Whether it’s picking up garbage on the beach or turning off the lights at home, every bit counts.

For more information, please visit http://www.barefootwine.com/beachrescue/home.html
or
http://www.surfrider.org/

By Alisandra Puliti

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