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Category: Celebrities
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Madonna and Guy Ritchie Split
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Paul Newman Made Sure His Charities Would Outlive Him
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Paul Newman dead, at 83
Actor Paul Newman died yesterday of cancer. He was 83.
Newman was known not only for his many films, but for his philanthropic and political activities.
Newman’s Own, which manufactures salad dressings, sauces and other foods, donates profits to charities. The organization reports having given away more than $250 million since 1982. Newman was a major benefactor of his alma mater, Kenyon College.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
Click to activate the interactive map (requires Java)MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.He was also a contributor to Democratic candidates such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and wrote occasionally for the liberal magazine, The Nation.
Newman won an Oscar for his role in the 1986 movie, “The Color of Money,” and received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to film.
He is survived by his wife, Joanne Woodward, who co-starred with him in “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” and the made-for-TV movie, “Empire Falls.”
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Stars battle proposition to bar same-sex marriage in California
Celebrities Steven Spielberg, Kate Capshaw and Brad Pitt are throwing their weight behind efforts to stop Proposition 8, the proposed amendment to again ban same-sex marriage in California.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
Click to activate the interactive map (requires Java)MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.California legalized same-sex marriages in May. Proposition 8 would reverse the California Supreme Court’s decision to allow same-sex marriages, allowing only marriage between a man and a woman.
Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, said in a statement, “By writing discrimination into our state constitution, Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate the right of each and every citizen in our state to marry regardless of sexual orientation. Such discrimination has NO place in California’s constitution, or any other.”
Spielberg and Capshaw donated $100,000 to the Vote No on 8, Equality for All campaign, matching Pitt’s contribution last week to the political organization Californians Against Eliminating Basic Rights.
Steven SpielbergIt’s not the first time Pitt has publicized his views on marriage. In an October 2006 interview, Pitt told Esquire that he and partner Angelina Jolie weren’t planning to marry until it was legal for everyone.
Many openly gay high-profile celebs have yet to donate such large amounts to the Vote No on 8 campaigns. IN magazine reports that Rosie O’Donnell, Elton John, and Melissa Etheridge have not yet contributed to the campaign.
Although Ellen DeGeneres wrote on her blog of her support for gay marriage, and therefore her choice to vote no on Proposition 8, she has yet to make a significant public contribution to the cause.
DeGeneres was one of the first high-profile celebrities to put the same-sex marriage law into practice when she married her longtime partner Portia de Rossi on August 16.
Other high-profile same-sex weddings in the last month include George Takai to Brad Altman, and Jonathan Adler to Simon Doonan.
Variety reports political groups supporting Proposition 8, which include Focus on the Family and Knights of Columbus, have raised $16.2 million, while “No on 8″ groups have only managed to collect $10.8 million.
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Shriver brings in stars for annual Women’s Conference
In her fifth year of organizing the annual Women’s Conference, California First Lady Maria Shriver has managed to pull in some big names. Tickets to the conference sold out in under three hours.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.Speakers at the 2008 conference, which begins on Oct. 21, include Jennifer Lopez, Barbara Walters, Bono, Condoleezza Rice, Lance Armstrong, Michael J. Fox, Heidi Klum and Warren Beatty.
Tickets for the two-day event at the Long Beach Convention Center went on sale yesterday. The price ranges from $125-185.
The Women’s Conference is a non-profit, non-partisan event that was founded in 1991 by then-governor of California, Pete Wilson.
This year’s event will include talks, book signings, forums and conversations between speakers, although the pairings have yet to be announced.
For the first time, Shriver has also organized a pre-conference event, Night at The Village, at which Shriver and Rachael Ray will speak and hold a book-signing.
Shriver says, “The Village is our answer to a call from women for more time to just be – whether it is to mingle casually, network for work, or shop around for items and experiences that will enrich their mind, body and soul.”
The Minerva Awards will also be presented at the conference and will feature a performance by Bonnie Raitt.
The Minerva Awards recognize women who have “recognized a problem or challenge, identified a solution, and pursued it with courage, perseverance and compassion.” Last year, Maria Shriver’s mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and Nancy Pelosi were among the winners.
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Christie Brinkley gets kids & Hamptons house; Cook gets $2.1 million
Christie Brinkley’s fourth divorce has finally reached a settlement.
After an all-night negotiation between their lawyers, Peter Cook and Christie Brinkley’s heated divorce trial came to an end yesterday morning.
Brinkley was awarded sole custody of her children, Jack, 13, and Sailor, 10. She was also given all 18 of the properties she shared with Cook in the Hamptons. Cook will be paid $2.1 million and will also get “parenting time” with the children.
Brinkley went into the trial with high-profile divorce lawyer Robert Stephen Cohen, who has also represented Ron Perelman. Elliot Mintz is Brinkley’s public relations representative; he also works with Paris Hilton.
The marriage ended in 2006, when Brinkley discovered that Cook was having an affair with Diana Bianchi, a teenager who worked as Cook’s personal assistant.
Cook admitted to paying Bianchi to remain quiet about their affair. Bianchi sued Cook in April, 2007, and settled out of court.
The Brinkley/Cook divorce trial was open to the public and continued to make headlines as more salacious details about the couple’s relationship were revealed.
Brinkley admitted to coloring her ex-husband’s face with magic marker in a wedding photo and said she would not have married Cook if she had known the details of his drug arrest when he was in his 20s.
Cook commented that Brinkley’s testimony was fabricated; telling People “Shrek was more believable.”
A court-appointed psychiatrist weighed in on the former couple, advising that both Brinkley and Cook were in need of therapy.