People: Cynthia Nixon joins the humanitarian race
“Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon is joining the nationwide war on breast cancer by going public with her own battle.
Nixon, who’s reprising her role as Miranda in the upcoming movie version of the hit HBO series, had a lumpectomy two years ago and underwent six and a half weeks of radiation.
She also helped her mother battle breast cancer.
“As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, knowing my personal risk made me more aware and more empowered when I faced my own diagnosis,” the 42-year-old actress says.
“I want to help Susan G. Komen for the Cure educate the 1.1 million women around the globe who face a diagnosis each year.”
The Dallas-based Komen foundation is known for its Race for the Cure events.
Nixon will serve as an ambassador for the organization and will share her cancer experiences in a series of Web videos.
She told “Good Morning America” that she didn’t want to make her cancer treatment public while she was going through it, explaining: “I didn’t want paparazzi at the hospital.”
In the right place
Barbra Streisand has donated $5 million to endow a research program on women’s heart disease at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
It will test new drugs for women, try to identify the role of gender in heart disease and work on other ways of reducing risks.
On-air to the throne?
Look for a pair of familiar female political faces on daytime TV next week.
Cindy McCain, the wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is joining the ladies of “The View” on Monday as co-host for a day. Her husband has appeared on the ABC talkfest four times.
And First Lady Laura Bush will be a guest host on NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday, the morning of the Pennsylvania primary.
That’s … not that hot
Paris Hilton‘s mom, Kathy, will play herself on the May 13 episode of the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless.”
In the episode, taped Wednesday, Hilton finds a magazine cover model for her friend Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) but takes over the photo shoot, infuriating magazine staffers.
Pulling wool over their eyes?
A booking company for Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days rodeo has sued an animal rights group following a decision by the rock band Matchbox Twenty to pull out of a performance.
The lawsuit contends that Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) used “false and misleading information” to persuade entertainers to cancel their performances.
Singer Rob Thomas says the band didn’t want to be “making money from what we believe to be the mistreatment of animals.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Barbara Hale (“Perry Mason”) is 87. Actress Hayley Mills is 62. Actor James Woods is 61. Actor Rick Moranis is 55. Actor Eric Roberts is 52. Actress Jane Leeves (“Fraiser”) is 47. Talk show host Conan O’Brien is 45. Actor Eric McCormack (“Will and Grace”) is 45. Actress Maria Bello is 41. Actress Melissa Joan Hart (“Sabrina the Teenage Witch”) is 32. Actress America Ferrera (“Ugly Betty”) is 24.