People: True beauty is not a contest
Ugly is the new beautiful.
That’s the message of a new public service campaign, “Be Ugly ‘07,” announced Thursday by ABC off its hit comedy “Ugly Betty.”
The purpose – aside from drumming up new viewers – is to promote a positive message for young women: “Be real, be smart, be passionate, be true to yourself and be ugly.”
“Ugly Betty” stars America Ferrera as a plain-looking but good-hearted gofer at a high-fashion magazine.
Joyce Roche, president of the nonprofit Girls Inc., says the campaign “allows us to counter the messages girls get that they’ve got to be perfect, be a certain size, look a certain way.”
Singer/songwriter Jason Mraz has composed an original song, “The Beauty in Ugly,” which will be heard at BeUgly07.com when the campaign officially kicks off Dec. 30.
Hundreds of Betty look-alikes will distribute “Ugly Betty” masks in Times Square and Walt Disney World in Orlando on New Year’s Eve, and at the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.
Speaking of ugly …
Donald Trump‘s decision to let Miss USA Tara Conner keep her crown despite underage drinking has led to a nasty war of words with Rosie O’Donnell.
On “The View” on Wednesday, co-host O’Donnell said of Trump: “Left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times, but he’s the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America.”
Trump fired back that night on “The Insider”: “Rosie O’Donnell is disgusting, I mean both inside and out. Take a look at her, she’s a slob. She talks like a truck driver.”
And on the “Good Day L.A.” radio show Thursday morning, he said of the openly lesbian O’Donnell: “I think she’s very attracted to Miss USA so she probably wanted to put the crown on her head herself.”
On Thursday’s “View,” O’Donnell noted that partner Kelli was in the audience, adding: “I was afraid to leave her home in case somebody with a comb-over came and stole her from me.”
Double-daddy Diddy
Hip-hop impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs and girlfriend Kim Porter became the parents of twin girls Thursday morning.
D’Lila Star weighed in at 5 pounds, followed by Jessie James at 5 pounds, 4 ounces.
Combs flew in from filming “Raisin in the Sun” in Toronto and made it “just in the nick of time for the delivery,” his spokesman said.
Island of lost souls?
“Lost” star Evangeline Lilly‘s rented home on Oahu was destroyed by fire Wednesday in what some see as the latest evidence of a cast curse at the ABC show, which films in Hawaii.
In October 2005, Josh Holloway and his wife were tied up and robbed in their Hawaiian home by a masked gunman.
And former players Michelle Rodriguez (DUI), Cynthia Watros (ditto, on the same day) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (driving without a license) all ran afoul of authorities.
The birthday bunch
Actor Hector Elizondo is 70. TV anchor Diane Sawyer is 61. Singer Robin Gibb (The Bee Gees) is 57. Rapper Luther Campbell is 46. Actor Ralph Fiennes is 44. Actress Lauralee Bell (“The Young and the Restless”) is 38. Actress Heather Donahue (“The Blair Witch Project”) is 32. Actor Chris Carmack (“The O.C.”) is 26.