Theron takes U.N. role to heart
Some celebs join social causes just to augment their careers. Charlize Theron has other motives as well.
The 33-year-old South African native is the newest United Nations Messenger of Peace, turning her Academy Award-winning fame to ending violence against women and girls around the globe.
After being inducted on Monday into her new role by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Theron told reporters that she was taking on her new responsibilities “very humbly, with a very excited heart.”
No wonder. At age 15, Theron witnessed her mother shoot her alcoholic father to death while he was threatening the family. She won her Best Actress Oscar in 2004 for her portrayal of a domestic violence victim turned serial killer in “Monster.”
Theron also was nominated for an Oscar for playing a character in 2005’s “North Country,” which deals with domestic abuse and sexual harassment.
“This is something that has been very dear to me, and disturbing to me for a long time,” Theron said.
Scandals make the big news
ABC News hopes to boost network ratings by sitting Ashley Dupre, the hooker who brought down New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, down for her first interview with Diane Sawyer. Look for the journalistic breakthrough to air on “20/20,” the New York Post reports.
Now they made Wanda mad
The passage of a same-sex marriage ban in California has enraged comic Wanda Sykes.
“Everybody that knows me personally, they know I’m gay, Sykes said. “But that’s the way people should be able to live their lives.”
Sykes said the passage of California’s Proposition 8 made her feel like she was “attacked.” “Now, I gotta get in their face,” she said. “I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”
One reason to love the French
Lindsay Lohan was pelted with a flour bomb on Saturday when she arrived at a Paris nightclub wearing a fur stole. Animal rights activists showered the 22-year-old actress with flour when she went to the VIP Room Theater in the early hours of Saturday with her friend, disc jockey Samantha Ronson.
Quantum of box-office grosses
Bond is money, indeed. “Quantum of Solace,” the second James Bond film to star Daniel Craig, debuted as the movie box-office champion for the weekend of Nov. 14-16, breaking in the process previous U.S. opening-weekend records for Bond flicks.
“Quantum” made and estimated $70.4 million, surpassing Craig’s 2006 debut “Casino Royale” by more than $30 million. It also buried the previous Bond champion, 2002’s Pierce Brosnan vehicle “Die Another Day.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Brenda Vaccaro is 69. Actress Linda Evans is 66. Actor Jameson Parker (“Simon & Simon”) is 61. Singer Graham Parker is 58. Comedian Kevin Nealon is 55. Singer Kim Wilde is 48. Actress Elizabeth Perkins is 48. Guitarist Kirk Hammett of Metallica is 46. Actor Owen Wilson is 40. Actress Peta Wilson (“La Femme Nikita”) is 38. Actress Chloe Sevigny is 34.