People: DiCaprio gala raises $40 million for planet
Leonardo DiCaprio raised over $40 million to help save the planet at an auction in Saint-Tropez, France, on Wednesday night.
The second annual Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation fundraising gala included a live auction with donated jewelry and artwork from the actor’s personal collection, his publicist, Shawn Sachs, said Thursday.
Naomi Campbell, Orlando Bloom and Kate Hudson attended the event, which included performances by Elton John and John Legend.
Other items in the auction included an estate on DiCaprio’s private Belize island, Blackadore Caye, and a special travel package donated by Prince Albert II of Monaco.
DiCaprio, whose films include “Titanic” and “The Wolf of Wall Street,” started the environmental foundation in 1998 to help preserve the environment and habitats of wild animals.
The money funds grants, public campaigns and media initiatives supported by the foundation.
DiCaprio, 40, serves on the board of several environmental organizations. He said he hopes to work with governments to protect critically endangered species and “conserve the jungles, coral reefs, and forest they call home.”
Accusations fly over Cosby deposition
Bill Cosby’s lawyers on Thursday asked a judge to hold an accuser’s attorney responsible for the release of the comedian’s deposition in a 2005 Pennsylvania case.
They fault Andrea Constand’s lawyers for the weekend release of the transcript to news outlets including the New York Times and the Associated Press. They asked a judge to enforce undisclosed terms of the confidential agreement that settled the former Temple University employee’s sexual-assault lawsuit.
Constand’s lawyer, Dolores Troiani, did not immediately return messages Thursday.
A court reporting service she hired to take Cosby’s deposition said this week that it thought a recent unsealing order included the deposition. A federal judge had unsealed other motions in the case, but the deposition has never been filed in court.
Troiani has likewise accused Cosby’s legal team of violating the confidentiality clause through media comments and denials over the years. Cosby’s lawyers, including Temple University board President Patrick O’Connor, have said the denials referred to other accusers, not Constand.
Cosby said in the deposition that he engaged in consensual activities with Constand after giving her three Benadryl pills for stress.
Constand said that she was drugged, rendered semiconscious and then sexually assaulted.
The depositions are the only time Cosby is known to have responded under oath to claims by more than two dozen women that he drugged them, molested them or made unwanted sexual advances.
The birthday bunch
Actor John Aniston is 82. Comedian Ruth Buzzi is 79. Comedian Gallagher is 69. Actress Lynda Carter is 64. Actress-singer Kristin Chenoweth is 47. Actress-singer Jennifer Lopez is 46. Actress Elisabeth Moss is 33. Actress Anna Paquin is 33. Actress Mara Wilson is 28. TV personality Bindi Irwin is 17.