Jolie, Pitt give $1 million gifts to humanitarian groups

WASHINGTON (AP) – Movie stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are giving gifts of $1 million each to two humanitarian organizations, an adviser to the couple said Wednesday.

The recipients are Global Action for Children and Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.

“In the most troubled parts of the world – places that much of the world has abandoned – MSF is always there,” said Jolie in a statement issued by Trevor Neilson, the couple’s philanthropic and political adviser. “I have seen these brave men and women working in war zones and horrific conditions and I deeply admire them.”

Jolie is a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

Jennifer Delaney, U.S. director for Global Action for Children, expressed her thanks for the gift from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

“Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt not only care, but more important, are taking concrete action to address the fact that there will be 20 million children orphaned by AIDS by 2010, and millions more orphaned by tuberculosis, malaria and conflict or whose parents are sick and dying,” she said.

Delaney said the vast majority of these children are being cared by extended families and communities that need support to overcome the ravages of HIV/AIDS and poverty.



Cameron Diaz tells police that photographer tried to run her over with his car

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Cameron Diaz filed a police report Wednesday accusing a photographer of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly driving his car at her, police said.

Diaz and her boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, were leaving a friend’s home in Hollywood just after midnight Wednesday when a photographer who had been hiding in the bushes jumped out and tried to snap a picture of the pair, said police Officer April Harding.

The couple chased the photographer “a short distance,” she said.

“The photographer got into his car and drove toward Diaz and Timberlake, causing Diaz to jump out of the car’s way,” Harding said.

No one was immediately arrested and no suspects have been identified.

“The investigation is in its initial stages,” Harding said.

A law that took effect this year holds photographers who engage in criminal behavior to get a picture liable for three times the damages they cause, plus loss of any profits the published photo might generate.



Czech model Petra Nemcova says she struggled to stay thin in order to keep her career going

NEW YORK (AP) – Petra Nemcova knows what it’s like to struggle to stay thin and continue modeling.

“I’m naturally more curvy, so I always had to lose weight,” the 27-year-old Czech supermodel says in People magazine’s Oct. 2 issue, on newsstands Friday. “I took laxatives. I went through all of it just to be able to model.”

Nemcova would not have faced that problem at this year’s Madrid Fashion Week, where models deemed too skinny were banned from the runways.

The Association of Fashion Designers of Spain said it wanted models to project “an image of beauty and health” and shun a gaunt, emaciated look.

Nemcova appeared on the cover of the 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She has appeared in magazines including Vogue and Marie Claire, and has modeled for Victoria’s Secret.

She was vacationing in Thailand with her boyfriend Simon Atlee in December 2004 when waves from a deadly tsunami swept through their beach hut. Atlee, a 33-year-old British fashion photographer, was killed. Nemcova suffered a broken pelvis.

Nemcova recounted her story in an autobiography, “Love Always, Petra,” co-authored with Jane Scovell.

DENVER (AP) – Tom Green, who allowed cameras to document his surgery for testicular cancer, plans to film an operation on his broken leg for his online talk show, “Tom Green Live.”

“It worked with my cancer special so why not try it with my broken leg,” Green told The Associated Press.

The 35-year-old comic actor said he was doing skateboarding tricks last week in a parking lot when he suffered what he thought was a sprain. X-rays turned up a break after Green walked on the injured left leg for a week.

Surgery was scheduled for Thursday.

“I’m doing this thing for my television show on the Internet where I was going to learn a new skateboarding trick every day. I was just doing some massive ollies,” Green said Tuesday, referring to a simple skateboarding trick.

Footage of his operation will be shown on Denver-based ManiaTV.com and Green’s Web site, which both broadcast “Tom Green Live” and have the footage of Green breaking his leg.

Green figures the injury, which came a few months after he broke two ribs during a fishing accident in Costa Rica, will keep him at home more. Since his show broadcasts from a studio in his living room in the Hollywood Hills, it could mean more spontaneous broadcasts at all hours, he said.

In the meantime, he is spending more time at the computer.

“I’ve been telling myself I’m going to be more careful. What I was trying to do wasn’t all that dangerous, just a massive ollie. I’m just kicking myself,” Green said.

Green was diagnosed with testicular cancer in March 2000.

He was the host of “The Tom Green Show” and “The New Tom Green Show” on MTV. His acting credits include roles in “Stealing Harvard,” “Freddy Got Fingered” and “Road Trip.”

Green was briefly married to Drew Barrymore.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Amy Grant was joined by husband Vince Gill, friends and fans as she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“I see all my family, co-workers and friends and I have to say nothing happens alone,” the 45-year-old singer told the crowd Tuesday.

“Life is like a massive vessel. And you don’t really know where you’re going but the boat doesn’t get there alone. … It’s been an exciting ride.”

Grant was a teenage floor sweeper at a music studio when an executive overheard a tape of her songs. She recorded her first album in 1977.

Her latest album, “Time Again … Amy Grant Live,” will be released next week.