Natalie Portman: Swanky in Soho
Natalie Portman: Swanky in Soho
Every once in awhile, celebrities need a break from their whirlwind schedules and demanding careers. And Natalie Portman was spotted taking it easy in New York City yesterday.
Joined by her boyfriend Devendra Banhart, the “Garden State” hottie sported a swanky black dress with a pair of strappy silver flats as she made her way through Soho.
On the horizon for the “Other Boleyn Girl” star is a promotional campaign for a youth village in Rwanda financed by American Jewish donors.
The area, built by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, will be home for 500 children left behind by parents killed during the genocide in 1994.
Portman will film a public service announcement that will be aired on the Oprah Winfrey show in the near future.
Surprise! Oprah Most Powerful Celeb Again
Oprah Winfrey might want to savor the honor this time around.
Despite seeing viewership of The Oprah Winfrey Show dip by 7 percent this year and circulation of her namesake magazine falling by 10 percent, the queen of all media remains at the top of Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful celebrities for the second year in a row.
Winfrey retained the ranking based on her pretax income of $275 million over the past 12 months. That’s in addition to other factors, including Google hits, press clippings, TV/radio mentions and the number of times a celeb graces the cover of the tabs, the magazine stated on its website.
The 54-year-old talk-show host was certainly aided by plans for her to debut the Oprah Winfrey Network in partnership with Discovery Communications next year, along with a three-year $55 million deal she signed with XM Satellite Radio.
Grabbing the No. 2 spot was golf champion Tiger Woods, who earned $115 million both on and off the green.
Hollywood’s most glamorous and gossiped-about couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, came in third and 10th respectively. While she raked in only $14 million, Angie more than made up for it with a No. 1 Web ranking, thanks to the media’s obsession with the impending birth of their twins, her activism and her movies Beowulf and A Mighty Heart. Pitt, on the other hand, netted a bigger payday$20 millionbut was much lower in press mentions, helping him barely eke out the No. 10 spot.
Popster Beyoncé Knowles took fourth place, thanks to selling $50 million in ticket sales for her most recent tour as well as an ever-expanding business empire that includes fashion, film and publishing deals.
Soccer superstar David Beckham, now playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy, actor Johnny Depp, and Beyonce’s hubby, Jay-Z, nabbed fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Last year’s blockbuster reunion tour helped The Police to the eighth spot. The made $115 million after selling more than $200 million in tickets and playing to 4 million fans in stadiums and arenas around the world.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling conjured up ninth after publishing last July the final book in her vaunted fantasy series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which has since sold an astounding 44 million copies. In total, the Harry Potter books have sold over 375 million copies worldwide and made her a billionaire and Britain’s wealthiest woman, behind the Queen.
Just missing the top 10 were Hancock star Will Smith, singer Justin Timberlake and Indiana Jones director Steven Spielberg.
This year’s survey also featured 27 newcomers, including Daily Show host Jon Stewart, The Office’s Steve Carell and reality star Lauren Conrad.
Drew Barrymore’s Big Gift
Drew Barrymore’s Big Gift
Drew Barrymore was in the giving spirit on Monday, as the former ET star announced on the Oprah Winfrey Show that she is donating $1 million to the World Food Programme to help starving children in Africa.
“I have seen with my own eyes what a difference a simple cup of nutritious porridge can make in a child’s life,” Drew said as she held up the big check while standing next to Winfrey.
The 33-year-old actress added, “It helps them learn, stay healthy and sets them on track for a bright future.”
Of the World Food Programme’s goal with their latest endowment, Executive Director Josette Sheeransaid: “We have a dream … to feed another 10 million hungry school children in Africa by Thanksgiving Day.”
Star Slams Babs for Spilling Secrets
For Star Jones, Barbara Walters' tell-all revelations about Jones' rapid weight loss felt like a knife to the gut.
The erstwhile View cohost has hit back at her former mentor after Walters blabbed in her recently published memoir Audition, that the View crew was, at Jones behest, forced to lie about her having gastric bypass surgery.
"It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book," Jones tells Us Weekly. "It speaks to her true character."
Walters repeated the Jones assertions on The Oprah Winfrey Show Tuesday, during which she also acknowledged having a secret fling with then married Senator Edward Brooke in the 1970s.
Walters' rep declined to comment today on Jones' statement.
During her stint on the gabfest, Jones had maintained that she lost more than 160 pounds in 2003 thanks to Pilates and better eating habits.
Per Walters' memoir, Jones rejected a proposal by Walters to have 20/20 dedicate an entire episode to chronicling the bypass and Jones' recovery, saying she didn't want to be the "poster child" for the operation.
Jones revealed on air in 2006 that she was leaving The View much to the surprise of Walters, who later said she was caught off guard by the announcement.
It wasn't until the following year that Jones finally came clean about having the procedure.
It's been a rough few months for Jones. Her TruTV show was canceled in February, and last month she filed for divorce from hubby Al Reynolds, whom she married in a televised, star-studded, corporate-sponsored 2004 wedding in New York City.