After years of struggling with her body image issues, Queen Latifah has come to a place of acceptance regarding her curves. As she tells it, a chance encounter with a driver changed her perspective:
I was in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. I was at the airport and the limo driver told me about his 12-year-old daughter, who wanted to be a singer and had a beautiful voice. However, her classmates were teasing her about her body and telling her she was never going to make it.
She saw me perform on TV and I inspired her to sing again. She saw me and my appearance and my success and the great job I did. This was a 12-year-old kid whose dream had been halted by negative comments, but she saw me deliver a knock-out performance and it made her believe she could become successful too.
Well, Queen, it’s awesome that you’ve found a way to accept yourself. But it prompts me to ask: Why do you hawk weight-loss products?
Needless to say, most of the celeb news is about Michael Jackson today. But there are other things happening in the world that require coverage. Such as Perez Hilton getting shut down by the Matthew Shepard Foundation. It’s been a tough week for that dude.
Perez issued an apology for using a slur against homosexuals and vowed to donate all monies received from the lawsuit he’s filed against will.i.am’s manager to the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Despite his pledge, the foundation is rejecting his donation.
Here is the statement Judy Shepard, Matthew’s mother, as posted on the foundation’s website:
STATEMENT FROM MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION REGARDING PEREZHILTON.COM
The Matthew Shepard Foundation was surprised to learn this morning via media reports that blogger Perez Hilton (Mario Lavandeira) has announced he plans to donate, to our organization, the proceeds of a lawsuit he is contesting over an altercation which has been widely reported in recent days.
We had no advance notice or contact from Mr. Hilton or his representatives regarding this proposal, nor any communication since he posted this plan to his website.
We do not know the details of the lawsuit, whether it has been filed, the nature of his claims or the likely outcome. But because the lawsuit presumably involves the physical attack prompted by Mr. Hilton’s admitted use of an anti-gay slur, the Foundation will be unable to accept any funds obtained in such a manner.
We very much appreciate the generosity of the offer to support our continuing work to memorialize Matthew through activism in defense of sexual minorities and in favor of understanding, compassion, and acceptance. But because so much of our work involves education to reduce the use of hateful language against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, or those so perceived, it would be inappropriate for us to benefit financially from circumstances in which such a verbal attack was involved.
While we applaud Mr. Hilton’s apology to the LGBT community and their loved ones for his use of such a slur, we also feel compelled to point out that use of epithets can often lead to physical violence, as it appears it may have in this case, and that the Matthew Shepard Foundation has worked for more than 10 years to bring to people’s attention the consequences of hateful or inolerant language.
This CNN video is obviously from earlier in the evening, before Michael Jackson’s death was confirmed. Brian Oxman, family spokesperson, confirms that Michael had been abusing medications in epic proportions.
“As someone who served as Michael Jackson’s publicist during the 1st child molestation incident, I must confess I am not surprised by today’s tragic news.
Michael has been on an impossibly difficult and often self-destructive journey for years. His talent was unquestionable but so too was his discomfort with the norms of the world.
A human simply can not withstand this level of prolonged stress.”
Michael Levine, former publicist to Michael Jackson.
Jennifer Aniston on set filming The Bounty Hunter with Gerard Butler.
I was thinking of a caption something along the lines of, “I just realized Brad isn’t coming back to me.” Or even more appropriate, “I can’t believe Bradley Cooper dumped me after one date! All he could talk about was some gossip blogger fiancee named Wendie.”
Needless to say, I am refuting all “sticking their toes in the water” Jennifer Aniston/Bradley Cooper/budding romance stories. Trash. Lies. Blasphemy.
Michael Jackson has passed away at the age of 50, apparently from cardiac arrest.
Well, this seems surreal to report this to you, and I was hoping the media outlets had it wrong, but it is true. The King of Pop is dead at 50. When paramedics arrived at his home, he had no pulse and they were unable to revive him.
In a career that spanned four decades, Jackson was at times deeply loved and widely reviled. He had 13 number one hits as a solo artist.
I tried explaining the level of Michael Jackson’s fame, as it was in the 80′s, to my son and could not. There was not one current artist I could think of that could compare to what Michael was at the height of his fame.
He is survived by three children: Michael Joseph, Paris Michael Katherine and Prince “Blanket” Michael.
I’ve already read so many mixed messages in response to this news, but regardless, prayers sent out to the Jackson family. It’s a tragedy.
I would like to tell you that the term “retard” is very offensive to me. I am not offended because I ASSUME it would offend someone who has mental retardation. I am offened on how the word came to...
I am not offended that Rosie has a fear or anxiety of LP. I feel that when someone knows very little about things and or people they tend to be anxious. Think about it if you had never been around someone...
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