Who, What, When, Where?!: Miscellaneous Celebrity News 2.0

[merylinkid]

17 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

It's lasted almost 4 years

I'm flabbergasted at this.   It's been THAT long.   

[Sweet Tee]

Quote

 It's possible to prefer your husband's name, without any icky ownership implications.

That's me.  I love my dad.  I just think my maiden name is ugly, lol.  I've never liked it.  I think my husband's last name is nice so I was more than happy to take it and give it to our kid.  I don't think of it as belonging to my husband.  I chose to take his last name.  He didn't demand it.

[bluegirl147]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/former-child-star-ricky-schroder-074342594.html

He was such a cute kid and grew up to be this. I don't think I would even want to watch an episode of Silver Spoons now.

[SnapHappy]

4 hours ago, chrisrose said:

So does keeping your father's last name mean you "belong" to him? ;)

No, but his blood does run through my veins.  As does mine in my children, making my family name as valid as that of their father. 

Agreed, it's a very complicated decision.  One of my brothers shares my mother's first name, his choice.  And my father, strangely for the 60's, said he didn't care if we took his last name or my mother's maiden name.  Whichever she preferred.  She went traditional, so we do have his last name. 

There are so many variations that can be used, it's all personal choice.  

And in all fairness, Hailey & Justin profess to be very devout Christians, so she could be using his name as biblically based, as easily as for professional reasons. 

And we assign all sorts of motives and reasons for the behaviors of "famous" people we don't actually know.  We do it here every day.  It's pretty meaningless, though amusing.  

Edited March 7, 2022 by SnapHappy

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, bluegirl147 said:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/former-child-star-ricky-schroder-074342594.html

He was such a cute kid and grew up to be this. I don't think I would even want to watch an episode of Silver Spoons now.

Believe it or not, the incidents of the last few years have also gotten me to feel sorry for Dolly Parton who'd cast Mr. Shroder to play her father in those TV movies somewhat based on her childhood! 

[SnapHappy]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

Believe it or not, the incidents of the last few years have also gotten me to feel sorry for Dolly Parton who'd cast Mr. Shroder to play her father in those TV movies somewhat based on her childhood! 

But you know she would defend his right to say whatever he believed, and would never say anything at all negative about him!  

I believe she truly is one of the most generous and accepting people on this earth.  I've never met her, but she's one of the very few celebs I'd actually like to know.  

Edited March 7, 2022 by SnapHappy

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/former-child-star-ricky-schroder-074342594.html

He was such a cute kid and grew up to be this. I don't think I would even want to watch an episode of Silver Spoons now.

He is so pathetic, but at least it provides the entertainment of seeing others read him for filth, like Kwanza Osajyefo:

I also got a kick out of the "Newsflash, has-been ..." response in one of the tweets quoted in that article.

[Annber03]

5 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/former-child-star-ricky-schroder-074342594.html

He was such a cute kid and grew up to be this. I don't think I would even want to watch an episode of Silver Spoons now.

The Nazi comparison doesn't surprise me, sadly, but this...

Quote

telling them they should only enforce “God’s law.”

...hoo boy. Yeah, 'cause nothing says "Christian" like harassing people who are trying to do their jobs and proclaiming you know God better than they do. 

Also, Ricky? Go turn on the news,  watch what's going on in Ukraine and Russia right now, to see what actually having to fight for and risk losing one's freedom looks like, and sit down. 

What a self-absorbed idiot. 

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

There are so many variations that can be used, it's all personal choice.  

And in all fairness, Hailey & Justin profess to be very devout Christians, so she could be using his name as biblically based, as easily as for professional reasons. 

And we assign all sorts of motives and reasons for the behaviors of "famous" people we don't actually know.  We do it here every day.  It's pretty meaningless, though amusing.  

I think, for famous folks, unlike us commoners, there is also "brand recognition" if you will. Jennifer Lopez has been married but, at least professionally, kept Lopez because she's J-Lo and wouldn't be J-Lo if she changed it to Judd. J-Judd just doesn't have the same ring. lol Though I think J-Rod (when she was Mrs. A-Rod) would have worked. 

I think Hailey Baldwin wasn't exactly a household name (and her father isn't exactly "beloved" so it's not like the name has a huge positive impact) so changing it to Bieber probably wouldn't negatively impact her. It might positively but is Bieber even still a thing? Like, it's not like she married someone from the MCU so I doubt the name change really mattered once the marriage buzz died down. 

I probably wouldn't change my name just because I'm lazy and don't want to be bothered with all the name change paperwork lol. 

[Annber03]

My dad always liked to joke that the main reason my mom married him was so she could change her last name :p. Her maiden name is a really long one that a lot of people have a hard time spelling or pronouncing (when she took the Iowa Basic Skills Test, she couldn't fit her full name onto the sheet). 

[BlackberryJam]

6 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

My dad always liked to joke that the main reason my mom married him was so she could change her last name :p. Her maiden name is a really long one that a lot of people have a hard time spelling or pronouncing (when she took the Iowa Basic Skills Test, she couldn't fit her full name onto the sheet). 

My name doesn't fit on the test either, which I found SUPER annoying as a child and was kind of a bitch about it. Like 11 year old me raising my hand and saying, "Since the testing form doesn't allow for my actual name, will my results make it into my permanent record?"

I didn't take my exhusband's last name because well, why? His last name is kind of ugh, whereas my full name, though it be long, has lovely rhythm when spoken aloud. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Ok all, let's bring it back to talking about celebrities, please.

Thank you!

[Prairie Rose]

9 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/former-child-star-ricky-schroder-074342594.html

He was such a cute kid and grew up to be this. I don't think I would even want to watch an episode of Silver Spoons now.

This past fall, GAC Family aired the reruns. It was the first time I had really watched them since I was a kid. Surprisingly, they held up pretty well, but I give as much of if not more credit to the supporting cast - Joel Higgins, Erin Gray, Alfonso Ribeiro, John Houseman. 

As much fun as the show was to watch, the star's antics these past few years have tainted it. Mr. Schroder is nothing more an insufferable, entitled bully - and I'll leave it right there. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

On 3/6/2022 at 2:19 PM, SnapHappy said:

she's dropped the Baldwin name professionally.

As would any sane person at this point.

[merylinkid]

11 hours ago, Prairie Rose said:

As much fun as the show was to watch, the star's antics these past few years have tainted it. Mr. Schroder is nothing more an insufferable, entitled bully

Yeah.   At first when he was doing made for tv movies as an adult and then was on NYPD, I was all "well he made the transition to adult actor quite well."   I mean there was no stories about him doing drugs, or driving drunk or beating people up.   No stories of multiple marriages that lasted 10 minutes.   he seemed to be a decent solid guy making a living as an actor.

But whoo boy these last few years - right off the freaking deep end.   

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

As would any sane person at this point.

But is courting, dating, marrying and staying married to Mr. Bieber the hallmark of the most sane possible choices she could have made -even factoring in however 'in love' she's wanted to tell herself she was?

[proserpina65]

On 3/4/2022 at 1:06 PM, Ohiopirate02 said:

I would chalk this up to Kim being unlikeable, problematic, fill-in-the-blank adjective

I mean, I think the Kardashians are all untalented trash, but nobody deserves the kind of harassment she's getting now.  Kanye is getting more unhinged by the day.

On 3/6/2022 at 9:34 PM, Dani said:

My personal feeling on the subject is aligned with yours but I would still be inclined to change by last name because I don’t particularly like my last name. 

I always thought I might change mine if it got me closer to the beginning of the alphabet.  Unless it was something really heinous, of course.

[Rootbeer]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

But is courting, dating, marrying and staying married to Mr. Bieber the hallmark of the most sane possible choices she could have made -even factoring in however 'in love' she's wanted to tell herself she was?

These days, Bieber seems to have toned it down considerably and hasn't been a big presence on the party scene or behaving erratically for several years now.  Maybe it was her influence, but, maybe she decided to take a chance because he had changed his ways?

Edited March 8, 2022 by Rootbeer

[KittyMom4]

4 hours ago, merylinkid said:

Yeah.   At first when he was doing made for tv movies as an adult and then was on NYPD, I was all "well he made the transition to adult actor quite well."   I mean there was no stories about him doing drugs, or driving drunk or beating people up.   No stories of multiple marriages that lasted 10 minutes.   he seemed to be a decent solid guy making a living as an actor.

But whoo boy these last few years - right off the freaking deep end.   

I am now embarrassed to admit that I was once a huge fan of his adult acting career. Off the deep end is right, right into a pit of shit. Wow.

[Blergh]

8 hours ago, Blergh said:

But is courting, dating, marrying and staying married to Mr. Bieber the hallmark of the most sane possible choices she could have made -even factoring in however 'in love' she's wanted to tell herself she was?

6 hours ago, Rootbeer said:

These days, Bieber seems to have toned it down considerably and hasn't been a big presence on the party scene or behaving erratically for several years now.  Maybe it was her influence, but, maybe she decided to take a chance because he had changed his ways?

Yeah, but WHY should one take a chance when there's plenty of stable fish in the sea who DON'T need someone to rescue/stabilize them?

 

I concede that I didn't expect it to last as long as it as, but that in itself doesn't mean that it's necessarily  been smooth sailing or a barrel of laughs for both or either of them! 

[GiveMeSpace]

35 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Yeah, but WHY should one take a chance when there's plenty of stable fish in the sea who DON'T need someone to rescue/stabilize them?

Isn't there a dating site called Kettle of Stable Fish? No? There should be. If everyone had this attitude, nobody would be getting married. I am forever grateful my husband took a chance on my unstable ass.

[Bastet]

Mila Kunis, who emigrated from Ukraine with her family when she was eight, and her husband Ashton Kutcher have created a "Stand With Ukraine" GoFundMe, with donations going to Flexport.org, which is organizing shipments of relief supplies to refugee sites, and Airbnb.org, which is providing free, short-term housing in nearby countries to refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Over $18 million has been donated so far, three million of which came from Kunis and Kutcher.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

Yeah, but WHY should one take a chance when there's plenty of stable fish in the sea who DON'T need someone to rescue/stabilize them?

Why shouldn’t one take a chance if they want to? He’s a person with struggles. That doesn’t make him undeserving of a relationship. I think it is great how he has found some stability and his now speaking out about mental health. That is a really good thing for his fans to see. 

Personally, I really love how we are seeing celebrities that were viewed as train wrecks, like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, mature and find happiness. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

Mila Kunis, who emigrated from Ukraine with her family when she was eight, and her husband Ashton Kutcher have created a "Stand With Ukraine" GoFundMe, with donations going to Flexport.org, which is organizing shipments of relief supplies to refugee sites, and Airbnb.org, which is providing free, short-term housing in nearby countries to refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Over $18 million has been donated so far, three million of which came from Kunis and Kutcher.

That's nice and all, but I saw a great tweet comparing their example to Lady Gaga, who raised money among celebrities for health care workers and COVID, instead of Kutcher and Kunis coming to the common folk to raise money.

Kutcher's net worth is $200 million.  Mila's is apparently $75 million. Mila is also Ukranian.  I'm pretty sure Kutcher is friends with a lot of billionaire investors.  A LOT

Quote

Ashton Kutcher invested early in Uber and Airbnb and turned ...

https://www.scmp.com › Magazines › Style › Celebrity

Oct 28, 2020 — From there, Kutcher went on to co-found venture capital firm A-Grade Investments with talent manager Guy Oseary and businessman Ron Burkle.

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Crs97]

I guess I’m not bothered by celebrities encouraging us ordinary folks to get involved so that we can feel like we are part of the solution.

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

That's nice and all, but I saw a great tweet comparing their example to Lady Gaga, who raised money among celebrities for health care workers and COVID, instead of Kutcher and Kunis coming to the common folk to raise money.

Kutcher's net worth is $200 million.  Mila's is apparently $75 million. Mila is also Ukranian.  I'm pretty sure Kutcher is friends with a lot of billionaire investors.  A LOT

Do we know that they haven’t donated? I see this sentiment a lot and I understand it but if half the US adult population donates $1 it would be more than most billionaires would realistically donate. That’s why we see famous people start GoFundMe’s or encourage their fans to donate. Of course, that doesn’t mean only ordinary people should donate but the millions donated by millionaires and billionaires on top of a small amount from by a very large number really magnifies the impact. 

ETA: I just looked at the GoFundMe and Ashton and Mila donated $3M. They also list several very large offline donations that they probably got from fundraising they have done amongst their circle. Of the $18M they have raised over $13M of it was from those offline donations. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Guest

[Ms Blue Jay]

Why is it realistic that everyday Americans would donate but billionaires wouldn't?   This is a worldwide pandemic where a lot of people are out of work and hard up for cash.  Ukraine is not the only crisis going on in the world. Ashton knows a lot of extremely wealthy people. He's getting his financial advice from somebody. He seems to have no problem putting his money into startups and Ukraine seems as good a place to put money now than any.

Quote

Beyond entertainment, Kutcher is also a venture capitalist. He is a co-founder of the venture capital firm A-Grade Investments. At SXSW in March 2015, Kutcher announced Sound Ventures, the successor to A-Grade Investments, managing a fund backed by institutional funding. Kutcher has also successfully invested in several high technology startups. Kutcher has investments in over 60 companies, the most prominent of which include Skype, Foursquare, Airbnb, Path and Fab.com. Kutcher has invested in five startups as of August 2017: Neighborly, Zenreach, ResearchGate, Kopari Beauty, and Lemonade.

I guess I'm not as impressed by Ashton as some.  Sandra Bullock for example threw $1 million at the tsunami, $1 million for Hurricane Harvey, that's normal shit to her.  She doesn't even advertise that she's doing it unlike Ashton. 

https://www.eonline.com/ca/news/876675/sandra-bullock-has-donated-over-6-million-to-charities-without-most-people-noticing

I'm also impressed by Bethanny Frankel's company:  

https://www.tmz.com/2022/03/07/bethenny-frankel-foundation-bstrong-raise-money-ukraine-refugee-russian-invasion/

BETHENNY FRANKEL INITIATIVE RAISES $35 MILLION FOR UKRAINIAN REFUGEES

Edited March 9, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Why is it realistic that everyday Americans would donate but billionaires wouldn't?

Did anyone say that it was? Why does it have to be either/or?

2 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

That's not an acceptable reality to me.  This is a worldwide pandemic where a lot of people are out of work and hard up for cash.  Ukraine is not the only crisis going on in the world.

Then they don’t have to donate or they can donate to another cause that is close to their heart. It’s simply putting out there an easy way for people who want to help Ukraine in some way. Celebrities bring recognition and awareness to different ways to help. 

2 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Ashton knows a lot of extremely wealthy people. He's getting his financial advice from somebody.

If you look at the GoFundMe you will see that at least some of them have donated. One of the big donors is a venture capitalist. There are a few large foundations. Your quoted part mentions his relationship with AirBnB which is one of the recipients of the donated money because they have partnered with the UN to provide free housing to refugees. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Guest

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 minutes ago, Dani said:

Did anyone say that it was? Why does it have to be either/or?

I was quoting you:

Quote

I see this sentiment a lot and I understand it but if half the US adult population donates $1 it would be more than most billionaires would realistically donate.

 

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I was quoting you:

 

Okay. My quote wasn’t in your post so I was not sure. But, no, that is absolutely not what I was saying and I said the exact opposite. 

1 hour ago, Dani said:

Of course, that doesn’t mean only ordinary people should donate but the millions donated by millionaires and billionaires on top of a small amount from by a very large number really magnifies the impact. 

I was saying that if half of all adult American’s donated $1 is would be $130M making their collective impact greater than what any one billionaire will realistically donate to a single cause.

People who want to help often feel that the small amount that they can realistically donate is too small to be beneficial and won’t donate even to causes they care about. Campaigns like this often give those people a greater sense of their own contribution. The $13M that Ashton and Mila of raised outside of GoFundMe being included in that fund has a psychological effect on would be donors. 

[Blergh]

4 hours ago, GiveMeSpace said:

Isn't there a dating site called Kettle of Stable Fish? No? There should be. If everyone had this attitude, nobody would be getting married. I am forever grateful my husband took a chance on my unstable ass.

Congratulations to you and your husband on overcoming the odds. I'm not sure that has proven to be the case re Mr. and Mrs. Bieber. That is all.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Cool, I just agree to disagree. I don't find it realistic that half of the US is going to donate a dollar each.  Mila and Ashton would be better off to start a celebrity or fellow millionaire fundraiser, just my opinion!

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Congratulations to you and your husband on overcoming the odds. I'm not sure that has proven to be the case re Mr. and Mrs. Bieber. That is all.

Out of curiosity, how long do they have to be married for it to have been proven? How long does a person have to stable for the odds to be in their favor? Is he a bad bet for life? In that case I am probably a lost cause.

I prefer to think that the most important thing is that people a trying to get better and that we are eternally works in progress. 

[Zella]

As someone who does a lot of volunteering with a local charity, I think any amount someone wants to give, whether it's a dollar or a million, to any good cause is great. Every bit helps.  

Speaking of which, Leonardo DiCaprio has apparently donated $10,000,000 to the Ukrainian army. It's the largest single donation they've received. I knew his mom was born in Germany but didn't realize her mother was born in Ukraine and fled in the wake of the Russian Revolution. 

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3423417-dicaprio-donates-10m-to-ukrainian-army.html

[LexieLily]

Kelly Clarkson settles divorce from Brandon Blackstock.

If she has primary custody of the kids and he gets them only one weekend a month (two days), why the hell is he getting 45K a month in child support out of her?!

[trudi-tru]

45 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

Kelly Clarkson settles divorce from Brandon Blackstock.

If she has primary custody of the kids and he gets them only one weekend a month (two days), why the hell is he getting 45K a month in child support out of her?!

I am much more bothered by the fact that the kids will see their father only two days a month. Is there a reason given for this? Seems like an agreement one would make with a not very stable or unreliable parent.

[LexieLily]

Upon reading different articles it sounds like Brandon is allowed to have custody of the children every weekend, but two of those weekends/month he has to come to LA. Only one of the weekends per month do the kids go to Montana. 

Reading between the lines of it being an itemized directive in the divorce/settlement that the kids are to be vaccinated against Covid due to the monthly out-of-state travel,  it sounds like Brandon might be anti-vax? 

[aradia22]

Quote

In a new interview with the Guardian, Kravitz said she tried to audition for the 2012 Batman sequel, The Dark Knight Rises — emphasis on “tried.” Ultimately, she says she was told that the movie wasn’t going “urban” for the role, suggesting that she was turned down before even auditioning because of her race.

“I don’t know if it came directly from Chris Nolan,” she told the Guardian, referring to the film’s director. “It was probably a casting director of some kind or a casting director’s assistant … Being a woman of color and being an actor and being told at that time that I wasn’t able to read because of the color of my skin, and the word urban being thrown around like that, that was what was really hard about that moment.” Kravitz didn’t specify which part she wanted to audition for, though she previously said it was a “small role.”

In 2015, she relayed a similar story to Nylon, saying she “couldn’t get an audition for a small role they were casting because they weren’t ‘going urban.’” During the interview, she questioned why her race was even brought into the auditioning conversation: “What does that have to do with anything?”

[...] Following the interview, Kravitz posted a statement to her Instagram Stories about the Dark Knight Rises anecdote, clarifying that the role was not Catwoman (as some people had assumed) and pointing out that “this is something I heard a lot 10 years ago — it was a different time.” She continued, “I did not mention this to point any fingers or make anyone seem racist, namely Chris Nolan, the film’s producers or anyone on the casting team, because I truly do not believe anyone meant any harm. I was simply giving an example of what it was like to be a woman of color in this industry at that time. Again this was many years ago when words like that were thrown around very casually.”

https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/zoe-kravitz-dark-knight-audition-rejection.html

I think it's good she's speaking up and has been speaking up for years. This feels like more than just airing grievances. She shouldn't have to hide this when the people at fault at the ones who should have to explain and be apologetic. Unfortunately, I'm sure this still happens regularly. 

[Kel Varnsen]

5 minutes ago, aradia22 said:

https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/zoe-kravitz-dark-knight-audition-rejection.html

I think it's good she's speaking up and has been speaking up for years. This feels like more than just airing grievances. She shouldn't have to hide this when the people at fault at the ones who should have to explain and be apologetic. Unfortunately, I'm sure this still happens regularly. 

I thought it was interesting that she had to revise her statement, because several media outlets were incorrectly reporting that she was up for the role of Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. Which is something she never said in her original interview.

[merylinkid]

12 hours ago, Blergh said:

I concede that I didn't expect it to last as long as it as, but that in itself doesn't mean that it's necessarily  been smooth sailing or a barrel of laughs for both or either of them! 

Marriage for anyone is never all smooth sailing or a barrel of laughs.   It takes time and effort.   It involves biting your tongue sometimes and other times making an effort to be happy for the other person even when you feel like crap.   

The fact that I didn't realize they had even been married that long says a LOT about how they are handling their marriage -- quiet and lowkey.   Not headlines of their antics, not a ton of pap shots of them out and about being "a couple."   No over the top marriage vow renewals.   Just ... being married.   It seems to work for them and good for them.

[bluegirl147]

58 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

The fact that I didn't realize they had even been married that long says a LOT about how they are handling their marriage -- quiet and lowkey. 

Pretty sure there are celebs that have been married multiple times in the time Justin and Hailey have been married. 

[DearEvette]

1 hour ago, aradia22 said:

I think it's good she's speaking up and has been speaking up for years. This feels like more than just airing grievances. She shouldn't have to hide this when the people at fault at the ones who should have to explain and be apologetic. Unfortunately, I'm sure this still happens regularly. 

Oh for sure.  The "we are not going urban" is something so many other black actresses have reported as being told when they would ask about a part.

[SnapHappy]

GoFundMe accounts are kind of a central clearinghouse for all people to access. 

Not all celebs know each other, so if Mila & Ashton use that site as a base for their donation efforts, they know celebs and other wealthy folks that DON'T know them personally have a way to participate without reinventing the donation wheel. 

Ashton knows Demi Moore personally, but maybe he doesn't personally know Whoopie Goldberg, her co-star from "Ghost".  If Whoopie wants to donate, the GFM site is an easy way instead of playing telephone tag with various intermediaries to find a valid site.  

I'm fine when celebs use GFM to help focus donations in crisis situations.  I think it's smart. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by SnapHappy

[Llywela]

Any fundraising for a cause like Ukraine is good, everything helps. The idea of using GoFundMe for it seems weird to me personally, because here in the UK we have the Disasters Emergency Committee, which brings together 15 leading aid charities to raise funds quickly and efficiently at times of crisis overseas (doing it via this joint committee helps to avoid duplication of effort), and most people - whether celebs or otherwise - would point all fundraising efforts toward that, so that the money goes direct to source. But for Mila & Ashton, as others have noted, this is a good way of leveraging their names to help raise money, and we've no way of knowing how much they may or may not have donated via other avenues. The money they put into this GoFundMe specifically was done to get it kick started, no doubt.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, LexieLily said:

Kelly Clarkson settles divorce from Brandon Blackstock.

If she has primary custody of the kids and he gets them only one weekend a month (two days), why the hell is he getting 45K a month in child support out of her?!

It’s not unusual when one parent makes a lot more to ensure that there isn’t a huge difference in the living conditions between parents. To maintain a certain standard for the children when moving between homes. 

 

18 minutes ago, Llywela said:

Any fundraising for a cause like Ukraine is good, everything helps. The idea of using GoFundMe for it seems weird to me personally, because here in the UK we have the Disasters Emergency Committee, which brings together 15 leading aid charities to raise funds quickly and efficiently at times of crisis overseas (doing it via this joint committee helps to avoid duplication of effort), and most people - whether celebs or otherwise - would point all fundraising efforts toward that, so that the money goes direct to source.

That sounds amazing. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything like that in the US. Most large scale disaster relief efforts support the Red Cross which does amazing work but flooding them with money during a disaster often doesn’t benefit the affected area as much as donors would hope. 

[RealHousewife]

40 minutes ago, Llywela said:

Any fundraising for a cause like Ukraine is good, everything helps. The idea of using GoFundMe for it seems weird to me personally, because here in the UK we have the Disasters Emergency Committee, which brings together 15 leading aid charities to raise funds quickly and efficiently at times of crisis overseas (doing it via this joint committee helps to avoid duplication of effort), and most people - whether celebs or otherwise - would point all fundraising efforts toward that, so that the money goes direct to source. But for Mila & Ashton, as others have noted, this is a good way of leveraging their names to help raise money, and we've no way of knowing how much they may or may not have donated via other avenues. The money they put into this GoFundMe specifically was done to get it kick started, no doubt.

Yes, and just because one donation seems humble considering what they have, keep in mind a lot of celebs have multiple causes they help out. I know Ashton is one of them. He's pretty philanthropic. 

[GiveMeSpace]

12 hours ago, Blergh said:

Congratulations to you and your husband on overcoming the odds. I'm not sure that has proven to be the case re Mr. and Mrs. Bieber. That is all.

Well, as they say, "Crazy in the head, Crazy in the bed". That certainly helps. It has been working for 25 plus years. Hailey's parents have a long marriage so it is not inconcievable that these crazy kids could make it work.

[Zella]

2 hours ago, Llywela said:

here in the UK we have the Disasters Emergency Committee, which brings together 15 leading aid charities to raise funds quickly and efficiently at times of crisis overseas (doing it via this joint committee helps to avoid duplication of effort),

That's fantastic! I wish we did something like that here in the US. I donated to a few different US and international charities for Ukraine, and though I'm more than happy to donate to all of them again when I get paid again, it would be really nice to just have one trusted centralized point for the donations. 

[proserpina65]

12 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Cool, I just agree to disagree. I don't find it realistic that half of the US is going to donate a dollar each.  Mila and Ashton would be better off to start a celebrity or fellow millionaire fundraiser, just my opinion!

They can start whatever kind of fundraiser they want and people can donate or not as they choose.  Them starting a GoFundMe page does not mean they cannot also get donations from their rich friends.  Which it sounds like they have.

3 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

I'm fine when celebs use GFM to help focus donations in crisis situations.  I think it's smart. 

It's not like they're doing it to raise money to buy a new house, after all.  They're trying to help people who are in a desperate situation, and that's a good thing, imo.

[SnapHappy]

39 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

It's not like they're doing it to raise money to buy a new house, after all.  They're trying to help people who are in a desperate situation, and that's a good thing, imo.

GFM is big enough and publicly enough administered for people to know that their donations are going where they are directed.  

2 hours ago, Dani said:

That sounds amazing. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything like that in the US. Most large scale disaster relief efforts support the Red Cross which does amazing work but flooding them with money during a disaster often doesn’t benefit the affected area as much as donors would hope. 

Too right.  We here in the US have gotten too much information on organizations like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc. that pays their layers & layers of admin bureaucrats huge salaries & benefits, while only pennies of the dollars donated go to the actual cause.  It sucks when you don't know who to trust with your hard-earned donations.