andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Kind hearted actress HILARY SWANK has kicked off a round-the-world run for charity.

The Million Dollar Baby spoke at the ceremony on Friday to raise awareness of the 1.1 billion people across the world who lack access to clean drinking water.

Twenty runners for the Blue Planet Run will make the 15,250 mile journey over 95 days. Each runner will run 10 miles at a time.

Swank, who was speaking at the U.N. lawn at Boston, Massachusetts just before the first runner set off, said, “Making safe drinking water available is everyone’s problem, and it’s a problem it will take everyone to solve.

“It’s easy for me to show up today and talk about this. The real heroes are the 20 people who are actually running … and putting their lives on hold for the 95 days.”

The runners will cross 16 countries including, U.S., Ireland, England, France, and Japan.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

Actor CHAD LOWE was stunned when his ex-wife HILARY SWANK went public with his past substance abuse problems after announcing she had split up with
the 24 star.

Lowe admits he was still coming to terms with the break-up of his marriage when the double Oscar winner dropped the bombshell about his troubled past
in an interview.

Lowe says, “It wasn’t as though she made something up, and it was all of a sudden, you know, she was telling some lie. I mean, it’s true.

“I was disappointed… I felt like it was for me to discuss if I wanted to discuss it.”

But the actor holds no animosity towards his ex; in fact he believes Swank will always regret going public with his terrible secret.

He adds, “I think she regrets it because I know her character… She’s a really special person. She’s got a great heart.

“I will always love Hilary… I don’t think that you just fall in love and then you don’t have a place in your heart for that person. I’m not in love with her, but I will always love her.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

Despite rumours of a reconciliation being in the works, Hilary Swank and husband Chad Lowe have decided to file for divorce, Reuters reports.

The couple, who have been married for eight years, separated in January. However, since then paparazzi photos were taken of the couple together, which fueled the speculation that they were getting back together.

Swank?s publicist confirmed the split to people.com today.

“Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe have jointly decided to divorce. They continue to be friends and have the utmost respect for one another,” Jeffrey Bernstein, the couple?s lawyer, said to People.

Nobody can ever say Hilary Swank takes on easy roles.

Without exception, Swank has chosen the most challenging roles she could find since her breakout performance in 1999’s Boys Don’t Cry. Some movies did not do as well at the box office, but that has never been Swank’s goal.

That is why she agreed to portray Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby. The fact that Clint Eastwood was directing and also starring in it was just a bonus.

From the moment the trailer was first unveiled, the movie had Oscar written all over it. Maggie Fitzgerald is a waitress in her 30s, past the prime of most boxers, none the less wanting the chance to learn the sport. She seeks the help of legendary boxing coach Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), but he is too proud to coach a female.

Eddie (Morgan Freeman), who works at Dunn’s gym, can’t ignore her determination and offers some tips. Eventually, Dunn agrees to help her, and she quickly rises to the top of the boxing world.

Now, here is where I won’t make the same mistake Larry King did. When the movie was still in theatres, King had the cast on the show and ruined the ending of the movie. There is a twist about two-thirds of the way through, but it would be unfair of me to discuss this, just in case you have not yet seen the movie.

But you have the chance to see Swank in her Oscar-winning role, since Million Dollar Baby is now on DVD. It’s a must-see, if not for the incredible acting of all three stars, than for the script; this is how intense every sports movie should be.

The DVD comes with a separate disc full of extras, and an addition one with the soundtrack.

About an hour of extras are on the second disc, including a cast discussion on female boxing, interviews, and another discussion with James Lipton.

4*