Hypnotic Celebrities Blog

Other ventures

Products and endorsements

In October 2005, Rihanna struck her first endorsement deal with Secret Body Spray for them to sponsor her first tour. In 2006, Rihanna participated in several endorsement deals, including Nike sportswear for the launch of her “SOS” and J. C. Penney. In 2007, Rihanna signed with CoverGirl and became a celebrity spokesperson which included appearances on TV commercials and in the Barbados Tourism Authority’s tourism commercials. She also received an endorsement deal from Clinique in 2006 to promote their Happy fragrance. She recorded a song written by Ne-Yo entitled “Just Be Happy” as part of the deal to promote their Happy fragrance. Rihanna also recorded a song called “Winning Women” with Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger for P&G’s female deodorant Secret. In December 2008, Rihanna contracted with Gucci to appear in their ads for the Tattoo Heart Collection, a special-edition line. In the Gucci handbag ad, Rihanna is seen hanging from a giant hoop, scantily clad in a barely-there white bodysuit and wearing an oversized white Gucci purse. The success of her single, “Umbrella” also inked an endorsement deal with Totes. Her handlers pitched her hit “Umbrella” to Totes and the song became the soundtrack for commercials in which she starred. On April 8, 2009 it was announced that Rihanna inked a fragrance deal with Jay-Z’s licensing company Iconic Fragrances. Iconic Fragrance will launch the fragrance in the summer of 2010.

Film projects

In 2007, Rihanna began showing interest in making film appearances. She made her acting debut in a cameo role to the film Bring It On: All or Nothing, released on August 8, 2006. During this time, she stated that singing was always the bigger picture, but she definitely wants to get into acting as well. Rihanna also made an appearance as the central character in Kanye West’s music video “Paranoid”. According to the Daily News, Rihanna has been taking acting classes during her time in New York, and will make her acting debut in Personal Protection, due to start filming later this year.

Philanthropy

Rihanna created her Believe Foundation in 2006 to help terminally ill children. Rihanna explained her reasons for starting the Foundation saying, “When I was young and I would watch television and I would see all the children suffering, I always said: when I grow up, I want to help.” Rihanna has also performed a number of concerts to raise funds for both charities and the Foundation and is also a 2008 Cartier Love Charity Bracelet Ambassador. She performed at Madonna’s Raising Malawi fundraiser on February 6, 2008 in New York City . After becoming an honorary cultural ambassador for Barbados, Rihanna became involed with DKMS, an international donor network based in Tübingen, Germany, to try to find a donor for Lisa Gershowitz Flynn. She was diagnosed in November with acute myelogenous leukemia.

In January 2008, Rihanna contributed in the fight against AIDS when she visited the H&M in New York to support Fashion Against AIDS by presenting her t-shirt design and signing autographs for a limited time with slogans like “Believe” and “Stop and Think.” The collection features t-shirts and hoodies designed by Rihanna, Timbaland and other well-known designers, musicians and artists. The line, called Fashion Against AIDS, was launched in February 2008 to raise awareness of the disease among teens and spread awareness about HIV/AIDS. In August 2008, Rihanna and other pop, rock, R&B and country singers such as Carrie Underwood, Ciara, Beyoncé Knowles, Leona Lewis, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, and Fergie recorded the charity single, “Just Stand Up!”, the theme song to the anti-cancer campaign Stand Up to Cancer and its theme song. The singers performed the song live on September 5, 2008. In 2008, Rihanna was selected as the spokesmodel for Gucci’s first United Nations Children’s Fund ad campaign. She appeared in the fashion house’s Tattoo Heart campaign, which premiered in December 2008. Rihanna was photographed in series of special edition print ads with United Nations Children’s Fund items, twenty-five percent of sales will benefit the children’s charity.

On November 19, 2008, Rihanna was enlisted by Gucci’s Frida Giannini along with Madonna to light the United Nations Children’s Fund Christmas snowflake in New York City at the Grand Army Plaza. In 2008, she became the global representative and the face of the 4th annual Gucci Campaign to Benefit United Nations Children’s Fund. The campaign aimed to raise funds for children in Africa through the sale of its Tattoo Heart collection of bags, which launched worldwide on November 19, 2008. Rihanna has also been apart of many benefit concerts to help raise money for various illnesses, such as cancer for Hope Rocks. Rihanna performed on January 20, 2009 at the Recording Industry Association of America’s Presidential Inauguration Charity Ball to raise money for the world largest anti-hunger organization. On April 2, 2009, Rihanna visited the NYU Medical Center to help look for another bone marrow donor for a young girl named Jasmina Amena. Rihanna first learned about Jasmina’s plight in February 2009, when she saw the moving video Jasmina’s best friend, Isabelle Huurman, and her mother, Karen Detrick, made appealing for donors to save Jasmina. Rihanna honored Jasmina’s best friend, Isabella for her efforts for trying to save her best friend at a DKMS Gala on May 7, 2009. Jasmina eventually received her transplant on June 11, 2009, and is in recovery. In September 2009, Rihanna performed at Jay-Z’s “Answer to Call” concert, which paid tribute to the police officers and firefighters who died on the September 11 attacks.

External links

• Official website
• Rihanna at MySpace
• Rihanna at Island Def Jam Music Group
• Rihanna’s Believe Foundation
• Rihanna at the Internet Movie Database

Rihanna – Braless See-Through Candids in Paris

Public image

In 2001, Alba was ranked No. 1 on Maxim’s Hot 100 list. She said that “I have to go to certain lengths to use sexuality to my advantage, while guiding people to thinking the way I want them to.” In 2005, Alba was named one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People, and also appeared in the magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful list in 2007. In 2002, Alba was voted as the fifth Sexiest Female Star for 2002 in a Hollywood.com poll, #4 in the Top 10 Sci-Fi Babes, #6 in FHM’s Sexiest Girls for there poll, and ranked at #12 in Stuff magazine’s “102 Sexiest Women in the World” 2002 edition. In 2005 Alba was ranked at #5 on the Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 list.

On the cover of the March 2006 issue, Playboy magazine named Alba among its 25 Sexiest Celebrities, and the Sex Star of the Year. Alba was involved in litigation against Playboy for its use of her image (from a promotional shot for Into the Blue) without her consent, which she contends gave the appearance that she was featured in the issue in a “nude pictorial”. However, she later dropped the lawsuit after receiving a personal apology from Playboy owner Hugh Hefner, who agreed to make donations to two charities that Alba has supported.

In 2006, Alba ranked #3 on E! Television’s 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies. In 2006 readers of AskMen.com voted Alba No. 1 on 99 Most Desirable Women, while in 2007, Maxim Magazine placed Alba on the number 2 spot of their “Top 100″. Both GQ and In Style had Alba on their June covers, and in May, after eight million votes, FHM (UK and USA editions) named Alba the winner as “2007’s Sexiest Woman in the World”. Alba has been regarded as one of the world’s most attractive women, being named to Maxim’s Hot 100 in 2008. In 2007 Alba was ranked in at #1 in FHM’s Sexiest Girls of 2007 poll, in the magazine’s Latvian edition. Alba was ranked #4 on Empire Magazine’s 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in 2007. In 2006 and 2007 Alba was voted #1 as the most sexy woman in the world by the Norwegian FHM. Alba appeared in the 2009 Campari calendar. Campari printed 9,999 copies of the calendar featuring photos of Alba posing sexually in swimsuits, and high heels. In 2008 Alba was ranked #34 on Maxim’s magazine’s Hot 100 list, was ranked #2 on Wizard magazine’s “Sexiest Women of TV” list, and was named in GQ Magazine one of the 25 Sexiest Women in film of all time.

Alba fears being typecast as a sex kitten based on the bulk of parts offered to her, commenting, “Somehow, I don’t think this is happening to Natalie Portman.” In the interview, Alba said she wants to be taken seriously as an actress but believes she needs to do movies that she would otherwise not be interested in to build her career, stating that eventually she hopes to be more selective in her film projects. Alba also maintains a strict no-nudity clause in her contract. She was given the option to appear nude in Sin City by the film’s directors, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, but declined the offer, saying, “I don’t do nudity. I just don’t. Maybe that makes me a bad actress. Maybe I won’t get hired in some things. But I have too much anxiety”. She remarked of a GQ shoot in which she was scantily clad, “They didn’t want me to wear the granny panties, but I said, ‘If I’m gonna be topless I need to wear granny panties.”

Personal life

Religion

Alba was a Christian throughout her teenage years, but left the church after four years because she felt she was being judged for her appearance, explaining: “Older men would hit on me, and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing, when I wasn’t. It just made me feel like if I was in any way desirable to the opposite sex that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and being a woman”.

Alba also had objections to the church’s condemnations of premarital sex and homosexuality, and the lack of strong female role models in the Bible, explaining “I thought it was a nice guide, but it certainly wasn’t how I was going to live my life.” Her “religious devotion [began] to wane” at the age of 15 when she guest-starred as a teenager with gonorrhea in the throat in a 1996 episode of the television series Chicago Hope. Her friends at church reacted negatively to her role, making her lose faith in the church. However, she has stated that she still holds her belief in God despite leaving the church.

Relationships

While filming Dark Angel in January 2000, Alba began a three year relationship with her co-star Michael Weatherly, which caused controversy due to their 12 year age gap. Weatherly proposed to Alba on her twentieth birthday, which she accepted. In August 2003, Alba and Weatherly announced that they’d ended their relationship. In July 2007, Alba spoke out about the break up, saying “I don’t know [why I got engaged]. I was a virgin. He was 12 years older than me. I thought he knew better. My parents weren’t happy. They’re really religious. They believe God wouldn’t allow the Bible to be written if it wasn’t what they are supposed to believe. I’m completely different.” Alba had at one time said she envisioned a much older man as her ideal partner, making references to Morgan Freeman, Sean Connery, Robert Redford, and Michael Caine. She said, “I have this thing for older men. They’ve been around and know so much.”

Alba met Cash Warren, son of actor Michael Warren, while making Fantastic Four in 2004. On December 27, 2007, Alba and Warren announced that they were engaged. Alba married Warren in Los Angeles on Monday, May 19, 2008. On June 7, 2008, Alba gave birth to a baby girl, Honor Marie Warren, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. The first pictures of Honor Marie appeared in OK! magazine, which paid a reported $1.5 million for them. Alba has said that she would like to have more children.

Charity and politics

In 2005 Alba offered her acting talents for free, to raise money for AIDS charity Amfar at the Cannes Film Festival. The Industry had held a benefit for the US research foundation. Alba had caused “the greatest stir” by promising to star as an unpaid actress in one of The Lord of the Rings producer Bob Weinstein’s movies, if Weinstein agreed to bid $100,000 for tennis lessons with sports stars Monica Seles and Boris Becker.

Alba’s charity work includes participation with Clothes Off Our Back, Habitat for Humanity, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Project HOME, RADD, Revlon Run/Walk for Women, SOS Children Villages, Soles4Souls, and Step up. Alba openly endorsed and supported Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama during the 2008 primary season.

Alba posed for a bondage-themed print advertising campaign by Declare Yourself, a campaign encouraging voter registration among youth for the 2008 United States presidential election. The ads photographed by Mark Liddell, which feature Alba wrapped in and gagged with black tape, drew national media attention. The ads were described by some as being “Shocking”. Alba said of doing the advertisements that”It didn’t freak me out at all.” Alba also said “I think it is important for young people to be aware of the need we have in this country to get them more active politically,” and “People respond to things that are shocking.”

In June 2009, while filming The Killer Inside Me in Oklahoma City, Alba “provoked” residents when she pasted posters of sharks around town. Alba said that she was trying to bring attention to the diminishing population of Great White Sharks. Media outlets speculated that Alba would be pursued and charged with vandalism. On June 16, 2009, Oklahoma City police said that they wouldn’t pursue criminal charges against Alba, because none of the property owners wanted to pursue it. Alba apologized in a statement to People Magazine and said that she regretted her actions. She later donated an undisclosed amount of money (over $500) to the United Way, whose billboard she had obscured with one of the shark posters.

External links

• Jessica Alba at the Internet Movie Database
• Jessica Alba at Allmovie
• Jessica Alba at People.com
• Jessica Alba at Yahoo! Movies
• Jessica Alba at TV.com

Style and image

The New York magazine described Rihanna’s early look as a cookie-cutter teen queen and that she has the ability to shift looks so dramatically and with such ease. Since the release of her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, [Rihanna's] has become a sex symbol and also set herself apart from other R&B starlets, opting for designer couture over belly-baring crop tops. Sonya Magett of Black Voices reported that Rihanna’s style has become quite risqué since she burst on the scene 4 years ago. In 2008, she constantly surprised, switching from pretty and sweet in pastels on the red carpet to dominatrix-leaning wear on stage and at awards shows. Rihanna’s fashion and style also landed her on the list of People’s 10 Best Dressed Stars of 2008. Glamour also awarded Rihanna with the seventeenth most glamorous woman of 2009 out of fifty. Glamour also commented on Rihanna’s style saying “rockstar of leading ladies” and “She almost can’t make a style mistake right now.” They also said her “little-bit-punky, very-much-girly look still entrances readers.” They also commented on Rihanna’s fashion risks saying “If style risks could be measured in miles, Rihanna would have criss-crossed the globe a thousand times over already.”

Rihanna’s image has also been identified as a sex symbol. Regal of the Associated Content stated that Rihanna quickly garnered a more mature and definitely sexier look. In 2007, she ranked #8 in Maxim’s 2007 Hot 100 list; she then ranked #15 on 2008 Hot 100 list the following year. In June 2007, Rihanna was named 2007 Venus Breeze’s “Celebrity Legs Of A Goddess” by Gillette. Margeaux Watson of Entertainment Weekly wrote an article entitled “Rihanna: Diva of the year” which he refers to her breakout success of 2008. In 2009, Maxim awarded Rihanna as the number 8th most sexiest woman on earth. This made Rihanna the only female of African descent in the top ten or top twenty for that matter.

Rihanna’s tattoos have drawn much media attention. One of her first tattoos was music note on her ankle and a Pisces sign behind her right ear. Her most visible and popular tattoo is her trail of stars going down her back. Rihanna has a total of twelve known tattoos, including music note tattoo on her ankle, a Pisces sign behind her right ear, a Sanskrit prayer going down her hip, a star in her left ear, the word ‘love’ on her left middle finger, an Arabic phrase on her ribcage area, meaning ‘Freedom is God,’ a trail of stars going down the back of her neck, a skull with a pink hair bow, the phrase ’shhh…’ on her right index finger, the date ‘4.11.1986′ on top of her left shoulder and a henna-style dragon claw, complete with Hawaiian hibiscus flowers. Her most recent gun tattoo was planned to be just below her shoulders but changed it to her ribcage. Although, she was likely to be criticised for her tattoo, BangBang, the tattoo artist, was quick to explain that the image simply “represents strength and power”.

Relations with Barbados

Rihanna is heavily involved in the marketing of her native country of Barbados. She began by including the flag and trident in many of her videos, also shooting her album packaging for A Girl Like Me there. In September 2007, she became the official face of tourism for Barbados, being included in many of their ad campaigns. She currently holds an honourary title of Ambassador for Culture and Youth in Barbados. She additionally was honored by the Prime Minister David Thompson, who presented her several gifts at a national concert on 20 February 2008 in Barbados, called “Rihanna Day”.Regardless, In February 2008, Rihanna thanked her country and honoured them during the acceptance speech for her win of “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration” at the Grammy Awards. Although Rihanna is heavily involved in the promotion of her country and works with the government in Barbados to do so, she is constantly criticized and ridiculed for everything from her music, her successes and for wearing “skimpy clothes”. Rihanna speaking on the incident, “I went to the beach and I had on a one-piece swimsuit with jeans, They took the picture and they made it look like a top that was really revealing. There were radio programmes about it. It was a big deal for, like, three weeks straight – talking about I’m not setting a good example.”

They also mentioned that Rihanna was too young for Def Jam to push her as a “sex symbol”, making a plea that she cover up. The media and The Nation newspaper constantly make personal attacks and have shown lack of support and encouragement. Rihanna spoke out against the scrutiny to Entertainment Weekly stating, “They all hate me. I didn’t have to talk about them. I didn’t have to even mention that I’m from Barbados. But I do and people kind of take it for granted. They hate me. They talk shit about me all the time. But I’m like, ”Whatever. I’m still doing this cause I love to do it and you’re not going to stop me”. Media fought back with letters to Rihanna publicly via there national newspaper, “[what she said] sounds as if though she is doing us a favour. If God didn’t give us a Rihanna, he would have given us someone else. So don’t ever for a second get to thinking you are irreplaceable, Rihanna” and “Her putting Barbados on the map is nonsense. Barbados was well on the map before she came along; and will be when she is gone”. Her mentor and music producer Evan Rogers spoke out to the media stating that Rihanna subsequently “formed her impression of any Bajan dislike from the reception she received at the recent Barbados Music Awards where,” according to Rogers, “It was disappointing the way some people reacted as if they were almost rooting against her”.

External links

• Official website
• Rihanna at MySpace
• Rihanna at Island Def Jam Music Group
• Rihanna’s Believe Foundation
• Rihanna at the Internet Movie Database

Rihanna at Tao Nightclub in Las Vegas

			Download Full Archive – Rihanna at Tao Nightclub in Las Vegas Download Mirror