George Clooney Organizing and Set to Host MTV Telethon for Haiti

With tens of thousands feared dead after the huge Haiti earthquake, celebrities are stepping up in efforts to get charitable donations in the race to save thousands of lives. Hollywood Reporter columnist Roger Friedman spoke with George Clooney who told me last night at a private reception for his movie “Up in the Air,” that he is is planning to host a telethon to raise money for the people of Haiti next Friday on all the MTV channels. Clooney is putting out the call today to all his celebrity friends and performers to participate from both coasts on Friday, January 22nd — and he’s gotten MTV’s Judy McGrath to agree to air the show.  No doubt there will be plenty of celebrities that will drop everything for this telethon, as many are already stepping up to help.   Doctors Without Borders has announced that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were contributing one million dollars to the organizations emergency medical operations responding to the earthquake.  Haitian bornRap star Wyclef Jean who has already flown home, is taking the lead in asking for help for the millions of people affected by the massive earthquake that struck Hait.The former The Fugees star Tweeted: “Your money will help with relief efforts. They need our help – please help if you can. Pray for the people of Haiti [and] me please.”brought to attention the seriousness of the situation in the Caribbean state hit with 7.0-magnitude quake.Since then, other celebrities have taken to Twitter to spread Jean’s message and to get people to donate to Jean’s nonprofit Yele Haiti Foundation and other assistance programs.
“Anyone that may be listening’s attention. Call 1884074747 State Dept for Haitian Relief Please help them….. I know I will as much as I can,” Lindsay Lohan tweeted. “Yele Haiti now for the disaster. Please do all that you can.”
Adam Lambert did his part to spread the word about UNICEF’s campaign to help. “Please, everyone donate even the smallest of what you can,” he wrote. “We are so fortunate. Let us give where truly needed.”
Ben Stiller also tweeted his support, writing, “People in Haiti need our help and attention right now.”

George Clooney muses on life and true love

Widely known as one of the world’s most eligible bachelors and a constant fixture in those “Sexiest man” polls, George Clooney is quite clear that, in matters of love, he has just the same problems as we do.

“I’ve had some absolutely great relationships and some not so great ones,” the 48-year-old actor tells the UK’s Daily Mirror. “But just because you’re with someone doesn’t mean you’re happy and complete,” he opines.

Briefly married to actress Talia Balsam, George’s past cast-list of love includes actresses Renee Zellweger, Kelly Preston, DeDee Pfeiffer and Kimberly Russell, plus models Lisa Snowdon and Celine Balitran. His current co-star is Italian TV hostess, Elisabetta Canalis [seen here,] on whom we’ve reported before.

With such a range of past loves, George is now what some call a playboy. An image at which he’s happy to poke fun, “I’m old,” he says with a laugh. “But I’m okay with that because the other option is being dead. So I’ll take getting older.”

And love is not the only thing George does on a grand scale – He’s currently in London for no less than three premieres; The new romantic-comedy, ‘Up In The Air’, the evergreen children’s favorite, ‘The Fantastic Mr Fox’ and a CIA satire entitled, ‘The Men Who Stare At Goats.’ But as you’d expect, George is largely unmoved, “All three are films I don’t have to be embarrassed about – and that’s rare!” he confesses.

Between all the filming, George now relaxes at his Italian hideaway on the glorious Lake Como, “Some of the most fun dinners I’ve ever had have been there. There’s always 10 or 15 people and we have fun evenings, filled with interesting stories. It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done for myself.” he recalls.

Apart from great acting and mansions, George has a rep for elaborate pranks. His last score was Matt Damon. Matt stayed with George during last Summer, eagerly trying to lose the weight from his role in “The Informant’ But despite a strict diet, his pants never fit?? What Matt didn’t know was that George had hired a seamstress to shrink the waistbands on all of Matt’s pants by 1/8th-of-an-inch every day, “He couldn’t understand how he seemed to be gaining weight while he was trying so hard to lose it,” grins George.

Few would argue that George has conquered quite a few rungs of success’s long ladder since  leaving his home in Kentucky at just 21 to try and make it in Hollywood. Ten years of failure and washed-out pilots later, he landed ER. An Oscar soon followed, and that made him big.

“I’ve been lucky enough to do a few films that will last longer than opening weekend, and those are the ones of which I’m proud,” he says, modestly.

But with all his clout and fan status, George knows he has to still please the bosses, “I’m in the lucky position of them still letting me play with the toys…but I don’t know how long that will last,” he admits. “So while they’re letting me, I’m going to keep trying to do movies and hope that some of them succeed.”