Reese Witherspoon has a “garbage obsession”. But instead of the kind that involves recycling, composting, and sorting — the actress instead just throws everything away. In fact, there’s so much that she’s resorted to chucking it into neighbors bins.

While on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien last Friday, Witherspoon said,  “I like to throw things away. I’m obsessed with garbage.”

“After a holiday or a birthday, I have tons and tons of garbage and it always overflows and I always sort of peek out late at night and look at the neighbours’ garbage can, and it’s, like, empty. They’re like these amazing people that have no trash.”

“So, if I have a particularly bad day, where I have a lot of extra garbage, I go and take my garbage and put it in theirs.”

Sounds like someone needs a few lessons in waste control. Who’s up for tackling this one? The Lazy Environmentalist? Danny Seo?

In the latest issue of InStyle magazine, Reese Witherspoon opens up on her life outside of the Hollywood spotlight — saying that her and boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal enjoy a bit of downtime in the country.

“We spend the weekends outside L.A, in Ojai, where I have a farmhouse,” she says. “We have chickens and we grow cucumbers and tomatoes. I love it. It reminds me of where I grew up in Tennessee.”

Granted, California is no substitute for the real thing — and Witherspoon admits it can be tough. “Sometimes it’s really difficult for me, being far away from home. I never imagined that my children wouldn’t grow up next door to my brother’s children. Or my mom and dad wouldn’t constantly be around. At least I have a lot of southern friends in L.A.—I gravitate toward them.”

Witherspoon is on the cover of InStyle’s November issue, on sale Friday.

The Times Online, from the UK, posted a piece about David Michael Bruno’s 100 Things Challenge and talks (somewhat blindly) about the recent push by a few celebrities to declutter and curb their consumerism too.

From the article by John Harlow:

“Some strong-minded personalities have always set their own limits. Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor and environmental campaigner, has become the latest convert to smaller cars and owns a relatively modest home in the Hollywood Hills. He has told friends he may stick at about 150 personal objects, including comic books illustrated by his father.

Other wealthy Hollywood stars, such as Reese Witherspoon and DiCaprio’s friend Tobey Maguire, say that children have complicated their desire to declutter.

The Spider-Man actor “is fighting a battle against the stuff which materialises in the house. He does not want it or need it unless it’s related to basketball”, said a friend last week. “That is like his sweet tooth, and we all have that.”

Could you pare your life down to 100 things, or even 150? Or maybe you already have!

(P.S. The first comment on the article by one ‘Steve Ward;; gets an honorary mention: “100 items? Even my smallest Lego kit has more than this.” Well played, Steve, well played.)

Photo: PR Photos

The Little Stamp Company

Spice Girl Mel C is inviting you to adopt. Along with fellow celebs Kim Wilde and comedian Timmy Mallet, Mel is promoting the Adopt a Word campaign, an initiative of I Can. I Can supports speech skills for children with special needs, and by making a donation to adopt a word for a year, you can help a youngster learn to communicate.

Freaky-beautiful (anybody who can make human meat pies, kill Sirius Black, and still seduce King Arthur is entitled to that description!) Helena Bonham Carter is the new patron of Action Duchenne, a UK muscular dystrophy charity. She says, “As a patron of Action Duchenne, I would like to urge as many people as possible to find out about the work of the charity and the devastating effects of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Treatments and a cure seem tantalisingly close but they will not appear without further support and funding. Please join Action Duchenne in helping to make muscle wasting history.”

Reese Witherspoon

Earlier this year Ecorazzi reported that Reese helped introduce a “Women’s Empowerment Bracelet” to help raise money for the cause.  Witherspoon is hoping her involvement with the project will shed light on the subject and help stop domestic violence against women. 

She told reporters in Sao Paulo: ”There isn’t a woman in the world that doesn’t have a friend or a partner who’s actually experiencing some sort of violence against them, so I think although domestic violence hasn’t happened to me personally, I certainly know women who are dealing with this struggle every day. Domestic violence affects women who are famous, who are not famous, women who have money, women who have no money. This is an issue that crosses all boundaries and it certainly affects everyone.”

To find out more about how you can get involved, shoot on over to the Avon website. 

Don’t you just love hemp? For, um, clothes and stuff, I mean. Reese Witherspoon does. She, along with Michelle Williams and Alanis Morissette, is a fan of Heather Heron’s line of organic European hemp bags.

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning raised over $380,000 for at his annual PeyBack Bowl on Monday, with proceeds going to disadvantaged kids through his PeyBack Foundation (nice little word play there). Other celebs who got in on the knocking-of-the-pins included Colts player Reggie Wayne with the highest score, race drivers Scott Dixon and Sam Hornish Jr., and NFL Hall of Famer Gale Sayers.

Is Nelson Mandela more inspiring than Angelina Jolie? Members of Christian Aid think so. When surveyed recently, they found people like Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to be more inspiring when it comes to changing the world than celebrities like Jolie and Bono. What do you think?

Polish weightlifter Symon Kolecki has shaved his head in solidarity with Tibetan monks. The athlete had his scalp shaved just before he received the Silver Medal in weightlifting.  “This haircut is from this morning. I can’t directly say why I did it. It’s connected with certain things that the Olympic Charter forbids. But I will say that it’s symbolic,” Kolecki said.

Stella McCartney

Reese Witherspoon was seen yesterday shopping up a storm at Stella’s shop in West Hollywood. Stella has many famous fans including one of my favorites, Alicia Silverstone, and was even named designer of the year in 2007. See, it just goes to show you being green IS fashionable.

You can check out more annoying paparazzi shots at JustJared.com

The dog in question is a German Shepherd named Atticus who at one time belonged to Jake and ex-girlfriend Kirsten Dunst. However a source revealed to the National Enquirer that, “Atticus now lives with Reese full-time. He is great with her kids and makes her feel safe when Jake is away. It was totally Reese’s idea to give Atticus a role in the wedding. Jake has fallen into the role of stepdad to her kids, so it is only fitting that Reese has more or less adopted Atticus as her own too!”

No wedding plans have been announced yet, but the pair just recently purchased a $5 million Los Angeles home so chances are the wedding isn’t too far away. 

What do you think about Reese and Jake’s doggy decision? Chime in and tell us what you think! 

via: femalefirst.co.uk

via: justjared.com

This week Reese made a trip to Japan to celebrate Avon’s partnership with the United Nations Development Fund and to introduce the “Women’s Empowerment Bracelet.”  Can we pause for a second? Does anyone else think that the name “Women’s Empowerment Bracelet” sound like a magical piece of jewelry that maybe either lights up or does something real fancy in times of crisis to give women extra super powers — say like while walking through a dark ally or something? No? Well it does to me. Anyway, going on…

Reese got the chance to attend a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony and meet with a few female breast cancer survivors. She said: “As Avon’s Global Ambassador, I’m honored to have this opportunity to meet with such extraordinary women, and experience a highlight of Japanese culture. While their courage is inspiring, I was saddened to hear that only about 12% of women in Japan receive regular breast cancer screening. The lack of testing equipment and breast cancer experts in Japan means that many women here do not have access to the medical technology and care that is critical to diagnose and fight this deadly disease.” Yowzers! 12 percent? Really?!!

All proceeds from the bracelet sales will be used to create a new Avon Empowerment Fund. The first $500,000 from bracelet sales will be matched by the Avon Foundation for a total donation of $1 million to UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, for projects that will empower women. So run, walk or skip over to shop.avon.com and get yourself one of those fancy schmancy bracelets. Sure, maybe it won’t light up or give you super powers, but it will help fund projects that empower women…and that’s even cooler. 

thanks: justjared.com