Angelina Jolie tops celebrity do-gooder poll, Hilton worst
Updated: 2007-12-28 07:38
The result underlined how far Jolie has changed her image since shocking onlookers by French kissing her brother at an awards ceremony about seven years ago and from wearing a vial of second husband Billy Bob Thornton's blood around her neck.
HUMANITARIAN HOBBY?
Since becoming an ambassador in 2001 for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, she has visited more than 20 humanitarian hot spots, most recently Iraq.
"She does this in a very low-key way," said UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler. "She goes out to see for herself, to get up close and very personal. She doesn't travel with film crews, and I think that is real testimony to her dedication to the cause."
Jolie has three adopted children -- from Ethiopia, Cambodia and Vietnam, and last year gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh, with her actor partner Brad Pitt.
But she has sparked little of the controversy that has dogged Madonna, who adopted a toddler from Malawi in 2006.
"Madonna seems to do philanthropy the way she's done Indian culture, sex, and just about everything -- like a disposable fad," said one anonymous voter. "Hope she doesn't get bored of her adopted African kid."
John McKie, who recruits celebrities for British relief agency Christian Aid, was less critical of Madonna.
"She has played Live8 and she's got her own charity in Malawi," he said. "Many celebrities don't engage in Africa on any level, so we shouldn't be too hard on Madonna."
After Madonna, U.S. socialite Paris Hilton gave the worst name to celebrity humanitarianism in 2007, the poll found, after announcing she planned to swap partying for philanthropy with a trip to Rwanda. The trip was later postponed.
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