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The Beckhams give excess baby gifts to charity shop

The Beckhams give excess baby gifts to charity shop

From the moment Victoria Beckham announced the gender of her baby, it was clear that her first daughter was going to be one very fortunate little girl. But not even the Beckhams could have predicted the amount of “good fortune” they have received.

Since the birth of the pair’s fourth child Harper Seven, they have been sent so many gifts they have had to give some away to charity, the UK’s Daily Mail reported.

Victoria was swamped with free baby gifts from companies during her pregnancy, including 14 prams, but the Beckhams have a rule that they never accept gifts.

“David and Victoria have a policy that they don’t accept gifts and endeavour to return anything that is sent to them,” an unnamed friend of the couple said.

“If anyone contacts the office in Los Angeles, they’re told that — but often they send things anyway or they send presents without a return address. Since Victoria’s pregnancy was announced in January, they have been inundated. They were sent something like a dozen pushchairs.

“Working out who had sent it and sending it back would have been a full-time job, so it’s easier to give it away. Some items have been returned and some have been boxed up and given to charity.”

Among the $9189 worth of gifts sent to a charity was a swing set, carrycot and changing table.

A spokeswoman for the couple said that the pair try to discourage such gifts.

“We try to discourage companies. However, we do receive a lot of unsolicited goods, which are sent to deserving charities,” she said.

The Beckhams also received a $1233 special-edition travel system from Bugaboo and a custom-made iCandy stroller designed in a purple shade, after Victoria said she couldn’t find a pram in a colour she liked.

Although it seems that the pair should be used to receiving free gifts, Victoria said last year she really appreciates the sentiment.

“Oh my goodness, yeah. We get sent lots of products and clothes,” she said.

“I’m never going to become blasé about that. I really appreciate that someone has gone to the effort to send me things.”

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Chrissie Swan’s excitement: I can’t wait to meet my baby!

Rebecca Gibney: Why I put on 20 kilos

With days to go until the birth, The Circle star tells about an unexpected side effect.

Like most pregnant women, Chrissie Swan is positively glowing right now. But there’s another reason The Circle co-host can’t stop smiling. While she’s been excitedly counting down the days until she welcomes her much longed-for second child into the world, something rather unexpected has taken place… and it’s a development the popular TV star couldn’t be happier about.

Having waged a very public battle with her weight over the past 18 months, Chrissie has discovered that after piling on around 50kg during her first pregnancy with son Leo, now two-and-a-half, this time she has actually “lost” up to 3kg. “I’ve put on four kilos all up, but the obstetrician tells me that the baby, the placenta and amniotic fluid would be around six or seven kilos, so I have lost a few kilos,” an elated Chrissie, 37, explains.

“It’s just been a bonus of eating well, exercising moderately and doing everything I can to make sure the baby is healthy. “It is incredible and it’s such a relief, I can’t tell you. I’m pregnant and keeping the weight off. And it’s been a breeze. And because I’ve lost the weight, I’ve had no blood pressure issues, no health problems – nothing. “I have photos of me just before delivery with Leo and I just looked fatter, but this time around, I have a baby bump and feel pregnant, and that’s really nice. I do feel womanly.”

Chrissie concedes she was eating “like something out of a Hollywood movie” during her first pregnancy. Butter chicken curry and pasta carbonara were frequently on the menu, along with just about anything else the bubbly star could lay her hands on. She quickly found herself ballooning to a size 30. “I was really putting it away,” Chrissie says. “At the time, I was working in breakfast radio, so I was tired and starving. That added up to a dire situation, but the thing is, I didn’t realise how dire until I got to the hospital to have Leo and they weighed me there.

Read more about Chrissie Swan’s pregnancy and weight lss success in this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale July 25, 2011.

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Murdoch family feud

Murdoch family feud

Jealousy, in-fighting, public humiliation…the scandal that sparked a family feud and rocked the world’s most successful dynasty.

A dynasty in turmoil, a nation in uproar, a multi-billion dollar empire in peril. This is the kind of hot-off-the-presses drama the readers of Rupert Murdoch’s racier papers would devour with relish. It’s the story of a mighty media mogul, feared by rivals and feted by world leaders. A man who made no mistakes. Except one. She came in the shape of a smart, sassy redhead from the office typing pool.

Ferociously ambitious and equipped with a talent for schmoozing with anyone who could help her career, Rebekah Brooks made herself the apple of Rupert’s eye. She is at the heart of a firestorm engulfing his global business and the desperate power struggle that has broken out between his heirs. Last week, when 80-year-old Rupert gave evidence before a committee of British MPs, we saw a great figure – in his own words – “humbled and ashamed”. He was forced to admit that one of his London newspapers, the now closed News Of The World, had illegally hacked into phones, including those of Prince William and 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler.

Yet the real damage to Rupert’s legacy lies in the feud now raging in the clan that’s Australia’s home-grown royal family. Two of the billionaire’s sons – Lachlan, 39, and James, 38 – are battling to control the business, while waiting to pounce from the sidelines is their glamorous older sister Elisabeth, 42, who, according to London newspaper The Guardian, “is now emerging as the strongest family contender to take over at the helm of her father’s empire”.

All brilliant in their own ways, the three highest-profile Murdoch children have been torn apart by the scandal. They are reportedly fighting over money, power and tactics. But mostly they are arguing about who is to blame for the mess – and their main focus is the woman known as “Rupert’s Red Menace”. Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff, author of The Man Who Owns The News, says that Elisabeth accused her brother James and 43-year-old Rebekah of having “f***** the company”, a claim denied by Elisabeth.

Read more about the Murdoch family in this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale July 25, 2011.

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Celebrities pay tribute to Amy Winehouse

Celebrities pay tribute to Amy Winehouse

As the circumstances surrounding her death continue to be investigated, celebrities are continuing to post tributes to Amy Winehouse.

Celebrities, including those who knew her well, those who appreciated her music and those who worked with the talented singer, have shared their thoughts and posted tributes since news spread of her death on July 24 at age 27.

“Amy changed pop music forever,” Lady Gaga posted on Twitter. “I remember knowing there was hope, and feeling not alone because of her. She lived jazz, she lived the blues.”

Russell Brand, who has admitted to having drug and alcohol problems in the past, wrote a touching 1000-word tribute on his website, which he titled “For Amy”.

In it, he wrote about his relationship with Winehouse and his own addictions.

“Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old,” he wrote.

“Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy’s incredible talent.”

Another of Amy’s close friends, Kelly Osbourne, took to Twitter to explain her hurt at the singer’s death.

“I can’t breathe,” she posted. “I’m crying so hard I lost one of my best friends. I love you forever Amy and will never forget the real you.”

Singer Tony Bennett, who worked with Amy in March this year described her as “extraordinary”.

“She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist and I am truly devastated,” said in a media release.

“She was a lovely and intelligent person and when we recorded together she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance.”

Mark Ronson, who also worked with Amy and helped co-write some of her most successful songs, said he had lost his “musical soul mate”.

“She was my musical soul mate and like a sister to me,” he said. “This is one of the saddest days of my life.”

Winehouse’s fans are also clearly mourning her death. Seven hours after news of her death was made public, Amy’s second studio album, Back to Black, made a return to the charts, five years after its original release.

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Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Eden with her parents at their home in Arkansas.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Eden plays in the mud at her home.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Eden Wood has been performing in pagent shows since she was one year old.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Six-year-old Eden says she no interest in being “normal”.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Eden’s collection of competition trophies and crowns.

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Eden Wood

Eden shows off one of her crowns.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Eden is featured on the US TV show Toddlers and Tiaras.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

On one episode of Toddlers and Tiaras, her mother was quoted as having spent between $70,000 and $80,000 on Eden’s pageant career.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Eden has launched her own biographical picture book named Eden Wood: From Cradle to Crown and has launched her own lookalike doll.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Eden prepares for a beauty show in Texas.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Eden models her first outfit at the show.

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Eden Wood

Eden’s mum Mickie helps her prepare for her next number.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Eden Wood

Outfit changes, make-up and spray tans are all part of a hard days work.

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Eden Wood

Eden shows off her cowgirl outfit.

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Eden Wood

Eden with her winning trophies from the competition.

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Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

Exclusive: Meet the real Eden Wood

The six-year-old US pageant princess is translating her tiara success into a push for world domination. We meet the girl behind the make-up.

Most six-year-old girls spend their time playing with their dolls or watching The Wiggles. Eden Wood is not one of them. Her spare time is filled with hair appointments, fittings and spray tans. Eden – the tiny darling of the controversial US child beauty pageant circuit – has no interest in being “normal”. She wants to “be a superstar and rule the world”.

This week she kicks off her quest for world domination by heading Down Under to conquer Australia, a newcomer to child pageants. And far from retiring as some reports suggest, her agent says there’s a new CD to promote and a film in the pipeline when she returns home. Eden hails from Arkansas – a small town called Taylor, population 566. Arkansas is called “The Natural State”, which is pretty funny given Eden’s glammed-up appearance.

On the eve of her flight to Australia, Woman’s Day meets the blonde mini-star at a pageant in Texas. She is caked in make-up with fluttering false eyelashes and an extravagant sequinned costume. Dubbed the “new JonBenet Ramsey”, Eden is strikingly similar to the child beauty pageant star who was found dead at her Colorado home in 1996. But Eden’s made-up face and over-the-top outfits are a vision the fans who follow her career on the US reality TV show Toddlers & Tiaras have come to expect.

“She looks just like a porcelain doll,” says Eden’s mum Mickie, 46, a drama teacher who has been entering her daughter in competitions since she was a year old. Eden’s looks provoke love-hate responses. A storm of protests met the announcement that she would be travelling to Australia with the pageant company Universal Royalty.

Read more about Eden Wood and her life in US child beauty pageant circuit in this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale July 25, 2011.

Your say: What’s your view of junior beauty pageants? Share your thoughts below.

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Kate Middleton’s wedding dress goes on display

Kate Middleton's wedding dress goes on display

Kate Middleton's wedding dress on display in Buckingham Palace.

Three months after the wedding of the century, Kate Middleton’s bridal gown is going on display in Buckingham Palace.

The Duchess of Cambridge’s custom-made Alexander McQueen wedding dress will be the star attraction of the palace’s annual summer exhibition, which opens today.

In pictures: Love is in the heir for William and Kate

The display will also feature other items Kate wore on her big day, including her embroidered silk tulle veil, hand-stitched Alexander McQueen shoes, diamond earrings and the 1936 Cartier tiara borrowed from Queen Elizabeth.

A silk replica of Kate’s bridal bouquet is also on display, as well as the couple’s wedding cake, although the top three layers are replicas. The cut made by the ceremonial sword is still visible on the bottom tier of the cake.

Kate travelled from her home in Anglesey, Wales, to London on Wednesday night to have a sneak preview of the exhibition and will join the queen at the exhibit’s official opening this afternoon.

In pictures: Prince William and Kate wed

The exhibition, which will run until October 3, is set to be the most popular Buckingham Palace has ever hosted, with more than 600,000 people purchasing advance tickets.

Your say: Would you like to see Kate’s wedding dress up close?

Video: Kate and William take on LA

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How to wear this season’s hottest coats

How to wear this season's hottest coats

Karlie Kloss models a cape from John Galliano for Christian Dior's autumn/winter 2011 collection

We may live in a country where our version of a ‘cold’ winter is usually warmer than springtime in Paris, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need (or want) a great coat to rug up in while we (mildly) freeze on nights out, or on the way to work in the morning.

The three key pieces worth investing in this winter are the ubiquitous trench coat, a classic long-line coat and the cape.

In pictures: Top trends from Australian Fashion Week

The cape

For something with a little bit of drama and a lot of convenience, this season’s ultimate throw-on-and-go update is the cape.

Practicality (they’re easy, cosy and comfy) meets theatricality (see the sexy caped crusader above at Dior), bringing a touch of theatrical swagger to the everyday.

Whether your style is ladylike, a bit bohemian, classic or even preppy, the cold-weather cape can cater to a multitude of different personalities.

Wear it with short sleeves underneath and elbow length gloves for a sleek finish, with a faux-fur stole around the collar instead of a scarf, or with jeans and a blazer as a statement piece to throw on for the weekend.

The trench

Next to the cape, you may think of a trench coat as basic and boring, but I prefer to think of it as perennially classic — an item of clothing so simple, but so effortlessly chic it has the power to make you feel like Audrey Hepburn when you’re actually feeling, well, anything but.

This season, trenches come in all lengths and with or without sleeves, perfect for the warmer (and wetter) parts of Australia.

Wear yours tied at the waist — either with a contrasting belt, or the belt it comes with, and make sure your outfit can peek through by belting it with the buttons undone.

Because of its simplicity, use the classic trench to experiment with shape. Wear it with a billowing maxi skirt or wide-leg pants. A chunky shoe or platform heel will also help to anchor the fuller silhouette.

The long line

For those of us who prefer a heavier, more solid winter-warmer, the eternally chic and ever-classic long-line coat (think 1920s glamorous knee-length versions) gets modern with lush colours and luxe fabrics.

Cashmere, fur and satin up the glamour quotient for an evening option, and metallic finishes have an easy uptown polish.

In pictures: Hot frocks at the Met Ball

For day, options with concealed fastenings and structured necklines have a graphic elegance, creating a clean, unfussy line. Or opt for easy, refined style in classic camel — just like jeans, a camel long-line coat will go with everything.

To see Olivia’s favourite stylish coats on a budget, buy the July issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Your say: How do you keep warm and stylish in winter?

Subscribe to 12 issues of The Australian Women’s Weekly for just $69.95 and receive a BONUS Crabtree & Evelyn Hand Cream valued at $42.95. That’s a 15% saving on the retail price.

Video: Revamp your winter wardrobe

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Sneaky vegetable gardens

Woman with fresh vegetables

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Proper vegie gardens are long neat beds, with rows of cabbages or lettuce and obediently staked tomatoes. They can look both ludicrous and productive.

There’s a long tradition, in fact, of “potager” gardens, vegies planted with an eye to beauty as well as usefulness, spirals set in stone or pebbles, circles like small vegie fountains of bounty and beauty.

But you don’t need a dedicated vegie garden to grow enough veg for dinner every night. Just like veg may need to be disguised if you want your kids to eat them (my standby is finely chopped parsley and shredded carrot in everything from spag bol to home “sausage” rolls) you can have a sneaky vegie garden. Just scatter the most beautiful — and the most delicious and easy to grow — veg among the flowers and shrubs already in your garden.

Edges and hedges

I edge most of our flowerbeds with garlic chives — months of blue-mauve blooms nodding above the fresh green leaves.

Try a froth of parsley (though it will need to be planted fresh each spring when last season’s goes to seed and you must allow for the width of vigorously growing parsley as well).

A long row of frilly red lettuces can be stunning, especially if you only pick a few leaves from each lettuce at any one time, so you don’t mar their symmetry.

A row of round “baby” carrots may sound odd for the front of your flower garden, but carrot tops can look lovely, especially with a strong colour behind their green.

Veg among the flowers

Think: ferny asparagus here. You eat the young spears through spring then let the shoots grow during summer. They are as pretty as any fern, and in autumn the females have bright red seed heads too.

Red or yellow pear cherry tomatoes can look stunning, too, laden with colourful tiny fruit.

Try red, pink, or yellow-stemmed silver beet, too, or “bush” pumpkins, neat compact bushes that give lots of small bright orange round fruit, great for baking or stuffing — or just admiring in the garden.

We rarely eat most of our globe artichokes. The big jagged grey leaves look superb all year round. And if you forget to pick the fruit, or can’t be bothered, they eventually open into bright blue thistle-like flowers. A hedge of artichokes in flower can breathtaking.

Bountiful fences

The brightest blooms in our garden this summer were the almost garish orange-red flowers of the perennial runner beans, climbing up a 2m-high trellis. They come up year after year, dying down each winter then sprouting in spring. They may not set fruit in the heat of summer, but as the weather cools there’ll be masses of beans and you’ll have flowers from late spring to the first frost of winter.

Back-of-the-garden beauties

If you’re looking for tall and luscious, try Jerusalem artichokes. Buy the tubers from the fruit shop or supermarket, not necessarily the garden centre. Plant about 10cm deep, and by next autumn they’ll be taller than you, with a mass of bright yellow sunflower-like blooms. The plants will die down in winter, which is when you dig them up to roast or make soup, but there are always a few tiny ones you miss and they’ll form new plants in the summer to come.

Ground covers

Weeds love bare ground. I love to fill bare spots between larger plants with herbs like golden marjoram or flowering oreganos with flowers like a host of coloured butterflies in summer. Most of the thymes make gorgeous ground covers too, with carpets of white, pink, red, or mauve flowers above leaves that can be dark green, grey-green or variegated and of various heights, but thymes do need a lot of weeding and “top dressing” with a scatter of fresh soil every couple of years to keep them vigorous and lush looking.

Once upon a time an “ornamental” garden was a way to yell to the world, “Hey, look, I’m so rich I can afford to grow roses and sweet peas instead of cabbages.” These days we can have both — gardens full of flowers and sweet scents and beauty and plants we can eat, as well.

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George Clooney still young at heart

George Clooney

George Clooney © Getty

George Clooney might be 50 years old, but his co-stars say he’s still a naughty schoolboy at heart.

Ryan Gosling stars opposite George in upcoming drama The Ides of March. He says he expected the iconic actor to be earnest and intense, and was surprised to discover he was a master prankster.

In pictures: George Clooney’s girls

“He will come up to you and tell you something very serious, and then you walk away and you realise your pants are wet,” Ryan told Extra.

“He’s had like an Evian spray bottle. He’s been spraying your crotch the whole time.”

George is single after splitting from his girlfriend of two years Elisabetta Canalis in June. The Italian TV presenter had hinted she was planning to wed George, but they ended their romance just weeks after her comments, amid claims he wasn’t interested in settling down.

In pictures: Celebs who are unlucky in love

George is one of Hollywood’s most famous bachelors. He was briefly married in the 1980s and vowed he would never wed again. He has kept his word, dating a series of beautiful women but never marrying.

Your say: Would you prefer a prankster like George, or a more serious man?

Video: Celebs who are scared of getting married

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