By Stone Martindale Sep 22, 2007, 16:36 GMT
Beautiful actress Ashley Judd is a sibling of Winona Judd and daughter of Naomi Judd. She is also married to Indy race car driver Dario Franchitti. You would think she is living the jet set lifestyle of the rich and famous.
Ashley Judd - © J. Bailey / PR Photos
Not so. Judd, who stars in the upcoming movie "Crossing Over," tells Showbuzz.com she was born with the divine gift of empathy, an insists on giving back to her community.
"I think that empathy is a gift from God," she told The ShowBuzz. "Somehow or another, by the grace of God, I got the intolerance-and-exquisite-sensitivity-to-poverty gene. I like that about myself ... I got a little distracted there by Hollywood for a while, felt very satisfied by what I had accomplished and then an organization called Population Services International approached me the same week that Bono approached me and said we'd like for you to be a part of empowering poor people."
Judd is a YouthAIDS global ambassador and has helped the poor and vulnerable. For Judd, service work is her highest priority.
Now the actress has introduced a clothing line. Three new affordable labels to be sold exclusively at Goody's stores: A.J., Love, Ashley and Ashely Judd.
According to Showbuzz, Goody's Family Retailers, headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., and has many locations throughout the Southeast.
"They basically approached me and said we want you to come be you," she said to Showbuzz. "I get to bring my service work, philosophy ... it became clear that they weren't trying to impose their marketing strategy on me."
Goody's and Judd together will give away $500,000 to schools that demonstrate their commitment to giving back to the community.
Judd insists her clothes are made from organic fibers.
"I'm really hoping that my customer will be very inspired by the idea of wearing clothing that is cruelty free -- cruelty free to people who manufactured it and friendly to the earth," she said to SHowbuzz.
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