Jerome Jackson at Starlite Charity Gala
On Saturday 6th August, Hotel Villa Padierna, now world famous after Michelle Obama stayed there, was once again glittering with celebrities attending the Starlite Charity Gala on the Costa del Sol. Eva Longoria and Antonio Banderas, accompanied by his wife, Melanie Griffith, were raising much-needed funds for their respective charities, Foundations Parents Against Cancer, Eva’s Heroes and Lagrimas y Favores. The founders of the Starlite Charity are Maria Bravo and Sandra Alejandra García-Sanjuán.
Special guests were Jerome Jackson and his wife Halima, brother of the late Michael Jackson. Among the numerous celebrities were Gunilla von Bismark and Luis Ortiz, the British actor Joseph Fiennes and his wife Maria Dolores Dieguez Fiennes, Patricia Olmedilla, Gonzalo de la Cierva, Nina Junot, Octavi Pujadas, Amaia Salamanca, TV presenters Anne Igartiburu and Paula Vazquez, models and singers Elena Tablada, Elisabetta Briatore, Eugenia Silva, Ivone Reyes, Mar Saura, Marta Sanchez, Mariló, Monica Carillo and Victoria Swarovsky. More glamour was added with the presence of Salma Zaldeña, Remedio Cervantes, Paz Vega, Princess Beatriz D’Orleans, Patricia Rato, Paloma Cuevas, the actor Imanol Arias and his girlfriend Irene Meritxell, Dr. Raymond Hilu and Rosa Sanchez. Further celebrities included Kristina Szekely, Boris Izaguirre, Ahmed Ashmawi and Carmen Lomana.
Among the many raffle prizes was a holiday to Kenya, donated by Daphne Barak, a day on the sets of Desperate Housewives and CSI Miami, VIP seats at the Grammy awards and travelling with Barcelona Football Club to one of their games.
I was amongst over 150 press reporters and television networks, waiting for nearly two hours for the evening to start – see photograph of the yawn! We were all bused in from the collecting point in Estepona, and the organisers had made no adjustments from last year’s scrum for very limited positions. As press reporters of events, we are very used to having to scramble for the best viewpoint, but hardly ever to this degree. Organisers, please take note! Just a little more consideration would give your events even better publicity. Nonetheless, the struggle was more than made up for by the co-operation of Eva Longoria, Antonio Banderas and all the red-carpet celebrities.
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