Demi Moore Honored at Women’s Cancer Research Fund Dinner

The Women’s Cancer Research Fund hosted its flagship fundraising event, “An Unforgettable Evening,” gala in Beverly Hills on Wednesday night. Demi Moore received the Courage Award and humanitarian Wallis Annenberg received the Unsung Hero Award.The fundraising dinner – held in Beverly Wilshire – was hosted by comedian Tig Notaro. The dinner marked the 25th anniversary of the event benefiting WCRF, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson served as honorary chairs for the night, with gala chairs businesswoman and philanthropist Jamie Alexander Tisch, environmentalist Kelly Chapman Mayer, philanthropist Quinn Ezralow, and CEO and founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills. With pig.

After opening remarks by Notaro and WCRF co-founder Tisch, Michael Douglas spoke to the crowd via pre-recorded video to pay tribute to WCRF co-founder, his late stepmother Ann Douglas. Douglas announced to the crowd that the Douglas Foundation – a charity created by his late stepmother and late father – was pledging $500,000 to WCRF.

Hanks also addressed the crowd briefly to introduce current WCRF grantee Dr. Evanthia Roussos Torres. Wilson then took the stage with Tisch to present Annenberg with the Unsung Hero Award, and the 84-year-old philanthropist spoke to the crowd about his battle with lung cancer.

“In the words of the late Gilda Radner: ‘He gave me membership in an elite club I didn’t belong in,'” Annenberg told attendees during her speech. He describes his experience as coming after a “lifetime of smoking” and talks about the advertisements that previously promoted smoking as a preventative measure for the throat.

“Information has the power to heal, to transform, to revitalize,” Annenberg said. “That’s why we all need to work together, working together to fund women’s cancer research.” To end her speech, the philanthropist stunned the crowd with the seemingly surprising announcement that she would donate $1 million to WCRF.

Gala Chair Jamie Alexander Tisch and Honorary Chair Rita Wilson presented Wallis Annenberg with the Unsung Hero Award. Amy Sussman/Getty Images

The night’s main honoree, Moore, took the stage after being introduced by Wilson. “First of all, I want to say that I am deeply moved and moved,” Moore told the crowd. “But I also have a lot of questions.”

The actress then questioned whether she was brave and what that meant. She specifically noted that “courage cannot exist in a vacuum” and called out the “sisterhood of incredible women” who showed her how to build courage. Moore also took a moment to highlight her aunt Dina. The actress said that her aunt is a breast cancer survivor who has been cancer free for 18 years.Moore spoke about her experience working on the Lifetime anthology film. FiveShe said she learned the shame and silence about breast cancer for women during the process. “I hate to think that our mothers and grandmothers fought both battles without support,” she said as she concluded her speech.

The event also attracted several other entertainment industry figures including Sting, who performed during the event, Sofia Vergara, Lori Loughlin, Kyle Richards and Lisa Rinna.