Hey! I’m Nehal (rhymes with Amal, you know that humanitarian superstar married to George?), a former red carpet reporter, a chocoholic, an Opraholic and a proud mum of 3.
I’ve interviewed some awesome people over the last decade including Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman, Cate Blanchett, The Rock and Matt Damon and was surprised to learn how they are all giving back to people and communities in need. Yet these stories are not the ones on the front pages of the magazines.
Frustrated by the constant lies, gossip and bullying that seem to dominate celebrity news, I decided it was time to change the dialogue. In 2018, I started CelebrityKind.com, a site dedicated to the humanitarian work, kindness, fun and achievements of celebrities.
And yeah, we do things a little differently around here…
You’ll notice there are no paparazzi photos on this site unless the celebrities have implied consent like at red carpet events. You won’t find any photos of the children of celebrities either (hell yes to Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s #NoKidsPolicy) unless they are public figures themselves and even then, we think about the impact of sharing the photos first. You won’t read stories that body-shame or tear women down. Or baby/wedding news until the celebrities themselves are ready to share that info (because why not let them have the joy of sharing on their own terms?). And you won’t find any gossip or stories from unnamed mystery sources because playing with people’s lives and mental health for entertainment and clicks just doesn’t sit right with me.
So what’s left?
Content that recognises celebrities as the humans they are. The stuff that celebrates their hearts and their minds and the ways they are using their influence to create change. And sure, I’ll throw in the odd story about Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds pranking each other, because celebrity news was always meant to be fun!
Through CelebrityKind, my hope is to not only create pop culture content that inspires us all to be the best version of ourselves (rather than making us feel better about being the worst version of ourselves), but also to generate awareness about how the media we click on, respond to and share ultimately shapes the world we live in.
Kindness, empathy and helping others makes the world go round and if we just focused on these things more in the media, maybe, just maybe, we’d see a more kind, empathetic and inspiring world.
