An Unforgettable Evening, 25 Years in the Making

Demi Moore and Wallis Annenberg were honored by the Women’s Cancer Research Fund for raising awareness

Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Photography by GETTY IMAGES

Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks.

For 25 years, a group of women in Hollywood along with philanthropists and supporters of cancer research have gathered to support the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and on Wednesday, April 10, they celebrated an Unforgettable Evening together at the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel. Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks, the evening’s honorary chairs, joined Jamie Alexander Tisch, Quinn Ezralow, Kelly Chapman Meyer, and Anastasia Soare, all of whom served as gala chairs, and a slate of co-chairs that included Tom Ford, Kris Levine, Judy and Leonard Lauder, NJ Falk, Dr. Stacie J. Stephenson and Richard J. Stephenson, Steve Tisch and Lori Kanter Tritsch, and William P. Lauder. Also on hand were Kathy and Rick Hilton, Melanie Griffith, Monique Lhuillier, Sofia Vergara, Martin and Kelly Katz, Nia Vardalos, Jonathan Simkhai, Ashley Greene, and Chord Overstreet. Hosted by Tig Notaro and benefiting pioneering cancer research at medical and academic institutions in California and across the country, the night honored Demi Moore and Wallis Annenberg for their awareness-raising work.

Annenberg received the organization’s Unsung Hero award for her foundation’s work fighting cancer and improving community well-being. “Suffice to say that Wallis’ gift for innovation has led to game-changing positive impacts in areas ranging from medical research to education to arts to culture to the environmental stewardship that she has led with,” said Wilson, introducing the honoree, while Tisch called her a “heroic ally.” Accepting the award, Annenberg announced she was donating $1,000,000 to the organization. Wilson also presented Demi Moore with the year’s Courage award. “Courage can’t exist in a vacuum,” said Moore after she took to the stage. “This award is truly for the sisterhood of incredible women who have shown me what courage looks like, my family, my friends, my glorious daughters, even my brand-new granddaughter teaches me about heroics every day… and of course, most important, women like my aunt Deanna, who survived breast cancer and has been free of it for 18 years,” she added.

Michael Douglas recorded a video tribute and also announced a pledge of $500,000 to the research-supporting organization — which furthers innovative approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment — in honor of his mother, Anne Douglas, herself a WCRF co-founder. And Sting brought along an acoustic guitar to perform, singing a set that included “Englishman in New York” and “Fields of Gold” as well as “Every Breath You Take.”