Begowned in gold Versace at Monday night's Glamour's Women of the Year Awards, Jennifer Lopez said little about the ups and downs in her life and career, but said the women in her life -- mom, sisters, friends -- encircled her and got her through. "T," a survivor of the child sex trade, wore a sparkly Tory Burch, telling her horror story of being forced to the streets at age 10. Jennifer Aniston, a consummate comic herself, introduced Chelsea Handler, while Marc Jacobs honored his friend Cindy Sherman. An iconic Sherman just went for the highest price ever for a photograph by any artist. Condoleeza Rice introduced Laura Bush and the Bush girls, who quipped that they'd learned a lot from reading Glamour. The biggest laugh: suggesting Laura could drive her man wild.
Lopez may have received the final award in the star-studded Carnegie Hall tribute that also honored Gabrielle Giffords, represented by her husband Mark Kelly and step-daughters, Glee's Lea Michele for not getting a nose job (hey, Streisand never got one), Arianna Huffington for her visionary business expertise, and Gloria Steinem for "starting it all," but the star of the night was the Egyptian so called "Facebook Girl," Esraa Abdel Fattah, a force in her country's Arab Spring. Introduced by Kerry Washington, Abdel Fattah spoke about lessons learned in jail and her work in the new Egypt training women for political leadership.Emma Stone introduced 21 young women, aged 10 to 25, praised for fearless contributions: for raising money for Hurricane Katrina, for ovarian cancer research, for discovering a supernova, for inventing a prosthetic device that could eliminate phantom-limb pain in amputees, for poetry.
Looking on from the packed house was Julie Taymor, much vindicated by the decision that only she would be eligible to receive a Tony Award for Spider-Man, not an array of directors hauled in to "rescue" the show. Wendi Murdoch, who had made a much-publicized heroic leap to protect husband Rupert in court. Yes, it was a great night for women, inspiring women, empowering even a mysterious young group in the nosebleed seats, whooping whenever they were called upon. Women can surely do anything. And there were plenty of men too: seated nearby, Andrew Madoff with fiancée Catherine Hooper. Just announced: the book about his family from his and his mother's perspective will be made into a film starring Robert DeNiro
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