Although they’re usually glammed up to shoot a movie, walk the runway, or wow a red carpet audience, these days it’s not uncommon to spot a celebrity without all the makeup and designer clothes.

Former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins recently posed for the naked and unretouched photos that appear in Marie Claire in the name of The Butterfly Foundation, an Australian organization that provides support for people with eating disorders and unhealthy issues with self-esteem and body image. Usually glamorous actress Mariah Carey signed on to play the role of Mrs. Weiss, an overall frumpy (compared to Carey’s typical appearance) social worker in the 2009 movie hit Precious.

And, of course, there’s always some paparazzi around to catch a star without her makeup on, and given the backlash some advertisers and magazines have received over the years for featuring heavily retouched photos of models, actresses, and sometimes even musicians, it’s not really a surprise when companies launch campaigns such as Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund.

I wonder how – if at all – seeing these stars without all their cosmetic fanfare affects us non-famous women? How seeing these celebrities who are usually images of aesthetic perfection (or, close to it) look closer to everyday normal makes us feel about our own non-painted mugs.

I don’t know a whole lot about professional football, but you’d think that after being the only player in NFL history to have played on five Super Bowl-winning teams, former San Fransisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys star, and now five-time Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist Charles Haley would already be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Alas, he isn’t. Not yet, anyway.

What he is, however, is speaking publicly about his bipolar disorder, alongside his family members and former teammates who are doing the same.

According to The Dallas Morning News, the illness that might’ve led to some of Haley’s outrageous behavior in the past is now something he manages “through therapy, medicine and personal resolve,” but it might also be something that’s helping to hold him back from make the leap between semifinalist and actual Hall of Famer.

Supermodel Kate Moss might have hosted an outdoor dinner party to allow the paparazzi a chance to photograph her eating and maybe squash some of the pro-ana sentiment some folks thought her Women’s Wear Daily interview hinted at, but it’s former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins who’s upped the anti-eating disorder ante: The Australian posed for nude and unretouched photos for the February issue of Marie Claire (which goes on sale today) in support of The Butterfly Foundation, an organization in Australia that provides support for people with eating disorders and body image and self-esteem issues.

According to Yahoo!Lifestyle, the beauty queen not only appears nude and unretouched, but she also opens up about the kinds of pressures she had to deal with once she was crowned Miss Universe, and how she’s now more confident, comfortable, and empowered.

Of course, as is usually the case, not everyone’s happy. Radio host and comedienne Bianca Dye – who has also posed nude to show women the difference between what the public sees and what’s really going on, body-wise – doesn’t think featuring Hawkins as a positive image for women was Marie Claire’s best move:

“She was born beautiful. She has not had to go through any stress to look like that,” Dye told Confidential.

“Are they missing the point? Yes [Hawkins] is lovely, but does that make her a poster girl for positive body image?” Dye said.

What do you think? Does Dye make a good point – would Marie Claire have been better off choosing another, more voluptuous woman for the five-page spread? Or, would passing Hawkins up in favor of someone with more meat on her bones and less “natural beauty” (as the public defines it) have been just as discriminatory?

Mull it over, and in the meantime, in addition to the organization’s website you can keep up with The Butterfly Foundation by checking out the organization’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Image Source: Wikipedia

It seems I missed the chance to add one more celebrity memoir to Holiday Shopping With Celebrity Psychings back in December: Former tennis superstar Andre Agassi’s memoir, Open, hit shelves back in November, and while The New York Times‘ review wasn’t too hard on it (reviewer Janet Maslin claims the book’s revelations are “anticlimactic” in nature, but it did reach #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List), The Washington Post calls it “an honest, substantive, insightful autobiography.”

If you want to check out the book for yourself, there are plenty of ways you can warm up while you’re waiting for it to arrive: In addition to the brief video featured on the book’s Amazon page (that’s not an affiliate link, folks – just a link to watch the video), you can catch up with what Agassi has to say about much of the book’s content such as his struggles with depression, poor self-image, crystal meth abuse, the less-than-ideal relationship he had with his father, and – yes – how much he truly despised tennis when you check out his interviews with 60 Minutes‘ Katie Couric and Oprah.com’s Jenn Horton.

You might also want to spend some time getting familiar with the various charities Agassi has founded or been involved with over the years, such as the Andre Agassi Foundation as well as the numerous other organizations and causes listed over at The Sports Philanthropy Project.

To learn more about recent celebrity memoirs, check out Holiday Shopping With Celebrity Psychings: Celebrity Memoirs, and many thanks to Psych Central’s Sandra Kiume for this Agassi-related heads up!

You all know how I just love when celebrities get involved with mental health advocacy, especially when they use their own personal situations to help others, and it looks like the newest famous face to join the club is Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of musician Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley.

According to her most recent Facebook note, the singer, songwriter, and pianist seems to be doing much better after an incident in early December 2009 when she was rushed to the hospital after taking a handful of homeopathic pills in what some sources have reported as an apparent suicide attempt.

In the note, Alexa thanks her fans for their support and writes about the exciting plans she has in store for 2010:

I have many exciting new developments for the New Year, and I hope all of you can be a part of it!! This includes new creative projects, and even more volunteer work in hopes to give back to the community and, most importantly, to help young girls with something I feel I know a GREAT deal about: Heartbreak-Related Depression. Although it does not get much attention in our society, it is a very serious and painful condition that often gets “swept under the carpet”. I hope to bring this topic more to light… I’m even going back to school for Psychology in hopes to learn more about this and many other afflictions that many of us have had to face… after all, there’s nothing more fascinating than the human mind and it’s respective conditions…

According to UsMagazine.com, Alexa was “dealing with the end of a long-term relationship with former bandmate Jimmy Riot” at the time of the December incident.

Although it doesn’t take much more than common sense to understand the overall meaning of “heartbreak-related depression,” I haven’t yet been able to find any professional information (online, at least) about the phrase. (The first five pages of results after a quick Google of “heartbreak-related depression” alone brought me almost nothing …

While many folks rebel against the pressure of New Year’s resolutions, each New Year is often seen as a time of new beginnings, and many people view 12:01 a.m. as a time to make a fresh start.

This year, 18 famous faces gave UsMagazine.com their New Year’s resolutions, and whether or not you’re part of the group that vows to lose weight, exercise more, eat better, quit smoking, or practice better money managing, I think many of these celebrities’ resolutions are things many of us would do well to strive for.

While some celebrities like Samantha Harris, Kim Kardashian, Ashlee Simpson, and Tatyana Ali plan to strive to work on friendships and family relationships, others, like Irina Shabayeva, Corbin Bleu, Mark Indelicato, Shanna Moakler, Hailey Glassman, Miley Cyrus, and Adam Lambert have vowed to look inward and work more on personal improvement and enrichment.

My favorite of the celebrity resolutions, however, is Bill Murray‘s: The legendary funnyman, who turns 60 this year, simply states “To try to remember to look down on myself and realize how good I’ve got it.”

It sounds like the simplest, but really, I think it could be the toughest.

What about you? Have you decided on a New Year’s resolution or two for yourself this year? Maybe you’ve thought of a few you’d suggest to your favorite (or, least favorite, haha) celebrity?

Also, don’t forget to check out the rest of the New Year’s buzz around Psych Central!

• 6 Steps to Making New Year’s Resolutions That Work
• Some Notes on New Year’s Resolutions
• Making New Year’s Resolutions That Last
• 10 Sure Ways to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
• New Year’s Resolution: World Peace 5 Seconds At A Time
• The Psychology of New Year’s Resolutions
• New Year’s Resolutions: Role-Modeling the ‘How’ of Making Change