It seems like every time we turn around, actress-turned-advocate Glenn Close is making headlines for her work with mental health advocacy. If she’s not working with Bring Change 2 Mind, the mental health foundation she helped launch, she’s chowing down with folks at auctions or having her genome mapped with hopes of moving science forward.

Don’t misunderstand – this is a good thing.

But when I saw the cover for the Spring 2010 edition of NAMI’s Advocate Magazine, which features both Glenn and her sister Jessie (Glenn’s sister who has bipolar disorder and who helped Glenn launch the foundation), I was more interested in Jessie than her sister.

Mostly, I was more interested in her shirt.

During some very rare downtime this morning, I was able to relax with a cup of joe and catch a few minutes of The Today Show. The segment was about Simon Monjack, Brittany Murphy’s widower who was found dead Sunday night by the same lady who found Murphy dead just five month’s ago: Brittany’s mother, Sharon Murphy.

More than that he died, the segment was about how he died, which, of course, none of us know yet. Lots of folks are attributing his death to the serious heart condition he kept ignoring (his publicist, Roger Neal, claims Monjack needed bypass surgery but kept putting it off), but naturally there’s also been talk of accidental overdose (supposedly prescription medications were found at the scene), suicide, and even a broken heart.

Despite those last two suggestions, I’ve refrained from blogging about it here until authorities release more official and conclusive reports.

The reason I’m blogging about it now is a comment Neal made during the segment.

Those of you who are excited about seeing Megan Fox as Leila in the Jonah Hex previews out right now won’t be as excited once the previews for Transformers 3 start airing.

That’s because the actress has been dropped from the movie – or, decided not to play in it – depending on which source you believe.

According to People, a rep for Fox claims “it was her decision not to return” and “she wishes the franchise the best,” but according to MTV, a rep for Paramount confirmed that the studio just didn’t renew Fox’s contract.

Of course, it could just be that Paramount didn’t renew her contract because she opted not to continue with the movies, but…that’s a tough one to swallow given the the rocky relationship she and Transformers director Michael Bay have, um, endured.

Fox has compared Bay to “Hitler,” claiming that when he’s not away from the set “he’s a nightmare to work for” and is “like Napoleon and wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation.”

Bay, as we remember, suggested Fox see a doctor before Transformers 3 started filming.

Whatever the reason, I do wish her the best. Despite opinions about Fox as a woman, an actress, and an overall Hollywood presence, the girl has been through some stuff (she candidly shared her details about her history with self-injury with Rolling Stone last summer) and has clearly proven herself to be one tough cookie.

Recognize that chick to the right?

Probably not, unless you know me personally (or follow me on Twitter or Facebook), because I don’t think I’ve ever posted a picture of myself here at Celebrity Psychings, but…that’s me!

Of course, the name might’ve tipped you off

Anyway, as part of his annual Mental Health Awareness Month Cartoon-A-Thon (this is his first year at Psych Central, where he blogs Mental Health Humor) my good friend and the very talented cartoonist Chato B. Stewart has dubbed me and a slew of other folks in the mental health field as Mental Health Heroes.

You can check out the whole bunch at his May 11-17 Cartoon-A-Thon post.

He’s darn good, yes?

Great news for all you Eminem fans – and, of course, Eminem himself.

According to Paul Grein’s Chart Watch blog over at Y! Music, “Not Afraid,” the first single off Em’s upcoming album Recovery, debuted in the Hot 100 at #1. It’s only the second rap song to ever do so – 1997′s tribute to Biggie Smalls, “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy, Faith Evans, and 112, being the first.

That in itself was a pretty big slot to fill.

‘Course, that’s nothing too new to Eminem: Relapse, his first album after his hiatus, debuted at #1 back in May 2009.

If you’ll remember, I commented that I wasn’t all that into Relapse, but that I thought it was because I’d just outgrown Eminem’s style. (Still, I was a little surprised to hear in the lyrics to “Not Afraid” Eminem admit “Let’s be honest, that last Relapse CD was ‘ehhhh’.”)

Well.

I’ve heard “Not Afraid,” and I really like it.

His former American Idol co-worker Paula Abdul didn’t make it on the list (I’m assuming because her situation involved a suicide rather than a murder attempt), but Ryan Seacrest — along with stars like Madonna, Mick Jagger, 50 Cent, and Jewel – made PopCrunch’s recent 15 of the Most Bizarre Celebrity Murder Attempts, and I’m kind of surprised I never heard about it.

I mean, when a highly trained member of the US Special Forces is arrested for “wandering the halls of the E! offices in search of” one of the world’s most in-demand celebrity hosts – with a knife, no less — you’d think Google Alerts would, I don’t know, give a heads up or something.

In any event, the PopCrunch article gives a brief look at each of the 15 celebrity murder attempts and their attackers, which not every one of you will be interested in, but, it also includes a little insight on celebrity stalkers:

If you’ve spent any amount of time pilfering around here at Celebrity Psychings, you’re probably already somewhat familiar with the mental health advocacy work of Joe Pantoliano.

After spending years dealing with and learning to manage his own mental health issues, the actor-turned-advocate launched No Kidding, Me Too! (nkm2), a public charity designed to “remove the stigma attached to brain dis-ease through education and the breaking down of societal barriers,” and has toured both the United States and Iraq educating American civilians and soldiers with his documentary of the same name.

Shoot, I even featured him during last May’s Mental Health Month Spotlight.

Now The New York Times is picking up on everything Joey Pants has been doing over the past couple of years (maybe it has something to do with his interview on The Today Show last week?); fortunately, this is one of those “better late than never” situations because the write up, ‘Bad Guy’ Actor ‘Joey Pants’ Takes On Mental Illness, not only brings readers up to speed regarding Joey’s mental health advocacy and campaign work, but also shows them the nkm2 PSA and details about how they can pick up their own copy of the documentary from Amazon.com.

“The one thing that holds progress back more than anything else is the stigma.” – Rosalynn Carter

Certainly a celebrity of her own brand, 82-year-old former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who’s advocated for the progress of mental health treatment and an end to the stigma of mental illness for decades, has released a new book, Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis.

According to The Associated Press, the book details the mental health system’s progress and Carter’s mental health advocacy since the 1966 encounter she had with a “stooped and weary” woman who was on her way home to take care of her mentally ill daughter, and in this video featured on Amazon, Carter praises the advances we’ve made in mental health treatment but is careful to stress how far we have to go regarding stigma.

82 years old, people – 82 years old – and this woman is still hot on the anti-stigma campaign. What an inspiration!

Think you’ll pick up a copy?