Demi Moore Honored at Women’s Cancer Research Fund Dinner, With Support From Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson

The Women’s Cancer Research Fund hosted its flagship fundraising event, “An Unforgettable Evening” Gala, in Beverly Hills on Wednesday night. Demi Moore received the Courage Award and philanthropist Wallis Annenberg was honored with the Unsung Hero Award.

The fundraising dinner – held at the Beverly Wilshire – was hosted by comedian Tig Notaro. The dinner marked the 25th anniversary of the event benefiting the WCRF, which is a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

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Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson acted as the night’s honorary chairs, alongside gala chairs businesswoman and philanthropist Jamie Alexander Tisch, environmentalist Kelly Chapman Meyer, philanthropist Quinn Ezralow, and Anastasia Beverly Hills CEO and founder Anastasia Soare.

Following opening remarks from Notaro and WCRF co-founder Tisch, Michael Douglas spoke to the crowd through a pre-recorded video as a tribute to his late stepmother Anne Douglas, a co-founder of WCRF. Douglas announced to the crowd that the Douglas Foundation – a charitable organization created by his late stepmother and late father – was pledging $500,000 to the WCRF.

Hanks also briefly addressed the crowd to introduce Dr. Evanthia Roussos Torres, a current grantee of the WCRF. Wilson then took the stage with Tisch to present Annenberg with the Unsung Hero Award, and the 84-year-old philanthropist spoke to the crowd about her own battle with lung cancer.

“In the words of the late Gilda Radner: ‘It gave me a membership to an elite club I’d rather not belong to,’” Annenberg told attendees during her speech. She recounted her experience as coming after a “lifetime of smoking” and spoke about the ads that previously promoted smoking as a protective measure for the throat.

“Information has the power to heal, to transform, to revitalize,” Annenberg said. “That’s why we all need to band together, to work together for the Women’s Cancer Research Fund.” To end her speech, the philanthropist wowed the crowd with the seemingly surprise announcement that she would be making a $1 million donation to WCRF.

The night’s main honoree, Moore, took the stage after an introduction from Wilson. “First, I want to say I’m deeply moved and touched,” Moore told the crowd. “But I also have a lot of questions.”

The actress then went on to question if she was courageous and what that meant. She particularly noted that “courage can’t exist in a vacuum” and shouted out the “sisterhood of incredible women” who have shown her how to be courageous. Moore also took a moment to highlight her aunt Deanna. The actress said her aunt is a breast cancer survivor who has been cancer-free for 18 years.

Moore spoke about her experience working on the Lifetime anthology film Five, saying she learned during the process the shame and silence surrounding breast cancer for women. “I hate to think that our mothers and grandmothers fought for both battles without the support,” she said closing out her speech.

The event also drew a number of other entertainment industry figures including Sting, who performed during the ceremony, Sofía Vergara, Lori Loughlin, Kyle Richards and Lisa Rinna.

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