Linda will be participating in the "Communities in Schools" fundraiser being held January 18 - February 11, 2005.
"Communities in Schools" is a not-for-profit organization that helps help young people successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life.

The fundraiser she will be participating in is called "Lunch With a Leader". The fundraiser gives people an opportunity to meet with some of America's leading figures in such fields as entertainment, public service, journalism, sports, and business.
Anyone can bid on these one-hour lunches through the online auction that supports the work of "Communities In Schools".

Bidding for the lunch with Linda starts January 25!

So guys, give it a try, meet Linda, and know that your money will go to a wonderful organization!

The winner of the auction and up to three friends will join Linda for lunch in Lincolnton, N / USA! Enjoy conversation about acting, starring in films, and other topics of interest! Time and place will be determined according to Linda's schedule. This unique experience has a reserve price of $500.

For more information and details on this awesome possibility click here.

And in case one of you LHOW members will win, maybe you want to tell Linda about our site and send us a picture with you and Linda :)

In an interview "M.I.A."s director Gabrielle Savage Dockterman talked about working with Linda:

>> We were lucky in that Linda happened to be looking to do a meaningful independent film when we approached her. We were in the right place at the right time. Linda was an absolute delight. She was perfect for the role. There are some funny comedic moments for Kate, and Linda really nailed them. She has a great sense of comedic timing. I enjoyed working with her immensely. <<

"The Woodcutter" got a new title:
"M.I.A.: Missing in America"

The theatrical release date for "Smile" in the US is April 4.

November 17, 2004 Linda was a guest on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with topic "Depressed, Mentally Ill and Famous".

You can watch the intro trailer for the show as well as "After Show" here.

Following is the information that oprah.com published on Linda:

>> She starred in the multi-million dollar Terminator blockbusters and was one of Hollywood's first female action heroes. Away from the spotlight, however, Linda Hamilton was living a personal hell. Now, Linda, is revealing the truth behind her private battle?a lifelong struggle with manic depression that went undiagnosed for most of her life.

Linda says she is haunted by painful memories of her childhood. "I know that my parents found me beating a puppy with a stick when I was 5," says Linda. "I remembered ever since then that horrible tale of beating a precious soul with a stick. And that's pretty much the way my life went." An identical twin, she says she hated resembling her sister and took drastic measures to rebel, even cutting off her long eyelashes in high school. As Linda lost control, she says she comforted herself with food and ate her way to 170 pounds.

Linda found her passion in acting and moved to Hollywood in her early 20s, but depression shadowed her every move. "I really started to break down," says Linda. "I turned to drugs. Alcohol use. I medicated with lots of cocaine in my early life. Anything that I could do to get my confidence up."

According to Linda Hamilton, her reckless and unpredictable behavior ruined her first marriage to actor Bruce Abbott. When Linda became pregnant, Linda says Bruce couldn't take the ups and downs any longer. "He lived in fear of me," Linda says. "He left me saying I was a bully."

Devastated and alone, Linda says her life had begun to spin out of control?and then she got the phone call to co-star in Terminator 2. Instead of self-medicating with drugs or alcohol, Linda says she became addicted to exercise. "It could not have been better timing for me to get up every morning and get out there and exercise and start to feel stronger and turn myself into this fighting machine. So of course I went too far with the exercise."

Linda and Terminator director James Cameron soon married, but her manic depression threatened this relationship, too. "By the time Jim and I were together, I was really spiraling out of control," says Linda. "I fought him, I fought everything about his life." Her second marriage was beginning to crumble, and after their daughter was born, Linda says her depression even conjured up hallucinations about her children. "I couldn't leave the house without images of them being chopped into bloody pieces."

Eventually, with a very ugly public divorce looming, the pressures of stardom and a high profile relationship proved too much to bear. "I felt like I was gonna die, that I was just gonna lay on the floor and let go and let it all go," says Linda.

Linda Hamilton says having children helped her take control of her bipolar depression. "I don't think that 'mentally ill' is a phrase that most people would embrace about themselves," says Linda. "I think it was when I had children that I woke up and said, 'I have to be an adult; I'm not going to scare my children.' I want to be here in every possible way for them and, for 20 years, it had all been about me. Me. Me fighting to make myself feel better. Me fighting to manage the bad feelings. The emotions. The thoughts. The cyclical thoughts that I had. So I didn't want to be that person with my children. And I got help."

After years of fighting medication, Linda says medication has helped regulate her depression for almost 10 years. "Every day's a good day," says Linda. "It's taken me a long time to get my life back. To be the person I was raised to be and the person I always was inside that couldn't find a way out." <<