Angelina Jolie earrings donated to Razzle Dazzle luncheon
Razzle Dazzle luncheon chairs Hallie Vanderhider and Kristina Somerville were uncharacteristically secretive about the Memorial Hermann Foundation fundraiser’s two live-auction items.
Vanderhider modeled earrings designed by her guest, celebrity jeweler Robert Procop, throughout the champagne reception and soiree. The designer donated two pairs of earrings for Thursday’s affair benefiting the Bobetta C. Lindig Breast Care Center. One of those sets comes directly from the personal vault of a well-known breast cancer awareness advocate: Angelina Jolie.
“Angelina, my client, has that unfortunate gene,” Procop said onstage of the Oscar winner’s preventive double mastectomy after learning she had the BRCA1 gene. He and Jolie have collaborated on several jewelry collections and subsequently donated the proceeds to all-girl schools in conflict zones. “When we ask those little girls what they want to be when they grow up, they all say doctors.”
A tense round of bidding ensued over the 37.38-carat tourmalated quartz square bezel set in 18-carat rose-gold ear- rings. Susan Sarofim emerged victorious for a cool $25,000. Vanderhider’s dream of owning some Procop bling came true after she snagged the other pair of moonstone, diamond and sapphire baubles for $12,000.
The luncheon, which drew 560 attendees to the Westin Memorial City, garnered a recordbreaking $400,000 by afternoon’s end.
Expectant mother and mistress of ceremonies Chita Craft reminded the audience that the soiree has raised more than $1.6 million since its inception in 2010.
“We chose the theme ‘3D Pink’ to highlight the technology,” Somerville said. Her mother, also in attendance, recently battled breast cancer.
“We named her tumor Voldemort,” Somerville said.
Honorees Mary Ann McKeithan and Mayor Pro-Tem Ellen Cohen, both breast cancer survivors, shared their experiences, too.
McKeithan became tearful as she acknowledged her husband, David McKeithan, who took her to lunch after every radiation treatment.
“Trust me, we’ve eaten everywhere,” she said during her remarks. “But it gave me something to look forward to.”
Guest speaker and New York Times best-selling author Elin Hilderbrand raised the crowd’s spirits by putting a humorous spin on her 2014 breast cancer diagnosis.
“Before, I was half of an A-cup,” she said. “My doctor told me, ‘They don’t make implants as small as you are, so you’re going to get bigger breasts.”
Hildebrand received implants after successful treatment on the four tumors in her right breast and one in the left. Shortly after, she contracted a MRSA infection and had to replace one.
“I’m probably the only person you know who lost three breasts last year,” she quipped in closing.