Blog Posts by Beth Greenfield, Shine Staff

It’s been said that being trusted is a greater compliment than being loved, and if that’s true, then Sandra Bullock must be feeling pretty pleased with herself. She beat out totally beloved women including Michele Obama, Robin Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts (and men including both President Obama and Clint Eastwood) in Readers Digest’s “100 Most Trusted People in America” list, released Tuesday. Bullock ranked No. 2 overall, just behind Tom Hanks (no surprise there) and miles ahead of Kristen Stewart, who had the dubious distinction of topping the Least Trusted list. 

The Reader’s Digest results came from an online poll of more than 1,000 Americans who based trustworthiness on “integrity and character, exceptional talent, drive to personal excellence, internal moral compass, message, honesty and leadership.”

So what’s Bullock got over K-Stew and the others? “It comes down to sincerity, which is a sorely lacking trait in celebrity-land these days,” longtime

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Ashley Summer, who would be 19, in an age-progression image. Photo: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children/Daily NewsWhile the family members of recovered kidnapping victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight are rejoicing this week, the kin of another Cleveland woman, Ashley Summers, are struggling to keep hope alive under the heavy weight of disappointment.

More from Shine: Kidnapping Survivors: What Happens What They Go Home

Summers went missing in 2007 at the age of 14, and on Monday, before third woman Michelle Knight was identified, her aunt Debra initially thought she was among them.

“I called my mom, I called my sisters, I called everybody,” she told CNN, standing in front of her house with tears in her eyes, agreeing that she was crushed when Ashley was not one of the saved women. “I was upset, but I was happy at the same time that they found the third girl,” she said. “We’re hoping that it’s connected, and they knew where she was. We’re hoping for a miracle.”

More from Yahoo!: Questions Mount on how Ohio Women's Captivity Went Undetected

Debra was at work when Shine reached out to

Read More »from Ashley Summers, Fourth Missing Cleveland Girl: Is She Connected to Kidnapping Case?

photo by AP images

When news broke Monday that three women who vanished a decade ago had been found in downtown Cleveland, few people could claim to have any idea what was going through the minds of Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry, and Michelle Knight. But Jaycee Dugard—the California woman who was kidnapped and held for 18 years, sharing her experience in a 2011 memoir, “A Stolen Life”—is among a handful of people who can.

More on Shine: Jaycee Dugard: Healing Without Rage and Why

“These individuals need the opportunity to heal and connect back into the world,” she said Tuesday in a media statement about the new case. “This isn’t who they are. It is only what happened to them.” It’s only what happened to Dugard, too, along with others like Elizabeth Smart and Natascha Kampusch, whose stories of resilience have been followed by the public for years. What they’ve managed to do with their lives since being rescued, though, is oftentimes just as incredible.

Dugard. Photo: Charles Isherman/Getty ImagesJaycee Dugard
Dugard was just 11 years old when, on her Read More »from Kidnapping Survivors: What Happens When They Go Home

Get off the couch! It may be harming your baby! Photo: Getty ImagesYou may be better off standing than sitting on your sofa, particularly if you are a pregnant woman, according to a new study on the dangers of flame retardants in furniture.

More on Shine: Are You Overwhelmed with Protecting Your Family From Toxins? Why You're Not Alone.

Flame retardants—toxic chemicals soaked into couches and other types of household items, including mattresses and carpet pads, to make them fire resistant—have long been linked with cancer and developmental difficulties. And now a new study, released Monday, offers fresh evidence that those toxins may affect children while they are still in utero, effectively lowering IQs and raising rates of hyperactivity.

“It looks like we have a new study with very concerning results,” Sarah Janssen, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Yahoo! Shine. Though manufacturers no longer use the specific flame retardants tracked in the study—called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs—they remain in pieces

Read More »from Your Couch is Toxic: New Study Confirms Fears about Flame Retardants in Furniture

Boylan with sons Sean and Zachary and wife Deedie. Photo: Courtesy Jenny BoylanThere are not too many people in the world who can say they’ve been both a mother and a father. But Jennifer Finney Boylan, née James Boylan, can.

More on Shine: Transgender Woman Rejected from Smith is Just the Latest Tale of Trans-Woman Bias

As James—a dark-haired man with a “feminine streak” who was a teacher of literature and a fan of Grateful Dead music—he met and fell in love with his wife, Deedie, in his late twenties, and soon became a father to their two sons. But James was harboring a secret: He was transgender, and, in his heart, had never truly felt male. He suppressed the notion for several years after marrying Deedie, but it eventually racked him with debilitating anger and sadness.

“I used to tear my hair out thinking, when you have children, you’re not only living for yourself,” Boylan told Yahoo! Shine in an interview this week. “I was willing to bear a pretty heavy burden that meant keeping the people around me safe, but I got to the point where I couldn’t take another

Read More »from Transgender Author Jennifer Finney Boylan Went From Dad to Mom: How it Changed Her Family

Lucky for us, UK-based illustrator Nickolay Lamm seems to be a bit obsessed with Barbie. First, he turned his artistically critical eye on the 54-year-old icon's makeup, stripping down her face with much more grace than another recent effort. Now Lamm, also a blogger, is going after Barbie's oft-criticized physique. In order for an average woman to look like Barbie, she would have to grow two feet taller, extend her neck length by 3.2 inches, gain five inches in bust size, and lose six inches in waist circumference, according to data from the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, cited by the recent Rehabs.com feature "Dying to be Barbie." Lamm has highlighted the discrepancies by comparing Barbie's body side-by-side to the mockup of a realistic version, based on CDC measurements of the average American 19-year-old. Now if only the CDC made a doll.…--Beth Greenfield, Shine Staff

Read More »from Barbie Vs. Real Women: Artist Shows Shocking Differences

Tatler's June cover. Photo: Tatler via the Daily Beast.Most pregnant women are pretty damn anxious to have their baby once month seven rolls around. But with Kate Middleton, it's the world that can hardly contain itself.

Exhibit A: Tatler magazine's June issue, which hits stands tomorrow and features a peaches-and-cream–skinned baby, a crown perched on its head, with the cover line, "Tatler's Inside Countdown: To William and Kate's First Child." The infant, who's wearing white bloomers, is sitting next to a precious Corgie pup.

The magazine's main feature is written as an open letter to Kate, reports the Daily Beast, with pearls of wisdom including the suggestion to carry a squash (instead of the baby) swaddled in cashmere as she exits the hospital to throw off awaiting paparazzi, as well as the idea to have a second dress as backup at the christening, in case leaking breasts or baby spit-up stains her first choice. The letter also notes that Kate shouldn't be surprised if she despises William for the first nine months of parenthood.

Tatler

Read More »from The Royal Baby is Already on the Cover of a Magazine—Sort Of

The new miracle shirt. Photo: Wool & PrinceLaundry: like it or loathe it, it’s got to get done. Or does it? Maybe not, if the creator of a new no-wash shirt has his way. 

More on Shine: How Often do You Really Need to Wash Your Jeans?

Clothing company Wool & Prince, founded in New York City by entrepreneur Mac Bishop, has developed the “better button-down,” a tailored men’s shirt that can be worn for 100 days straight with “No washing. No dry cleaning. No wrinkles. No odor.” Funding has come from a Kickstarter campaign, which had already pulled in more than $167,000 on Tuesday—putting it $135,000 past its goal way before its May 22 deadline. While the retail price has yet to be announced, shirts are available to Kickstarter investors for $98 each.

More on Yahoo!: Obama Celebrates Young Inventors at White House Science Fair

Bishop, 24, whose family owns the Pendleton Woolen Mills in Oregon ("Fashion is in my blood, I guess you could say," he told Shine), created and trademarked the "Cotton-Soft" wool fabric after six months of

Read More »from The Shirt You Don't Have to Wash—and Other Clothes that Rarely Get Too Dirty