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HGTV (also referred to as Home & Garden Television), is a cable-television channel operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home-and-garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows. It also operates the HGTV.com website.

Like its sister channels (the Cooking Channel, the DIY Network, the Food Network, Great American Country and the Travel Channel), the channel belongs to Scripps Networks Interactive, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. The channel sponsors the annual HGTV Dream Home giveaway.

History[link]

Kenneth W. Lowe (then a radio executive with The E.W. Scripps Company and subsequently the chief executive officer of Scripps Networks Interactive) envisioned HGTV in 1992. With modest financial support from the E.W. Scripps board he purchased Cinetel, a small video-production company in Knoxville as the base and production hub of the new network.

Cinetel became Scripps Productions, but producing more than thirty programs simultaneously proved daunting. The organization brought in former CBS television executive Ed Spray who implemented a system of producing (nearly all) programming through independent production houses around the US. Burton Jablin, as Vice President of Programming, set the tone and oversaw the production of the early series. About ninety percent of the channel was original at launch, with ten percent licensed and re-run from Canadian, PBS, and other sources.

Using local Scripps cable franchises (since divested), the U.S. Federal Communications Commission "must carry" provisions of Scripps medium-market television stations and other small television operators to gain cable carriage, the channel launched in 1994. The major programming themes, unchanged since the beginning, were home building and remodeling, landscaping and gardening,decorating and design, and crafts and hobbies.

A variation of the logo used from December 1, 1994 to March 1, 2010

During its development, the channel was the Home, Lawn, and Garden Channel. The name was later shortened and a logo developed. The logo was amended in 2010, with this version debuting on March 1 of that year. The square with "G" in it is gone, the roof is larger and the "HGTV" letters are now set in Gotham Black, with the other Gotham fonts being used around the network. The network debuted with a skeletal staff, but with gradual acceptance by other cable operators, it now reaches 94 million households in the United States and has either partner networks, or network interests, in Canada, Japan, and elsewhere. It is now referred to simply as "HGTV", the full name of the channel is de-emphasized.

In July 2008, E.W. Scripps spun off the channel and the other Scripps cable channels and web-based properties into a separate company, Scripps Networks Interactive; E.W. Scripps broadcast television and newspaper properties remain in the original company.

In December 2011, the channel began broadcasting all of its programming in 16:9 aspect-ratio (or letterbox) format on its standard-definition (SD) channel. There are black bars on the top and bottom of the screen; its high-definition (HD) channel covers the entire screen.

Programming[link]

Currently airing (2011/12*)[link]

[edit] Notable shows currently not airing (2011/12^[2])

HGTV HD[link]

HGTV HD, a 1080i HD channel, originally did not simulcast its parent channel, but featured programming separate from HGTV.

On March 31, 2008, HGTV, along with the Food Network, launched its HD simulcast of its SD feed. SD programs on the HD feed are stretched to fill the screen rather than presented in their original 4:3 aspect ratio.

Carriage disputes[link]

Cablevision[link]

On December 31, 2009, Scripps removed the Food Network and HGTV from Cablevision, a cable-television provider serving the Greater New York City metropolitan area on the day that their contract was set to expire. After months of negotiations, a consensus between Scripps and Cablevision was not reached, prompting the removal of the two channels.

On January 21, 2010, Cablevision and Scripps reached a deal and the channels were aired once again on the same day and by the next day in other areas.

AT&T U-verse[link]

On November 5, 2010, AT&T U-verse dropped the DIY Network, the Cooking Channel, the Food Network, Great American Country and HGTV, due to a carriage dispute.^[3] On November 7, 2010, the carriage dispute was resolved.^[4][5]

Canada[link]

In 1997, a Canadian version of HGTV launched. It is a joint venture between Canadian company Canwest and Scripps Networks.

See also[link]

	Gardening portal
	Home portal
	Television in the United States portal

• List of United States cable and satellite television networks
• Orphan initialism

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Christian Siriano
Christian Siriano in May 2011
Born	(1985-11-18) November 18, 1985 (age 26) Annapolis, Maryland, United States
Nationality	American
Education	American InterContinental University
Occupation	Fashion designer
Labels	Christian Siriano

Christian Siriano (born November 18, 1985) is an American fashion designer. Siriano first gained attention after winning the fourth season of American reality show Project Runway, becoming the series' youngest winner.^[1] Shortly after winning Runway, Siriano launched his fashion line, Christian Siriano, which as of 2010 has brought in revenue of over $1.2 million.^[2]

Early life[link]

Siriano was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland.^[3][4] He has one older sister,^[5] and is of Italian and German descent.^[6]

Siriano has said that his parents supported the arts and encouraged him and his sister to pursue creative fields.^[5][6] As a child, Siriano studied ballet,^[5][6] and on a March 2008 Ellen appearance, he described himself as a "musical theater kid who loved costumes".^[7] Siriano's interest in costume design inspired him to pursue a career in fashion.^[3][5] He began designing clothes at age thirteen, while working as a hair washer and styling assistant at Bubbles Salon in Annapolis, and eventually began sewing clothes for the salon's annual hair shows.^[8] Siriano spent a year at Broadneck Senior High School before transferring to Baltimore School for the Arts.^[8] The school allowed Siriano to choose fashion design as his course of study.^[3]

After being rejected by the Fashion Institute of Technology,^[9] Siriano chose to study abroad at American InterContinental University in London, England.^[8] Following the recommendation of a teacher during his senior year, he began interning at Vivienne Westwood, and later, at Alexander McQueen,^[8] whom Siriano has stated is his favorite designer.^[10] Siriano moved to New York City after graduating from college.^[3]

Career[link]

[edit] Project Runway

Before auditioning for the fourth season of Project Runway, Siriano worked as a freelance make-up artist for Stila cosmetics and made wedding gowns for private clients^[5] while also holding a brief intern position at Marc Jacobs.^[3] Siriano decided to audition for the show after the suggestion of a friend's mother.^[5] During his time on Runway, Siriano won four challenges, the most of any contestant that season (followed by Rami and Victorya, who each won two).^[11] Siriano advanced to the show's finals, and won a spot to show a twelve-piece final collection at New York Fashion Week. His collection was made up of Musketeer-inspired couture, featuring ruffles, feathers and headwear.^[12]

During the finale, which aired on March 5, 2008, celebrity guest judge Victoria Beckham praised Siriano's collection as being a "breath of fresh air" and stated that she would be "honored to wear" any piece of his clothing.^[12][13] Siriano was announced the winner of the show's fourth season, winning a fashion spread in Elle magazine, a 2008 Saturn Astra, and $100,000 US to start his own label.^[14] In addition, Siriano was awarded the season's "Fan Favorite" award, based on votes from viewers. He received a check for $10,000 US, which was presented to him by season three Fan Favorite Michael Knight.^[15] As part of his prize for winning Project Runway, Siriano's first collection for Bluefly began retailing on the website shortly after his win.^[16]

Label and mass market collections[link]

Siriano's eponymous fashion line, Christian Siriano, debuted at New York Fashion Week on September 13, 2008.^[17] His collection is retailed at Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.^[2][18] In 2010, Siriano was named one of Crain's Top 40 Entrepreneurs Under 40, which reported that his line has brought in over $1.2 million in revenue as of 2010.^[2]

In 2008, shortly before debuting his fashion line, Siriano began collaborating on several mass market retail collections. In April 2008, Siriano designed a fifteen piece collection for Puma.^[19] In May 2008, Siriano designed virtual promwear for Gaia Online's virtual prom.^[20] In the summer of 2008, he launched a maternity line, Fierce Mamas, with Moody Mamas founders Elise Rosemarin and Marta Abrams.^[21] On December 4, 2008, it was announced that Siriano had signed a deal to design a line of low-cost shoes and handbags for Payless ShoeSource with products to be available for retail in Payless stores in Fall 2009.^[22] Siriano's line at Payless expanded in 2011, when he signed on to release four collections for the chain annually, including a higher priced "Gold Collection."^[23]

In February 2009, Siriano teamed up with LG to create a fashion-themed phone, the LG Lotus (LX600).^[24] In April 2009, Women's Wear Daily announced that Siriano had partnered with Victoria's Secret to retail his own makeup line, Christian Siriano for VS Makeup.^[25] In November 2009, Siriano collaborated with Starbucks to create a limited edition Siriano brand gift card.^[26] Siriano created a series of fashion-themed sponges for cleaning item brand O-Cel-O in the summer of 2010.^[27]

In February 2011, Siriano launched a limited collection for catalog retailer Spiegel, named "Christian Siriano for Spiegel." Siriano was the first designer chosen for the catalog's designer collaborations line, "Signature Styles."^[28]

In the media[link]

Siriano began to receive pop culture attention during his time on Project Runway, primarily for his asymmetrical upswept hair-do and his flamboyant attitude.^[1] Several of Siriano's catchphrases were parodied in the media by multiple blogs and television shows like Saturday Night Live, on which Amy Poehler portrayed Siriano.^[6][29] In March 2008, Siriano appeared as a celebrity guest on season 1 episode 11 of Bravo's Make Me a Supermodel, where he critiqued the contestants' catwalks and designed an outfit for one of the contestants, Holly Kiser, to model on the runway. (Kiser went on to win the competition).^[30] On May 1, 2008, Siriano appeared as himself on season 2 episode 15 of Ugly Betty, and designed some of the cast's costumes (such as Amanda Tanen 's blouse, which was sold in an auction on the internet).^[31] In June 2008, Siriano appeared in the music video for R&B artist Estelle's single "No Substitute Love."

In October 2009, Siriano released a book titled Fierce Style: How To Be Your Most Fabulous Self. The book was co-written by Rennie Dyball and featured a foreword by Siriano's former Runway mentor Tim Gunn.^[32]

On April 5, 2010, Bravo aired a one hour special entitled Christian Siriano: Having a Moment which followed Siriano as he prepared to debut his Spring 2010 collection at Fashion Week.^[33]

In August 2010, Siriano's name was used in a Craigslist scam. The scam involved a search for women interested in modeling for Siriano's line. Upon hearing the news, Siriano posted this on Twitter: "fyi girls i have never and do not ever look for models on craigslist or online. these photo shoots i'm hearing about are scams! be careful!" ^[34]

Criticism[link]

In March 2008, Margaret Price, a columnist for Bitch magazine, wrote an editorial entitled, "Is Christian Siriano Making A Hot Mess of the Term 'Tranny'?", in which she stated that Siriano's use of the terms "tranny" and "hot tranny mess" were offensive to the transsexual community and that by using the terms he was popularizing an "as-yet unclaimed slur."^[35]

In a May 2008 interview with Time Out New York, Siriano responded to a question about the lasting power of drag culture by stating, "If you think of heterosexuals, they have white-trash women and trailer parks, and we have drag queens and trannies. I don’t know if I’m the one who can explain it. It's, like, drag queens are just there."^[36] The remark garnered criticism for its derogatory slang and its comparison of transsexuality and drag queen culture to "white-trash" and trailer parks.^[37][38] Siriano released an apology to GLAAD in which he stated, "I mean no disrespect to the transgender community and I never will."^[38] Of his comments in the article, Siriano said, "I wish that my words were not taken in that way. When I was speaking, some comments that I made were not used in the article."^[38] He further commented that he is "actively working to remove" the term "tranny" from his vocabulary.^[38]

DMA lawsuit[link]

In November 2011, Siriano's talent agency, DMA, filed a lawsuit against Siriano, claiming he violated an oral contract and neglected to pay over $53,000 in commission and fees owed to them from his partnership with Payless ShoeSource.^[39] Siriano's attorneys released a statement shortly after stating, "It is unfortunate that Designer's Management Agency ("DMA") has commenced a legal proceeding. Christian does not work with DMA and has no obligation to them. DMA concedes that it does not have a written contract. However, based upon an alleged oral contract, it incredibly seeks to obtain commissions in perpetuity. This legal action it has taken against the companies of Christian Siriano is without merit."^[40]

Personal life[link]

Siriano has tattoos of a squid and an octopus on his right arm that he has said are "a tribute to Maryland and the sea life".^[3] However, Siriano later contradicted this statement by saying that his tattoos "mean nothing... Totally random. And yes, it's permanent, but I'm young. In twenty years, there's totally going to be ways to remove it."^[9]

Siriano is openly gay and lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City with longtime boyfriend, singer-songwriter Brad Walsh.^[37][41][42]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Christian Siriano on Myspace
• Biography of Christian Siriano on Bravo Official Website
• Christian's e-Prom Dress Line

Kellie Pickler
Background information
Birth name	Kellie Dawn Pickler
Born	(1986-06-28) June 28, 1986 (age 25)
Origin	Albemarle, North Carolina, United States
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	2005–present
Labels	BNA / 19 Recordings
Website	Official Kellie Pickler Site

Kellie Dawn Pickler (born June 28, 1986) is an American country music artist and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol, eventually finishing in sixth place. In 2006, she signed to 19 Recordings and BNA Records as a recording artist, releasing her debut album, Small Town Girl, later that year. To date, it has sold over 800,000 copies. The album, which was certified gold by the RIAA, produced three singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts: "Red High Heels" at number fifteen, "I Wonder" at number fourteen, and "Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind" at number sixteen. She released her self-titled second album in Fall 2008 and has produced the singles "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" at number twenty-one, "Best Days of Your Life" at number nine (which she co-wrote with Taylor Swift and her first Top 10 hit), "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You" at number fourteen, and "Makin' Me Fall in Love Again" at number thirty. In 2012, she was ranked as the 14th best American Idol alumna.^[1]

Early life[link]

Pickler was born at Stanly Memorial Hospital in Albemarle, North Carolina,, a small town near Charlotte, to Cynthia Morton and Clyde "Bo" Raymond Pickler, Jr. Her mother left when Kellie was 2. Her mother returned and took custody of Kellie for two years.After this the court returned Kellie to her grandparents when she was 12, as her father was in and out of jail during her childhood. From this age to adulthood she was raised by her grandparents.^[2] She cites the major influences in her life as her grandfather, Clyde Raymond Pickler, Sr., a former electrician, and grandmother Faye Pickler.^{[citation needed]} Pickler graduated in 2004 from North Stanly High School in New London, North Carolina. She was a cheerleader and beauty queen. She sang "On the Side of Angels" by LeAnn Rimes at her high school graduation.

She worked as a waitress at a Sonic Drive-In franchise and, in 2005, she made an appearance on WSOC-TV's Gimme the Mike! Charlotte contest. She finished in second place. She participated in the Miss America circuit and won the "Miss Stanly County" pageant at age 17 and subsequently competed for Miss North Carolina 2004. She dropped out and later focused on paralegal studies.^[3]

[edit] American Idol

The 19-year-old Pickler auditioned for American Idol in the fall of 2005 in Greensboro, North Carolina. She sang both Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and Martina McBride's "A Broken Wing". The judges sent her to Hollywood. Pickler advanced through the semi-final rounds in February. On March 9, she reached the Top 12.

Pickler was among judge Simon Cowell's favorites. He once predicted Pickler would be in the final three, and said he preferred her over the previous season's winner, Carrie Underwood.^[4] Recognized for her "quirky" personality and Southern charm, Pickler gained attention on the show by saying that she had hardly ever performed before real audiences, and by mispronouncing words.^[5] She was compared to Jessica Simpson in a March 27 story in US Weekly magazine titled "Kellie: The Next Jessica Simpson", due to her "sweet Southern style and ditzy demeanor". Pickler has stated several times that she was not heavily exposed to modern pop culture.

Performances and results (during voting weeks)[link]

[edit] Post-Idol career

Kellie Pickler and members of her band Ryan Ochsner, left, and Joshua Henson perform for U.S. service members during the first stop of the 2008 USO Holiday Tour on Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, Dec. 16, 2008.

After her elimination, she appeared in numerous shows promoting the TV show and performed the song "Walkin' After Midnight" in some of her appearances.

On May 6, 2006, she returned to Albemarle, North Carolina, for a parade and a reunion with her father. She received a key to the city from the mayor of Albemarle. The mayor also proclaimed the day as "Kellie Pickler Day". Pickler also received numerous awards from local and statewide government officials praising her accomplishments as a contestant on the American Idol television show.^[6]

Pickler pursued her recording aspirations in Nashville, Tennessee, shortly thereafter. On July 17, 2006, she signed a record deal with 19 Recordings/BNA Records. She later announced it herself on The View. She was part of the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2006, performing for three months in various cities. During that period, Pickler worked on her album in collaboration with top industry experts in different cities wherever the tour took her.^[7]

[edit] 2006–2007: Small Town Girl

Her first single, "Red High Heels", debuted on September 13, 2006, and its music video was officially released on October 20, 2006. It received a nomination for the CMT Video Awards for "Breakthrough Video of the Year".^[8][9]

Her debut album, Small Town Girl, released on October 31, 2006, topped Billboard's Top Country Albums and landed at number nine on Billboard Top 200 selling over 79,000 copies in its first week, making Pickler the highest-selling first-week sales for a new artist in 2006. The album includes five songs that Pickler co-wrote with songwriters Chris Lindsey, Aimee Mayo, and Karyn Rochelle.^[10][11][12]

On January 18, 2007, Pickler co-hosted The View and was presented with a gold record by Rosie O'Donnell, certifying that her album has reached the 500,000 sales mark. She also performed her second single "I Wonder", which is a personal song about her absent relationship with her mother, Cynthia Morton. It was the first performance of the song on national TV.^[13][14]

Pickler was nominated for "Top New Female Vocalist" for the 42nd Academy of Country Music Awards.^[15]

She was also part of Brad Paisley's "Bonfires & Amplifiers" concert tour from April 2007 through October as one of the opening acts. The tour was booked in at least 37 cities across North America including a couple of stops in Canada.^[16][17]

Pickler appeared in country music artist Brad Paisley's music video "Online" in 2007.^[18]

On September 2007, Pickler released a version of "Santa Baby" for a Christmas country compilation. A month later, at the ASCAP Awards in Nashville, Pickler received a songwriter award for co-writing her debut single "Red High Heels". She performed her second single, "I Wonder", at the 2007 CMA Awards. During the performance, she was visibly overcome with emotion and struggled to even finish the song before bursting into tears. The performance received a standing ovation. She was also nominated for the Horizon Award. The performance led her to receive 3 CMT awards the following April.

In November 2007, Pickler appeared on a Celebrity Edition of the quiz show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, playing for the charities of her choice (American Red Cross and the AARP's Grandparenting Program).^[19] Worth a guaranteed $25,000, she was asked, "Budapest is the capital of what European country?". She replied, "This might be a stupid question… I thought Europe was a country." She voiced that it might be a place where people spoke French, and then was repeatedly confused as to whether France really was a country or not. When told the answer was Hungary, she did not believe the host. She said, "Hungry? That's a country? I've heard of Turkey, but Hungry? I've never heard of it."^[20] Thanks to the classmate saving her, she was able to pass the $25,000 mark and went on to win $50,000 before walking away; had she not been saved, she would have left with nothing at all. While on her first USO concert tour in Iraq, Pickler met a few people from Budapest, Hungary, who presented her with a flag of their country.^[21][22]

[edit] 2008–2010: Kellie Pickler

While "Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind" was climbing the country charts (it eventually reached number sixteen), Pickler returned to the studio to record her second studio album for 19 Recordings/BNA Records. She performed the debut single, "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" at the ACM Awards on May 18, 2008 and received a good response from the audience. She was nominated for "Top New Female Vocalist", but the award went to Taylor Swift.

"Don't You Know You're Beautiful" was released to radio in June 2008 and was a Top 25 hit for Pickler, peaking eventually at number twenty-one. Her second album, Kellie Pickler, was released on September 30, 2008 and debuted at the top of the country chart, as well as number nine on the Billboard 200, selling over 43,000 copies in its first week. It matched the debuting spots of her first album, Small Town Girl.

On November 12, 2008, Pickler performed the second single off her album, "Best Days of Your Life" at the CMA Awards. She was also nominated for "New Artist Of The Year" for the second year in a row, but lost to Lady Antebellum. "Best Days of Your Life" made its radio debut in November 2008, and debuted at number 56. The song climbed very slowly up the chart, but ended up becoming Pickler's first Top 10 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart. After nearly 40 weeks on the chart, the song peaked at number nine in August 2009. A music video was made by Roman White, featuring Taylor Swift, who co-wrote and sang background harmony vocals on the song.

Pickler was nominated for "Female Video Of The Year" at the 2009 CMT Music Awards for "Don't You Know You're Beautiful". She lost once again to Swift. She also presented the award for "USA Weekend Breakthrough Video Of The Year" with Idol judge Randy Jackson.

Pickler accompanied Swift on the first leg of her Fearless Tour 2009. In June, she launched her first ever headline concert tour in promotion of her self-titled album. On October 8, it was announced that Pickler will be part of the second leg of Fearless Tour.^[23]

"Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You", a re-recording from Picklers' first album Small Town Girl, was released as the album's third single on August 30, 2009. The song debuted at number 55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and became her fifth Top 20 hit, peaking at number fourteen in February 2010.

On October 26, Pickler won the title of Country Weekly's poll of most beautiful woman in country music for the second year in a row. Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood were the second and third places, respectively.^[24]

"Making Me Fall In Love Again" was released as the album's fourth single on April 19, 2010. It debuted at number 53 and peaked at number 30.

[edit] 2011–present: 100 Proof

It was announced that Pickler's third album will be produced by Frank Liddell, known for producing country artist Miranda Lambert's albums.^[25] "Tough" was released on June 13, 2011 as the lead-off single to Pickler's third album, 100 Proof, which was released on January 24, 2012.

Personal life[link]

Pickler's father, whom she describes as an alcoholic and drug addict, served a three-year, nine-month prison sentence at Florida State Prison for aggravated assault and battery stemming from a 2003 stabbing incident.^[26] He was released on May 6, 2006, a week after her elimination from Idol.

Pickler's mother was repeatedly charged with writing bad checks and was convicted in 1988 for passing a forged prescription for Valium at the Albemarle Wal-Mart, where she worked. The day after Pickler's second birthday, her parents split up. A year later, in July 1989, her mother vanished. When her father would get locked up, Pickler would live with her grandparents, outside Albemarle, which is 45 miles northeast of Charlotte. In 1992, her mother returned to Albemarle, but rarely made contact with her daughter Kellie. But in March 1995, with Bo Pickler in prison for armed robbery, her mother was granted custody. Kellie was in the fourth grade. "She got custody of me for two years," Kellie said in a February 2006 interview with The Observer. "During that time, she was physically and mentally abusive of me." In a 1997 court filing, Kellie's grandparents said her mother had moved to Union County with the girl and treated the child harshly. The court restored custody to the grandparents. Her mother vanished again, and Kellie hasn't heard from her since. In an April 2006 interview with NBC Kellie said "One thing that's so important in life is we learn to forgive others. I ask the Lord every day to forgive me for my sins and for things that I've done wrong. And who am I to not forgive someone for what they've done?" said Kellie. "I have forgiven her. I know that I haven't spoken to her in years and I probably wouldn't know her if I saw her. But she's my mother and she's a person. God tells us to love everyone. And I love her. She's my mother."^[27]

On February 26, 2007, she met her personal 'idol' and strongest influence, the country music superstar Dolly Parton. The surprise was arranged by Sony BMG Nashville chairman Joe Galante.^[28]

In 2007, Pickler was in a relationship with Nashville Predators player Jordin Tootoo and visited his family in Nunavut.^[29][30] Later that year, the two broke up.^[31]

Pickler's best friend has been Summer Miller, who Pickler met when they were teen pageant hopefuls.^[32] Pickler is close friends with American Idol fourth season winner Carrie Underwood, country pop singer Taylor Swift, the latter of whom co-wrote Pickler's second single "Best Days of Your Life" from her album Kellie Pickler,^[33] with her American Idol roommate Katharine McPhee, for whom she was a bridesmaid at McPhee's 2008 wedding and also with songwriter Aimee Mayo.^[34]

In June 2008, she joined close friend Carrie Underwood, a long-time vegetarian, in giving up eating meat. Pickler says she first decided to go vegetarian for health reasons, but a TV ad that vegetarian Pamela Anderson did for animal rights group PETA piqued her curiosity. "One night I couldn't sleep and I was up and just Googling random stuff and I'm like, 'Hmmm, PETA.' I saw all the videos and I just thought it was horrible. It's animal cruelty. A lot of it has to do with knowing what happens to the animals and it really bothered me and so I will not eat meat."^[35] In May 2009, it was announced that Pickler was nominated and won the title of "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA.^[36]

After two and a half years of dating, Pickler became engaged to songwriter Kyle Jacobs on June 15, 2010, the day of her late grandmother's birthday, after he proposed on a beach at sunset.^[37] Pickler and Jacobs eloped on January 1, 2011 in a "small, intimate ceremony on a private island in the Caribbean".^[38]

Philanthropy[link]

Pickler actively supports St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where she helps raise funds and gives kids special visits. She also participates in charitable events to help raise funds for various organizations. She has performed to help raise funds for the "N.C. Children's PROMISE" to benefit the Children's Hospital on Nov. 12, 2006,^[39] to help refurbish the Hurricane Katrina damaged NFL Youth Education Towns Boys & Girls Club of New Orleans on December 16, 2006,^[39] visited St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on January 12, 2007,^[40] and visited Pennington Elementary School on February 1, 2007.^[40] “When you’re able to give back to your communities and organizations like St. Jude, it’s a great thing,” Pickler said. “It’s been a great experience, and I encourage anyone and everyone to help.”^[40]

Pickler was part of a Country and Western artist studded online auction for charity by Mario Magro: Kiss for a Cause Foundation Celebrity Auction held June 15–25, 2007, in support of orphaned and abandoned children. The event auctioned off celebrity lip prints and signatures pressed on the inside of Mario Magro Crystal Le Coop handbags at the 42nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.^[39]

In 2007 she appeared on a charity episode of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" On the episode, she missed a question about the location of Budapest, and in her conversation with Jeff Foxworthy revealed that she thought Europe was a country and was not sure about the status of France.

She has participated in three USO tours. The first, in late 2007 and early 2008, took her to Iraq;^[21][39] the second, in December 2008, included stops in Germany, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and England.^[41] In January 2010, Pickler made stops in Iraq and Kuwait on a 10-day tour with Randy Houser and Jamey Johnson. The three country stars "played remote bases on the front lines of the war zone, and the sound of gun fire became their frequent companion at night."^[42]

In early August 2009, Pickler participated in ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's rebuilding of James Terpenning's family home in Beavercreek, Ohio. Pickler performed a free concert at the home, and helped during reconstruction.^[43]

Discography[link]

Albums

• 2006: Small Town Girl
• 2008: Kellie Pickler
• 2012: 100 Proof

Awards and nominations[link]

Tours[link]

• Still Feels Good Tour (2007) with Rascal Flatts
• Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour (2007–2008) with Brad Paisley
• Love on the Inside Tour (2008) with Sugarland
• Fearless Tour (2009–2010) with Taylor Swift
• American Living Unstoppable Tour (2010) with Rascal Flatts
• Nothing Like This Tour (2010) with Rascal Flatts

References[link]