Been There: Jodie Foster

"Strange, ugly things happen between single parents
and children. And also the most beautiful things."

—Jodie Foster, American actress
single mother, child of single mother

On DVD: Martian Child

Martian Child, now out on DVD, features John Cusack as a single man who adopts a 6-year-old boy who thinks he's from another planet. The movie highlights some of the ups and downs of single parenthood, and Cusack said his role made him realize how serious fatherhood is.

“I have the ultimate respect for (fatherhood) and I would not take it lightly," he said in Malaysia's TheStar.com. "It’s pretty incredible."

Gwyneth Paltrow bows to single moms

In a recent Harper's Bazaar interview, Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow offered a salute to single moms everywhere:

“I do not know how single mothers have more than one child with no help," she said. "It requires so much of my life, and I don’t have to change sheets and clean toilets, you know.

"My hat – no, my clothes — go off to the single mother with no help; I stand naked, kowtowing before her.”

Been There: Jacqueline Kennedy

If you bungle raising your children,
I don't think whatever else you do
matters very much.

—Jackie Kennedy Onassis
Former First Lady, Former Single Mother

Top Brit celeb single parents: Geldof, Fergie

Singer-activist Bob Geldof and royal Sarah Ferguson topped the list of celebrity single parents that British single parents could most relate to, according to a poll released today by SingleParentFun.com.

Geldof is father to three girls, ages 24 to 17, including Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom and Little Pixie. Fergie is mom to the princesses Beatrice, 19, and Eugenie, 17.

Other celeb single parents who ranked as relatable included TV host Gail Porter, pop singer Mel B and reality show star Jade Goody. Respondents rated celeb single parents highest for their “triumph over adversity,” having good relationships with their kids, and being good role models.

The poll also revealed that:

--Perception of single parents: 83 percent felt the public’s perception has changed in a positive way over the past 10 years;

--Dating: 40 percent said they don’t date; 56 percent said they wouldn’t consider dating because their children wouldn’t be happy about it; and 58 percent said their longest relationship as single parents had lasted less than six months.

--Assistance: 58 percent said the British government could do more to support them financially; 31 percent felt more should be done to better childcare access.

--Employment: 93 percent felt that holiday firms do not cater enough for single parent families.

--Travel: Expense is an issue for 58 percent when arranging holidays and day trips; 13 pe cent said that they didn't go on holidays with the children as they found it too lonely and 14 percent said that any kind of trip with the children was just too stressful to do alone.

--Me time: 22 percent of those polled said they got one to two hours per week with only 15 per cent getting a day to themselves. "We were surprised to find out just how little 'me time' single parents get due to the lack of support structure available,” SingleParentFun.com founder and single dad Gary Spicer said in a press release.

News&Buzz: Pamela Anderson files for divorce

Former Baywatch princess Pamela Anderson is off again, filing for divorce from third husband Rick Salomon, who she wed two months ago.

Anderson spent New Year's Eve in Vegas with sons Brandon, 11, and Dylan, 9, children from her first marriage to rocker Tommy Lee. As Anderson partied at PURE, the kids waited for the ball to drop on 2007, she told FOX News.

"My kids came, too, and they're staying in their hotel room having hot chocolate, watching the fireworks and trying to stay up until midnight," she told FOX.

And her hopes for the upcoming year?

"There is so much I want to do next year work-wise, but focus is on family," she said.

News&Buzz: Penn, Wright join single-parent ranks

Oscar-winner Sean Penn and actress Robin Wright Penn, parents of teen boys, announced they'll be splitting up after 11 years of marriage. The couple's sons are Dylan Frances, 16, and Hopper Jack, 14.

The Penns began dating while making 1990's "State of Grace" together, married in 1996, and their fourth movie together, Barry Levinson's "What Just Happened?," is due out in 2008. Previously, Penn was married to Madonna for four years, while Wright was married to actor Dane Witherspoon for two years.

News&Buzz: Cowboy plays Santa to single moms

Dallas Cowboy Roy Williams surprised single mom Stacey Aldridge with a truckload of new furniture Friday -- part of the outreach by his Safety Net Foundation, CBS 11 News said.

The foundation formed in 2004, prompted by Williams' concerns over his sister's struggles as a single mother. "I said whenever I was in a position to help I would," he told WFAA-TV in Dallas. Since then, the charity has helped out 300 north Texas single moms in need with money and other assistance, including Mother's Day makeovers (below), educational training and health seminars

Check out programs, sign up or donate through Williams' web site. And merry Christmas to Demetrice Sanders and her four sons, who also got new beds for the holidays, too.

For more information, visit RoyWilliamsSafetyNet.org.

Kate Hudson: Glad to be a single mom

Actress Kate Hudson told Vogue that divorce was the most difficult thing she's done, but she's glad she went through with it, and she and Black Crow's frontman Chris Robinson still care about one another.

“The process of discovering with somebody that you love that you don’t work is so painful," she told Vogue. "We had (son) Ryder; we both sort of looked at each other and went, 'something’s off.'"

She and Robinson separated in August 2006 after six years of marriage, and the couple helped each other through the process, she said. "Now we’re both single and since the day we separated, we talk multiple times."

Hudson dated You, Me and Dupree costar Owen Wilson before splitting up earlier this year. “Owen is such a lovely person, and I love him dearly," Hudson said. "And I wish him beautiful things—health and everything that he desires in life.” She told Harper's Bazaar in September's issue that dating is much different as a single mom:

"You realize after you have had children that you'll never love anything more than your child. ... So it makes the new sort of single-mom dating process very different. It's like growing up. It's adult."