Celebrity News
Mia Farrow Speaks Out on Hunger Strike
Tuesday April 28, 2009

Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow attends the premiere of "Be Kind Rewind" on February 19, 2008 in New York City.
Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Mia Farrow gave careful consideration on Sunday as she ate her last meal before embarking on a three-week hunger strike to raise more awareness for the Darfur humanitarian crisis.

She was originally going to make chocolate Easter eggs her last meal, but "I thought I had better not do the Easter eggs and ease into it, so I went for salad and vegetables," the actress, 64, told Fox News on Monday, the first day she stopped eating. "I woke up this morning feeling refreshed. I feel good. But yes, I am a little nervous."

Despite the trepidation, she said the strike is important to her because "the people of Darfur are going to starve in huge numbers. I'm going to fast I hope for 21 days, if I last that long. But the people that are going to starve to death cannot be heard, their voices cannot be heard."

Check out all the places Angelina Jolie - another human rights advocate - has visited across the world

Added Farrow (a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador): "I've just come back from one month in the region, I have friends there and I have promises to keep. I'm proud to do whatever I can to the plight of the displaced people."

"I thought if I go on a hunger strike, this is a time-honored way of drawing focus to the issue and shame to the perpetrators," she went on. "I realize it is an extreme thing to do, but worse things are happening to the people of Darfur. I felt compelled, I cannot just watch."

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Farrow, who gained 9 lbs. to prepare for the hunger strike, said she consulted her doctor to prevent any severe damage to her body. (She will only be drinking water.)

See other stars who underwent shocking weight transformations

"I've learned that up to three weeks I can fast, not to say that things can go wrong," she said. "Beyond three weeks, you run the risk of real irrevocable organ damage. I would not exceed three weeks. I would be pleased if I can fast that long, but I'm not very fat, so my doctors were doubtful that I could exceed two weeks given my body mass."

George Clooney, another Darfur advocate, is proud of Farrow.

See what George Clooney looked like before he was famous

"I ran into Mia in Chad this January. She'd been living in the camps and villages on the border of Darfur for weeks," he tells Entertainment Tonight. "She is as dedicated to this cause as any activist I know. It's these kind of efforts that help keep this tragedy in the spotlight."

Farrow has 14 children, many of whom are adopted. Her 35-year-old daughter, Lark Previn, died last year.

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