5 Celebrities Who Stand With Awesome Causes

In honor of last week's National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, we thought that instead of highlighting which celeb to going to rehab or who most recently had a nude photo scandal, we'd talk about the amazing things celebrities are doing to better the world we live in.

Of course, there's the ongoing debate that celebs engage in charitable acts strictly for public relations purposes... but while you’re sitting on your couch judging them and their motives, they’re actually getting shit done. Maybe they are humans after all, and actually want to do some good with the resources they’re fortunate enough to have. Here are five of our favorites:

1. Angelina Jolie. Arguably one of the most beautiful people in the world, Jolie has proven to be a beautiful human inside and out. She's been on a mission to protect refugees for over a decade now and has visited and met with refugees in more than 30 different countries. Her early mission trips earned her the title of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador. She now serves as Special Envoy of UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres. She has help found a number of organizations and along with the funds raised through these foundations, has donated millions of her own money to charitable causes.

2. Taylor Swift. She was voted number one for DoSomething.org’s Celebs Gone Good List for 2014 after donating 100 percent of the proceeds from her single “Welcome to New York” to New York City Public Schools. Go Taylor!

3. Emma Watson. Remember her incredible speech at the UN to launch the #HeforShe campaign? Hermione – I mean Emma – works passionately for gender equality and doesn’t discriminate when calling on people to join the fight.

4. John Legend. Fulfilling the promise of his 15-year-old self, John Legend became a successful recording artist and used his resources to “promote social justice and equality” and started The Show Me Campaign, which draws inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This campaign works to break the cycle of poverty by giving children access to education. He also raised $495,000 through his You and I music video for the #OperationGirl Charity Challenge which aids charities that focus on women and children. *heart eyes emoji*

5. Laverne Cox. The Orange Is the New Black star and feminist icon who spoke at SU this past October has made significant strides for the LGBTQ community. She came in second on the Celebs Gone Good List for bringing light to the oppression transgender people face. Her success and recognition screams hope. *Applause*