Ashley Judd was not amused when miners used a topless poster of her to discredit her campaign against their mountaintop digging, but she insists it will take much more than that to stop her.

The actress has launched a crusade in her native Kentucky against the destruction of state mountains to extract coal – and local miners took aim at her by posting up topless shots of her from a 2006 Marie Claire magazine at a recent golf tournament.

The billboard, which featured Judd covering her breasts with her hands, was put on display at StoneCrest Golf Course in Prestonburg last month (Jul10), accompanied by the question: “Ashley makes a living removing her top – why can’t coal miners?”

Speaking about the incident for the first time, Judd tells BlogTalkRadio.com, “It’s as old as the social construction of gender; let’s sexualize a woman to discredit her. I’m not comparing myself to Catherine the Great, but the political cartoons in Western Europe showed her with her skirt hitched up.

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Ashley Judd is preparing to make her movie comeback by stepping in to replace Liv Tyler in new comedy “Flypaper.”

The actress has spent the last year studying for a diploma in public administration at Harvard University, and now she’s heading back to acting with her first film role since she graduated last week.

Tyler was due to star in the bank heist caper opposite “Grey’s Anatomy” actor Patrick Dempsey, but dropped out and now Judd has signed up as her replacement.

The film, written by “The Hangover” scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, will tell the story of a man caught up in two simultaneous bank robberies who tries to save a teller he is secretly in love with, according to Variety.com.

The project is due to begin filming in Louisiana later this month.

With the help of a little star power, a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday launched an effort to funnel U.S. aid to prevent violence against women internationally.

Actress Ashley Judd joined with Reps. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and international women’s rights advocates to kick off the push for legislation calling on the secretary of state and the Agency for International Development to create a five-year plan to prevent and respond to violence against women in countries with high levels of abuse.

It would also fund efforts of community-based organizations to prevent and respond to violence against women.

Ashley Judd stars in a new Defenders of Wildlife video urging President Obama to restore Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone.

On March 6, 2009 U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the Bush administration’s plan to eliminate the ESA protection for wolves in Idaho and Montana. Hundreds of wolves have already been hunted and killed, an estimated 1000 deaths can be expected.

The TV spot will air in Washington DC this week. Concerned citizens may fill out an action alert at Defenders of Wildlife.

Harvard University grad student Ashley Judd was in Beverly Hills to receive the USA Today Hollywood Hero award for her work with YouthAIDS. Before the ceremony, the actress, who is now studying public policy, talked to reporter USA Today Ann Oldenburg about what it’s like to be in ivy leaguer. “I’m trying to convince myself to get over the dream of straight A’s. Nobody cares. But I still have that undergraduate aggressive pride. I got a check last week instead of a check plus and I was really not pleased.”

Judd also said her interaction with her fellow Kennedy School students was “bumpy at first.” “I’m really not a big deal,” she said, “but apparently they didn’t get the memo.”

Ashley Judd Recounts Her Experinces For Oprah.

Read her first article HERE.

Ashley Judd recently teamed up with Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund to record a PSA about Sarah Palin’s ”anti-conservation agenda” and attack on wolves and bears. Essentially Palin is shamelessly promoting the aerial hunting of animals and Judd is pissed…rightly so. Well of course Palin (never one to shy away from the spotlight) released a statement calling the PSA an “audacious fundraising attempt” and accused the group of “twisting the truth.”