Swank set to sell off freebie collection

Double Oscar winner Hilary Swank has vowed to give away the freebies she's picked up at awards shows in recent years as her leading New Year's resolution.

The actress feels awful taking home gift bags because when she was a struggling actress she was so broke she had to buy outfits for auditions and take them back to the store the next day.

"Now, I'm getting all these free things thrown at me and it's so strange," she said.

"My New Year's resolution is to get rid of some stuff because I bring it in and I can't get rid of it. With my background, and how I grew up; I didn't grow up with a lot of stuff and now I just have this terrible thing."

Swank isn't the only celebrity sparking a backlash against the freebies handed out at awards shows - Edward Norton is campaigning to get gift baskets banned at leading awards ceremonies.

In a recent TV interview, he revealed: "A lot of us have talked to the Academy Awards producers about this and I think they're actually going to scuttle the gift baskets and that kind of stuff.

"I mean the gift baskets, worth amounts of money that a low-income family could live on for a year, (are given to) people who have so much already. It gets depressing."