Meghan Markle’s emotional video about Billie Eilish teen fan after LA fires backlash
Meghan Markle has revealed her star-studded mission to help a family that lost everything in the LA wildfires, after she and Prince Harry were branded “disaster tourists”. Watch video.
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Meghan Markle has posted an emotional video about her visit to the wildfire-ravaged area of Altadena in Los Angeles with husband Prince Harry, detailing her heartbreaking exchange with a teenager who lost her home in the inferno.
In the footage, filmed at her Montecito home, Meghan detailed how she met a mother and daughter who had returned to the charred ruins of their home.
It comes after she and Prince Harry copped a backlash for being entitled “disaster tourists” for their visits to the areas affected by the LA wildfires.
At the beginning of the clip, an excited and visibly overwhelmed Meghan told her followers she had just received a special delivery to her home.
She put her hand to her forehead and said “Oh my God”, as the camera panned to reveal a stack of Billie Eilish concert merchandise items on her desk, which the star had sent to Meghan and Harry’s Montecito home.
Dressed in jeans and a black top, with her gold Cartier love bracelets on show, Meghan proceeded to explain the reason for her excitement, saying she had been on a mission to bring a smile to the face of a 15-year-old girl whose family had lost everything in the fires.
“About two or three weeks ago my husband and I were in Altadena and we went to a community where all the homes were left in ashes,” she said.
“This mom had found a couple of things and as I was talking to her I turned and looked and saw this young woman and I said, ‘Oh gosh how old are you?
“She’s 15, she lives there and her mom shared something with me and said that when they came back to see their house for the first time ... that all that she’s been looking for in her home was the t-shirt from the Billie Eilish concert that she had just gone.
Meghan said the distraught teen had left the shirt in the family’s washing machine.
“And of course they now see their home and the washing machine are ash,” Meghan said.
It was then that a determined Meghan set her plan into action, enlisting the help of her Hollywood friends to track music superstar Billie Eilish down.
“So I said I don’t know Billie Eilish but I’m going to figure out how to get you this shirt.
“So I thought of everybody that I knew and I made a voice note and I was like, please can someone get this voice note to Billie Eilish.”
A joyful Meghan went over to the items and held up a signed album as she squealed in excitement.
Holding up a Billie Eilish lunch box, she joked that didn’t “even know what all this stuff means” and felt “really old”.
She gave her thanks to Eilish and a shout out to singer Adam Levine and his supermodel wife Behati Prinsloo for “getting this over the line”.
She signed off her post with a statement praising first responders.
“Let’s keep supporting those affected by the California wildfires,” she wrote.
“Thanks to everyone who made this possible but most importantly, thank you to our first responders who are the community’s real heroes. As ever, Meghan.”
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Originally published as Meghan Markle’s emotional video about Billie Eilish teen fan after LA fires backlash
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