Just a few months back, British Vogue tweeted an interview with British Actress Rebecca Humphreys, describing the tidal wave of kindness she received after her comedian husband was photographed kissing another woman (his dance partner in a hit Saturday Night TV Show). Far from being left out in the cold, Humphreys writes: “It has been the most dynamic electric storm of kindness you could ever hope to experience. And with it has come the final revelation: that the popular concept of kind is severely outdated”.
“The popular concept of kind is severely outdated” @BeckShumps on how kindness has had a revamp for 2018 #WorldKindnessDay https://t.co/7VJRsg3Bcw
— British Vogue (@BritishVogue) 13 November 2018
The tweet was released to coincide with #WorldKindnessDay, an initiative originally set up in 2014 by three teens in Northern Carolina, whose dream to spread the notion of kindness is growing steadily – their account now has over 9000 followers.
But it’s not just the regular folk who are fueling the kindness revolution.
Celebrities – people with money and influence – have also been jumping onto the bandwagon over the past couple of years, proving that kindness isn’t something that needs to be relegated to the realms of warm cups of tea and helping old ladies cross the road.
Kindness can also be badass. Fabulous, sexy and remarkable!
In a world so preoccupied with profit and wealth, competing and winning, the simple act of selflessly giving to another human is revolutionary!
Compassion breaks the rules (or does it make the rules?) and altruism creates ripples of change that are (in an era of mass-quantifiability) immeasurable.
So in the spirit of kindness, here are just a few of our favorite celebrity random acts of kindness. Not only do these prove that the hearts of the rich and famous could be a little bigger than you may have previously thought, but they may encourage you to join the kindness revolution too!
1. Taylor Swift
The (ridiculously on-trend) Fairy Godmother of Kindness, Taylor Swift has become legendary for her kind acts and random gift-giving.
Over Chrismas of 2014, Santa emojis began to mysteriously appear on the social media walls of her fans and shortly after, huge Fedex boxes were delivered by mail carriers to their home addresses. These contained wrapped gifts and handwritten notes from Swift herself! Turns out, these were just some of the kind ways she’d chosen to volunteer her gratitude and “pay it back” to her fans. Watch their kindness stories here.
Swifts altruistic acts also include a $50,000 donation towards the medical treatment of 11-year-old fan Naomi Oaks, after she heard that Naomi had to miss an upcoming concert due to her leukemia treatment. She’s pledged millions more to fans in need, even donating half a million dollars to the American Red Cross for flood relief in Nashville in 2008. Swift has also spent hundreds of hours visiting fans in hospitals, and partnered up with a major publisher to donate over 14,000 children’s books to the Nashville Public Library system, amongst many other charitable acts.
Her love, compassion, and relentless encouragement know no bounds!
2. Nicki Minaj
Earlier this year, the most prominent female rapper in the world, Nicki Minaj launched a competition over Twitter – with the prize to be flown out from anywhere in the world, to hang out with her at the Billboards Music Awards in Las Vegas. Why? Because, she replied, “ya muva makes enough money”.
This boast led one fan to ask whether, in that case, “you wanna pay for my tuition?” Turns out, she did and tweeted straight back to the plucky person: “Show me straight A’s that I can verify w/ur school and I’ll pay it. Who wants to join THAT contest?!?! Dead serious. Should I set it up?”
Soon after, more fans started to ask her for help paying their student expenses – fees, loans, debts and equipment – and Minaj duly paid up! After making sure she had the bank account details she needed, she called it a day and promised to dish out the good deeds to her fans again “in a month or 2”.
Ok u guys. It’s been fun. Let me make those payments tmrw then see if I have any money left😂. I’ll do some more in a month or 2. 😘😘😘💋💋💋💕💕🎀🎀🎀
— QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) 7 May 2017
Go Nicki!
3. Colin Farrell
One of our favorite random act of kindness involves Colin Farell at the Toronto Film Festival in 2017 when he got chatting to a homeless man named “Stress” outside of a restaurant one night. Shortly after, Farrell heard that a radio station was offering $2000 to anyone who could convince Farrell to come into the studio for an interview. So what did he do? He scoured the city’s homeless shelters for Stress, then brought him into the station, so that he could “claim” his prize money!
But the story doesn’t stop there. 4 years later, when Farrell returned to Toronto, he hooked back up with Stress, took him out shopping and helped him pay rent on a flat, so he could move off the streets. Stress’s life has since transformed. He is sober, has a roof over his head and thanks Farrell for helping him turn his life around.
4. Johnny Depp
Word is that Johnny Depp often travels with his Jack Sparrow costume and full regalia from Pirates of the Caribbean. The reason for this is that he likes to make surprise visits to sick children in hospitals around the world, in an effort to put the smile back on their faces.
Whilst in Vancouver in August 2017 he visited the BC Children’s Hospital, spending many hours there entertaining kids, family members, and hospital staff and even having pretend sword fights in the wards!
He’s also spent time in Great Ormand Street Hospital in London, and Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. Watch him speak about this here.
5. JK Rowling
No stranger to being in need, JK Rowling was once a struggling single parent working out of a bedsit in Edinburgh. But she’s now the billionaire author of the globally successful Harry Potter books and spinoff brand. Except her repeated charitable donations have actually lost her billionaire status, as the writer’s given away millions over the years, including all royalties from “Beedle the Bard’, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ and ‘Quidditch Through the Ages’.
Rowling also wrote letters to a young girl named Catie, dying of cancer in New York, who was a Harry Potter super-fan and worried she may not live to see the publication of the 4th book – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. With time running out, Rowling used to call her up to read excerpts over the phone. When Catie finally lost her life, her parents set up a memorial fund, into which Rowling donated £100,000.
But it’s not all about the money!
Kindness has spirit
Kindness is courage – it’s getting just a little uncomfortable, dipping your toes on the other side of a normal day at the office, for the sake of somebody other than you.
Kindness is selfless
Except in giving, you realize it’s not – it pays backward, and forward, and every which way – kindness ripples out in waves, and breaks the system…In a good way!
Feeling inspired? Join the Numerologist Kindness Contest and you could win some awesome prizes (ok, we know it’s not about the prizes but hey, why not!?)… So now it’s your turn to keep the kindness revolution alive!
Tell us in the comments below, what you’re doing to keep kindness at the top of the agenda!
