The devastating wildfires that ripped through Los Angeles last month destroyed thousands of homes, taking with them countless memories and precious possessions gathered over a lifetime. While it will take years to rebuild and begin to replace some of the things lost in two of the most destructive blazes to ever hit the city, there are small acts of kindness happening every day aimed at helping to ease the pain of all that unimaginable loss.
This week the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, revealed that she’d teamed up with Billie Eilish to create one of those moments. In an Instagram post on Tuesday (Feb. 4), actress/podcaster Markle described how she reached out to the “Birds of a Feather” singer to help a 15-year-old whose family lost everything in the fires.
“I was just told that something arrived that I have been waiting for,” Markle said in a selfie video. “Oh my God,” she added as she looked at a big pile of Eilish merch. She explained that a few weeks ago, she and Prince Harry visited Altadena — the historic neighborhood that was completely wiped out by one of the fires — and they spoke to a mom who had found just a few possessions left in the rubble.
While speaking to her, she saw the woman’s teen daughter and found out that when they came back to look at their house for the first time, all the girl was looking for was her prized T-shirt from an Eilish concert she’d recently gone to. The teen said she’d left it in the washing machine as they fled. “And of course they now see their home and the washing machine [and] the dryer are ash… they’re not there anymore,” said Markle.
While she admitted she didn’t personally know Eilish, Markle promised the family that she’d figure out a way to replace the beloved 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? Here’s what I’m asking,” she said.
Markle did what any sensible person would in that situation, she reached out to Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine and his wife, model Behati Prinsloo, for some help getting this make-a-wish “over the line.” Getting emotional, Markle flipped through the pile T-shirts and vinyl — “I don’t even know what all this stuff means, but it’s signed for her!” — holding up a lunch box with a gold star on it and asking, “Is that a thing? A lunch box thing?”
She sent a huge thank you to Levine, Prinsloo and Eilish for pitching in. “This is going to mean so much to her,” Markle added. “To everyone who is showing up for people in big and small ways to get through what’s happened in California. Just thank you so much. I’m going to go and email her mom now. Just wanted to share that with you guys.”
Native Angeleno Eilish performed at last weekend’s FireAid concert that raised an estimated $100 million for relief, opening the show with a Green Day collaboration and then returning later for her own set. The Eaton and Palisades fires, which killed 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 homes and structures, reached 100% containment last week.
Check out Markle’s post below.