Oprah Treats 5-Year-Old Girl And Her Fairy Friend To Disneyland Trip After Their Story Goes Viral
July 1, 2021: Jamie Samhan]
Oprah Winfrey is playing fairy godmother.
The mogul helped surprise Eliana Pauls, 5, and her fairy friend with a trip to Disneyland.
L.A. designer and photographer Kelly Kenney shared the story on Twitter about how she befriended Eliana after she created a fairy garden by a tree at their L.A. apartment building since she “felt lonely in quarantine and wanted to spread some cheer.”
Kenney came across the garden during a long walk at night and decided to pretend to be a fairy named Sapphire. Kenney/Sapphire wrote a note telling Eliana that if she did three acts of kindness, said nice things to five people and gave her an animal drawing, she would be rewarded with a pink dice.
“I wasn’t sure if she’d respond or even find the note but it was fun just imagining what she’d think. The next night on my walk I found this and immediately burst into tears,” Kenney said. With the help of her mom, Emily, Eliana quickly responded.
That started the nine month back and forth between the two.
“Doing this every night gave me purpose in a horribly painful and lonely time. I looked forward to my days again and I started ordering art supplies and little trinkets to leave her,” Kelly said. “We wrote back and forth throughout the last 9 months, helping each other feel less lonely.”
The story got so elaborate that they told Eliana that Sapphire would be human for ” just for one day to move all of their belongings.”
“We got to sit and talk for about an hour and she asked me a million questions about what life is like as a fairy,” Kenney said of their meeting as she dressed up in a cloak and elf ears.
Oprah caught wind of the story back in December, calling it “selfless” and offered to send them all to Disneyland.
“I dropped my phone,” Emily recalled to Oprah Daily. “We were already reeling from the news and attention from the day.”
And finally, in June 2021, the family was able to meet up again for their trip. “I wrote a note saying I had a surprise for her and that we are going to get to go do something together, and that I was using Tinkerbell’s magic in order to be human-sized again for the day,” Kenney told the outlet.
The group arrived for a VIP tour, including a personal card from Oprah.
“I lost it,” Emily said. “It was the culmination of this whole story.”
Their inspiring story has captivated social media but also taught them many life lessons.
“I’ve learned a lot about how the little things you can do for somebody can completely change your entire life,” Kenney said. “In a time when things looked bleak, the most important thing I learned this past year is the goodness of people.”
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