Meghan: A Hollywood Princess(44)
There were times she had to remind herself not to give in to the compulsion to photograph and share every last detail of her life. She had to remember to surrender to the moment, to enjoy real life. As Warren Beatty, the then boyfriend of Madonna, said of the star when she was making the documentary Truth or Dare, “she doesn’t want to live off camera much less talk.” He made that withering remark in the days before social media ran rampant. Now Meghan was one of a generation who, if they were not careful, would only define their existence through social media. As I write, a young boy, now known as the #selfiekid, became an overnight sensation after taking a selfie with singer Justin Timberlake during the 2018 Super Bowl halftime show. After taking the shot, rather than joining in the singing and dancing, being in the present, the young man went back to his phone to review his pictures and thus validate his real experience. Somehow it was a moment that defines the age we live in.
The real world kept intruding, though. In February 2016 the actor flew to Kigale once again to undertake charity work. First, she celebrated Valentine’s Day—not with Cory but with friends in New York’s West Village. It had become a pattern, both ambitious people who were neither willing to give the time or effort to nurture a meaningful relationship. He was immersed in his restaurant chain and television career as a celebrity chef, Meghan in her world as an actor, humanitarian, and fashion personality. It was clear that the writing was on the wall for their two-year relationship, neither being willing to relinquish any part of their professional lives to sustain their romance.
So much of their relationship had been spent in going their separate ways, Meghan in particular spending much of her free time traveling. This time her visit to Africa was arranged not by the United Nations but by World Vision Canada, an Evangelical Christian humanitarian aid charity. Their sister organization, World Vision US, had hit the headlines the previous year with their United States office’s decision not to hire Christians in same-sex marriages. It was a policy position quickly disavowed by their independent Canadian neighbor. The charity’s mission statement reads: “Motivated by our faith in Jesus Christ, World Vision serves alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration of God’s unconditional love for all people. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.”
On the surface it was an odd choice, especially as Meghan seemed to have stalled with United Nations Women and had nothing on her schedule in relation to her role as UN advocate. However, World Vision Canada was eager to harness her celebrity to promote their work in the developing world, notably, bringing clean water to rural villages. Whatever misgivings she may have had, she accepted their invitation to see their work in Rwanda. It was an enthusiastic meeting of minds, recalled Laura Dewar, WVC chief marketing officer. “She’s remarkably approachable. She was very open to a conversation about the kinds of causes that moved her and that she would like to learn more about.”
This was a very different kind of visit than her UN-sponsored trip, where she met female parliamentarians and discussed how they could best promote women’s issues in a mainly rural nation. Her tour this time was much more traditional, top-down benevolence, Meghan watching a well being completed in a village and then helping turn on the mechanism that drew the water to the surface. All the while her friend Gabor Jurina, a fashion photographer, captured the scenes.
Though her visit did not directly focus on gender equality, Meghan quickly grasped the concept that a community’s access to clean water keeps young girls in school because they aren’t walking hours each day to find water for their families. Traditionally, in many rural communities in Rwanda and elsewhere, girls find wood and water, and boys tend the animals.
Later, after taking part in a dance lesson, she visited a school in the Gasabo District and met twenty-five students whose access to a clean water pipeline, installed by World Vision Canada, had transformed their lives. She sat with the children as they painted with watercolors using water drawn from the well, their paint-dipped fingers creating images of their dreams and futures.
When she returned to Toronto she staged a charity art sale, using the children’s art as a basis for the Watercolor Project. The invitation-only function, held on March 22 at the LUMAS gallery in downtown Toronto, was hosted by Meghan and raised more than $15,000, enough to bring clean water to an entire rural community. Applauded as World Vision’s newly minted global ambassador, she told the sixty-strong audience: “Access to clean water allows women to invest in their own businesses and community. It promotes grassroots leadership, and, of course, it reinforces the health and wellness of children and adults. Every single piece of it is so interconnected, and clean water, this one life source, is the key to it all.”
Meghan was now the official face of the organization, short snappy videos of her appearing on the charity’s website, financial statements, and promotional material. Unlike the United Nations, where Meghan was one of many celebrities working to promote important issues within the organization, here Meghan was the figurehead of this Christian charity, one of Canada’s largest.
In charity and commerce Meghan was now the representative for two storied Canadian organizations, World Vision Canada and Reitmans.
Meghan spun and posed in front of the white backdrop as her friend Gabor Jurina snapped away. Video was also rolling, capturing behind the scenes action as Meghan modeled the four dresses in her first capsule collection for Reitmans. Then she dashed home to write copy about the collection for The Tig.