Member Since: 4/28/2012
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The life-changing call Beyoncé made to Ausrtalian girl
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The life-changing call nobody knew Beyoncé made to an Australian girl.
Chelsea had terminal cancer. Unlike other 15-year-olds, she couldn't braid her hair or tower in her first pair of heels: intense chemo/radiation when she was very young meant her hair never grew back and her height was never taller than that of an eight-year-old. This was to be her third intimate encounter with Beyoncé — but her most poignant. Chelsea had that morning been told she had two weeks to live, after a decade-long cancer battle. The call was for the two women to say goodbye to one another.
Four years previously, Beyoncé had spotted Chelsea, then 11, in the crowd when she was on stage in Sydney. At the time, Chelsea had just a one percent chance of survival. The final few wispy strands of hair on her head blew serenely in the wind machine as Beyoncé changed the words to Halo, singing: “Chelsea, I can see your Halo – I pray you won’t fade away.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the house and the video went viral, reducing Ellen Degeneres to tears when she played it on her show.
When I contacted Beyoncé’s manager at Parkwood Entertainment with the prospect of a reunion upon Beyoncé’s return visit to Australia for her new tour, she phoned me immediately: “Beyoncé has never forgotten Chelsea and is inspired by the work Camp Quality does. Please bring two other children living with cancer that the charity supports, too. Beyoncé would love to meet the friends Chelsea made at one of their camps."
Beyoncé answered each girl’s question, but it was Chelsea’s that was the most profound: “The next time you come to Australia, will you see me again?”
“No” Beyoncé said. Our mouths fell open.
“Not just the next time. Every. Single. Time.” Chelsea beamed and they hugged again.
Four months later, on that special phone call, nobody knows what was said. It was an intimate moment between two women. Chelsea’s mum texted me afterwards saying “You’ve made one of Chelsea’s last days with us one of her happiest. Thank you – and keep being you.”
Just under two weeks later, Beyoncé sent one hundred white roses to Chelsea’s funeral in Newcastle.
Since she was 15, people have tried and largely failed to get dirt on Beyoncé.
Those looking for aloofness or superficiality won’t find it. When she allowed three girls living with cancer to interview her, asking that no media was present so they could enjoy the moment privately, right there was the real Beyoncé: the warmest and most genuine celebrity our generation will know.
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This is so beautiful and so touching.
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