Photo: J. Vespa/WireImage
Elizabeth Taylordefined classic Hollywood with Oscar-winning performances inButterfield 8andWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. But the actress found her true passion in advocating forHIV/AIDS.
“She spoke of it as being something that finally gave her a sense of purpose,” Taylor’s granddaughter Naomi deLuce Wilding tells PEOPLE. “She spoke of being relatively ambivalent about her fame and her acting career. She loved it, but when she found activism, it really made sense of her passion.”
On Monday,The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundationwill support AIDSWatch 2019, marking the organization’s fifth year as a partner withAIDS Unitedfor the two-day advocacy event in Washington, D.C.
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“It’s one of the most beneficial things that we as a family for ETAF have done,” says deLuce Wilding, who will attend the AIDSWatch with her sister Laela Wilding and cousin Quinn Tivey, an officer of the foundation. “It keeps us involved. It makes us also feel like we’re part of a community, which is really important to us.”
“She always said her plan was not to die until there was a cure for AIDS,” deLuce Wilding, 43, says.
Taylor’s granddaughter deLuce Wilding.Michael Buckner/Variety/REX/Shutterstock
Taylor died in 2011 following hospitalization for congestive heart failure, but her legacy lives on through the work her family and foundation do to advocate for HIV/AIDS. While a celebrity taking a stand proved to be a rarity in the ‘80s, Taylor’s trip to Capitol Hill paved the way for stars to align with causes today.
“She was one of the first celebrities to get up and not only do things like start a foundation, but to be so outspoken,” deLuce Wilding says. “She had a role in creating that expectation that we have now for celebrities to a certain extent. I think she’d be proud of herself.”
source: people.com
