Hilary Swank Apologizes After Snapping at Mother on Make-a-Wish Trip with Terminally Ill Children
Actress Hilary Swank has reportedly apologized for criticizing a mother who took her terminally ill sons to Disneyland for a Make-A-Wish trip.
Jada Bafus was waiting at baggage claim at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) when she took out her phone to call her husband, prompting Swank to declare, “I hope you enjoy this photo!” according to a report from Daily Mail.
“I think I took my phone out at the wrong time. She just thought I was taking a photo of her,” Bafus, the mother of a seven- and four-year-old son who both suffer from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, told the newspaper.
Bafus speculated that Swank was “maybe having a bad day,” and she told the Boys don’t cry actress, she wasn’t taking her photo and was just trying to call her husband.
“She just moved away a little,” the mother said. “It just wasn’t the right place, [wrong] time.”
“It just hurt me because I was starting my son’s Make-A-Wish journey, which she wouldn’t have known, but it was just one of those situations where it was one of my first encounters with a celebrity, so I thought it was a little comical,” Bafus explained.
“We just don’t know what other people are going through, and I was just a stressed mom trying to navigate LAX,” she added.
Bafus first shared the story of meeting Swank on Instagram, which went viral and received millions of reactions. The mother has since deleted her Instagram post.
After that, the Million dollar baby The star reached out to Bafus on Instagram to apologize for her outburst, saying she was worried about the photography of her two-year-old twins.
Bafus shared Swank’s apology messages with Daily Mail but asked the newspaper not to publish the images.
Meanwhile, Bafus’ husband, Bryan, told the outlet he found it strange that a two-time Oscar winner — whose job it is to be filmed regularly — would attack a stranger in a busy airport that’s usually teeming with people trying to take photos of celebrities.
“Reprimanding someone when you’re in this profession, it’s kind of like – I don’t know – it is what it is,” he said.
“We’re not mad at her,” Bryan added. “We’re not trying to make anything out of it. It was just kind of like, ‘Oh look at that, that was crazy’ – it was unexpected at the beginning of our journey.”
Swank and her husband, Philip Schneider, welcomed their twins in 2023, with the Yellow vests The actress announced her new family member in a post from April of that year, writing, “It wasn’t easy. But boy (and girl!) was it worth it.”
“So maybe don’t make fun of a mother who takes her terminally ill child on her Make-A-Wish trip to an airport because your illogical smugness wanted you to believe she was taking photos of you,” one Instagram user wrote in the comments section of Swank’s post.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and @ARmastrangeloand on Instagram.
