Playwright and filmmaker Tyler Perry recently stepped in to help a 93-year-old South Carolina woman fighting developers for a home that’s been in her family since the end of the Civil War. Bailey Point Investment Group sued Hilton Head Island resident Josephine Wright over her home in February, arguing that her screened-in porch, shed, and satellite dish infringed on the company’s property, causing a nuisance, lowering property values and delaying their development plans.
Bailey Point Investment owns the land on every side of Wright’s 1.8-acre property after acquiring it in 2014 and is developing a 147-home subdivision in the area. Wright told USA TODAY that the company tried to buy her house a few years back, offering only $39,000. Wright countersued the company, enlisting the help of a civil rights attorney, and the ensuing press coverage caught Perry’s attention in June.
TMZ reported that the “Madea” actor is now building her a five-bedroom home. Wright has been living at the Hilton Head home for the past 30 years after she and her husband retired from their jobs in New York City. After her husband died in 1998, it’s just been Virginia there, although the home is a favored gathering spot among her 16 children, 40 grandchildren, 54 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great-grandchildren. She told USA TODAY, “This has always been a sanctuary.” Up until last year, that is.
That’s when Wright said Bailey Point Investment started working around and even on her property, like cutting down trees and kicking up dust that covered her house and car. Around the same time, she said other strange things started happening, including flattened tired and a snake hanging in a window. The situation escalated with the company’s lawsuit and Wright’s countersuit and gained national news coverage.
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Perry posted a TV station’s story that quoted Wright as saying, “I’ve pretty much been a fighter all my life.” He wrote, “Well, that makes two of us. Ms. Wright. Please tell me where to show up and what you need to help you fight.” In May, Wright’s granddaughter, Charise Graves, started a GoFundMe to help her grandmother fight off the developers. Soon after, celebrities, including recording artists Fantasia and Meek Mill, posted their support. Dallas Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving donated $40,000 to the GoFundMe, and Snoop Dogg contributed $10,000.
Graves recently updated the GoFundMe to report that a tree fell on Wright’s home while she was out of the house in September, creating two holes in her roof. Perry is now paying for a new house to replace Wright’s current home, and construction crews are expected to break ground in the coming weeks, TMZ reported. Graves confirmed the news on GoFundMe, expressing her gratitude to Perry, writing, “Tyler Perry’s friendship has made a significant difference in Grandma’s life, and we are truly thankful for his kindness and generosity,” adding that Kyrie Irving made a second donation to her grandmother’s cause following the roof damage.
“Everyone’s gesture of support and solidarity means the world to us, but Kyrie has gone above and beyond anything that we could have imagined from one donor, and we are forever grateful,” she wrote. “Kyrie, your invite to the new home is in the mail!”