Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson have donated $10m (ยฃ7.9m) to a Maui relief fund they’ve created, to help those affected by deadly wildfires in Hawaii.
The Hollywood stars say donations for the People’s Fund Of Maui will be sent “directly” to residents who are trying to rebuild their homes following the fires, which have killed at least 114 people.
The wildfires, which completely destroyed the town of Lahaina, are the deadliest in the US in more than a century.
Winfrey is a part-time resident of Maui while Johnson, also known by his former ring name as The Rock, who is of Samoan descent, lived in Hawaii as a child. He went on to voice the character of demigod Maui in Disney film Moana.
Winfrey said she was inspired to create the fund after reading about the success of country music veteran Dolly Parton and her My People Fund, set up to offer financial assistance to residents following the wildfires in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 2016.
Sharing a video alongside Johnson on Instagram, Winfrey said the pair had seen first-hand the “devastating” impact of the fires and wanted to find a way that would guarantee donations would go “directly into the hands of Lahaina residents”.
She said: “We were so concerned about what was happening in Maui that we were texting back and forth and I read this article that Dolly Parton had given money in her community and I said ‘I think this is the answer’.”
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