Elizabeth Taylor.Photo:Silver Screen Collection/Getty
Silver Screen Collection/Getty
Elizabeth Taylor’s family continues to preserve her legacy, including the late Hollywood icon’s passion for helping others.
Tuesday marks what would have been the 92nd birthday for theCleopatraactress, whodied in March 2011 at age 79.
Taylor, atwo-time Oscar winnerand mother of four, was dedicated to work on behalf of people with HIV through her foundation,The Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation, which she formed in the ’80s.
Taylor‘s granddaughterLaela Wilding told PEOPLE back in 2016, “Her heart was huge. She had such a huge impact with her activism and she was so full of life and love. She made a big impact on us.”
Elizabeth Taylor.Vince Bucci/Getty
Vince Bucci/Getty
“Family was number one for her. We had a family where we all loved one another, her children and her grandchildren, and it comes from her her desire to bring us all together," Wilding, now 53, said at the time.
Wilding remembered that there was a “real tenderness and vulnerability” to her grandmother, who “had the soul of an artist.”
“She was sensitive and a good listener. You could cry on her shoulder and tell her anything. And she was a really good hugger,” she said.
Elizabeth Taylor.J. Vespa/WireImage
J. Vespa/WireImage
And, Taylor knew when to advocate for others and use her platform for good.
“I remember her strength and her courage and her activism,” Wilding said. “Helping others who needed someone to recognize them and fight for them. I think that was also the source of her relationships with her leading men like Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson and James Dean,as well as Michael Jackson. She sensed their neediness.”
“She wanted to take care of others, and that motherly energy infused all of her relations,” she added.
Brower added, “She said her entire life was a fight. The resilience is the refusing to be a victim.”
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For Taylor’s family, “Continuing her legacy [of activism] is important for to us,” said Wilding. “She really wanted to break down stigma. She was independent and strong and courageous and did things for others in big ways and small.”
source: people.com
