Amy Winehouse paid thousands of pounds of her own money to “save a stranger’s life” after bumping into the coconut seller while on tour.
A post to Reddit has shed light on Winehouse’s kindhearted gesture, with the singer-songwriter behind Back to Black paying for a life-changing operation. A picture of Winehouse alongside coconut salesman Julian Jean-Baptiste was shared to the r/AmyWinehouse subreddit, where fans praised the late singer for her actions.
The post reads: “Amy Winehouse paid £4,000 for the operation of Julian and saved his life.
“In 2009 Amy Winehouse secretly paid more than £4,000 (equivalent to more than $5000) for the operation of Julian Jean-Baptiste, a poor coconut seller in Santa Lucia, after meeting him on holiday on the island paradise.”
“The 45-year-old man who earns just £1 a day, has opened up about his gratitude to the singer for helping treat his hernia, saying, ‘Her generosity has given me life again. She sent a bodyguard with cash to pay for the hospital. I was in very serious condition because of a hernia, but I couldn’t afford the surgery.
‘I don’t know what I would have done if she didn’t give me money. Maybe I wouldn’t be here right now.’ After the much needed surgery Amy continued to visit Julian often, and though wanted to somehow give Amy her money back but she refused.”
Julian says he tried to give Amy her money back but when he tried to say “thank you” she replied “you don’t have to thank me.” The heartwarming story has impressed fans, who praised Winehouse, who sadly died at the age of 27 on July 23, 2011.
One user wrote: “Amy had a heart of gold.” Another added: “I love hearing these stories abouther, gives me more reason to absolutely adore her.”
A third wrote: “Amy was such a sweet and generous soul. I think of her from time to time…” Some users compared Winehouse to fellow singer George Michael, whose charitable acts were shared after his death in 2016.
Lynette Gillard’s partner appeared on Deal or No Deal as the couple continued trying to fund IVF. Michael, who happened to be watching the programme, anonymously sent the couple £9,000.
She said: “I thought ‘oh my god, that’s a lot of money!’ And I couldn’t believe that we’d touched somebody on TV who had watched our show and that they’d actually picked the phone up and said, ‘I want to help that couple’. I had no idea who it was from, they wouldn’t tell me. All I knew is that somebody wanted to help and that we had enough for another three goes.”