Celebrities continue to do their part when it comes to helping the world battle the coronavirus. The latest celebrity to pitch in is Gwyneth Paltrow, who is donating a dress she wore to the Oscars to raise money for coronavirus relief.
According to CNN, Paltrow is taking part in the #AllInChallenge, which involves celebrities auctioning of either their time or memorabilia for the benefit of charity organizations like Meals on Wheels, No Kid Hungry, America’s Food Fund, and World Central Kitchen. The dress Paltrow is auctioning off is the one she wore to the 2000 Academy Awards when she won Best Actress for “Shakespeare in Love.”
Paltrow said that the hand-beaded Calvin Klein dress was the perfect thing to auction as the end of the 90s is “back in style now.” Paltrow also promised to give the dress to the winner herself, asking them to come over.
However, Page Six points out that the dress Paltrow is touting as “back in style” was also the same on that she dissed in 2013 on her own Goop website, calling it just “okay” and something that she wore because she wanted to “disappear.”
Of course, commenters on her Instagram did not let her forget about her previous remarks. One berated her for auctioning a dress when she could have just donated money considering her wealth. Another reminded her that she called this specific dress as one of her worst, “not Oscar worthy,” and one she wore because she wanted to disappear.
Other commenters said that it would have been better to donate money rather than auction a dress just because she could not wear it anymore.
Of course, Paltrow is not the first celebrity to help raise money to help out those affected by COVID-19. Elton John’s “Living Room Concert for America” raised $8 million for Feeding America and the First Responders Children’s Foundation, both of which help out the first responders dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
Angelina Jolie also donated $1 million to No Kid Hungry, which helps feed the 22 million schoolchildren left hungry by school closures brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
As the situation stands now, it looks like celebrities will have to continue with their fundraising efforts as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world continue to rise. The Apr. 20 situation report from the World Health Organization puts the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide at 2,314,621 people, while the number of dead is at 157,847 people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in the Apr. 20 update that there are now 746,625 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States, with the number of fatalities at 39,083 people.