Award-winning media mogul Oprah Winfrey recently organized and celebrated award-winning filmmaker Ava Duvernay’s 50th birthday with a lavish three-day trip to Hawaii.
Oprah reportedly took to Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes look at her preparation for the fabulous trip she planned for Ava. She started out by sharing a video of her picking flowers for her dear friend on Aug. 31.
“When I was shooting Lee Daniel’s The Butler, @davidoyelowo asked me to watch an indie film called Middle of Nowhere. I googled who directed the movie because I had not heard of Ava DuVernay at the time,” the billionaire media mogul wrote in the post’s caption. “There was this beautiful photograph of this lovely Black woman who was wearing glasses just like me. I thought: ‘I want to be her friend!’ And here we are, almost a decade into our friendship and bringing in @Ava’s 50th year on planet Earth. In honor of this life event, we gathered her family and friends and celebrated in Hawaii last week. This is how we kicked off her birthday—stay tuned for more [celebration emojis].”
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Oprah continued with another post, giving her followers a before-and-after look of the dining table setup at Ava’s big party. In it she was seen wearing a beautiful gown and bedazzled hair.
“@Ava’s Five-O party! Thank you to Diana and her @porch_summerland team for bringing Ava’s three-day celebration to life! [celebration emojis]. Head to my IG stories for more fun!” she wrote.
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In a video clip posted to Oprah Daily’s official Instagram, the now-50-year-old filmmaker was seen giving a speech to Oprah, calling her “the hostess with the mostest.”
“I ask God, ‘What did I do to deserve this gathering of people coming from all the places that you did to be with me on these days? And what did I do to deserve a friend who’d create this moment for us all?'” she said to a crowd of attendees, including actor, writer, and director Colman Domingo, actor and comedian Niecy Nash and media personality Gayle King.
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“I don’t know what I did, but maybe he’ll tell me,” Ava concluded. “I’m going to be listening, and I’ll be thanking you all throughout the time here and thanking you forever for this.”
