Hilary Swank Reportedly Apologized to a Make-A-Wish Mom After an Airport Misunderstanding — & We See Both Sides
Hilary Swank’s protective mama bear claws came out during a recent interaction at the airport, and we feel bad for everyone involved.
It all started when Jada Bafus, a mom of two terminally ill sons, ages 7 and 4, went to the LAX airport in Los Angeles on a Make-A-Wish trip to Disneyland. While there, Bafus reportedly had a tense interaction with the Oscar winner.
“At baggage claim, I was walking next to Hilary Swank,” Bafus told Daily Mail, per Page Six. “And I did a double take on her because it’s Hilary Swank and I am a fan of her movies and stuff.”
She shared that she took out her phone and Swank thought she was taking a picture of her and her twins, Aya and Ohm. On X, Bafus claimed that Swank told her, “You got what you needed? Get what you came for? Enjoy that picture,” according to the outlet.
But as Bafus explained it to the Daily Mail, she only had her phone out “because I got distracted and trying to find my Make-A-Wish kids and my husband.”
“I just looked, like you know, I was trying to call my husband. I wasn’t taking a picture,” she continued. “It just hurt my feelings because I was starting my son’s Make-A-Wish trip, which she wouldn’t have known, but just one of those situations where it was one of my first encounters with a celebrity so I thought it was a little comical. We just don’t know what others are going through and I was just a stressed mom trying to navigate LAX.“
Bafus said that Swank reached out to her via Instagram to apologize because she was worried about her toddlers being photographed. Bafus asked that the apology not be reproduced in her interview, but that she was surprised by it. “I did not expect Hilary Swank to directly talk to me,” she said. “It was just like a ‘Woah, I was taken aback.’”
The Ordinary Angels star, who shares her twins with husband Philip Schneider, has not made a public comment on the matter. However, she does her best to keep her babies’ faces off social media to protect their privacy as much as she can.
This situation is hard, because we can see both sides. Despite the fact that Swank is famous, her kids are still little and not public figures, so she should be able to demand a right to their privacy. It must get annoying dealing with paparazzi constantly trying to take photos of your little ones, and she probably just saw a phone pointed up at her and snapped (I’m sure traveling with two toddlers is fraying on the nerves as well).
For the mom, it can be jarring to have a celebrity (or anyone) yell at you, especially when she’s trying to have a magical trip for her kids. I do feel like it’s a bit odd that this mom called Daily Mail to talk about the experience (and then didn’t even reveal Swank’s exact apology) instead of clearing up the misunderstanding at the airport with Swank. She asks for understanding for people traveling, but she doesn’t seem to have any understanding or grace for Swank traveling with her kids either.
At the end of the day, I’m glad they seem to have cleared it up and hopefully this reminds everyone to give each other grace — especially while traveling during the holidays.
In an interview with Women’s Health in April, the 51-year-old reflected on being a mom later in life and shared some important words of wisdom. “I’m a very different parent than I would’ve been, even in my early 40s,” she said. “I’m much more patient. I’m much more understanding. I am much more, I think, interested in a different way than I would’ve been. I’m really interested in their brains. I’m fascinated about what makes them tick. And I have my career that’s already established, so I’m not divided. I’m able to really sink in and be present with them and be a hands-on parent.”
These celebrity parents are on double duty!