It’s been five years since Millvina Dean died, aged 97.
Millvina was only two months old when the ‘unsinkable’ Titantic struck an iceberg and sank on April 14th, 1912. She was the youngest passenger on board, and despite being third class passengers she and her mother escaped. Her father sadly died when the ship sank.
For the final three years of her life, Dean was living in a nursing home in Southampton, where she moved after breaking a hip. Sadly, she struggled to meet her bills and in October 2008 decided to auction off some of her mementos, including a letter her mother received from the Titanic Relief.
That was until Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio heard of her plight. The stars, who became the best of friends and global superstars when they starred in James Cameron’s epic 1997 film, got together to make the end of Millvina’s life as comfortable as possible by paying her home care fees.
The famous duo donated $10,000 each to a fund set up to make sure Millvina could see out her days without ever worrying about the cost again. Cameron pledged the same amount, as did Celine Dion – who sang the record-breaking theme for the film.
Excuse us, we have something in our eyes.
