Paris Jackson Continues Elizabeth Taylor’s Legacy with HIV/AIDS Activism

Paris Jackson is having quite a year. The daughter of the late prince of pop has become an all-around it girl and is set to star in her first film, Gringo next year. She’s also using her platform to make a statement, most notably calling out “Nazi white supremacist jerks” at the VMAs.

Now she’s using that platform to continue a very important legacy, that of her godmother, Elizabeth Taylor.

Jackson has recently begun serving as an ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF), which has funded worldwide HIV/AIDS organizations since 1991. Jackson recently traveled to Malawi to see those who benefit from ETAF’s work.

Monday night, she spoke at Global Citizen Live in New York, where she discussed the impact her godmother’s activism had.

“She was passionate, she was outspoken, she was a real badass . . . So, here we are 30 years later, living under a president who lost the popular vote and has proven himself to have the compassion and empathy of a dead flashlight battery. His budget proposes slashing health-care funding for HIV and AIDS worldwide. So, now here I am hearing my godmother’s voice urging me to be heard and not allow all that’s been accomplished in finding a cure to fall by the wayside.”

The young Jackson has big shoes to fill but just the right amount of passion to make it happen.