The global response to the devastating fires that have swept across Australia has been overwhelming. Celebrities around the world have lent their voices to the cause, asking for the public to donate their time, money, and resources to help those who have been displaced Down Under. Twenty-three people have lost their lives due to the bushfire and over half a billion animals have died.
A social media model, 20-year-old Kaylen Ward, decided to do her part. She told her followers that if they donated more than $10 to the charities of her choice—those directly connected to the Australian bushfire relief efforts—and followed up with a proven receipt, she would send them pictures of herself nude. According to Guardian, Kaylen has been working as a nude model since August 2019.
“I donated $1,000 myself,” she reportedly shared with Guardian Australia. “I had a substantial amount of followers, maybe 30,000 at the time, and I thought that a lot of my followers would pitch in and send in some donations for the wildfires.” In just four days, Kaylen and her naked body have helped raise approximately $1 million after her request went viral.
“I have a girl that’s doing the analysis on it and she’s calculated that I’m getting about 10 legitimate verified DMs per minute,” Kaylen continued. “And that’s only saying everybody donated at least $10, that’s not even calculating the average amount, because I’ve had donations of $5,000... I feel that the number is way beyond that.”
Kaylen was already using social media to pay her bills by selling her nude pictures to her loyal fans, so she thought she would use her talents for good. Of course, she's had to deal with critics along the way; Instagram deleted her page and she claims that anytime she tries to make a new one, it gets taken down. Kaylen also tweeted that her family disowned her and the guy she was dating won't speak to her anymore.
“It is a little bit overwhelming that I’m so vulnerable and everybody’s staring at me," the model added. "Especially because I’m naked on the internet right now. [But] I’m only one person and I’m helping so many other people, so I’m not the most important thing right now."
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