Josephine Wright (WJCL)
*Tyler Perry is building a new home for a 93-year-old South Carolina woman who is fighting developers over property that’s been in her family since the end of the Civil War.
As we reported previously via CNN, Josephine Wright and her late husband, Samuel Wright Sr., moved from New York to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, nearly 30 years ago to seek peace and relaxation on a family-owned property.
The 1.8-acre parcel of land had been in her husband’s family since the Civil War and it was there that they carried on family traditions, hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings, planted trees and bushes, and built a porch, Wright said.
Wright acquired the deed to the land in 2012 after her husband died in 1998, her granddaughter, Tracey Love Graves, said.
Now, Wright’s beloved land is at the center of a legal battle with a property developer looking to build a residential development next door. According to The Post and Courier, Georgia-based Bailey Point Investment, LLC is planning to construct 147 homes.
The company claims Wright’s “screened-in porch, a shed and a satellite dish were encroaching on the company’s property, causing a nuisance, lowering property values and delaying their development plans,” USA Today writes.
As of 2014, Bailey Point Investment owns the land surrounding Wright’s 1.8-acre property. The company tried to buy Wright’s residence a few years back, offering just $39,000, but she rejected it, according to USA TODAY.
Wright countersued the company, and that’s when she caught Perry’s attention in June. Now the Hollywood mogul is building her a five-bedroom home, TMZ reported.
Perry posted a quote of Wright saying, “I’ve pretty much been a fighter all my life.”
“Well, that makes two of us. Ms. Wright,” Perry wrote. “Please tell where to show up and what you need to help you fight.”
Wright’s counterclaim, filed on April 25 and amended in June, accused Bailey Point of a “constant barrage of tactics of intimidation, harassment, trespass, to include this litigation in an effort to force her to sell her property.”
The counterclaim also claimed the developer of “trashing her property, going onto her property cutting brush and shrubs, littering, causing dirt and debris to cover her automobile, house and contents.” The claim said Wright had been “deprived of the peaceful enjoyment of her property.”
Wright’s family launched a GoFundMe in May to help her fight the developers. Several celebrities donated such as Fantasia, Meek Mill, Kyrie Irving contributed $40,000 to the GoFundMe, and Snoop Dogg gave $10,000.
“Tyler Perry’s friendship has made a significant difference in Grandma’s life, and we are truly thankful for his kindness and generosity,” Wright’s granddaughter, Charise Graves, wrote on the GoFundMe page, per USA Today.
READ MORE: Josephine Wright: 93-year-old Hilton Head Island Woman is in A Legal Battle Over Her Family’s Land – ‘I Want to be Left Alone!’ | VIDEOs
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