EXCLUSIVE: Resident Supports Brad Pitt As Mayor & Shares Memories Of the Famous Couple
Aug. 13 2009, Published 10:10 a.m. ET
Brad Pitt may not have any confidence in his own mayoral bid but one person who benefited from his Make It Right Foundation thinks otherwise. Melba Leggett-Barnes, who received a new home through the charity, chatted with RadarOnline.com about her recent run-in with Pitt and the support he has shown her from the moment they met. She also discusses her experience with Angelina Jolie and what the actress is like as a mom.
Click here for more on Brad’s charity work and to watch his funny response about running for mayor.
“I think he would win no problem – I know that I would vote for him. I saw Brad on Tuesday and he gave me a great big hug before he did his interview with Anne Curry,” Leggett-Barnes shared. “He is a very genuine and down-to-earth person and although he has said his policies wouldn’t go with the position of mayor a lot of people would love to see him in the job.” (Pitt had joked that he could not win an election because of his pro-gay marriage, marijuana legalization, and no religion views.)
“Both my husband Baxter and I are very grateful to him and his foundation for giving us another chance because we lost everything in the hurricane,” she added. Their $150,000 environmentally friendly house was one of the first to be built by Pitt’s foundation after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Several of their neighbors drowned in the hurricane and the they ended-up living in a trailer before the Make It Right Foundation stepped in and started to rebuild much safer homes.
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“When we met he asked us how we were all doing and everyone around here speaks well of him and Angelina Jolie.”
In fact, Jolie was a hit in the Leggett-Barnes household when she came to visit last fall: “When she was last here in November she brought both Maddox and Pax into our home to show them around and they all ended up rolling around our living room laughing and playing. She is very down to earth and is really a ‘hands-on’ mom who is genuinely interested in learning about how we are doing.”
As for how things are now, Leggett-Barnes sounded optimistic about where things are headed and was passionate about her gratitude to the actor:
“What is great is that a lot of people are still returning all the time and the sense of community is getting stronger all the time. Our new homes have been built to withstand hurricanes, so, that will attract new people too – Brad Pitt and his foundation have done an amazing job and we will always be grateful.”