Oprah Winfrey Gives Ava DuVernay Her Dream Gift: U2’s Bono

May 29, 2018

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*Ava DuVernay got to spend some quality time with her musical idol, thanks to the generosity and connections of another one of her idols, Oprah Winfrey.

The filmmaker has had a lifelong devotion to Irish rock star Bono and his group U2, so their mutual homegirl sprung into action, surprising her film “A Wrinkle in Time” director with an up-close-and-personal experience with the singer.

“My dear friend @ava LOOOVES Bono,” Winfrey wrote on Instagram. “So as a Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Forever gift I surprised her… with tickets to concert and meet and greet afterward in Nashville! Sweet moment.”

Watch below:

My dear friend @ava LOOOVES Bono. So as a Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Forever gift I surprised her with the help of @guyoseary with tickets to concert and meet and greet afterwards in Nashville! Sweet moment.

A post shared by Oprah (@oprah) on May 27, 2018 at 12:08pm PDT

The director of “Selma” also shared a pic from her Bono encounter, revealing she has “loved Bono and U2” since she was “a girl.”

“I’ve been guarded and guided by their work in many moments of my life,” she writes. “I first learned about human rights and activism, not through Martin Luther King as he was blandly taught in school, but through the passion of Bono’s voice singing of the civil rights icon in the song PRIDE,” she writes.

“I named my first narrative film, I WILL FOLLOW, after their song that meant so much to me and my Aunt Denise. She was the one who first introduced me to their music. I played their song BAD on the day I buried her and it helped me lift my head as I drove to the funeral, like a balm for my wounded heart.”

I have loved Bono and U2 since I was a girl. I’ve been guarded and guided by their work in many moments of my life. I first learned about human rights and activism, not through Martin Luther King as he was blandly taught in school, but through the passion of Bono’s voice singing of the civil rights icon in the song PRIDE. I named my first narrative film, I WILL FOLLOW, after their song that meant so much to me and my Aunt Denise. She was the one who first introduced me to their music. I played their song BAD on the day I buried her and it helped me lift my head as I drove to the funeral, like a balm for my wounded heart. My favorite all-time song of U2 is DROWNING MAN. It’s not a hit song. It’s a heart song. And it lives in mine. In the song, Bono sings the words: “take my hand.” A moment before this picture was snapped, he reached over and took mine in his. I was breathless and speechless. He and Edge were everything a fan wishes their hero will be upon meeting them. Every single thing. My true thanks to all who made the moment possible, especially my friend @Oprah, who knows my heart and that this would make it shine and shimmer and sing. It did. In more ways than I can express. It’s a beautiful day. xo

A post shared by Ava DuVernay (@ava) on May 27, 2018 at 12:46pm PDT

She added: “My favorite all-time song of U2 is DROWNING MAN. It’s not a hit song. It’s a heart song. And it lives in mine. In the song, Bono sings the words: take my hand. A moment before this picture was snapped, he reached over and took mine in his. I was breathless and speechless. He and (guitarist) Edge were everything a fan wishes their hero will be upon meeting them. Every single thing.”

DuVernay also thanked Oprah for arranging her dream moment, adding she knew the get together with her hero would make her heart “shine and shimmer and sing.”