Tyler Perry is making good on his offer to support a 93-year-old South Carolina woman who was in danger of losing her historic home amid an ongoing legal battle.
A source told PEOPLE that the billionaire director and actor is building Josephine Wright’s new house on the same lot where she currently lives and they “expect to start work in the coming weeks.”
“Tyler wanted to get her a house that was big enough for her whole family to be together, including her grandchildren,” a source told PEOPLE.
It’s a significant update for Wright, who has been locked in a battle with developers trying to force her to vacate her Hilton Head property that has been with her family since the Civil War, as PEOPLE first reported in July.
“This house means it’s home, the place I want to be at this age,” Wright, a grandmother of 40, great-grandmother of 50 and great-great-grandmother of 16, told NBC affiliate WSAV-TV.
TMZ first broke the news.
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Bailey Point Investment Group, which developed the land behind Wright’s house, filed a lawsuit claiming that parts of the house are on their property.
Helen Bacon Hester, an attorney for the investment group, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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The investment group claimed Wright was blocking their progress on the 29-acre, 147-unit plan, WSAV-TV previously reported. But Wright said she would not go into the caves after they even offered to buy the land. “I’ve been a fighter almost all my life,” she told the newspaper.
Her battle over the summer reached the 54-year-old entertainer. In June, he shared Wright’s WSAV-TV interview on his Instagram. “Ms. Wright, please say [me] where to appear and what you need to help you fight,” the post captioned.
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Wright’s granddaughter, Charise Graves, said in August that the city of Hilton Head is also on Wright’s side, according to ABC affiliate WSB-TV.
“The Town of Hilton Head, standing behind one of its own, has denied the ‘Development Company’ request to move on to the next phase of construction until this Grandma Josephine matter is RESOLVED. So far no word from the development company,” Graves wrote. “Grandma Josephine is overwhelmed with gratitude for the support she has received from all over the world.”
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It’s not the first time Perry has been known to lend a helping hand — he even won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2021 Academy Awards for his ongoing philanthropic efforts, which include a focus on humanitarian and social justice causes.
A source tells PEOPLE that the motive behind Perry’s action is simple: “When Tyler sees an injustice, he always tries to not only right it, but to show that there can be goodness around every corner.”
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