Taylor Swift Dropped $50,000 into a Connecticut Mom’s Gofundme After She Got Hit by a Car
· Thought Catalog
Updated 3 minutes ago, August 31, 2026
Ashley Taunton pulled over on I-95 to help strangers at a crash, then shoved a teenager out of the path of a second car before it hit her. Weeks later, a $50,000 line showed up on her GoFundMe with Taylor Swift‘s name on it.
Taunton shattered her ankle and ruptured her diaphragm in the July crash, injuries she took saving a boy she didn’t yet know was the son of a friend of 14 years.
The 42-year-old nursing assistant and mom of three from Connecticut had been driving on I-95 South in Rhode Island with her youngest daughter when she spotted the wreck ahead. She parked nearly 30 yards back, told her daughter to stay in the car and call her dad, and walked over to check on the driver and two passengers. A second car hydroplaned toward the group, and she pushed the teen, a boy named Vinny, clear before it struck her.
Swift’s $50,000 donation landed near the top of a list of 274 gifts, most of them $100 and $200. Taunton reposted the GoFundMe screenshot on Instagram: “How is this even real 😭 Thank you, I’m speechless and @Taylor Swift you are an incredible human.”
TMZ was first to report the donation.
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