Marie ‘Mimi’ Haist had been homeless for decades when she met Zach Galifianakis at a Santa Monica laundromat in the late 90s. She worked there in exchange for a place to sleep. He was still an actor struggling to make a name for himself.
They became friends long before Hollywood came knocking on Galifianakis’s door. When success came with ‘The Hangover’, he did not forget her; he got her an apartment near his, which Renée Zellweger, another friend Mimi won over, helped furnish. He took her as his companion to premieres and red carpets, where she happily posed beside him.
Her story inspired the documentary ‘Queen Mimi’ in 2015. Mimi died in 2021, at the age of 96, after spending her final years not on the street, but surrounded by famous friends who truly loved her. 💛
