Sia goes undercover to pay for Thanksgiving shoppers' groceries in Palm Springs Walmart

She pretended to be Cici, a lottery winner
Getty Images
Megan C. Hills29 November 2019

Despite Australian pop singer Sia’s best efforts to hide her heart of gold, the singer has gone viral on social media for bringing Thanksgiving miracles to the town of Palm Springs .

Posing as a lottery winner called CiCi, Sia was seen surprising shoppers in Walmart and TJ Maxx by paying for their entire Thanksgiving shop.

The singer , who generally hides her face with a series of wigs while performing, was filmed and photographed by people performing a touching act of charity.

Sia without her wig
Getty Images

In one video, she was seen introducing herself as “CiCi” - rather than drawing attention to the fact that she’s actually an award-winning musician with numerous hits under her belt.

One user who bumped into her in TJ Maxx wrote, “Went to tjmaxx today & this nice lady decided to pay for everyone’s stuff because she ‘won the lottery.'”

In videos shared online, Sia was seen greeting people, introducing herself as CiCi and running between cashiers to pay for as many people as possible on her card. One showed her having a sweet exchange with a baby sitting in a trolley as she waited for her card to go through, explaining in detail to the child, “I’m paying with my card and then it’ll be fun because it’s Thanksgiving.”

In the video, another woman whose groceries she had presumably paid for arrived with a bouquet of flowers for Sia to say thank you.

Visibly moved by the gift, Sia gave her a hug and said, “Thank you, that’s very sweet.”

Other users also began tweeting that Sia had helped them out too, with one user writing, “I’m still trippin out on last night. I met Sia and she paid for my things. She’s the sweetest. God bless her!!”

Another video showed Sia embracing a family who were obviously stunned by the act of generosity, as they appeared close to tears. One woman then asked her, “Can I take a picture?”

The photo later made it to Instagram, accompanied by a moving caption which revealed just how much Sia’s actions had impacted the family. The user wrote, “What you did for us last night, I will never forget.”

Revealing that their car had broken down two months ago and that they were “a month out from losing our trailer”, she continued, “You have given us the best Thanksgiving and restored our lost faith. With all of our love and gratitude.”

Given Sia rarely appears in public without something masking her face, she was able to go under the radar for a while until somebody spilled the beans.

One user wrote, “So @Sia paid for my groceries today thank you so much!! The heart and beautiful soul you have for paying for everyone!! I’m sorry for telling everyone once I realized who you were !! But this kindness must be acknowledged!”

Another said she didn’t even recognise Sia until “Facebook just told my mother it was Sia” and added, “I blame the fact that she hid under that wig for so long.”

One user who claims to be a Walmart employee working there on the night said, “Totally didn’t know it was her. I kept thanking her cause she was buying customers baskets full of items. And she did not once ask for any recognition. Bless her heart”

They continued, “I work at the Walmart and she kept telling the associates and customers her name is Cece and she won the lottery and she wanted to give back. I literally thanked her for what she was doing for other people four times. She was so friendly! Kept hugging everyone.”

Another revealed that on top of buying groceries for people, Sia also bought “gift cards” for one lucky girl in line. The user wrote, “Sia paid for my mom’s groceries at Walmart and bought my sister gift cards and no one recognized her ???”

One user shared a picture of Sia hugging somebody whose shop she paid for, standing behind a trolley.

The user explained what happened, saying, “On our way to pay [Sia] goes, ‘It’s your lucky day’ my mother thought she was saying it because she was going to cash us out...she is super sweet, i hugged her, so that’s a plus!”

Sia has not said anything about the encounter and given that she went to such lengths to try and mask her identity, it’s unlikely she will. In any case, the secret is out and now the world knows she’s one of the kindest celebrities on the scene today - even if they can’t always recognise her.

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