Abigail Disney, filmmaker, philanthropist, and granddaughter of Walt Disney Co. co-founder Roy O. Disney, isn’t holding back when it comes to the world’s wealthiest—and she’s naming names.
In an interview published by The Guardian on April 7, she tore into billionaires who hoard wealth and dodge responsibility.
“I am of the belief that every billionaire who can’t live on $999 million is kind of a sociopath,” she said.
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Her point, she explained, is that once someone crosses the billion-dollar mark, the money starts making more money—so fast, it becomes “almost impossible to get rid of.” She added, “It’s a strange way to live when you have objectively more money than a person can spend.”
Disney’s frustration with extreme wealth isn’t new—and it didn’t come out of nowhere. In a 2020 TED Talk titled “Dignity Isn’t a Privilege, It’s a Worker’s Right,” she described her reckoning with the system she inherited:
“My grandfather and great-uncle built something that was supposed to be magical,” she said. “But it only works if you consider the people who make the magic.” She criticized executives who, in her words, “line their pockets while workers live in their cars,” and added, “No one on Earth works harder than the people who are struggling just to get by.” That contrast—between protected wealth and exploited labor—is what she says continues to define the system today. “The American dream has become a nightmare for the people who still believe in it,” she said.
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Now, in 2025, Disney hasn’t dialed anything back. In The Guardian interview, she singled out Donald Trump and Elon Musk as prime examples of what happens when extreme wealth goes unchecked.
“We all laughed and said he was stupid,” she said of Trump, “but obviously he’s not. In the 19th century, he would have sold a lot of snake oil. He came along right at the correct moment. And he played his role brilliantly. You’ve got to give it to him.”
As for Musk, Disney slammed him for cutting overseas aid, including funding for Pepfar—the U.S. program credited with saving 25 million lives through HIV/AIDS relief.
“There are people suffering and dying today because of that cut,” she said. “There are children who have HIV who shouldn’t because of Elon Musk. Now. As we sit here and talk.”
She didn’t stop there. “That natural human proclivity to say, ‘Hmm, that doesn’t feel right’—he doesn’t have it. Trump doesn’t have it,” she said. “They’re spending no time in shame, and shame is a righteous emotion. It’s not an emotion you want to live in, but it’s an emotion you want as a motivator sometimes. And where is it? Where’s the shame?”
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Speaking at the Tax Justice And Solidarity event earlier this year, she admitted she benefitted from “some quirks in the tax system, some good luck, and some very loving grandparents. But nothing else.”
By her early 20s, Disney had already begun giving away portions of her inheritance. According to The Guardian, by 2021 she had donated roughly $70 million to causes including support for women in prison, women affected by HIV, and survivors of domestic violence.
Now a vocal member of the Patriotic Millionaires, she’s been pushing for higher taxes on the ultra-rich and more accountability for those at the top—especially when their influence starts steering democracy.
“I spend a lot of time trying to think of reasons to be optimistic,” she said, “because I don’t know how to function without that. And I want to find the energy and the grit for a really long fight. This isn’t just four years… there’s a whole civilisation-level reset to be done.”
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This article ‘Where Is the Shame?’ — Disney Heiress Calls Out Elon Musk and Trump, Says Billionaires Who Can’t Live on $999 Million Are ‘Kind of Sociopaths’ originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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