Before he was a Grammy-winning rapper who’s sold more than 170 million albums, Drake was teenage actor Aubrey Drake Graham.
Back in the early 2000s, the future rap icon was best known for portraying Jimmy Brooks in Canadian teen drama “Degrassi: The Next Generation.”
While his role on the show ended 15 years ago, Drake hasn’t forgotten his “Degrassi” experience — nor his former co-stars.
A Generous Donation
Earlier this week, the “shabang” rapper hosted his annual Strong Women, Stronger Drinks event, taking place at his Casa Loma Mansion in Toronto.
TMZ reports that the event was by invitation only, with Drake welcoming an exclusive group of female entrepreuneurs and influencers in various fields. Upon arriving, each of the women received a $1,000 cash gift.
However, 10 of the women invited were selected to receive a $50,000 gift, while six others walked away with $100K.
Among the 10 women to receive $50K was Andrea Lewis, who portrayed the girlfriend of Drake’s character when they both starred on “Degrassi: The Next Generation.”
A Generous Gift
Lewis shared the experience with her social media followers, posting video taken at the Strong Women, Stronger Drinks event.
In the video, Drake is seen making the presentation to the women, who were not expecting the money. That was certainly true for Lewis, whose jaw dropped as her excitement was outpaced only by her surprise.
“This is poetic because me and Andrea used to be on ‘Degrassi’ together,” Drake says.
“My TV boyfriend stays blessing me! 🙌🏾💸💸,” Lewis wrote in the caption.
‘A Real Blessing’
In a statement she issued to People, Lewis admitted she had not seen it coming.
“It’s been a real blessing,” said Lewis.
“We’ve seen each other grow up and I feel very lucky to have a friend like him and that no matter where we are in the world or our personal journeys we always manage to stay connected,” she added, confirming that his $50K gift had been “very unexpected.”
In addition to maintaining a thriving acting career, Lewis has also ventured behind the camera via her production company, Jungle Wild Productions. Among Jungle Wild’s projects has been Netflix docuseries “The Black Beauty Effect,” which debuted in 2022.
Lewis told People that she plans to reinvest that $50,000 into her producing projects.
“The night was about celebrating women who are hustling and doing big things and [Drake] said that he wanted to change our lives,” Lewis added in her statement. “Every business woman in the room knows that someone investing in your business at any level makes a huge difference! As a multi hyphenate creative with a production company, this was a very generous gift.”
Cash, Cars & Birkin Bags
In addition to cash gifts, Drake also gave away an array of luxury items to the women in attendance via a raffle.
Per People, those raffle items were far from chintzy.
In fact, items raffled off included BMW and Mercedes-Benz G-Class vehicles, and pricey Birkin bags.
A Networking Event
In a brief speech he gave to attendees, Drake explained the origin story of Strong Women, Stronger Drinks.
“I started this event based on an event back in the day,” he said, recalling a networking event, What Women Want, that he’d attended several years earlier.
“It was essentially women gathering to network, to socialize and to be a man at the event, you had to work. I always loved that aspect of it. We would show up and work the event because that’s what the event was about,” he said.
“What we’ve done is sent out an invite list. All of you who are doing incredible things in your respective fields. Whether you’re grinding or ascending to the moon, or somewhere in between. We hope that you can be social, talk to each other, learn from each other, and we have an incredible evening for you,” he added.
