Tasos Katopodis
- Abigail Disney expressed regret for flying solo on her family's private jet nearly two decades ago.
- The Disney heiress made the comments in a report titled "Proud to Pay More."
- She wrote that she'd given up flying privately and changed her lifestyle for environmental reasons.
The Walt Disney Company heiress and filmmaker Abigail Disney said it was "wrong" for her to fly on her family's private Boeing 737 plane alone.
She made the comments in a report titled "Proud to Pay More," which included a personal letter she wrote to support the campaign for a wealth tax on the super-rich.
"Because of my grandfather's extraordinary success, I have lived a life of enormous privilege," she wrote in the "Proud to Pay More" report. "I don't think there is a single luxury, comfort, or convenience that I have not experienced over the course of my life on account of my family's wealth."
Abigail Disney is the granddaughter of Roy O. Disney, who cofounded The Walt Disney Company alongside his brother, Walt Disney.
She said that "one of the greatest luxuries" she experienced growing up was her family's private jet, but one of her strongest memories of using the plane was "actually not so fond."
"Nearly two decades ago, I used the jet to fly alone from California to New York," she said. "As I strapped myself into the aircraft's queen-sized bed for some shut-eye, I had an uncomfortable epiphany: this was wrong."
She knew she was dumping untold amounts of toxins and pollutants into the air "for no other reason besides my own selfish convenience," she added.
Disney said she no longer flies privately and has changed her lifestyle to help protect the environment.
The activist told The Financial Times in 2019 that she had an estimated net worth of about $120 million after she gave away $70 million over 30 years.
This week, Disney joined more than 250 people in signing an open letter urging global leaders to tax extreme wealth.
She's been vocal about wealth inequality over the years and even hit out at the pay disparity between Disney CEO Bob Iger and the company's other workers in 2019.
Iger's compensation for the fiscal year 2018 totaled $65.6 million, SEC filings show.
Disney didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment, made outside of normal working hours.