Jill Scott's family photos were found at a Goodwill, then returned thanks to a viral video
When Hannah Peters walked into her local Goodwill, she was just looking to browse; maybe even snag some sought-after Y2K vintage pieces. What she didn’t expect was to come across long-lost family memories — especially ones tied to a Grammy winner.
Peters, who has been thrifting and antiquing since childhood, said the hobby runs in her family. Since moving to the Nashville area about a year ago, she’s made it part of her routine. “That’s what I do all the time, is thrift," she tells TODAY.com.
So on March 16, she wasn’t searching for anything specific, just whatever might catch her eye.
While browsing the aisles, Peters found herself in the picture frames section. But not all the frames were empty.
“I just happened to see these family pictures laying on the shelf all together, in what seemed to be the same family. And I just thought it was so sad,” Peters says. “I remember being the only one that seemed to notice, and for whatever reason I had this gut feeling that I should just share this with my followers.”
Jill Scott's Family Photos Were Found at a Goodwill, Then Returned Thanks to a Viral Video
The video, which was posted to Peters’ TikTok account, has since amassed almost 9 million views and over 1 million likes. The 10-second clip shows first Peters with a sad face before quickly panning to the shelf: rows of framed moments from one family’s life, seemingly abandoned.
“It really didn’t cross my mind that someone would recognize them,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine how powerful the internet really is.”
But then the comments came flooding in.
“Omg that’s literally Jill Scott in high school or something?” wrote one user.
“I ran to the comments!! somebody get Jill Scott on the phone right neowww!!!” said another.
A top-liked comment, with over 142,000 likes, read: “JILL SCOTT?!?!?! Reach out to her and ask can you return them.”
Jill Scott is a renowned R&B singer, songwriter, actor, bestselling poet and producer whose career has spanned decades. A three-time Grammy winner with 14 nominations, she’s known for her 2000 debut album, “Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1,” as well as film roles including, “Why Did I Get Married?”
At first, Peters was skeptical, admitting she hadn't heard of Scott before the cries from the commenters. But as more viewers chimed in and the video gained traction, the possibility became harder to ignore.
That week, Peters received a direct message from Scott’s social media manager, confirming the photos belonged to the singer and asking if she could help return them.
Living just minutes from the Goodwill, Peters didn’t hesitate.
“As soon as I got that, I was like, I’m just going to go back there,” she says. “I didn’t want the pictures to get into the wrong hands.”
“It was honestly surreal,” Peters says. “Things like this don’t happen to me.”
She gathered all the photos she could, even ones that didn’t clearly feature Scott herself, just in case they belonged to her family.
“I know pictures can mean a lot to people, because they do for my family,” she said. “That’s really all I cared about, getting the pictures back.”
After verifying the request from the social media manager was legitimate, Peters coordinated with Scott’s team. The photos were then shipped to Shawn Gee, a business partner of Scott’s and President of Live Nation in Beverly Hills.
Once the photos were shipped, Peters says the experience didn’t quite feel real until she saw how people responded online.
As the original video continued to spread, viewers flooded the comments with their own stories of lost photographs; memories displaced during moves, accidents or years gone by.
“I’ve gotten a lot of comments from people saying they’ve lost pictures of their own,” Peters says. “And they wish someone would have done the same thing for them.”
Now, when Peters goes thrifting, she finds herself paying closer attention.
“I keep a bit of a closer eye out,” she says. “Because you never know what you’re going to find.” And this time, what she found wasn’t a vintage gem that Depop fanatics dream about, but a piece of someone’s life, briefly lost and ultimately returned.
