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25th May 2016

“Chewbacca Mum” goes to Facebook HQ, has a laugh with an actual Wookiee

Even Mark Zuckerberg is a fan

Jordan Gold

In a galaxy far far away… Well, in San Fransisco…

Since a video of her expressing her utter joy over a Chewbacca Star Wars mask went viral last week, mother of two Candace Payne has been catapulted to viral superstardom. She even got a chance to meet with franchise director JJ Abrams (thanks to a little help from James Corden).

The Texas mum also accepted an official invitation from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to attend the social media giant’s offices yesterday – and to meet who plays Chewie in the films. The two rode bikes together for a photo-op. Needless to say it was pretty magical.

Via Mark Zuckerburg

In a Facebook post on his own wall, Zuckerberg announced the occasion:

“We invited Candace Payne, whose Chewbacca mask video got 141 million views and is now the most-watched Facebook Live video ever, to come by Facebook HQ today. And we had a fun surprise for her!”

Speaking to the BBC about her newfound stardom, Candace has said:

“That’s just crazy. I’m just laughing – in all honesty, that is ridiculous. I’ve looked at the number of views and it just seems like someone is just playing with a calculator.”

Candice is now the most watched person ever on a Facebook video. As of this post, there have been over 143 million views of her unbridled joy at the unboxing of the mask.

Her video has been shared over 3 million times on Facebook in the last week alone.

Via Mark Zuckerburg