Jacinda Ardern has confirmed she helped an Auckland mother pay for her groceries during a recent visit to the supermarket.
A mother-of-two had reached the checkout, with her children in tow, and was about to pay for her shopping when she realised she'd left her wallet at home.
By chance, Ms Ardern was behind her in the queue and stepped in to pay for the groceries herself.
"Just when you think Jacinda Ardern couldn't get any more lovely, low key and authentic ... she goes and pays for your groceries at the supermarket, because you've got your shopping, have two kids with you and are about to put it all back as you forgot your wallet," the grateful mother wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post.
Speaking to the media, Ardern confirmed she was the good Samaritan who paid for the groceries.
When asked why she did so, she simply explained: "Because she was a mum".
In the Facebook post, the mother said she tried to tell her children how New Zealand's Prime Minister had just bought their groceries for them, but the kids didn't seem to care about Ardern's celebrity status.
"All they cared about was how silly mummy was forgetting her wallet. Totally lost on them," the mum wrote.
Ms Ardern earns $427,072 a year and is the fifth highest paid leader in the OECD.
Last year she announced a 12-month pay freeze for the nation's politicians, arguing they were being paid well enough.
