So there I was at a friend's house chilling and flipping through channels on the screen when Queen Latifah came on. It instantly captured my attention and took my breath away. I was so engaged and taken in with her confident vibe when she appeared on MTV Music Awards 2008 and wowed the crowd!
I was astonished by the body posture and how she gracefully held her head up. Believe it or not, when we are confident from within it shows that we are in control of our lives. It affects our moods and every aspect of our lives. To me she's a very beautiful woman from inside out.
Now I'm not doing a promo on her or to increase an already infamous celebrity's popularity. What I'm trying to share is that, in the world where we are ruled by the perception that fashion models are beautiful, skinny thin is good, or hour glass curves are to die for....there are those who do not abide by the unwritten rules and continue to mesmerize us not only with her talent and inner beauty, but with her high levels of confidence.
Every woman comes in different sizes, and Queen Latifah is an exceptional individual who has an abundance of confidence and talent that will last a lifetime. She is the CEO of her 13 year old entertainment company Flavour Unit, a Grammy Award Winner, Cover Girl Spokeperson, Clothing Line Creator & Philanthropist.
Queen Latifah did an interview with Glamour Magazine
GLAMOUR: Did you face a lot of rejection? Were people telling you you can’t do that? Why are you singing? You’re a rapper. Why are you acting?
QL: Yeah, sure, of course.
GLAMOUR: And how did you deal with that?
QL: That is just what people go through. You have to—you know, sometimes you’ve got to swing people your way, and so you don’t get discouraged because somebody doesn’t get you, you just work harder to show them that, you know, you need to get it. And I never really based my life upon who doesn’t get it. I have support from the people around me and I know what I come with. I knew that I had these gifts, so I believe in myself and I just have to hope that eventually someone will understand me and jump on my side and help me get to where I’ve got to go. I mean, there were times when an album wasn’t successful, or I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have the same talent, you know, it just means it has to be channeled and focused in the right way. And so if anything I try to come back and just go back at it and focus and critique myself and not be afraid to hear constructive criticism, take what I feel is valid and throw out what I think is garbage and come back at it again. It’s like a constant process, my life. I’m constantly learning and I never feel like I know it all, and that’s my main thing. I just don’t—I feel so blessed by God to even be in this position, and so humble, because there’s so many people that helped me get here. Everything, whether it was a tough life lesson or breaking my heart, helped make me stronger; everything is a lesson and I was trying to take it that way. And laugh all the way through it.
QL: It’s all the same to me. If anything, girls are showing much more flesh on these videos and the guys are showing more body, these six-packs and little abs, their little chests and stuff. You still can be who you are and succeed in both genres, but the pressure is there and there are plenty of people that will keep feeding that little never-full giant called vanity, and that will keep perpetuating some of these image issues.
GLAMOUR: Does it ever get to you? Because you seem like it rolls right off you.
QL: No, not anymore. I mean, as a kid starting out, I definitely thought about it. I thought, I should probably get in shape and train. But that’s not what I’m about. Like I’m not rapping about sexing somebody out, do you know what I mean? And I don’t have a problem in the love department, I never did, so it wasn’t like I felt some need to become this sexpot in order to feed that ego or something. I was always cool myself, and so I never really fed into that. The only time I really got that kind of pressure was when I was doing Living Single. They said, ‘The girls need to lose weight.” I would laugh at it really, and I would refuse to do it anyway. I mean, if I wanted to lose weight, I would lose it for myself. I never lost weight because somebody told me I needed to lose weight. There’s too many people in their dressing rooms and in their offices, people with gorgeous bodies and no freaking self-confidence. They shoot everybody down. They talk about themselves way too much. They are way too self-absorbed, and “Do I look fat?” That’s annoying. When will they get it, finally get it that, that stuff is annoying, that a guy to me prefers a woman with confidence, that confidence is sexy? I don’t care what size you are. I know who looks good and who doesn’t, you know, but if they look good, hey, they look good. And if they don’t have a banging body and their confidence is just so up, they seem much more attractive and more sexy, because of the confidence. Confidence is sexiness to me. I realized a long time ago that something that I definitely did not want to be measured by was my waistline.
It’s the same in relationships. You know what? If there’s a dude sitting around telling you that you’re too fat, leave his ass. We’ve got to change their opinions too, and we keep feeding guys all of this stuff, that everything is about our bodies, and that’s what it’s really about. I’m not saying that, in a couple, in a relationship that you shouldn’t be loving and sexy to that individual. I’m not saying let yourself go or don’t be healthy. Be healthy, but don’t be hung up on somebody else’s words, like you shouldn’t live and die by what a guy thinks of you. You know, we’ve got to be the shit to ourselves, excuse my language, but we have got to be the bomb to ourselves first.
QL: I actually had a guy tell me yesterday, “You know what? You really, really inspire a lot of young women.” And for a guy to come up to you and say that, it just shows that it doesn’t just affect women. It affects the fathers and the brothers that are around these women, and care about them and want them to have self-esteem and confidence in the right things. Just me being, you know, my size and being on TV or being in a movie and succeeding is like, hey, if she can do it, I can do it. I can feel good about myself, because she feels good about herself. Sometimes you need that. I needed it growing up. I didn’t get it too often, because there weren’t a lot of people who looked like me, but luckily my mom and other friends, people along the way gave me that encouragement. But you know, girls really need that because the images that they have to fight with are even worse than what I had to fight with growing up. Everybody is necking on TV and their stomachs are flat, and if you don’t come with that natural genetic tendency, then you’ve got to work for it, and you might not get educated on how to eat properly, or maybe your family can’t afford it or don’t even really know how to feed you in a healthy way. People don’t really consider that when they are putting all of these images out there. Everybody can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods.
GLAMOUR: Who has been your most surprising fan?QL: Well, the other day I met Senator Orrin Hatch—at the VIP room at the Grammys. He wanted to jam with me. I was surprised that Orrin Hatch was up for me. Apparently he writes songs himself.
GLAMOUR: What advice would you give to somebody about going after their dreams, when they’re looking up and the odds seem really against them?
QL: Well, the odds are always going to be against you, so you might as well suck it up and go for it. And then if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else is, so you have to buy your own story first, even if you don’t buy it, you better learn. Like my father says—he’s a cop—if you ain’t got a gun, act like you got one.
GLAMOUR: Who is the first person you call when something good or bad happens to you?
QL: My mother.
GLAMOUR: What’s the best thing about being a celebrity?
QL: Free stuff. Free goods. The hook up is the best thing.
GLAMOUR: And free tickets too?
QL: Unless you’re dealing with California Highway Patrol.
After going through this interview, I realised this. "Never ever put yourselves down because you can't be who you want to be. Be happy with who you are and what you have."
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