Turning 50 hit Mary J. Blige hard.
On Tuesday, the artist is on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, and she tells the host about being overcome with emotion while celebrating her birthday earlier this year.
“I feel great,” Blige says of being 50. “When it hit at 12 o’clock that night, I just cried like a baby, because I made it. I’ve been through hell in my life. To make it to 50? It was just beautiful.”
The musician also talks about having a fan in U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who walked out to her song “Work That” when she and Joe Biden were declared the official winners of the election.
“It’s the coolest thing,” Blige says, adding that Harris once told her years ago how big a fan she is. “I didn’t know she was a fan like that, because people don’t pick ‘Work That’… So she’s a real fan.”
Blige also talks about her Champion Your Skin campaign to put a spotlight on Black stuntwomen in Hollywood and add a category for stunt performers at the Oscars.
“We talk about diversity in the entertainment business, and Black women getting more roles or better roles,” she says. “You can’t ignore the need for Black stuntwomen, because they are an extension of us. They take the falls that we can’t take.”
