Queen Latifah is speaking her truth. During a recent sit-down with REVOLT, the iconic rapper and actress opened up about her time on the groundbreaking sitcom Living Single, revealing that despite the show’s massive success, she and her fellow castmates were pressured to lose weight by those in charge.
Sheesh. But you know, those were the times, and in some ways, have they really changed?
“We had the No. 1 show among Black and Latino households, and we were told that the word came down that they wanted us to lose weight. And my instant reaction to that was absolutely not. I’m not losing a pound,” Latifah stated.
The award-winning star made it clear that her priority was always authentic representation. For her, the cast of Living Single reflected what real women looked like, and altering their appearances would have gone against the show’s spirit.
“We look like what real women look like. We are representing what four women from Brooklyn look like. And we all look different from one to the next,” she explained.
Latifah went on to add regarding network leadership. “We have such a successful show, we’re doing all the right things, and this is the one thing that you actually have to say, and you don’t even know what you’re talking about. Maybe you should go take a trip to Brooklyn over the summer and see what people from Brooklyn actually look like. That’s the way I felt at that time.”
Anyways, Latifah’s career turned out pretty well regardless of what these so-called execs supposedly wanted.