The singer/actress portraying Khadijah James on the 1993 sitcom also reveals that she was not the only one who was required to slim down to star on the show.
- Oct 8, 2021
AceShowbiz - Queen Latifah has recalled her unpleasant experience of working on "Living Single". Revealing that she was told to lose weight to appear on the 1993 sitcom, the Khadijah James depicter said she was "really angered" at that time.
The 51-year-old walked down memory lane when speaking to Entertainment Tonight. "I can remember specifically doing 'Living Single' and the word came down that we needed to lose weight," she divulged. "Here we are, four different women, four different body types and we needed to lose weight."
"If anything it angered me and disheartened me, but it really angered me," the singer/actress further recounted. "I said, 'We are what women look like, we're not going to lose weight for whoever's idea of what we're supposed to look like.' "
Despite the disheartening moments, Latifah noted that she's now feeling "sexy, I'm feeling good, my body's right and my swag is on... I'm feeling myself." She further exclaimed, "And guess what, I might be a little obese but I'm gonna work on it and I'm gonna keep it in check because I'm on it. We are naturally beautiful, sexual creatures and we live and that is life, so I'm really proud to be doing this project right now at this point in my life. I'm grateful."
"The Equalizer" star also made use of the interview to speak up about the stigma surrounding obesity. "There are so many things being discussed openly from mental health to all kinds of other things, why not tackle obesity?" she reasoned. "Why not talk about that openly because it's something that comes up. But I think obesity is always connected to a stigma, to shame. And what we want to do is just really educate people about what it really is, which is a health condition."
"A lot of us have had that [shame] so I just want people to know, it's not your fault. It's bigger than us, it's bigger than you, it's bigger than me," she added. "You can yo-yo diet all you want. I've done it, I've been judged for my weight, I thought about my weight over and over sometimes."
"But some things are out of my control and it took someone teaching me that in order for me to understand it. So now I'm partnering with the 'It's Bigger Than Me' campaign so other people can understand it, and hopefully other people will join in and just have a conversation about it," Latifah went on explaining. The said campaign, created by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, "aims to destigmatize obesity through a video series and online resources."
