I had to grow to love my body. I did not have a good self-image at first. Finally it occurred to me, I’m either going to love me or hate me. And I chose to love myself. Then everything kind of sprung from there. Things that I thought weren’t attractive became sexy. Confidence makes you sexy.
I enjoy just being me. I don’t need to be Queen Latifah, the brand, 24 hours a day.
There are times you can’t really see or even feel how sweet life can be. Hopefully its mountains will be higher than its valleys are deep. I know things that are broken can be fixed. Take the punch if you have to, hit the canvas and then get up again. Life is worth it.
For me, my criteria for making films is all about trying to do something different from the last time. So if I catch myself doing too much of one thing, I’m always trying to move away from that, because it’s not going to be challenging enough to keep my attention and focus.
For me, it might sound cliche, but beauty for me really does start on the inside. It’s like a state of mind, a state of love if you will. Then, whatever you can do on the outside is all like a bonus.
I’ve been giving back since I was a teen, handing out turkeys at Thanksgiving and handing out toys at toys drives for Christmas. It’s very important to give back as a youth. It’s as simple as helping an old lady across the street or giving up your seat on the bus for someone who is pregnant.
Be bold, be brave enough to be your true self.
Always follow your own path.
Life’s not about sitting at home in front of the TV waiting for your life to begin. Get out there and take some chances.
I believe that the kids, young people should have an opportunity to have Oscar nominated actors in their movies too.
I was taught from a young age that many people would treat me as a second-class citizen because I was African-American and because I was female.
I never really took any acting classes. I’m just a natural ham, I guess.
What would your life be like if you found out you had 3 weeks left? And you know that you had not begun to live? And you had all these dreams and all these possibilities. And all these things you wanted to do and things you wanted to say and now time’s up?
If my brother and I wanted money in our pockets, we had to get jobs – my first was at 15, at Burger King. We had to come up with ways to create an income.
I’ve loved car racing all my life. I watch NASCAR regularly, and drag racing because we have Raceway Park in New Jersey. I think I got it from my father.
There are a lot of people who helped make Queen Latifah who she is today. I don’t forget, but a lot of people do and get big heads. My mom will make me walk the dogs or take out the trash when I go home. I’m not allowed to get a big head; I’ve still got to do the simple things in life.
The good thing about movies is that they’re subjective. You can connect to different themes depending on your own perspective.
Sometimes you do have to bank on yourself. You do have to believe in your ideas enough to really get out there and fight for it despite what people think of some young kids from the hood.
Sometimes when I am in a situation that I have never been in, I kind of pull back a little bit to observe things; it doesn’t really last long though I have to. I’ve resigned to myself to the fact that I have to be me.
Racism is ignorant. And it’s stupid. And it’s old. And it’s played out. So beat it already with that, you know what I mean? ‘Let’s all get along’ – I’m so tired of that damn sentence, but it’s true.