Dennis Leupold/EssenceBelieve it or not, Mary J. Blige found confidence while taking on the role of Florence Jackson in Dee Rees‘ drama, Mudbound.
She tells Essence, “Shedding Mary J. Blige for Florence gave Mary J. Blige some confidence…like, a lot of it.”
She adds, “[On set] I could hear people whispering, ‘She’s so beautiful.’ And I was like, ‘Who the hell are they talking about?”
The “Love Yourself” singer also talks about the difficulty in taking on the character of Florence while dealing with the dissolution of her 14-year marriage to Kendu Isaacs, along with her already busy schedule.
“I had just come back from performing on the Bad Boy Family Reunion tour with all the nails and the wigs, and I wasn’t trying to depart from that.”
“So when it came time to get into character, I was like, ‘Can I wear a lace-front wig? Can I get some lashes?'”
However, Mary J found a way to get the job done and portray Florence: “If I didn’t let go and give into the character, the movie probably wouldn’t be what it is right now. It was the one thing that needed to be done, and I couldn’t let Dee down.”
You can watch Mudbound on Netflix November 17, and read the rest of Mary’s interview in the November issue of Essence, which hits newsstands this week.
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