Mary J. Blige is in one of the best seasons of her life both personally and professionally – but she admits that it took overcoming “Hell” to get there.
The superstar singer opened up about her journey in her cover story for Glamour, published on Wednesday (November 1). The magazine dubbed the Yonkers native ‘Woman of the Year,’ and while diving into her success, Mary had to also reflect on the ride it took to get there.
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“This is not an overnight success,” she said. “This is not an easy thing, this new me, this new Mary. This is hard work. When you’re happy and you’re strong, and you’ve been…[as] miserable as I’ve been in life and went through as much hell, it’s easy to revert back to the residue. It’s easy to revert back to the past because that’s what you knew. Because you know the pain of the past will always try to pull you back.”
In addition to a starring role in the popular Power franchise and still releasing new music, Mary J. Blige has gotten into her philanthropic bag as of late as well. As part of her and PepsiCo. Inc.’s “Strength of a Woman” scholarship initiative, a $30,000 scholarship is being offered to one lucky student at Hampton University.
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Eligible students must self-identify as a female, be a current college sophomore undergraduate with a minimum 2.5 GPA, and be pursuing a degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Arts, Finance or Creative Design. The award will be renewable for up to one year or until a bachelor’s degree is earned, whichever occurs first.
The PepsiCo x Mary J. Blige Strength of a Woman Scholarship is part of the beverage company’s $200,000 donation, which also funds local charities.
“The whole mission of this festival is to celebrate and advocate for Black women,” Mary J. Blige said in a statement when announcing the partnership earlier this year. “So to have Pepsi show up and show out in the way they do is overwhelming. With their support for the Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit, we are able to pay it forward in so many impactful ways and to be able to grant an HBCU scholarship for a deserving student is nothing short of incredible.”
As part of the scholarship announcement, the Strength Of A Woman Festival and Summit made its return over Mother’s Day weekend with Ms. Lauryn Hill, Jeezy and more.
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Looking ahead, Mary is hoping to one day play Nina Simone in a biopic. The Queen of Hip Hop Soul stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier this year, and said she had long wished to portray the legendary singer, pianist, composer, and activist.
“I always wanted to play Nina Simone because I wanna learn how to play the piano and I love her songs,” she explained. “They’re very dark and moody and I can always find a place for that.”
