Source: Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/ / Getty
Today is Mary J. Blige’s 48th birthday, and it feels like just yesterday that she stepped on the scene singing on tracks for rapper Father MC and blowing everyone away with her hit singles “You Remind Me” and “Real Love.” That was back in ’92. More than 25 years later, Blige is still a force to be reckoned with in music, and an icon in all of entertainment (she’s also quite the actress if you missed her Oscar-winning turn in Mudbound). And despite a rough life at times, including enduring abusive relationships, overcoming drug addiction and dealing with public heartbreak (most recently, her divorce from Kendu Isaacs), the Capricorn has endured. She’s also managed to look nothing like what she’s been through, even aging backwards in certain ways. The trick to being in her best shape and health at nearly 50? Blige said it’s all about doing the work internally so it can show externally.
“Getting older is inevitable, but aging is optional. So however you take care of yourself is what you’re going to look like. So what you eat, what you think and how you think is going to be a reflection of how you feel. If you think that you’re just a broke down, horrible looking person that’s what you’re going to look like, but if you think that you are the best you that you can be and that’s all you can be, it’s going to shine through your eyes,” she told Healthy Living Magazine a few years ago. “Take care of yourself. It’s going to come from the inside out. And it took me a long time to get here, but this is why I look the way you say I look. To me it’s not about how my hair looks all the time on the red carpet. It’s about how I treat you right now, how I treat everybody in the moment. That makes me go home and just feel good about myself and all of that in my heart comes through my face and my body and my eyes. It’s really about the inside. Inside out.”
Love it. And we love Mary. So to celebrate her born-day with her, we decided to take a walk down memory lane and check out a few very colorful and classic photos of the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. Hit the flip to partake:
Source: Anthony Barboza / Getty
