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During a recent conversation on the podcast Good Words with Kirk Franklin, Kelly Rowland and the gospel legend had a very interesting conversation about a variety of topics, from coping with loss and reconnecting with estranged fathers, to dealing with temptation and doubt in the industry. Of course, the chat had to also cover faith, and the 40-year-old mother of two shared the ways in which her belief in God has sustained her.
“I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I believe in faith more than I do religion,” she said. “I think it’s more so faith to me because it’s such a personal walk … and it’s carried me. It’s made me the woman that I am. It’s making me the mother that I am. It’s continuing to make me the woman that I am. It’s teaching me how to be a wife. It’s continuously stretching me and keeping me in uncomfortable positions to where it makes me better.”
She also noted the ways that her faith helped her stay afloat in a cutthroat music industry.
“I’m so grateful for it because this industry should have chewed me up and spit me out and ripped me apart. And people should have chewed me up and spit me out and ripped me apart. And so many times, I do think that I was close. But faith,” she stated. “But faith, but God, but prayer…it’s definitely layered for sure.”
Before making it big and being surrounded by the sharks in the music biz, Rowland and the ladies of Destiny’s Child were just trying to make their dreams come true back in Houston. The means by which they were doing that wasn’t always supported by those around them, including, for Rowland, people with whom she attended church. But those were the times she leaned on her faith (and her confidence in her goals and abilities).
“The saints there didn’t quite…the saints didn’t really take to the fact that I was going to be singing this secular music. I was like, that’s cool, and found me another church that I wanted to go to that did not care. And that’s what happened with that,” she said.
“I’ve never been that girl that — that doesn’t work for you, that’s fine. And I was just happier at this other space and at this space that was really pushing myself and the ladies along and praying for us when we left, and praying to make sure that we got back safely, and praying whatever we’re going to this new place for that it works out in our favor. It was all of that,” she added. “I didn’t need to hear the other judgmental side of that. I was not about that. I didn’t care. I was chasing a dream and it felt right to me in my gut. I wasn’t going to jeopardize my faith or anything else for that. And my mom cathing the brunt of that, that really sucked. I think at the beginning it was like, ‘oh this is cute, we’ll see how far they get.’ Now when them checks start rolling in…[laughs].”
And checks certainly piled up. It all paid off, literally, because Destiny’s Child is one of the top-selling girl groups of all time, and chasing her dream helped Rowland become the star she is now. Sounds like somebody’s church missed out on some serious tithes…
