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90-year-old Marla Gibbs, a Black sitcom star and Hollywood icon, will be given her flowers on July 20.
“I understand you were asked why don’t you celebrate me the way you celebrate Betty White,” Gibbs said around three days ago while speaking about a post that questioned the different levels of recognition she and White get for their respective contributions to the entertainment industry.
“Well guess what?” she continued. “You do celebrate me. And you love me and you support me. And that’s why I’m getting a star on Hollywood Boulevard chile — yes! Because of you. If you didn’t watch me all these years and support me, nobody would even know my name honey. It’s because of you.”
“And I appreciate you, I have gratitude for you, I love you, and I thank you for loving me. All the love I didn’t get growing up, I definitely got from you. Thank you,” Gibbs concluded.
In her caption, she went onto say that she feels “celebrated.” She also gave a particularly special shout out to Regina King, her former TV daughter Brenda on a spin-off of The Jeffersons called 227, whom she said worked closely with her family “to see this through.”
Charmingly, the 90-year-old’s post was completed with the hashtag, “#bettywhiteismygirl.”
Gibbs got her start starring in blaxploitation films in the early 1970s before landing her most well-known role as Florence Johnston in 1975, on TV sitcom The Jeffersons. She went on to play Mary Jenkins on 227. She’s starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, This Is Us, The Chapelle Show, Dawson’s Creek, NCIS, Touch By An Angel, Black-ish, American Horror Story, Scandal and more.
Her five-decade of work as an actress has also spanned film and theater which you can read more about here.
