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The Apollo Inducts Mary J Blige Into Its Walk Of Fame

Cindy Ord

As she gears up to shoot a new season of Starz’s famed drama series Power Book II: Ghost, Mary J. Blige has been enjoying her off time during the pandemic.

“I’m cool with being still. That’s the thing about me. I know how to just sit,” the 50-year-old Grammy-award-winning artist told InStyle during an interview.

Mary’s brief hiatus from her busy work schedule is well deserved too. As of recent, the star has been leaving a mark in the world of Hollywood over the last few years delivering Oscar-worthy performances including her role as popular jazz singer Dinah Washington in the upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic and in 2017′s Mudbound where the “Just Fine” crooner received a nod from the academy. Now she graces TV screens as ruthless druglord “Monet Tejada,” in the Power Book series.

Despite her success, Blige admitted that she still has to “push past the fear” of acting at times.

“I was not always super secure with my acting ability,” she continued. “There’s nobody clapping, nobody screaming, just a cold camera,” she says. “So I had to keep pushing…”

Perhaps where we see Mary’s vulnerability and truth shine the most is in her Amazon documentary Mary J. Blige’s My Life that made its debut back in June. The doc showcases Blige’s rise to fame from growing up in Yonkers’ NY housing project to selling more than 50 million albums worldwide. 1994’s “My Life” was the album that undeniably catapulted Mary into fame and out of all of her 13 projects, this one is the “most important.” The album served as a pivotal moment where the star says she “started speaking” to her fans but it also symbolized a place of survival through some of her darkest moments of drug abuse and depression.

Mary admitted that she’s still in the process of healing, especially from her difficult divorce with ex-husband Kendu Isaac whom she was married to for 13 years. Mary’s fight for happiness and “peace of mind” still continues but there’s something that’s pleasantly exciting about the feeling this time around.

“Divorce, that took a load off,” she explains. “The day that I began to lighten up is the day my skin began to brighten, my eyes began to brighten. Now I keep beautiful people around me. I’m single, without a kid, and I’m having a good time. I’m doing the most.”

Mary is “doing the most” indeed.

Blige is currently building her production company Blue Butterfly that’s set to develop a slew of diverse film and TV shows including a sitcom titled Family Affair that just sold to ABC. Fans can also expect to hear some new music from the R&B icon soon too. Back in June, Mary released her single “Hourglass” which premiered towards the end of the documentary. The song was deeply inspired by the heartbreak she experienced from her divorce.

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