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Mary J. Blige is the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, but she always struggled to see herself as regal and beautiful. Blige’s low-self esteem is something that has haunted her for most of her life but now the beauty is in the eye of the beholder when she looks in the mirror.

In a recent interview with Elle, the Yonkers-bred songstress said that she didn’t begin to embrace her beauty until she began filming Mudbound.

“I didn’t feel beautiful—like for real for real, not just ‘Hey, I’m pretty’ but actually believing it—until about 2016,” she said.

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While starring as Florence Jackson, a role that earned her two Oscar nominations, she said she “was at my point of no real confidence.” After receiving so many compliments on the set while not rocking her signature glamourous look, she decided to start telling herself she was beautiful as a morning routine.

“So I started to believe it and started to pay myself high compliments to get past that feeling and that fear,” she said.

She added, “During Mudbound and when I was married, I was feeling so low. I had to pay myself the highest compliments, even if I didn’t believe it, just so I could build myself up. I would do it in the morning, because that’s the time when your hair is not done and you don’t have on makeup. You’re just kind of dealing with yourself for real.”

Ever since then, Blige has made it her duty to change the language in which she speaks to herself. Every morning she still looks in the mirror and says “Good morning, Gorgeous. I love you. I got you. I need you.”

Her key affirmation is also the name of her upcoming album, Good Morning Gorgeous, slated to be released Feb. 11.

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