I had been a hurricane all my life. And that was, of course, because I was bipolar and did not know it. And I was - you know, the mania took control. When you're on stage and when you're performing, you're heightened, and it's an extreme.
— Jenifer Lewis
I don't know what to say about Jill Marie. The girls on 'Girlfriends' were all my babies.
Pay attention to your friends; pay attention to that cousin that jumps up on the picnic table at the family reunion and goes a little too 'nutty,' you know what I mean? Pay attention to that aunt that's down in the basement that never comes upstairs. We have to pay attention to our friends, pay attention to your family, and offer a hand.
The biggest message I want to get out is that a lot of us live in a bubble, and we think things can't happen to us, but they do. When it does happen to you, take care of yourself, and then get up.
As you grow, you stretch. You become more, and you have more to give if you've lived and learned and experienced. And I try to stay healthy. I eat as healthy as I can. I drink lots of water, and I work out just about every day of my life.
I'm a classically trained actress, and I have many levels and colors, and 'Ventura Boulevard' is where I am planning to stretch and grow.
My friends were dropping like flies, and the government wasn't doing anything. You don't watch an entire generation take water hoses and dogs on the front line during the '60s or watch another generation perish from AIDS and then get to drive around in big cars and do nothing.
I never thought I'd be using this phrase, but the pursuit of happiness - that's my right.
I was gifted at birth with this talent, and I've tried to honor it all my life. And I did - through hell and storms and tsunamis and earthquakes. I've been through too much not to know that giving back is everything.
You think you can go into all those auditions not knowing who you are? The work came after I found my sense of self - when I wasn't so manic and desperate.
You have to be a star to be in this business.
You are a black goddess when you come out the salon.
I had not starred in an independent film and it's about a woman who owned a hair salon.
It's important to e alive in those moment, especially when you're doing something you love to do.
Apart from being Jennifer Lewis. The name pulls people in.
Saturday night is when my hair would be fixed up and that was my memory.
I did 'Eubie!' on Broadway with the Hines brothers, 'Comin' Uptown' with Gregory Hines, and then 'Hairspray.'
Don't think you're going to be happy when you get something. You have to be happy on your way to happy.
You don't want to wait until something horrible happens to get help. Admit that something's not right. You might not know exactly what, but you still want to go get it checked out.
I've had a wonderful life. The reason it's been a wonderful life is I've made conscious choices to get up, to basically love life.
Creativity does not stop just because you're over 50. Hollywood spits female actresses out after age 29, but you don't stop creating. If anything, you become wiser and even better.
Forty-five million people hit that button for 'In These Streets.' When you find out you have that kind of popularity, you better use it. It's called responsibility.
I know what mental illness looks like, and I know that if a person is not ready to get help, they won't.
I think my performance in 'What's Love Got to Do With It' was powerful. I was so unafraid and confident. You know, it was the first mother of black Hollywood. I was Tina Turner's mama. That's what started it all. I had fallen in love right before that movie, and I had absolutely no fear in me.
But a true diva has dismissed that drama. A true diva's heart is open, and she's ready to play by her own rules - rules that are gentle and kind.
Whoopi and I have been friends ever since she claimed she couldn't sing on the set of Sister Act.
If you just want to be a star, go away.
I still go to a salon where a gal does my hair, and I don't know if it's because I'm a celebrity but by the time I leave there, we are eating chicken and talking and screaming.
What if Whitney was at her top, and we brought in a name like Whitney Houston, it would sell.
I'm in the moment. I'm always in the moment of life.
I want to co-produce again.
We didn't have a beauty shop as I grew up.
I don't leave a room unless I leave a smile. I want to leave them laughing.
I'm very humbled by the fact that I do have so much to say, and I just hope that my walk, my honesty, will make a difference for people and maybe motivate them.
I wrote a show - just as a joke, actually - and called it 'Bipolar, Bath, & Beyond,' just to bring some humor to it. I wasn't saying to myself that I'll 'come out' with it - I didn't think there was anything to 'come out' with - I was just writing another one-woman show about my life.
On September 11, 2015, only hours before my mother passed away, I learned that the man I planned to build a life with was a convicted felon and con artist whose criminal career spans more than 25 years.
I've been in charge all my damn life, but executive producing is teamwork. You're involved with every aspect of the production, from casting to locations, everything.
'Black-ish' is the cherry on the top of my career... When you come into your own, when you're in your skin, you're unstoppable, because you're living in the moment of life.
We are as sick as our secrets, so I tell everything.
I've been keeping a journal since I was in the seventh grade.
A diva is someone who pretends to know who she is and looks fabulous doing it.
If you can find something you love, go for it everyday of your life, and it would be really good to you.
If you don't love it, don't touch it.
You never know when you start a project just how good it can be.
America has a relationship with Bobby and Whitney.
Sometimes I think I take on a lot of work but that's me.
I've been burn when it comes to my hair that it ain't no joke.
I don't have any beauty shop memories. I remember the barber shop.
