Photo: Queen Latifah Talks Winning in Hollywood Despite Not Meeting Its ‘Beauty Standards’

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles

Successful actress, female rapper and talk show host Queen Latifah is proud of all the success she’s been able to achieve in the industry and she feels she’s done it on her own terms.

The beauty nabbed the cover of the January issue of Good Housekeeping Magazine and she’s so gorgeous we’re kind of confused as to why she even mentioned meeting Hollywood’s “beauty standards”:

 

Here are the highlights of the interview.

On not meeting the Hollywood standards of beauty:

“There’s probably no reason I should be here as an African-American girl from Newark. And for a lot of the things I’ve wanted to do in life, I haven’t looked typical,” she adds, referring to Hollywood’s beauty standards. While other aspiring actresses might have compromised themselves to win a role, Latifah has famously declared, “I was not born a size 2. I’m not skinny, period. I’m not willing to sleep with the director or step on somebody else’s neck to get the job.

“That was not always easy. I think I got to that place by not being happy with the other side — hating your body and criticizing yourself all the time. When I was around 18, I looked in the mirror and said, You’re either going to love yourself or hate yourself. And I decided to love myself. That changed a lot of things.”

 

She also admits she relied on alcohol to help her cope with her brother’s sudden death (he died in a crash while riding the motorcycle she bought him):

“Drinking a bunch of alcohol, numbing myself. Every day I would be faded, like a painting that’s just not vibrant, whose edges are dull. I wasn’t living my full life.”

 

Queen credits her real life close friend Jada Pinkett Smith for helping her get through the dark time and kicking her alcohol addiction by recommending she sought the help of a therapist.

The January issue of Good Housekeeping hits newsstands December 17.