Mary J. Blige doesn’t have to work as hard as she does.
The Bronx native has more than three decades of experience in entertainment, which include nine Grammy Awards, 14 studio albums, dozens of acting credits, a couple of Oscar nominations, her own wine, and a boot collection with Giuseppe. The most poignant of her contributions may be the generations of women who have found healing, love and empowerment through her work. At 53, she doesn’t have to do any more. But she chooses to.
Recently, she’s been getting a lot of questions about her near future retirement plans. But just because the r-word is on her mind, it doesn’t mean she’s easing her foot off the gas just yet. Especially when she has an album coming later this year and a recently released film she’s promoting.
Her latest film, “Rob Peace,” premiered in theaters on Aug. 16. Directed by and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film is based on the true story of Rob Peace (Jay Will), a young Black man from Newark who tries to reconcile his path to creating a new, better future for himself with his determination to not leave his community behind. At the center of that work is helping his father (Ejiofor), who’s serving a life sentence, get his murder conviction overturned.
Blige said was “blown away” when she read the script. And the fact that it hit close to home in New Jersey resonated. She portrays Jackie, Rob’s mother who advises him to stay focused on creating a better life for himself. She drew inspiration from her mother, Cora Blige, for the role.
“She was that woman living in the inner cities and in the projects wanting her children to have more and more than anything in the world, and wanting us to succeed. And being just a single parent mom trying to do that, the deadbeat dad and my mom went through the whole thing.”
She said Rob’s story itself, though tragic, was a remarkable testament to defying the odds.
Blige is no stranger…
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