Mary J. Blige is "stronger" than she ever knew.
The 47-year-old singer-and-actress is currently going through a divorce from her former manager, Martin ‘Kendu’ Isaacs, after 14 years of marriage, and she’s refusing to wallow in negativity and is embracing the "positive" aspects of her situation.
She said: "I learned that I’m really stronger than I even knew because there is a lot of hell taking place, too, right now.
"But I am living. I am not a petty person. I let the positive overtake me so that all of the positive doors can open and the positive can come in. I’m stronger and wiser."
Mary has won widespread critical acclaim for her role as Florence Jackson in ‘Mudbound’ and, after years of praise for her work as a singer, she’s thrilled people are now taking her "serious" as an actress and hopes her award-nomination role leads to bigger and better things.
Speaking on the red carpet at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, she told E! News: "This is a great time because a whole other chapter is open to me.
"A book – I wouldn’t say it’s closed – but I’ve moved on, and something amazing is happened for me.
"People are taking me serious as an actor. I’ve been Mary J. Blige the singer for years, and people still love and respect me for that. But now people love me for how serious I’m taking this acting business.
"It’s a real craft, and you have to learn it. I’m just excited that another chapter is opening."
The ‘Just Fine’ singer recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and admitted she is still "coming down" from the excitement of the day.
She said: "It was like being high. I had such a hangover – which I don’t drink or do anything anymore, for right now – but it was such a high, and I’m still coming down.
"It was mind-blowing."
And though she hasn’t been back to see her star, Mary is touched by all the photos she’s received from fans of them visiting it.
She said: "It is so beautiful and so humbling. And I just feel so blessed to be here."
Mary J Blige is strong
