Don’t make assumptions about Fantasia Barrino.
She might walk the red carpet and perform before thousands of people, but, she says: “I’m regular. I don’t like the whole celebrity thing.”
During an interview on the Tammi Mac Show following the BET Awards, the singer was asked about how she got into such great shape.
Her answer was simple: eating right and exercising.
When the show’s host implied that’s much easier for someone with access to chefs and personal trainers, Barrino set the record straight.
“A lot of artists that you see, they look like they have it, and we smile and we come out and we put on a good show, but in real life some of them are struggling and we don’t have it,” the Season 3 winner of “American Idol” said. “I’m just now building myself back up. I lost everything twice. So, I cook my own food. I don’t need no chef. I’m from North Carolina; my grandma and my mama taught me how to cook.”
She went on to say she also drives her own car and does her own grocery shopping.
“I’m just like you, sis. I’m just like you,” Barrino said.
The host asked Barrino what she thought of Tyler Perry’s speech during the awards show. Perry was honored with the Ultimate Icon Award, and he inspired those watching with his speech on helping others.
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“Tyler Perry’s actually a good friend of mine. He would call and check up on me. He was one of the ones, when I lost everything, he came and blessed me. And I thank him for that,” she said. “Everything he said last night is true. You look around and you could be working for 10 years, you’ve got all these people on your team, you’re paying this person, that person, and you look up, and you don’t have no money in the bank because you’ve given it to everybody else. That’s what I said about prostituting your gift. You have a gift and you’re allowing everybody else to profit off of the gift. So I love what he said.”
» Tyler Perry reveals Atlanta studio was once Confederate army base
Barrino went from single mom to national sensation when she beat Snellville’s Diana DiGarmo to win the third season of “American Idol.”
Fantasia will soon release her seventh studio album “Sketchbook,” which will feature collaborations with T-Pain, Jazmine Sullivan and Brandy.
