Jenifer Lewis has never been one to hold her tongue. Pre-social media, she came off as a great actress with a flare for nailing the true essence of being a black woman. Little did we know that the line between acting and her personal life was nominal. It wasn’t until singer, Brandy shared a candid video with Jenifer Lewis, that we got to see another side of her. Remember the viral YouTube video, “In These Streets”?

In These Streets!

Hilarious Candor!

While she’s currently on Black-ish, the 60-year-old actress admits that you’ve got the respect her skill for acting, and that she doesn’t have to audition as much.

In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, she explained her outlook on asking her to audition…

I’ll still audition if it’s someone like Steven Spielberg or someone like that. I’ll audition my ass off. But I haven’t auditioned in a long time. Somebody called me in one time to audition for a mother and I said, “Are you out of your f**king mind?” I’m the motherf*cker, b*tch. You either want Jenifer Lewis or you don’t.

Lol! Don’t you love her? She went on to talk about the role that she was most recognized for;

“I think The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. People loved me on that show. And Black-ish, of course. Good lord, Black-ish! It’s brought a new level of fame. When you’re on one of the major networks, on primetime, you are in their living rooms right after dinner.”

Were you given the label of “The Mother of Black Hollywood?”

“It’s who I am. I’m the mother of black Hollywood. I’ve played everybody’s mama from Tupac to Whitney to Gabrielle Union to, oh my gosh … The list goes on and on. I’m either the aunt or the mother. In What’s Love Got To Do With It, I was Tina Turner’s mama. That’s what started it.”

We’ll that’s true. You know what you’re getting if you’re booking her for the role of a mother.

What’s Next?

 

Jenifer said she’s working on a one-woman show on Broadway. But right now it seems her book is all the talk. She says that since she was in the seventh grade, she know she would write a book. “The Mother Of Black Hollywood”,  took her 2 years to write it after reading 63 books. “Darling, it was quite the read!”