Tiffany Haddish is having a moment of heartbreaking transparency concerning her childhood.
The “I Curse You With Joy” author and comedic actress recently divulged the sad outlook she had during her time as a youth on the latest episode of the “She M/D” podcast on Tuesday.
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“I didn’t even think I would make it to 21,” Haddish explained. “I thought I would die before I was 21, because people were getting shot around me. I had been to so many funerals. So many of my friends were getting killed. It was so much devastation around me that I just... I didn’t think I would make it.”
Despite her traumatic upbringing, Haddish shared that she used it as fuel to chart a different path for her life and career.
She later added:“Even as I got older and I felt like my world was being taken and pulled apart and ripped up and shredded and I was getting beat up physically, emotionally, mentally, all these things, I still was like, ‘I just want to bring joy.”
She then went on to cite her love of the popular ‘80s show “Star Search” as the inspiration for her growing creativity and desire to put a smile on people’s faces.
“I would make up these songs and sing and dance for them,” she explained. “Did I imagine that I would be an entertainer? Yes. Did I imagine that it would be on this scale? No.”
Haddish’s comments echo similar ones she made previously in an interview with Variety back in June 2022 where she discussed how she thought she was going to die before the age of 18 while in the foster care system. Thankfully, as she continued to age, she began to nurture a more positive outlook on life which ultimately led her to where she is today.
“When I was in foster care, I mean, I thought I was going to die there,” Haddish said at the time. “I didn’t think I would make it to 18. And when I made it to 18, I was like, ‘OK, I got to really think bigger.’ And I did think bigger, and I’m definitely where I thought I would be. Well, it’s bigger than what I thought, but I feel the way that I was hoping I would feel and that’s secure in my ability to provide for me.”
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