Queen Latifah has never been the kind to halt in one lane. With magnetic performances in Women Day scramble back and forth, Chicago, and Beauty Store, a starring role on CBS crime drama The Equalizer (for which she also can be an govt producer), and loads of Grammy Awards for her pioneering rap recordsdata within the ’90s, the 51-Twelve months-worn is unquestionably one of Hollywood’s most proficient multi-hyphenates.
On prime of her work in leisure, she’s also held the role of caregiver. In 2018, Latifah lost her beloved mother, Rita Owens, to interstitial lung illness (ILD). The illness causes modern, irreversible scarring of the lungs that might presumably end result in existence-threatening effectively being considerations take care of hypertension within the lungs, appropriate-sided heart failure, and respiratory failure, in step with the Mayo Health center. The prevalence of ILD within the U.S. is 67.2 circumstances per 100,000 females and 80.9 circumstances per 100,000 males. This makes it a chunk of extra in vogue than lung most cancers within the U.S. (which has a prevalence of 60 circumstances per 100,000 females, in step with the CDC).
Now, Latifah is made up our minds to look in Previous Breathless, a brand original documentary that explores the experiences and challenges of the folk, caregivers, and clinical examiners going through this lung illness. Earlier than the documentary’s Sunday screening on A&E at 12 p.m. E.T., SELF sat down with Latifah to be taught about her experiences as a caregiver, her thoughts on self care, and the increased-than-existence resolve that changed into once her mom.
SELF: Hi, Queen! It’s so unparalleled to enlighten. Thank you to your time. I imprint Previous Breathless is in actual fact private for you, as you lost your mom to ILD. You’ve acknowledged sooner than that she changed into once the take care of of your existence. What changed into once she take care of?
Queen Latifah: She in actual fact changed into once the take care of of my existence. My first take care of. She loved me. She supported the entirety I did and wished to spend a peek at. She if truth be told launched me to the DJ who would changed into my first producer, and to some of of my chums who would changed into my rap friends—from Apache to Shakim to Ramsey to Latee. She changed into once half of my administration company. She for all time made clear we saved money and had been okay when we went on the twin carriageway. She changed into once the wind underneath our wings. She believed we can also halt anything else we save our minds to. She supported us.
Your mom sounds take care of an absolute story.
She in actual fact is. And I’m now not the staunch one with this myth—there are many lives she intervened in and adjusted the trajectory of, in a poke strategy. She changed into once a extraordinarily special particular person. She changed into once amusing, trim, wing, frigid, and beautiful too. You know, she’s the roughly teacher you might presumably desire.
When she changed into once going through ILD, you had been her caregiver. How did you spend care of your self one day of this time?
It changed into once anxious, I’m now not going to lie. I changed into once working plenty, as I for all time am. I maintain it changed into once valuable to spend a ruin ceaselessly. Utilize a hike. Utilize a go. And spend a peek at to earn some sleep. You know, factual earn away a runt bit bit. Ethical stare something on TV, take care of some sci-fi. Mother and I’d discontinuance that collectively. Or even earn a rub down, earn some reflexology. Therapeutic massage changed into once valuable to us. I’d give my mother massages. We had a rub down desk within the dwelling, and so I’d factual give my mom a foot rub, or factual a fat-physique rub down.
