Fantasia Barrino is sharing how she really felt about playing the lead role of Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway.
The 39-year-old American Idol winner earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in The Color Purple movie musical, but has struggled emotionally with portraying the character.
During an interview with People, she said that she almost declined the offer to play Celie in film because she had such a hard time doing the show.
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“I hated it,” Fantasia said about being in the musical on Broadway. “That was around the time that my life was so crazy, so it was almost like carrying my cross and Celie’s cross. I didn’t know how to come out of the character.”
She explained that because she’s been sexually assaulted before, it was challenging to play a character who shared that traumatic experience.
Not to mention, she encountered a serious health issue right after the show ended. “I had to have surgery to remove two tumors on my vocal cords,” Fantasia told the magazine.
So when she was contacted about the movie, the singer thought, “I’m not sure if I can do it or if I want to.” However, she decided to sign on after learning about director Blitz Bazawule’s approach to her character.
“He showed me he was giving Celie an imagination this go-round for audiences to see how she got through,” she said. “I was all in.”
Of course, working on the film was still tough. At the time, Fantasia had just started trauma therapy. She explained, “They go back into your childhood and start to help you heal things you’ve either forgotten or suppressed that are hindering you from adulthood. I had to stop therapy and allow Celie to be my life coach.”
Fantasia recently discussed losing “everything” after her American Idol win.
