By now, we have all read Queen Latifah’s response to whispers about her personal life. In case some of us have been living under a soccer ball for the past few days, the beautiful actress/rapper/model was interviewed by Upscale Magazine for their May/June issue, and addressed rumors about her sexuality.
Here’s a snippet of the interview –
‘You’ve been asked so much about your sexuality. Wouldn’t it be easier at this point to just speak on it-once-and be done with it?’
‘I don’t have to explain anything. I don’t have to confirm anything. Look, I need my time. I need my life.’
‘But isn’t that a part of being a celebrity, letting people into your personal life?’
‘You know, I was looking at something the other day. A magazine with Jennifer Aniston on the cover. That’s a strong woman right there. All of these people in her business-who is she dating? Angie this. Brad that. They come up with so much stuff. That’s a tough situation to be in. My situation is small compared to that. But still, I don’t feel like I need to explain. I’m the one living it. You write about it. You go ahead and speculate. I’ll just live it.’
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Queen Latifah makes a great point. She’s an incredibly talented woman, who gave a voice to frustrated, hip-hop-loving feminists who resented being disrespected in rap lyrics with “Who You Callin’ a B*tch?”, played everyone’s favorite magazine publisher and best friend, Khadijah on Living Single, looks amazing in her CoverGirl ads, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2003 for her role as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago.
That brief synopsis of Queen Latifah’s career doesn’t even do her resume justice. She’s held her own in every project that she has decided to tackle, and yet, one of the only things that a lot of people wish to focus on is whether or not this she is a lesbian. It’s backwards, and it insults her work.
As an entertainer, the only thing in her job description is…to entertain. That doesn’t mean that her – or anyone else’s – life has to be an open book for faceless fans, stans, or haters to dissect whenever news is slow. As long as she’s doing quality work, that’s all that matters. For a woman who has put up with complete strangers taking pictures of her any time that she steps in public, it’s not too much to ask that people respect the fact that some matters are personal.
There is very little that is more personal than an individual’s sexual preferences. And unless she, or anyone else, chooses to let the rest of the world in on what those preferences are, it’s none of our business.
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Some people make “outing” others a hobby, and it’s truly sad. “Coming out of the closet” is a huge deal. It changes people’s lives. It takes a lot of self-reflection, confidence and strength to do so. If necessary, people have to do it on their own time.
Besides, as
