On the Wednesday, March 15 edition of “Tamron Hall, legendary singer and actress Jennifer Holliday spoke about her battle with depression during the early stages of her career and treated the Tam Fam to a daytime exclusive performance of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” the hit song from the original “Dream Girls.” See what she had to say inside with more photos and video clip…
Jennifer Holliday on her battle with depression during the early stages of her career:
“First I want to thank New Yorkers for turning out for ‘54 Below: The Diamond Series.’ I wanted to take the opportunity of being in such an intimate venue to talk about my life ‘cause I know that a lot of people don’t know a lot about me, I’m usually, you know, pretty quiet. But it has been a difficult one. And at first, struggling with depression, even trying to commit suicide by the time I was 30, and just a difficult life. You know, I started so young, not as a child actress, but as a teenager going into a young lady. So by the time I was 27 years old, my career was over. I had to file for bankruptcy at 27 years old, my recording career just didn’t take off as I had hoped it to and a lot of that was image with the weight. You know they just didn’t want to back me or support me because they figured ‘you know, well she’s overweight,’ and back then the ‘80s had just started to go into video and TV and stuff, so it’s been a long, difficult run.”
(Photo Credit: Jeff Neira/Disney General Entertainment)
