

Tiffany Haddish Turned Down A $10 Million Deal Because It Didn't Align With Her Values
With what seems like a meteoric rise to fame, Tiffany Haddish has had to learn how to operate from a place where her childhood didn’t dictate her spending habits. The L.A. native grew up in the foster care system and was a struggling comedian until she got her big break in Girls Trip. In her interview with Cosmopolitan, Tiffany admitted that her broke days sometimes come back to haunt her and ultimately influence her money decisions.
“...So immediately when I started making a little bit of money doing things like Tyler Perry’s If Loving You Is Wrong and The Carmichael Show, I started trying to figure out how to create generational wealth. The fastest way to do it and the first way you should go about doing it is buy some land,” she said. “So before we even got into season 2 of The Carmichael Show, I bought a house. Everybody told me I should wait, but I didn’t care. I just knew I was going to have to always make enough money to take care of me and the house, and that’s what I did.”
“Between that show’s next season, the Keanu movie, and making sure I can live comfortably off of $500 a month, I was able to pay off half the house. The Girls Trip check was the final check. People told me to spend it in other ways, but I used it to pay off the house because I was always afraid of being homeless again. Now I have a surplus of money, but I’m still afraid of being poor again. Every movie I made, I would just buy another piece of land or a house.”
Later on in the interview, she revealed that she finally discovered her power while taking The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports class at Harvard and is learning the value of her worth. No longer operating in a scarcity mindset, she has made better decisions for herself and her career, even if that means turning down deals.
Tiffany Haddish on Turning Down $10 Million To Represent a Brand
“I’ve turned down, sh-t, I’ve turned down $10 million just to do a post because it didn’t represent my brand. I turned down $10 million because my soul is worth more than that to me. My spirit, my integrity, how I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror every day…I’d rather be flat broke than get money to do something that makes me feel like sh-t,” she explained.
“At first with acting roles, I used to just be like, what seems like fun? Now it’s, what seems like fun and what resonates with my soul? Then I ask, who else is working on it? Will it be my friends?” She continued. “What I’ve noticed lately, though, is that casting has been coming to me first. So I’ve learned how to fight better too. Because it’s a battle getting the people that you want, because everybody still looks at you as talent, when they fail to realize I’ve produced things, got nominated for awards, won trophies…I kind of know what I’m doing. Give me an opportunity to make you richer, sir. I might not know how to keep a man, but I know how to make some money.”
There are several other celebrities who have also turned down millions of dollars for similar reasons that Tiffany shared. Check them out below:
1. Laurence Fishburne Turned Down ‘Pulp Fiction’ Because of the Glamorization of Drug Use
Legendary actor Laurence Fishburne turned down Pulp Fiction, even though the film’s director Quentin Tarantino wrote the script with him in mind. “I just had a problem with the way the heroin use was dealt with,” Laurence said in an interview with Vulture. “I just felt it was a little cavalier, and it was a little loose. I felt like it made heroin use attractive. For me, it’s not just my character. It’s, ‘What is the whole thing saying?’…It wasn’t about my character in Pulp Fiction. It was about the way in which the heroin thing was delivered. And the whole fucking thing with the hypodermic and the adrenaline shot? No.”
2. Rihanna Turned Down the Super Bowl Halftime Show: 'I Couldn't Be an Enabler'
Billionaire songstress and businesswoman Rihanna confirmed reports that she turned down the NFL's offer to perform during the Super Bowl halftime show in a 2019 interview with Vogue. She explained that she turned it down in support of Colin Kaepernick. “I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people,” she said. “I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
3. Will Smith Turned Down the Lead in ‘Django Unchained’ Because of the Movie’s Violence
Will Smith passed on Django Unchained all in the name of love. "I had said yes to Django, but it was more about the creative direction of the story," he said in a roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter. "To me, it's as perfect a story as you could ever want. A guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken as a slave."
"When I choose movies, I'm choosing the arc. I read the first 35 pages and I read the ending. And to me that idea is perfect. And it was just that Quentin and I couldn't see [eye to eye]. I wanted to make the greatest love story that African-Americans had ever seen from American cinema.” He ultimately said no to the film because of the violence. "Violence begets violence. For me, I just couldn't connect to violence being the answer. Love had to be the answer."
4. Alicia Keys Turned Down Millions To Perform a Gig Because She Was With Her Husband
In an interview with Million Dollarz Worth of Game podcast, Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys revealed that the singer once turned down $9 million after being asked to perform at a gig for nine minutes. “It was integrity involved with it,” Swizz said. “You remember when they came with the blank check and they wanted you to sing on somebody’s boat and she couldn’t fill out the check and she was like nah, I’m here with my husband. Move through the proper channels and we’ll talk about that later. He’s like nah, we need it now. I never seen no sh-t like that. It was the integrity part. She’s not for sale.”
5. Cardi B Turned Down Seven Figures for the First Photos of Kulture
After Cardi B had her first child, Kulture Kiari Cephus, with Offset, she kept her out of the spotlight. But that didn’t stop outlets from approaching her to get the first photos of the newborn. "I got offered seven figures, not even 500,000, over a million, Cardi said to Ebro Darden on his Apple Music Beats 1 show. "I'm just not ready yet. I'm not even ready yet to have a damn babysitter."
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Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Jodie Turner-Smith Files For Divorce From Joshua Jackson After Nearly 4 Years Of Marriage
2023 has become the year of celebrity breakups with headlines breaking left and right about celebs filing for divorce or ending high-profile relationships. The latest couple to announce their dissolution? British actress Jodie Turner-Smith. TMZ reported that Jodie has filed for a divorce from her husband, Dawson Creek alum Joshua Jackson.
As far as her reason for calling it quits, Jodie cited "irreconcilable differences," according to TMZ, and has requested joint custody of the couple's daughter, Juno Rose Diana Jackson. Late last year there were rumblings of there being "trouble in paradise" for the couple after the media realized they were no longer following each other on Instagram.
Those rumors were more than laid to rest when Jodie and Joshua went to the 2023 Oscars together earlier this year, and even more recently, when they celebrated her birthday together last month during the September unveiling of the Lotus Emeya.
Jodie Turner-Smith celebrates her birthday with husband Joshua Jackson at the unveiling of the new fully-electric Lotus Emeya on September 07, 2023 in New York City.
Brian Ach/Getty Images for Lotus
Despite seeming particularly happy and in love, perhaps the writing was already written on the wall even then. In the past, Jodie has been very celebratory publicly about her love for her estranged husband, even boldly recounting their love story for the books in a 2021 interview with Seth Meyers.
When Jodie and Joshua met, it was while at his birthday party in 2018. Their relationship was hot and heavy from the start, with Jodie openly noting that they began as a "one-night stand." During her 2021 interview with Seth Meyers, she jokingly referred to their love story as a "three-year one-night stand." She shared:
"First of all, I saw him before he saw me and when I saw him, I was like, 'I want that.' And then when he saw me, I just pretended like I didn't see him. He had to yell across the room to me, and I was wearing this T-shirt from a movie called Sorry to Bother You and [actress] Tessa Thompson plays a character called Detroit, and she has this T-shirt that says, 'The Future Is Female Ejaculation.'
"And so, he shouts across the room, 'Detroit!' He comes over and… does this really cute, charming thing that he does and just all night -- he just basically followed me around the party."
The couple were together from that moment forth, and even made things "Instagram official" less than two weeks later while on a dinner date. Joshua would later clarify to Insider that the night they met in 2018 was not a 'one-night stand' or a 'three-year one-night stand' like his then-wife joked but instead, it was "technically a three-night stand."
"It was sealed with a kiss that night and then we didn't leave each other's sides for, well, three years now," Joshua continued at the time.
In a July 2021 interview with Jimmy Fallon, Joshua dropped more details about the why behind getting married. He revealed that he didn't know he wanted to get married to Jodie until "the moment she asked me."
"She asked me on New Year's Eve. We were in Nicaragua. It was very beautiful, incredibly romantic, we were walking down the beach and she asked me to marry her."
He added, "I did not know [she would propose], but she was quite adamant and she was right. This is the best choice I ever made."
Joshua Jackson Reveals Jodie Turner-Smith Proposed To Him
Jodie received quite a bit of flack for proposing to Joshua because it goes against tradition and what society sees as acceptable for a woman to do to a man, and proposing isn't one of them. No matter how much time has passed, the viewpoints around who should do the proposing and who should be proposed to are still very traditional.
After being on the receiving end of such backlash, Joshua would later clarify to the media in a separate interview that it wasn't just Jodie's proposal to him that sealed the deal of them getting married, he proposed to her too. She might have initiated it, but Joshua followed through.
"I accidentally threw my wife under the bus because that story was told quickly and it didn't give the full context and holy Jesus, the internet is racist and misogynist," he explained to Refinery29 that same year. "We were in Nicaragua on a beautiful moonlit night, it could not possibly have been more romantic."
David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
He continued, "And yes, my wife did propose to me and yes, I did say yes, but what I didn't say in that interview was there was a caveat, which is that I'm still old school enough that I said, 'This is a yes, but you have to give me the opportunity [to do it too].'"
"She has a biological father and a stepdad, who's the man who raised her. [I said], 'You have to give me the opportunity to ask both of those men for your hand in marriage.' And then, 'I would like the opportunity to re-propose to you and do it the old-fashioned way down on bended knee.' So, that's actually how the story ended up."
Joshua and Jodie would eventually marry in December 2019. Shortly thereafter, Jodie gave birth to the couple's first child, Janie, in 2020.
In a recent interview with Elle UK, Jodie shared the ways becoming a mother to Juno helped to heal her of her wounds from colorism she experienced in the past. "It's interesting because I had a lot of resistance to becoming a mother and, throughout my life, I always said if I were to have children, I wanted to have Black, Black babies so that I could affirm them as children with the love that I felt I needed to have been affirmed with by the outside world," Jodie shared with the outlet.
She continued, "Then I fell in love with my husband and we talked about having kids. I did have this mini pause, where I was like, 'She's going to be walking through the world not only having an experience that I did not have, but looking like people that, in a way, I'd always felt a little bit tormented by.' Now that I've got this little, tiny, light-skinned boss, I feel like it’s the universe teaching me lessons. I've been given a daughter who looks this way to heal my own conversations around colorism."
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