Queen Latifah is saying no to unhealthy and dangerous lifestyles especially when it comes to her career. Since the beginning, the rapper/actress has always been a body-positive role model thanks to the range of characters she has played over the years that shows that size doesn’t matter. In an interview with PEOPLE, The Equalizer star opened up about taking on roles that don't compromise her health.
"Health is most important to me. It's not about losing weight or gaining weight,” she said. “When I want to lose weight, or gain weight, I know how to do it in a healthy way. So if I have to do something that is going to be completely unhealthy for me, then that's not the job for me. Someone else should have that job that's already there… It's called No."
Saying no isn’t always easy though. As women, we tend to please everyone and say yes to things when we should really be saying no. However, the 52-year-old mogul has a solution for that.
"I practice my no's. I go in the mirror and I say, no, no, no, no, like 20 times. And that's it," she said. "I need to be okay with me. If I'm okay then I feel like I can do anything. But if I'm not okay, I have to say something. Like, it's time to take a break, stop, cut."
Queen, whose real name is Dana Owens, is committed to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and prioritizes herself above anything else. "I think self-esteem is like maintaining a car. You can't just buy a car and think that you're never going to have to get an oil change, a tune-up, change the tires, you know, you have to do that," she said.
"And health is like that, you have to check in with yourself. You need a tune-up, you need an oil change, you got to check in with yourself. I have to do things that really work for Dana Owens."
Recently, the Oscar-nominated actress partnered with pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk for their “It’s Bigger Than Me” campaign to destigmatize obesity. As a part of the campaign, Queen will host a series of events to bring awareness and change the narrative about obesity.
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Featured image by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images