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Mary J. Blige: “The help” Interview
By kam Williams
Special to The Skanner News
children, so that’s how I related to the
film.
M
kW:
I wonder whether young people
today will fully understand that segregation
was the norm back then and not just being
made up for a movie.
MJB: I think everyone should understand
the history the same way we had to go to
school and read about George Washington.
I believe this generation should know their
history and they should know that the strug-
gle’s not over yet. For instance, you can’t
get the cover of a magazine if your skin is
too dark.
ary J. Blige wrote and recorded an
original song for the soundtrack of
“The Help” a film, which takes
places in Mississippi in the early Sixties.
Based on the best-seller of the same name
by Kathryn Stockett, the movie chronicles
the emotional journey of three very differ-
ent women who embark on a secret writing
project breaking societal rules and therby
putting themselves at risk.
Here, Blige, a six-time Grammy Award-
winner, talks about what inspired her to
compose “The Living Proof.”
kam Williams: Hi Mary, thanks for the
time.
Mary J. Blige: Thank you.
kW: You’re not old enough to remember
the era in which The Help takes place. Did
the events in the movie
resonate with you any-
way?
MJB: Well. it resonated
with me because I do
know what was happen-
ing. She [Viola Davis’
character, Aibileen] is a
survivor. She ended up
surviving to be able to tell
her story through her
book. The only way she
was gonna survive was
through walking in love
and forgiveness and that’s
the only way I survived is
through walking in love and forgiving peo-
ple. And that’s what inspired the whole
song. My Aunt Larruper was a maid when
I was a child, and both my parents are from
Savannah, Georgia. And they would ship us
down South every summer, so we got a
chance to see a little bit of the help. My aunt
was one of those women and she worked for
a wealthy white family that loved her to
death, like really loved her and she raised
their children just like Aibileen would say,
too, to the little girl, “You’re smart, you’re
kind, you’re important.” I believe my aunt
was saying some of the same things to those
kW: I would suspect that there are still
two sides of the track in Mississippi today.
What would you say to young people about
where we are right now?
MJB: I guess I would point out how in
the movie Aibileen forgave them for treat-
ing her badly. Instead of getting angry and
emotional, she walked off and she forgave
Yeah, I think women should
band together to get us more
respect in all the businesses that
we’re in because, you know, if
we turn 40 we’re nothing and
nobody. We all should band
together and just say we’re not
gonna go down like that.
them. So, I would say see the film based on
learning how to live, how to walk in love
and forgiveness I hope. You know, that’s
basically what I would say to the kids.
kW: Is there also a sense of understand-
ing whose shoulders they’re standing on?
MJB: Yeah, definitely. It’s important for
them to see how far we’ve come and it’s
also important for you to see the courage we
had to have. Someone had to have the
courage to say, “I’m gonna talk to save us
all,” and, of course, I would suggest they
see it for that reason, too. Someone had to
Page 6 The Seattle Skanner august 10, 2011
stand up and break the curse
and the cycle so we could
all have equal access to
what we’re supposed to
enjoy in life.
kW: What made you
decide to write a song for
the film?
MJB: When I saw the
film, I cried so much. I got
angry. I went through so
many different emotions but
the thing that stood out to
me the most is the courage
that this woman had, the
courage. Just based on that
alone is what made me say,
“I’m in.” If she had been
portrayed as whimpering,
like “Oh, master this and
that,” and had simply con-
formed to the system that
was trying to beat her down,
I wouldn’t have had any-
thing to do with it. But she
was like, “I’m gonna
stand!” And not only that,
there was someone with a
white skin willing to help
her.
kW: Will you still be
playing Nina Simone in an upcoming film?
What attracted you to that project?
MJB: Well, that film got pushed back to
October. Nina Simone was not only a great
artist, but an amazing woman, an amazing
woman. She had a lot of courage. She was
an activist. She stood up for what she
believed in, and that’s where I can relate to
her. She stood up for what she believed in
but there was also a side of her that nobody
saw, this human side which went through a
lot. But yeah, that project’s happening.
kW: How will you prepare for the role?
MJB: You gotta do a lot of research. You
have to go on line. I have a lot of YouTubes
of her and I just watch her, study her, read
about her, talk to different people about her,
but mostly you gotta get in. You gotta look
at this character, look at this character and
just become whatever she was. You gotta
Mary J. Blige
really dig in and get a coach. I gotta get a
dialect coach to help with how she pro-
nounced words and a piano coach.
kW: You talk about courage and that’s
what I thought about while watching The
Help. Is there anything women can take
from the movie and apply to their struggles
today?
MJB: Yeah, I think women should band
together to get us more respect in all the
businesses that we’re in because, you know,
if we turn 40 we’re nothing and nobody. We
all should band together and just say we’re
not gonna go down like that. I’m not going
out like that and that’s what Aibileen did.
She said I’m not going out like that.
kW: Thanks again for the interview,
Mary.
MJB: You’re very welcome.