Fantasia Barrino was nominated for a Golden Globe for her lead role in Purple movie musical — but as she reveals to PEOPLE, she almost turned down an offer to play Celie in the new hit and critically acclaimed film.
The American Idol the season three winner, 39, who famously played the role on Broadway, recalls watching Steven Spielberg’s 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, and was in awe of Whoopi Goldberg’s performance as Celie.
“I was shocked and amazed to see a black woman, full-figured, wide-nosed, big-lipped, natural-haired, going through some things I could identify with,” she says.
But when she played her on Broadway, “I hated it,” Barrino says bluntly. “It was around the time that my life was so crazy, so it was almost like I was carrying my cross and Celie’s cross. I didn’t know how to get out of that character.”
Fantasia Barrino on her personal struggles after American Idol: ‘I lost a lot’ (Exclusive)
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Purple.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
One stark similarity: Like Celia, Barrino was sexually assaulted. That’s something she shared in her 2005 memoir Life is not a fairy taleand the trauma resurfaced during her Broadway performance.
Then, shortly after finishing the emotionally and vocally draining show, “I had to have surgery to remove two tumors on my vocal cords,” she says.
When she got the call for the film, “I was like, ‘I’m not sure if I can do it or if I want to.'” ”
But inspired by the director’s changes to Blitz Bazawule’s story, Barrino changed her mind.
“He showed me that he gave Celie’s imagination this journey so that the audience could see how it went. I was completely.”
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Fantasy Barrino.
Unique Nicole/Getty
Still, she says, the work “was tiring.” And it replaced the heavy independent work she was doing at the time.
“I just started trauma therapy,” Barrino explains, in which “they go back to your childhood and start helping you heal things that you’ve either forgotten or repressed that are holding you back in adulthood. I had to stop therapy and let Celia be my life coach.”
New Color Purple is a stage adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical that premiered on Broadway in 2005. The film counts Oprah Winfrey and Spielberg, star and director of the Oscar-nominated 1985 film, among its executive producers.
For more on Fantasia Barrino, check out this week’s issue PEOPLEOut now.
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Source: HIS Education