By Karu F. Daniels
Within a month of exiting her longtime stint on the ABC gabfest The View, Sherri Shepherd (@sherriEShepherd) walked right onto the Broadway stage, making her Great White Way debut as the evil stepmother in the Tony Award winning musical, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. But that’s not it: The newly single mother recently wrapped filming the sequel to the $150 million-plus grossing comedy Ride Along with Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. She also stars in Chris Rock’s latest flick, Top Five. Here the Chicago native opens up about sleeping with other comedians, motherhood, being single again and her ultimate celebrity crush.
The best piece of advice I’ve gotten…
was never let anyone drive your car who couldn’t immediately pay if they damaged it. ‘I’m sorry’ won’t get you to work.
The hardest lesson to learn…
is that I don’t have to take the weight of the world on my shoulders. I can’t take the weight of Christians, African Americans and of women. Being on The View, I would frequently have people who vehemently disagreed with my stance and would take to social media and fire vicious rants at me. I had to learn that I only have to please an audience of one: God.
Social media has allowed me…
to get to know people in a different way. I follow a 90-yearold grandmother who is witty and has the best advice. I found out that Roland Martin truly cares about the plight of the younger generation, yet he is country with a wicked sense of humor. It has inspired me to live my best life through bloggers like @CynthiaOccelli.
Being in the tabloids…
comes with the territory. We as entertainers hire publicists to get us press, but when we’re in the tabs we are ‘irritated.’ For me, silence is the best answer. I’m not trying to prove to the world who I am.
My dream job…
is an uber successful sitcom. I’d love to be a chocolate Melissa McCarthy and the go-to girl for funny. And if all else fails, being a legal secretary wasn’t that bad.
Being single again…
I wonder, ‘Oh Lord, where do I start? How did I get back to this place?’ Now I’m back at all the singles ministries in church. When I got married, I got to sit in church and enjoy all the sermons. Now, [I’m] ushering and teaching Sunday School. Now I’m expected to do clean-up because all the married folks figure I have nothing better to do.
Having a special needs child…
made me more compassionate, more patient. I put him on a track team this year to work on his socialization skills. Jeffrey found me in the sea of parents and screamed “Mommy, I’m scared but I’m going to be brave.” Through tears I saw my baby run. He finished last, but he held his fingers up in the victory sign. He taught me that if I fall, as long as I get back up and finish, I am a winner.
Leaving The View…
was bittersweet, exciting and scary. Seven years I was there and the cast and crew became a family to me. They embraced me when I moved to New York City not knowing anyone. Barbara Walters pushed me past my limits and challenged me. Every single day for about three years, I would go into my dressing room and cry because I felt I did not belong at that table. But her pushing me brought out a confidence where I could sit at that table and say ‘No. Let me finish.’ Barbara came to respect me, and if you ask her she will say, ‘Sherri always did her research, was always prepared and was the co-host who’d grown the most.’
My guiltiest pleasure…
is sitting on my couch on the weekends and watching marathons of reality shows.
I would tell my 21-year-old self…
to say ‘no’ often. A no can be turned into a yes but it’s harder to turn a yes into a no. And if you’re a female comic, don’t sleep with the other comics because it’ll take you at least 10 years to get your reputation back!
The lessons that two divorces have taught me…
are to get a chair, sit down somewhere and take the time to heal. Don’t make decisions out of fear. It’s okay to be alone. And make sure that the pre-nup is airtight, baby!
The biggest misconception about me…
is that I’m judgmental. People got mad at me because I gave such strong opinions on The View but that’s what I got paid to do. If I sat at The View table and didn’t give an opinion I would have been fired. In my personal life, I keep my opinions to myself. I don’t give advice about relationships unless you ask me, and then you’d still be wise to get a second opinion, because really, what do I know?
My philosophy…
is to run toward the very thing you fear because there are so many blessings on the other side. Step out of your comfort zone because only then can you fly. And always floss, brush and gargle… good breath goes a long way!
My celebrity crush…
Idris… Idris… Idris… where the hell is Idris Elba?!