- Okay, I've watched you over the years, LA girl.
I loved your Super Bowl last year.
- Thank you. - Representing West Coast rap.
It's what I grew up on.
I grew up near that neighborhood.
It's like my favorite music in the world.
I've feel like I've known you, admired you,
listened to you, danced to you, partied to you, you know,
for the better part of my beautiful life.
Much more beautiful because of you.
- Aww, thank you.
- But I see you in different modes
at different times in your life.
What is going on right now and why are you so damn sexy?
(audience laughs and applauds)
(Mary chuckles)
(audience applauds)
- I mean, 'cause I wanna be, you know, I'm enjoying my life.
I'm for once in my life enjoying my life,
enjoying Mary and just embracing everything about me.
You know, accepting the good, the bad, the ugly,
the things I can change, the things I can't change.
It's just all me.
And I'm not gonna get another me,
so I'm just embracing it, you know?
And it's a process every day, you know,
saying wonderful things about myself to myself,
even things I don't believe, as long as it's wonderful
you know, what I mean? - Were you-
(audience applauds)
This is such a rich subject for me right now,
because I am trying to make a turning point.
I'm at a tipping point, I believe in my life.
Is that something that you have to work on and since when?
- I developed this, when I got a divorce.
While I was in the marriage,
and for years, I've been just insecure,
didn't like the sound of my voice,
didn't like what I looked like,
didn't like anything about myself.
And then when I got married,
the person just really watered that seed
of my own self-doubt and my own insecurity
and made it worse.
- Yes.
- And I heard TDJ say, he said, "What you say about yourself
and how you think about yourself is way more important
and effective than what anybody else can say
or think about you."
So, if you speak positivity
over yourself. (audience applauds)
And that's what I started doing.
So my first big confession was the album I put out,
called "Good Morning, Gorgeous."
I didn't believe I was gorgeous ever
but I had to say something I didn't believe,
you know, that was bigger than me.
And then it began to manifest in my heart.
My heart is gorgeous.
My mind is gorgeous.
I'm a beautiful person, you know,
so I have to- (audience applauds)
So you have to believe that about yourself.
- This means so much to me too,
because I saw all this stuff, you know,
when I was a kid and sort of, you know,
raised myself for better or worse, crashed and burned.
Like, lost my job, got institutionalized,
like, had to emancipate myself when I was 14.
And by the time you're, you know,
and you're like, 14 midlife crisis, I guess that's,
you know, where we're at. - Yeah.
- Numerically off but this is where I'm at in my life.
And I had fooled myself into thinking
that the hardest times I'd ever go through on my journey
in this life were then, it had nothing on divorce.
It had nothing. - Oh, tell me about it, yeah.
- I just, you know, you see those strong,
amazing people and you're like,
"How did they get so broken?"
That was me. - Yeah.
And I had to put myself back together,
piece by piece by piece.
And then I'm like, I'm in my mid forties, now I'm 48,
and I am tired of this inner voice that is so toxic.
- Well, let me just share this with you.
It's not gonna happen overnight.
It's a process.
I have to say it every day.
I have to, "I love you, Mary."
I have to say it every morning.
You're a masterpiece.
You have to find it for yourself.
And that's it.
You gotta find it for yourself.
I found it for myself.
And this is what I believe.
I'm not saying this because I want the whole world
to believe what I believe.
This is what has me looking sexy, like you said.
The masterpiece is what's inside.
- [Drew] Within.
- It's your heart and believing
that you have goodness in you.
And, okay, you mess up.
You have bad things.
You even doubt yourself.
But earlier I said,
accept all of you. - Yes.
- When you can accept all of you,
then nobody can mess with you because you know you're this
and you know you're not that.
You guys following what I'm saying?
(audience applauds) - I do and
I know I'm the happiest I've ever been in my whole life.
I know it.
This birthday, 48,
I had the best birthday I've ever had in my whole life.
I felt whole. - Wow, good for you, sweetie.
- It's the first feeling of wholeness
I've ever had in my life, you know?
And it's been building, it's been scaffolding up there
for years and years and years.
- Exactly, yeah.
And you're still here,
so keep building. (audience clapping)
- I'm going to keep building. - You're still here, yeah.
- It's all the more relatable though, when you see an icon,
such as yourself that says, "Yeah, I struggle."
You're like, "Oh, God, you do too?
Okay!"
Because you're Mary J Blige, I mean, you're incredible.
(audience applauds) - Thank you.
Hold on, let's not short change you.
You're Drew, you are one of the biggest TV, film stars
since you were a child.
You've always had something bigger than a lot of people.
(audience clapping)
You understand what I'm saying?
And you're huge.
You're Drew Barrymore.
Look, I love you in "ET," you were so cute.
(Mary laughs) - Oh, my God, thank you.
- You were adorable. (laughs)
- I've loved you since you like came out
as such a strong woman.
And it speaks to your children's book,
that I love so much. - Thank you.
- And we're gonna do our next segment about that.
So I don't wanna over speak about it
but one beautiful concept
in it is the strength to believe in yourself.
And I wonder, you know,
through everything that you've seen and done,
what or who do you think was one
of your big inspirations to believing
that you could do all these things?
- So many people.
Well, I have to say my mother was definitely one
of those people. - And she's in the book.
- Single parent. - Yep.
- Mother, raised us in the projects.
It was hell but she did it.
And we don't know how, but she did it.
My grandmother and then Puffy,
because he was a huge inspiration when I came in the game.
I didn't like myself.
I didn't want success.
I was afraid of it.
But watching him, he wanted it so bad.
And he was it.
It was just like, "Okay, I'm gonna learn this."
Him, Jay-Z,
50 Cent,
Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, President Obama.
It was just so many people to say, "You know what?
I can do it too."
You know?
And they've inspired me.
- I mean, that's an amazing list of people.
It's so true. - Yeah.
(audience applauds)
- I love Curtis. - Yes.
- I love Curtis so much.
He comes and plays on this show all the time.
He's been very, very kind to me since I started this show.
And you're in "Power."
- Yeah, he's been kind to me too.
(audience applauds) (Mary laughs)
- What is something that comes
to your mind about like, acting versus singing?
What things do they satisfy you?
What things do they scare you with?
What gives you confidence?
What are the differences between the two for you?
- Well, acting is a challenge
because it's new and it's hard, it's really, really hard.
So, the difference between acting and singing
and singing is not hard, it's...
- [Drew] Comes naturally?
- With Mary J Blige, I'm Jordan with that.
You know, that's nothing.
(audience applauds) (Mary laughs)
- Well, you know what?
Your children's book has such a specific point of view
and I'm telling you, you will get this message
and get this story, but it is called "Mary Can!"
But I wanna bring out two favorite friends of ours
to do a book review on it.
(bright music)