-My first guest is a Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner
and an Oscar-nominated actress
starring in the new hit show "The Equalizer,"
which airs Sundays at 8:00 p.m. on CBS -- Sundays at 8:00.
And, man, it is a hit.
Here's our good pal Queen Latifah.
-Whoo! -Oh, that's --
I can't even -- I want to get into it.
You, my friend, have another hit on your hands.
Oh, my gosh. It's hot!
It's hot and, oh, let me tell you something --
I'm watching the Super Bowl, and I go,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."
By the end I go, "I just --
Let's watch 'The Equalizer.' I'm ready for this now.
I get what's going to happen at the end.
Let's get to 'The Equalizer'!" -[ Laughs ]
-And then we got there, and it was so worth it.
And you look gorgeous. I love the new look.
I love the style of the show. -Oh.
-Only you could pull this off, and you did it,
and well done, pal.
It is un-un-unbelievable.
And I want to get into all the stuff
and talk to you about everything,
but congrats, pal.
It's a -- It's a -- It's a smash.
-Thank you. -Look at you on the cover,
on the cover of "People." -Oh, my goodness.
-Come on, now. Look at that.
I love -- I love -- in the article,
you talk about your parents' influence on you.
And, obviously, I love -- I love your dad.
But it's interesting -- your dad kind of --
he gave you a little -- the tough side of you.
And you said that your mom gave you the queen side.
-Absolutely, absolutely,
'cause otherwise I would just be all, like, knuckles.
[ Laughs ] And...
-Yeah. -That's not gonna work.
-But that was cool. I mean, I've known you for a while,
but I didn't know that you -- like -- like, your mom --
Your dad was like, yeah, you go into karate class
just like you're like --
like, if you want to go in a karate class,
you're going to karate class -- do it.
You know what I mean? -Oh, yeah, no.
There wasn't even a question.
It was like, whatever you want to do.
Like, if my brother wanted to do something --
like, sometimes my brother, being the older one,
they would have to --
he'd have to get things that were just for him
because everything was for both of us.
Like if Dana wanted to do it, it was fine --
you know what I mean?
If she wanted guitar lessons or karate or gymnastics
or, you know, when he taught us how to shoot weapons --
you know, my father was SWAT -- you know, my father.
-Absolutely. -So, Pops was like, "Okay."
-He's done some of my favorite stories.
I say, "Oh, my gosh. This can't be real."
-I know. Yeah. So, you know,
we kind of grew up with that, and it was, you know,
learning how to protect yourself and protect your mom and --
-I still have the -- I still have the side scope
your dad gave me. -[ Laughs ]
-Do you remember the side scope? -Yes. Yes.
That can shoot around a building?
-He gave me a periscope so you can look around
outside a building and make sure what's up.
-That's right. -I still have mine.
I still have mine. It's the best, man.
That side scope is the best.
But I love reading that because I go,
"Oh, yeah, that's cool,"
because, you know, I have two girls,
but I go, "If I had a boy -- or lucky enough to have,"
but I'll be like, "You both can do whatever you want.
You want to do that karate? -Yeah.
You do -- And then you also were --
Your mom supported you -- like, you go,
"I want to be in ballet."
"That's right. Let's go." -Definitely.
-If you can afford it. -And so did my dad.
But, you know, it was my mother
who kind of introduced me to everybody I know.
She's -- It's because of her I'm in -- I got into hip-hop.
She introduced me to the deejay that became my producer,
and my partner, Shakim, that became my partner to this day.
-How's Shakim? Yeah! -He's good.
He wanted to come in here and tease you a little bit,
you know, and I was like, "No. No, back up."
You know, COVID rules. -Please give him my love.
-[ Laughs ] I am.
We gonna send you all some some "Equalizer" sweatshirts,
you know, make sure you all laced up over there.
-I thought I saw one online called --
It said, "Equalizer by nature." Did you give that to --
-That's it. That's the one. -That's the one I want.
That's the one I want! Oh, my gosh.
That's the one I want. -Yeah, we got to --
we got to make up some --
He's wearing one right now.
I should have come in and show off for you,
but we gonna make sure y'all get some over there.
It's crazy. -La, where are you?
-It looks like you're in a football field.
-I'm in the... -Is that your house?
-...IZOD backyard. I wish it was my house.
It pretty much is my house. I'm here so much.
-I thought it was like a piece of art or something.
-It's the IZOD Center. I'm in the Meadowlands.
-Oh, my gosh!
-So this is where the Nets used to play.
-When? -And it's now sound stages.
So that's all stadium seating right there, the real seats.
That's where Darryl Dawkins broke a backboard...
-No way! -...for the first time.
And, you know, this is where we at.
-Wait. But that's great. But, wait.
So you're back in your home state of New Jersey.
-Back in Jersey.
We in Jersey, right across the water.
-Wow!
Oh, I want to get into all of that stuff,
'cause I think the last time we talked in quarantine,
you were in L.A.
-Yeah, I was in L.A., where all sensible people go.
-Yeah. -You know what I'm saying?
[ Laughs ] -Of course.
-I was chilling. I was -- you know,
it's so crazy to go from zero to a thousand, you know?
Life was, like, so, like, slow. -[ Laughs ]
-And I saw birds hatch and butterflies...
-[ Laughs ] Birds hatch. -...and coyotes hanging out,
slumming it around the neighborhood.
-No. -Like, "Oh. No cars, no people.
I'm coming out now." You know?
-Now it's like... [ Speaking indistinctly ]
"Cover this. Now you're talking to Jimmy."
-Like, "Yo." [ Laughs ] -I get it.
-Where's that pause button again?
-Careful what you wish for. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
-Hit the old pause button, just for Saturday and Sunday.
-Enjoy it -- Yeah, exactly, Saturday and Sunday.
I want to talk about "The Equalizer,"
but, first, there's a documentary that --
that hits very close to home for you that we want to mention.
It's called... -Yes.
-..."Beyond Breathless." -Yes.
-And -- And tell us why you hope people will watch it
and what they hope they take away from it.
-Well, "Beyond Breathless,"
which is coming on A&E on Sunday,
is really a documentary kind of based on my mom.
She fought a disease -- it's also Rare Disease Day.
And she fought a disease that's kind of rare
called "scleroderma,"
but it led to interstitial lung disease, ILD.
And so I partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim to --
to create this documentary, because this --
what it does is make it difficult for you to breathe
if you have ILD.
It makes a kind of scar tissue on your lungs.
-Ooph. -So, gosh,
do we know about the challenges of breathing these days?
So it's really just something that we partner with to do
to help support people that are going through this
and who have gone through it.
I personally would not necessarily
have talked about this.
But, you know, you're holding up a "People" magazine,
and my mom wanted to do -- to talk about this
in "People" magazine a few years back.
She wanted to discuss her illness.
People had been asking about it.
And I would never share my mom's business.
She's a private person. -Yep.
-God bless her -- was -- and she --
But she was like, "I want to share this
if people -- if this will help other people."
And I was so shocked after that article came out.
So many people from my very audience,
'cause I had a talk show at the time,
sent me letters backstage, saying,
"My mom had scleroderma,"
"My sister," this,
and that, "I have it."
And so you'd be surprised how many people can connect
if you just share your story.
And so this is sort of a continuation of my mom
really just sharing her journey and my family's journey.
My cousin Tina, myself, my sister Raven,
and all the caregivers
around the person who's dealing with it,
and just to lend some support to everyone out there
who's dealing with ILD.
-This Sunday at noon on A&E, please...
-Take a half an hour and hang out with me and...
-And learn and just watch. -...get into it.
-Yeah. And just -- And if anyone out there knows anyone,
it just -- it can help you a little bit.
Just talking about anything. -Yeah.
-Just talking about it. -Yep.
-And then the one who smoothed out the edges
of the woman to be --
she helped make me The Equalizer, you know?
-The Equalizer. I got to -- Wait.
So, how -- who comes to who for "The Equalizer"?
Shakim? Is it you? What happens?
Or is it CBS goes,
"We have an idea that you might be into"?
-You know, it's literally -- Pearlena Igbokwe
from Universal Television said, "I want to meet with you."
She was like, "We have 'The Equalizer.'"
And I said, "Yes." -Immediately?
-It kind of happened that quick.
-It makes sense in my brain that quickly.
-There was no time for anyone to shake sense into me,
unfortunately. -[ Laughs ] Dude.
It's such a perfect fit. I go, "Yes!"
Everyone. -Yeah.
-I saw the promo.
-I watched the TV show growing up, you know?
Even just seeing, "Queen Latifah is The Equalizer," I go...
"Yes!"
Why did -- That's a brilliant idea,
and it just makes sense.
I want to talk to you when we come back
about doing the action stunts on the show,
because I know that you kind of get hands on.
But I also want to get your thoughts on Leslie Jones
live-tweeting while watching "The Equalizer."
No, no, no, no, no.
We got more with Queen Latifah when we come back.
Come on back, everybody.