(slow, steady music)
- When I look at who I've become,
I couldn't have escaped it if I tried,
and I did try. (laughs)
I am completely half of each of my parents.
My dad was a jazz musician,
and my mom had a catering business, and so,
my mom was downstairs cooking.
My name is Kelis,
and it's half of my dad's name and half of my mom's name,
and so I literally am that to the core.
My kids are so different.
I have two boys, Knight and Shepherd.
I love being a woman.
I love being a mother.
Those two things go together for me.
We're eaters, and it's definitely like a family affair.
I've been a singer for my entire life.
I signed my first deal when I was 17.
I put out an album, put out another album,
put out another album.
The climate of the world was changing.
All these things were happening.
I had been fighting to get off of my label,
and I had been fighting for so long
that I didn't have any plan for what happened
when I finally got released.
I was like, "Oh, what do I do now?" (laughs)
I remember so clearly it was a Friday,
and I had seen a commercial for, just in general,
like a culinary school, and I thought to myself,
"Oh my gosh.
This is the first time in my life
I don't have a team of people scheduling stuff for me.
I don't have a label to answer to."
It was the first time I was able to actually be like,
"Oh, you know what?
I'm gonna do something just for myself."
And I was so nervous
because I had spent the past ten years of my life as Kelis,
without a last name, and I went to school full-time.
I stopped recording.
I stopped performing.
When I left school, I found my identity.
Graduating from school changed me in so many ways.
I found my voice actually in the kitchen. (laughs)
I was swept away,
and I fell madly in love with everything.
I cook like my personality.
It is everything that I am.
I think it's the most honest I can ever be.
I travel a lot,
and so I cook with a lot of different flavors,
and it's kind of all my favorite things all the time.
When I'm working well,
and when things are going according to plan,
it just makes my job as a mom a lot easier.
I want my kids to see how hard I work,
and I want them to see sort of the legacy
that I'm trying to leave behind and everything that I do.
(piano music)
Charlie is a very dear friend of mine.
Hank's helping get Charlie here
because he's hard to surprise.
He was the one person really who I was able to share
all of the changes that I was thinking about,
and Charlie was always not just encouraging,
but he put his efforts where his mouth was,
and so he's been so helpful just in facilitating everything
that I'm working on from opening up my new restaurant
to my Bounty & Full business.
And also because I think family is so important,
I'm really grateful for Charlie and Hank
who are helping families fund adoption
and just do the great work that they do with AdoptTogether.
So, I think it's a really nice moment for me
to be able to say, "I totally recognize
that you don't have to do any of these things, and thanks."
(door squeaks)
Hi.
- [Man] Hey.
- Come in. (laughs)
Hi, guys.
It's funny when they were asking me like,
"Hey, who can you thank?"
And I was like, "You know what?
I know exactly who because this person
has been so monumental in so many different things
that I've been doing.
I figured what better way to do it than with food?" (laughs)
I love you. - [Charlie] So sweet.
I love you. (Kelis laughs)
(piano music)
Okay, guys.
Here we go.
- It's amazing, K.
(Kelis drowned out by background music)
- [Charlie] Fried.
(Kelis laughs)
- [Charlie] Here it goes.
- [Hank] There it goes. Thank you, chef.
- You're very welcome.
- Thank you, K.
I don't know.
You've just held such a special place in my heart.
Honestly, from the first time I met you 'cause I saw,
I just saw something in you
that was like an indomitable spirit,
someone that, I mean for real,
someone that no matter what kind of obstacles came at you,
you just always kind of faced them head-on.
You've done so much for so many people,
and you're such a good mom,
and I saw the parallels with my mom,
and I was like, "I want to look out for her"
like my little sister.
- Well, thank you. You have.
You can't change family, right?
But somehow we pick people up along the way,
and it's like they stick and it's amazing.
- Yeah, but this is so good, and I love you, K.
- [Kelis] I love you, too.
- I always tell her that when we get off the phone.
I'm like, "Love you, K." (Kelis laughs)
(piano music)
♫ Soul pancake
(electronic music)