Jordin Sparks is the cover girl for the September issue of REDBOOK Magazine, which hits newsstands on August 14. The ‘Sparkle’ star chats with the mag about her experience working with Whitney Houston, how her passing changed her perspective of the film and her recent weight loss.
Check out some highlights below from her interview with the mag:
On working with Whitney Houston on Sparkle: “For me, she took on the mother role because my parents weren’t there [during filming]. She was always asking: Did I feel comfortable? Did I need anything?”
On Whitney’s struggles with addiction: “I can only talk about what I experienced. I do think there is a different aura around the film now. I think there was some skepticism before. And there are certainly some themes in the movie that everyone would have wanted to ask Whitney about like, “Did you relate your own life to this part,” which I’m sure she would have answered honestly. The cool thing about Whitney was that she was not scared to talk about or confront the things she had gone through.”
On how Whitney’s death puts Sparkle in a new light: “I get so overwhelmed because its my first film, and for my first film to be so deep and heavy…I got to work with one of my idols and sing with her, and she even played my mother. I don’t know if anything will ever be as good as this. Sometimes I ask myself, Why did I deserve to have a part in a film like this? I don’t want this to come off crazy, but somebody said to me, “It’s like Whitney essentially passed the torch.” And to hear that, it’s just nuts.”
On her recent weight loss: “My whole journey has been about self-acceptance. There’s no quick or magical way to lose weight. You just have to do it the natural way-diet and exercise and stick to it-and be able to do it at your own pace. Everyone has their own thing.”
Photo credit: Gilles Bensimon for REDBOOK
