Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Stevie is like family ...he would feed the pigeons by putting seeds in my hair
female in this business. A lot of people take it lightly but it’s a real hard thing to leave your child, no matter what age they are. My body ached. And I still feel that hurt.
“It makes me glad in a way that we survived because now I’m a grandmother of three and a great-grandmother of two – from one son. I’m very proud. My son is now vicepresident of Chrysler’s union. So we fared very well.
“You learn how to endure trials and tribulations.”
Seven years after Eric’s birth, Martha became addicted to prescription drugs. “At one point, I tired, I slowed down. I was sent to a doctor and introduced to addictive drugs. I was given valium. Then librium, thorazine and, at the end, when I tried to commit suicide, it was quaaludes. My father saw the bottle of pills in my dressing room and said, ‘No one’s been born to take that much medication – come off the pills’.
“It was a sign of the times that I was in that drug trap. I am glad I was able to, with the help of my dad who demanded it, come off the pills. There was a pill to go to sleep with, a pill to wake up with, to eat with.
Too much.
“I recovered because I had the affection of people who wanted to take care of me. I wish the same had happened with Whitney Houston and Prince. They had people caring enough to give them medication to keep them going but not people who loved them and made them come off them, like my dad.” Martha, who was a councillor in Detroit for four years Beyonce and Rihanna’s sexy style, and her answer is careful and measured when asked if she disapproves.
“I don’t judge it. Everybody has to do what they must to establish their career. I only say, will they still be able to do that when they’ve aged like I have? This is a 58-year career with Motown and professionally I’ve been able to continue. “I sing the same note, dance the same dance from when I was fast and cute. I just pray that they will be able to contain the style of their career that they’ve invented.” Martha, who is twice divorced, says she is not looking for a man. But she was looking for a new challenge when she signed up for BBC’S Masterchef. Being on the show was a sharp lesson. “I realised a few things: I’m not a cook. I’m certainly not a Masterchef.”
Martha did cook up a new friendship with a fellow competitor, Olympic long jumper Greg Rutherford. But failing at anything was an ego-crush for someone who has achieved so much.
“I never thought I’d fail at making mashed potatoes. I failed terribly. They wound up as potato soup. “But one of the children – and I call them children because I was oldest – had worked in a kitchen before and was also an Olympic star. He helped me along.
“When I was in the kitchen I was stressed. It was a different position for me. I’m used to calling room service or finding the nearest restaurant.
“So being on the show gave me greater admiration for chefs who so diligently prepare meals and have to have them ready in quarter of an hour. And I realise I have to be kinder to waiting staff.”
Celebrity Masterchef is on BBC1 tonight at 9pm.