Mary J. Blige: ‘I was dealing with my personal pain’ in ‘Mudbound’

Mary J. Blige was honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star on Jan. 11, her birthday, and it gave the 47-year old singer and actress ever more affirmation that she made the right move three years ago when she left New York for Los Angeles. She needed it.

Blige’s marriage was falling apart when she landed the role of a sharecropper’s wife, Florence, in Dee Rees’ lauded film “Mudbound,” and she poured her pain into the performance, earning multiple awards nominations, including two Academy Award nominations this week for best supporting actress and best original song. Her divorce has become tabloid fodder, but, undaunted, Blige has continued to campaign and show up at awards ceremonies.

I spoke with Blige in Beverly Hills on the eve of the Golden Globes, where the star joined the movement to wear black in support of victims of sexual harassment. Here are edited excerpts from our interview.

Do you consider “Mudbound” a breakthrough performance?

Definitely. It’s the one that people are taking me seriously about. It’s not a game for me. It’s not, ‘Give Mary J. Blige a role, and because she’s a singer, she can play games with it.’ There’s too many women that have paved the way, like Queen Latifah, and (Taraji P. Henson), and all of those really strong women. I don’t ever want to insult them by not taking the craft seriously.

Dee Rees has said that your concerts are like therapy for 30,000 people because you’re so raw with your emotions. How did you channel that into acting, where, especially cinematically, it’s on your face so closely?

That character was a place for me to just give everything that I was dealing with to. I was dealing with my own personal pain. I was really suffering. This was the place to just rest all this pain, and rest all of this confusion, but still at the same time trying to be a strong woman.

You’re a glamour icon. You had to strip down everything for this role. No makeup, no wigs. Did that make you feel extra vulnerable?

The first couple of days it was hard, because I didn’t realize I was depending on so many things to make me feel beautiful. So when Dee was, like, “No, we want your all-natural hair,” and I said, “No, well, can we do a lace front? Can she have wavy hair?” I didn’t want my own textured hair. Because it’s not the nicest textured hair. And I didn’t really want that to be seen. Those are the things I didn’t even realize that I was so insecure about. I didn’t realize I was so vain. I didn’t realize I was not that deep.

What was your reaction when you saw the first daily of you as Florence?

I couldn’t believe it. I was not looking at myself; I was looking at a character. When I saw it at Sundance, I just broke down and cried.

Why?

Just to see that character and how strong she was and how much pain she was dealing with at the same time. Every other movie I’ve been in, I’ve seen myself. “Rock of Ages,” I see Mary J. Blige. “Prison Song,” I saw Mary J. Blige. But I didn’t see myself (in “Mudbound”), which was creepy. I was, like, “Who is that?” Yeah, so mission accomplished.