Fantasia Barrinois determined to set the best example forher three children. The singer and actress cites her family as the inspiration for her recent return to school to study business.
“I’m a businesswoman now and I desire to continue to sharpen my sword and better my craft,” Barrino, 38, tells PEOPLE about enrolling at Central State University. “I want to break generational curses. When it comes to my family, my girls, my children, I want to show them that no matter what she’s been through, you can always get back and go after it again, and that’s what I am doing.”
TheAmerican Idolalum dropped out of high school as a teenager before eventually receiving her GED in 2010. And now the honorary Sigma Gamma Rho sorority sister hopes to motivate others to keep working toward their goals.
Fantasia Barrino.Paul Morigi/FilmMagic
“I want to be the example, I want to use my platform, my social media, to show people — men, women, Black, white, young, old — that if you have a dream, it doesn’t have to have a timeline,” she explains. “It doesn’t have to look a certain way and, in fact, looks better when it has a bunch of bruises and scars because that means you fought for it.”
“My grandmother used to tell me anything worth having is worth fighting for and I want other people to see that if you just stay in the ring, you’ll get to where you’re going,” she adds.
Her latest venture is an appearance on E!‘sCelebrity Prank Warsalongside herThe Color Purpleco-starTaraji P. Henson. The pair quickly formed a strong bond whilefilming the upcoming big-screen adaptationof the beloved musical, and Barrino jumped at the chance to give her friend aPunk’d-style moment, which is teased in the exclusive clip below.
The Color Purplemarks Barrino’s big-screen debut and she admits that pranking Henson was revenge for putting her through the wringer on the film’s set. “They would just tell me stupid things like looking at the wrong camera or going to the wrong mark,” she thinks back. “But every day, every day, they brought something to me and I just harbored it and I would look at Taraji and tell her, ‘I’m gonna get you back one day.'”
Keziahspent two months in NICUafter she was born, which Barrino calls “the hardest thing I think I ever went through.” But nearly two years later, she calls her youngest daughter a “little spicy Gemini” who runs their household.
“I couldn’t take her home with me and I couldn’t protect her and I couldn’t hold her every day — that was hard for me,” she recalls. “So now to look at her telling us what to do, it’s even more fire for me to keep on moving. She’s a constant reminder to me and my husband that everything is going to be OK because she fought through that NICU. She’s a tough cookie and is still running the house.”
Celebrity Prank Warsairs Thursday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT on E!
source: people.com
