Tiffany Haddish Reflects On Overcoming Childhood Trauma, Reveals She Expected To Die Before 21
Tiffany Haddish recently opened up about a challenging period in her life. In an exclusive sneak peek from this week’s episode of the SHE MD podcast, Tiffany shared that she “never” thought she’d become a famous entertainer due to traumatic childhood experiences.
“I didn’t even think I would make it to 21. I thought I would die before I was 21 because people were getting shot around me. I had been to so many funerals. So many of my friends were getting killed. It was so much devastation around me that I just… I didn’t think I would make it,” the 44-year-old actress, comedian, and author shared.
Despite the hardships, the Haunted Mansion actress remained determined to make a positive impact. “Even as I got older and I felt like my world was being taken and pulled apart and ripped up and shredded and I was getting beat up physically, emotionally, mentally, all these things, I still was like, ‘I just want to bring joy,'” she said.
As a child, Tiffany’s aspirations were clear. “Everything I saw on Star Search, I tried to do. I wanted to be on Star Search so bad. I remember having my little church shoes, those little Mary Janes with the hard bottoms. I’d go in the kitchen, I’d be tap dancing,” she recalled.
According to her, she even invited neighborhood kids over to watch her perform. “I would make up these songs and sing and dance for them. Did I imagine that I would be an entertainer? Yes. Did I imagine that it would be on this scale? No,” she said.
In a recent conversation with PEOPLE about her new book, I Curse You with Joy, Tiffany explained her motivation for writing it.
According to her, she “wanted this book to be about something,” as she felt like she “needed to live a little more life and get a better understanding of where I am now.”
Her latest book follows her bestselling 2017 debut, The Last Black Unicorn. In I Curse You with Joy, Tiffany dives into her career’s highs and lows and her personal life, including her mother’s struggles with mental illness. These struggles led Tiffany to become her family’s caretaker before she entered the foster care system.
Tiffany also acknowledged the controversies and personal losses she faced recently, including two DUI-related arrests, the loss of her grandmother, and the end of her relationship with the rapper and actor Common.
