Why did Fantasia Barrino temporarily stop treatment while filming The Color Purple?

Fantasia Barrino

Greg DeGuire/Film Magic

Fantasia Barrino is a huge advocate for treatment, and even before she was chosen to star Violet, has been going on for years. However, the actress and singer felt she had to take a break if she was going to truly benefit from the pain of the main character, Celie, who has suffered from sexual and domestic violence since childhood.

“(My therapist) kept asking me: ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘I’m positive,'” she said in a recent interview Hollywood Reporter For the film’s cover story. “I need to go back,” I said. I need to go back and I need to go back and stand in Seelie’s shoes while I search for some of my stuff and add it to Seeley.

Parrino, who came to fame two decades ago as a winner American IdolShe spoke about the abuse she had suffered in her life and admitted that she once considered suicide. She played the role of Celie in the 2007 musical version of Violet On Broadway, the pressure of the role made her reluctant to take on the character again in a film musical adaptation.

“I think I’m wiser now that I’m older and in a different place, and I don’t think I gave Celie time when I was younger and played this game. I didn’t give her, what I mean by time, is that I didn’t think to dig deeper and find out things about her,” she said.

While she was off treatment, she made sure she had other support, including her entire family. She also inquired with family members about the trauma they had experienced.

“I would ask my mother certain things about her upbringing, my grandmother on my mother’s side and my father’s side because my mother was very close to my father’s mother,” Parrino explained. “And all of these things helped me embody the old version of Seelie.”

After completing filming, she returned to her therapist, whom she credits for her recovery and ability to forgive her attackers, “for my peace and my freedom.”

“I’m still doing therapy, and I think it’s very expensive, but I hope a lot of our people can get it because of all the trauma and generational curses and things that I’ve endured, and a lot of that is in VioletShe said.

While playing the role on Broadway, Parrino was exhausted, seeing this opportunity to portray Celie again as a blessing: “But I thank God for Celie because she has continued to heal for me.”