Singer, Jill Scott has won over fans across the globe with her poetic rhymes, gifted voice, and hit songs but Scott was always MUTE about her personal life. In 2007, the singer divorced her partner of twelve years [and aside from what we were able to assume from her music messages] Scott spoke about her divorce for the first time in a recent interview with Rolling Out magazine. In addition, Scott talked about how her marriage and son Jett, allowed her to re-examine the “love concept” and its true meaning. As Scott explains:
“Love is hard!….Finding someone to fall in love with is the hardest part of all. Infatuation is easy. We get caught up in someone’s looks, or their money, but not the person. Or, we’re into someone for a couple of months and then the novelty fades and we’re on to the next. Love is bigger than just the emotion for the moment. Love requires patience. It requires communication. It requires and demands mutual respect and understanding. In this quick-paced world, we want immediate gratification.
Our idea of love and having that is great, but the immediate gratification of having it all is what most people are after in this microwavable world. That’s what makes it such a challenge. We have to change our mentality if we want relationships that will last. Finding someone or meeting someone who is equally yoked — that’s major. Not just financially, but someone who is willing to participate with you in life and love. All of those things are what I was told to look for.”
As for the demise of her marriage Scott says:
“When it was time to go, it was time to go. I now know if I were to ever get married again, it’s all the way or we’re not going. We’re not making that next move at all. That’s the issue with me. That means I have to find someone willing to make that same exact commitment. If not, life is good. Fruit is sweet, traveling is awesome, and family is healthy. I’ll live, but I would prefer to sit and love someone equally. I’m understanding love even more because I have a child. I know regardless of what he does; spill juice all over the floor or draw on the wall, that I still love him anyway. I still want his company. I still have a deep desire to hold his hand. That’s the next level of love regardless of what’s going on. We still care for one another. We’ve lost a lot of that.”
“ It’s not about falling for just anybody. You want to love the whole person. I think we’re all on a hunt. I think everybody wants to be loved and appreciated and wanted. But, you can’t just choose whoever fits the bill. There has to be a connection in a very real way. You have to be there through the good and bad times. I think this movie opens the door for us to explore those thoughts. It’s funny, it’s cute, and it’s very romantic. ”
As a global entertainer one would often assume that celebrities are more than likely to be exempt from racism throughout their travels but Scott says its quite the opposite. Scott talked about a recent experience in which randomly called the N-word while waiting for car service. According to Scott, the media’s negative portrayal plays a major part in the global perception of who we are as a culture.
“If I’m in another country and all I see [are] McDonald’s commercials, why wouldn’t I think that’s what America is?” she says rhetorically. “When the representation of an entire people is based on fictitious reality shows, it builds a certain box of who and what we are. To be perfectly frank, we’ve got the wives of doctors fighting in ball gowns. The television and the Internet are creating boxes for us and I believe we are starting to fall for it. Why wouldn’t everybody else? [There] has to be a balance. We’re not so simple. I think that’s a big part of the problem. You can’t expect someone to think differently if they are only shown a specific image. Unfortunately, it’s a tarnished image.”
Time to Wake Up People!
You can catch Ms. Scott in the new David Talbert film “Baggage Claim” [in theaters Sept.27th] co-starring Paula Patton, Derek Luke, Doris Kodjoe, Terrence J, Laura London, Taye Diggs, Djimon Honsou and more! Scott says:
I think this movie opens the door for us to explore those thoughts [referring to love]. It’s funny, it’s cute, and it’s very romantic.”