Queen Latifah on Larry King

Queen Latifah was all aglow as she promoted her new book, “Put On Your Crown: Life-Changing Moments on the Path To Queendom,” on CNN’s Larry King Live last night (July 9th). Born Dana Owens, the accomplished rapper/actress takes readers through certain life changing moments and how she dealt with it, not in a preachy way, but conversation-style – from her experience dealing with being molested at the age of 5 to her brother Lance’s death to how she almost went broke.

“Putting on your crown is really like accepting the fact that you are a queen,” Latifah explained. “Wherever you are in life, just keep on that path…as women, we forget that about ourselves. So, putting on your crown is sort of reminding yourself that, hey, I’m a queen, and I can do what I want in this life and take it.”
Latifah spoke of the need for inspiration throughout one’s life and messages to help maintain one’s high self-esteem. She credits her relationship with her parents and especially the messages instilled by her mother for her own high self-esteem. “My mom raised me to be a queen,” said Latifah. “Every woman is a queen and should be treated as such and we should request that sort of treatment from others.”
Latifah shared it took losing her brother Lance, age 24, in a motorcycle accident to reveal to her parents she had been molested by someone they knew. “I had to let them know what I had gone through so that they could understand maybe more of my mindset, and freed myself of that burden,” said Queen. She was 22 at the time of Lance’s death, an experience she describes as the most difficult thing she’s been through in her life.
Despite Latifah’s candor, don’t expect to find any juicy details about her love life in the pages of “Put On Your Crown.” The mere mention by Larry that she doesn’t discuss her personal life caused Latifah to jokingly interject, “Nope… don’t go there, Larry,” to which he responded, “I’m not.”
When asked how she protects her privacy in this day and age of the internet, Latifah explained, “I don’t read all of the blogs and I’m not media hungry like that. I don’t have to look at myself online every day…. I share with the public the things that we should share. We should share music. Let’s share that. Let’s share films. Let’s share that. Let’s share thoughts about positive things. Let’s share those things, but what happens in my personal, personal life is my personal business.”
As for her life philosophy, “Life is for the living,” said Latifah. “It’s about living every moment to the full, as best you can. Whatever I do, I’ll try to make sure I have a good time doing it, that I enjoy it, and that I get every full moment out of everything I do.”