The plot of Dreamgirls is strikingly similar to your life story. Are you afraid that people will think you're just acting like you?
was concerned that younger people would think that it's my story because I started out in a group and then became a solo artist. But when you really break down [my character] Deena and me, we're so different. Deena was a girl from Detroit who lived with her mother, didn't have a father, [and was] living in the projects. Back then, you couldn't be too soulful [in order] to crossover, so she didn’t have a strong voice -- she was the lead singer for the wrong reason. [I] grew up [as] middle class with both of my parents. I was the lead singer because of my voice and my talent. I'm not gonna react the same way Deena does, so I broke down every single aspect of Deena. Even [for] the scenes I'm not in, I knew what Deena was doing at that time. For the first time in my life, I really studied and worked hard, and because of it [I] don't see myself on the screen.

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