The Grammy-winning R&B legend graces the November cover of ESSENCE and opens up about her new role in Netflix’s Mudbound, which is set in the Mississippi Delta during the Jim Crow South. In the film, directed by Dee Rees (Pariah), Blige plays Florence Jackson, a mother of four who’s navigating her family through the dangers of being Black while living on a flood-drenched farm in the south.

“Shedding Mary J. Blige for Florence gave Mary J. Blige some confidence… like a lot of it,” Blige told ESSENCE writer Taiia Smart Young. “[On set] I could hear people whispering, ‘She’s so beautiful.’ And I was like, ‘Who the hell are they talking about?'”

Mary J. Blige is currently going through a bitter divorce battle with her estranged husband Kendu Isaac. Here at “The Culture Keeper,” we wish Ms. Blige continued success. You can check out the full interview on newsstands now.

Ms. Culture Keeper-