Ms. Kelly, baby! She is “EVERYTHING” and for good reason. When you have a career as long and successful as Kelly Rowland’s - spanning nearly two decades with chart-topping anthems like “Survivor” as part of Destiny’s Child and “Motivation” from her solo success - you pick up a few things along the way that outshine even platinum plaques (which she has many). Like spring flowers, Rowland has blossomed into her own woman full of strength, courage, and wisdom, with a perfect balance of grace and flyness.
The Grammy Award-winning singer and actress spoke to BlackDoctor.org about her daily “motivation”, the joys of being a wife and mother, and the health condition that snuck up on her in her 30s.
On self-care and why she’s not focused on how she looks:
I still feel like I'm a work in progress... I have a goal in my head of how I want my body to feel. It's not about how I want my body to look. I think that as women we have to really be cognizant of that because we shouldn't want to specifically look like anything as much as we should feel good about ourselves.
And whether that's drinking a lot of water or eating foods that you know, may not cause [allergy] flare-ups. I have to stay away from dairy because that causes flare-ups for me and sometimes in my allergies as well.
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But just really giving your body things that it needs as far as nutrition is concerned, especially after having a baby. You're pouring everything into your baby.
The women out there are pouring everything into their relationships, their husbands. Some are still thinking about work, and it's just important that you take at least 20 minutes a day just to pour back into yourself, whether that's with working out, whether that's with meditation, whether that's with looking at yourself in the mirror at the top of the day saying, 'I just had a child but I look DAMN good and I'm healthy, my child is healthy,' you know what I mean?
It's just really saying it out of your mouth, pouring back into yourself because the rest of the world will literally suck everything out of you that if you don't take that moment for yourself you're going to continuously feel empty.
On discovering she has allergies and partnering with Claritin:
Funny enough, my allergies kicked in much later. I remember being a kid and my mother having her allergies and I remember thinking, 'Ooh, I got by, I didn't get 'em,' but as soon as I turned 30 my allergies started and I was trying to figure out what it was because I was thinking that it was a cold and of course it wasn't a cold. Because with a cold, at least for me, I don't experience the itchy and watery eyes and runny nose you experience with a cold.
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But I was just like what is going on? So a friend of mine told me to take Claritin and I did and I've literally been hooked ever since. So, it's been in my household. So, when this partnership came about I was like definitely, I would love to because I speak honestly about the brand. So yeah, I've been a fan for years.
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Her best allergy advice:
I try to just continue to flush my system with drinking a lot of water.
What else do I do? I try to keep the dust levels down in the house as well, so I have this air purifier and things like that in the house just to help me out with my breathing but that's really about it.
On what marriage and motherhood have taught her about herself:
I am a bad chick, I had a child! [laughing] But that's how I feel. I just feel so empowered and I think every woman should feel like that, you know, whether you had a child or you're able to raise a child is definitely a gift, or you just celebrating being a woman period. I think that that's a reason to celebrate yourself.
