The beautiful Sanaa Lathan, whose 25-year career include the films “The Best Man,” “Love & Basketball,” TV shows such as “The Cleveland Show” and “Shots Fired,” and even a star turn on Broadway play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” has been blessed to see success year after year. But what she defines as success is not one that centers around her roles or blockbuster movies. The way she defines success is her total well-being inside and out. That message comes through when she talks about her journey so far.
The Family Culture of Health
"When I was about 5, my mom got really, really sick. She almost died and they couldn’t figure out what it was. She went to every doctor in the country; nobody could help her. Then she finally found this dietician and herbalist who was completely not a regular kind of doctor, and he healed her. So my whole childhood she was very healthy; we had a diet that wasn’t macrobiotic but it was close to that, we were doing brown rice and no sugar and not a lot of meat."
"She was very clean in terms of her eating way back before people were really doing it. People are more conscious about eating nowadays. So even though I eat everything, if you go to my house, look in my fridge, I think a staple of my diet is to be very clean. You’re going to look like what you put in your body, so I generally try to keep it as fresh, raw, and colorful as possible."
"Sticking to lots of juices, fruits, and vegetables, and I swear if I go through a period where I’m eating bad and I’m eating out a lot, you can literally — forget about the waistline — you can see it in my face. I think people always want to put all of these things on their skin, creams and serums and all these expensive things, but it’s really about what you’re putting in your body."
Sanaa noted, "I have a mother who has never drank, and she's probably the funnest person, the happiest person, because there's this whole belief that you can only have fun with alcohol. I had to really reprogram that aspect, because it's just all over in our culture."
On the importance of Friendships
"I think a lot of these friendships are not necessarily everyday friendships, if there’s an understanding that maybe I won’t talk to you for a couple months but then we can completely pick up where we left off. And then I do have the everyday friends. With the everyday friends, it’s important like any relationship to have good communication. I think when people really allow others to grow and change and don’t judge that I think that you can have enduring relationships. So I think that the ones that I’m close to are the ones that do that. We disagree and talk about it, but there’s never grudges. We bicker and argue and then get over it. Like you watch children fight; they don’t hold grudges. They fight, they cry, and they get over it."
On her biggest Killers of Happiness
"You have to give everything away. You can’t take it with you. But you know what is a real happiness killer? Social media. I don’t think it’s healthy for humans to constantly compare themselves. By nature, even if you see someone who you adore and they’re in Fiji, automatically you go, "Well, damn, I’m here." I think the key to happiness is keeping your eyes on your path. Rarely are you going on [social media] and [thinking], 'Ooh, I’m happy!' It’s always a shift toward a darker emotion. So I have to take social media breaks."
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"One of the biggest changes in my life is that I meditate every day. Four years ago, my best friend died. She got the flu, and four days later she went to the doctor and soon after she was just gone. It was so devastating to me. I had a weird kind of PTSD, because she was healthier than me. I started getting panic attacks. Before that, I didn’t think they were a real thing. I remember my girlfriend having them, and I was like, 'Girl, just breathe,' you know? 'Just relax.'"
“I just feel really blessed to be on this journey, as challenging as it’s been, of being an artist in this business,” she said. “I don’t take for granted the success that I’ve had. Yes, it has been tough at times. There’ve been times where I have wanted to give up, and yet, I am so incredibly grateful for just to be able to continue to tell these stories and do what I love.”
