Fantasia Barrino hated playing Celie in 'The Color Purple' until Taraji P. Henson taught her one trick on set
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- Fantasia Barrino didn't want to return as Celie in "The Color Purple" film.
- When she played the role on Broadway, she found it hard to shed the role offstage.
- Barrino said costar Taraji P. Henson taught her how to stop Method acting so she can enjoy the role.
Fantasia Barrino never intended to reprise her role as Celie in "The Color Purple" — even though her breathtaking performance in the forthcoming film is already earning her awards nominations.
Playing the character in her 2006-2007 Broadway run took an immense toll on her mental health — one she wasn't looking to repeat.
"I did it on Broadway and it was hard. Our lives were so similar and at the time, I was young, and I didn't know how to separate the two," Barrino told Entertainment Tonight earlier this month of her Broadway run.
The singer echoed the same sentiment last week during a Q&A after a Washington, D.C., screening at the National Museum of African American History and Culture attended by Business Insider.
While performing "The Color Purple" on Broadway, Barrino said she'd bring home the trauma that came with playing the character of an abused wife who eventually finds joy in her family.
It wasn't until she worked alongside her film costar, Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson, who plays Barrino's onscreen love interest Blues singer Shug Avery, that she learned how to stop Method acting when playing the role.
"She taught me how to come out of character," Barrino said.
It was a small but effective trick that allowed Barrino to play Celie — who endures physical abuse, is molested by her father, and has her sister and children torn away from her — without sacrificing her mental and physical health this time.
The former "American Idol" contestant, who's getting Oscar buzz for her performance in the movie musical based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, said she's glad she took the chance and stepped into Celie's shoes once again.
Barrino said she did it for "all of the girls who come behind me, who feel like they're not pretty enough."
"You can fall down but you can get back up," the actor continued. "I did it for those women."
"The Color Purple," which also stars Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, and Corey Hawkins and is executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, is out on Christmas Day.