All About Laughs
Singer Michelle Williams has been doing her best to keep her head above water ever since becoming a public figure via Destiny’s Child. The singer and Broadway star has been the face of success and yet the face of public scrutiny, as some fans find joy in trying to cut Williams down every chance they get on social media. However, Williams does not allow her kindness and meek nature to be shown as a sign of weakness.
Years ago the hashtag #PoorMichelle began to trend on Twitter intended to bully the “Say Yes” singer. Michelle caught wind of all the jokes and came with a response of her own. “#PoorMichelle that’s not what my accountant said,” she tweeted, followed up with “Y’all be blessed now.” Many on social media participated in attempting to tear Williams down, all the while not knowing she had been suffering from a longtime battle with depression.
“We’re taught, ‘Just go to church and pray about it. The Lord is going to heal you,’” Williams said in a 2013 interview with The Associated Press. “Well, in the meantime, I believe God-gifted people, physicians, doctors, therapists ― that’s your healing. Take advantage of it. Go see a professional so that they can assess you. It’s okay if you’re going through something. Depression is not okay, but it is okay to go get help.”
But the 2014 release of her album Journey To Freedom was just that for her, though it wasn’t an easy one and proves to still be an ongoing process. Speaking to The Huffington Post, she revealed that “one of the things I want to get free from is — and I’m getting better at it — the opinions of other people. You want people to like your music, you want people to like what you said in the interview, you want people to like everything. You don’t want them to have negative or bad opinions of you,” she stated.
In November of 2020, Michelle made the announcement that the next phase of her journey would be to help others who may be facing the same struggles that she has been for the last few decades. This May will bring the release of her memoirs entitled Checking In: How Getting Real About Depression Saved My Life—and Can Save Yours. “We have to check-in,” Williams told ESSENCE while discussing the book. “We have to check in with ourselves. We have to check in with others and we have to check in with God.”
She added, “I’m ready to share. I’ve been a very transparent person and now I’m ready to share the good, bad, and ugly parts of my journey—the concerning part of my journey. The parts I didn’t understand that led to certain responses and decisions being made.”
Williams checked in on Instagram recently to inform her followers that she would be taking the time to sign “thousands of inserts today” for the Barnes & Noble edition. However, she once again had to deal with a “supporter” who felt the need to offer her some unsolicited and unnecessary advice.
An Instagram user commented under her video, “Michelle I love you but you need some children…u r 2 bored…” The singer took the time to respond by letting them know simply, “You’re an idiot” along with many laughing emojis. The same user didn’t seem to understand why they received such a response, stating to Williams that it was uncalled for, to which Michelle offers a clap back of her own.
“No, what’s uncalled for is you telling a woman that she needs to have children,” said Williams. “What if that woman CAN’T have children?? What if that woman DOESN’T WANT children. WATCH YOUR MOUTH and FINGERS….. Don’t you ever let that come out of your mouth or your fingers on a comment section again to ANYBODY. I would have ignored but too many people need [to] stay out of a woman’s uterus!!! Now scram and be blessed!!!”
A woman’s business is her own business and her decisions should be respected. Williams has once pointed out that children may not be in her future. “I am not sure about children,” she once told OK! Magazine. “People say that answer will change whenever I fall in love, but I don’t have baby names or anything like that…I love children. I think they are beautiful, but I don’t know. My womb is not tickling for children.”
