Michelle Williams is best known as one-third of one of the world’s best-selling female groups, Destiny’s Child. Starting her career as a background singer for R& B singer Monica, she joined Destiny’s Child in 2000, replacing LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson.
After Destiny’s Child split up, Williams went solo and released her No. 1 gospel album, Heart to Yours, which became the top gospel album of 2002 with 200,000 albums sold. In addition to being a successful singer, she also has found success in television and on Broadway.
Currently, she stars as Lena Summer in the David E. Talbert stage play, “What My Husband Doesn’t Know.” Rolling out had a chance to steal a few moments of the busy actress’s time, and here’s what she revealed. –christa e. jackson
What attracted you to this play?
David and I have been trying to work together for the past five years, and I was doing other shows — The Color Purple and then Chicago, which kept me in London and then on Broadway. When he reached out to me last December and sent me the script, I loved it and told him that I would love to be in one of his productions.
Tell us about the character you play in “What My Husband Doesn’t Know.”
I play Lena Summer, one of the main characters, and she is a wife and a mother. Her husband is a very prominent man in the Chicago area [that] owns a very successful construction company. She isn’t getting the attention that she used to get from her husband. He forgets her birthday. Every time it’s time to go out on a date, he has to go to work, and it’s putting a strain on their relationship. I get to play a character that many women can relate to.
In terms of your career, has acting become your new love?
I still love music, but acting is a different form of expression, and I absolutely love it.
How do you stay grounded and handle your fame with all that goes on in the entertainment industry?
Wow. I have a great family that still holds me accountable. My mother is going to make sure that I’m not out acting a fool. I actually feel sorry for some of the entertainers who are getting into trouble because their families are scared to tell them the truth. Charlie Sheen obviously has a problem, but people just won’t tell him that he’s wrong and money doesn’t change your issues. In fact, it magnifies them.
