I can't quite say that I was raised Muslim, but I remember up until 5 or so I would pray, you know, with my dad. And it's actually a beautiful practice. It's giving of yourself to a higher power - no matter what you call that higher power. Living your life as close to what you think that higher power wants you to be is a really powerful thing.

Gabourey Sidibe

Categorized in : Beautiful Powerful Dad

If I hadn't been told I was garbage, I wouldn't have learned how to show people I'm talented. And if everyone had always laughed at my jokes, I wouldn't have figured out how to be so funny. If they hadn't told me I was ugly, I never would have searched for my beauty. And if they hadn't tried to break me down, I wouldn't know that I'm unbreakable.

Gabourey Sidibe

motivational beauty funny

Personally, it’s rude. You got three kids with the lady, she just did 17 years for you and you’re not gonna leave your...whatever!

Gabourey Sidibe

rude kids years

People always ask me, 'You have so much confidence. Where did that come from?'. It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn't have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.

Gabourey Sidibe

girl powerful beautiful

It doesn't have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see.

Gabourey Sidibe

what-matters perfect world

One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl.

Gabourey Sidibe

one-day girl beautiful

If they hadn’t tried to break me down, I wouldn’t know that I’m unbreakable.

Gabourey Sidibe

unbreakable inner-strength knows

I live my life because I dare. I dare to show up when everyone else might hide their faces and hide their bodies in shame.

Gabourey Sidibe

body faces might

One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body. I got tired of hating myself.

Gabourey Sidibe

tired hate beauty

Just relax. When I was younger, I made myself the victim of catastrophic thinking. Anything that went wrong was the end of the world. But as I've gotten older, I've learned to stop myself and say, 'Hey babe, calm down. Tomorrow there will be sun.'

Gabourey Sidibe

hey relax thinking

They try to paint the picture that I was this downtrodden, ugly girl who was unpopular in school and in life, and then I got this role and now I’m awesome. But the truth is that I’ve been awesome, and then I got this role.

Gabourey Sidibe

girl trying school

I learned to love myself, because I sleep with myself every night and I wake up with myself every morning, and if I don't like myself, there's no reason to even live the life.

Gabourey Sidibe

live-life sleep morning

My beauty is dark chocolate and it's delicious and it's sweet.

Gabourey Sidibe

chocolate dark sweet

If you're writing on your own, each character is just you. It's just you.

Gabourey Sidibe

writing character

I was born to stand out. I don't care whether or not people will find me attractive on screen. That's not why I became an actor. I know that more and more with each new role.

Gabourey Sidibe

roles actors people

Your body is your temple, it's your home, and you must decorate it.

Gabourey Sidibe

temples body home

When I was listening in on the phone call where Andre Leon Talley was saying that he was going to get my fat, black ass on the cover of a magazine. I think that - you know, Andre Leon Talley is fat and black. And it hurt my feelings. It hurt my feelings. But it also was a lesson in this is what they think, and this is what they will always think. And there's no way of being too talented or too pretty or too confident around it. People will still have their opinions.

Gabourey Sidibe

hurt people thinking

I don't know any teenager with a positive attitude.

Gabourey Sidibe

positive-attitude teenager attitude

When it's time to film and to actually take on the role of Precious, I felt an immense responsibility to do it justice.

Gabourey Sidibe

roles responsibility justice

MYOB - mind your own body. It's important because I don't happen to have the kind of body that we usually see on television and in films. I am plus-size. I have dark skin. And I am 100 percent beautiful. But I get a lot of flak - oh, you should lose weight. And now that I have lost weight - and I lost weight for health reasons - I get, you look good but don't lose too much weight because your face is starting to sink in.

Gabourey Sidibe

mind dark beautiful

My Plan A was to be a psychologist. I thought I would be a receptionist. I'm always middle of the road and very normal. I've always wanted a normal life, and this is what I got.

Gabourey Sidibe

psychologist normal would-be