People say a lot of hurtful things, but in a way, the abuse that I endured from my husband prepared me for that. The things I had been told and drilled into my head from him were worse than what anybody could say to me. La'Porsha Renae More Quotes by La'Porsha Renae More Quotes From La'Porsha Renae I do what I do to inspire people. They can't be inspired by an ego, a big-headed person. It doesn't work. It doesn't match. And I really want to be that role model for people, for children. I want to be real. To my fans, I want them to view me as a real person. Don't put me on a pedestal. I'm human. I make mistakes, I cry, I hurt - just like you. La'Porsha Renae me you work children I'm proud of my curves, my daughter, as well as the harsh past that helped shape me into the strong woman I am today. La'Porsha Renae i-am me daughter today Now I'm going to show a side of me I haven't shown before. I'm going to be fierce. La'Porsha Renae side now me fierce I haven't always been confident. I actually suffered with low self-esteem growing up. Eventually, I got to a point where I was just like, 'OK, this is taking too much energy.' After that, I started accepting myself for who I was, and I was like, whoever is not going to accept it, they weren't really meant to be in my life in that way. La'Porsha Renae my-life myself life way A lot of people I guess, well, some people change when they get in spotlights and everything, but you can take the girl out of Mississippi, but you can't take Mississippi out the girl! La'Porsha Renae you girl change people To be honest, if it wasn't for my daughter, I don't think I would have gotten out of the situation that I was in before 'Idol' because I am a domestic violence survivor. La'Porsha Renae i-am situation daughter violence I grew up in Christianity. They preach a lot that you should get married and be a wife and be a virtuous woman and all of that. So I was so eager to do that, and I didn't really take the time I needed to grow into my own. And I ended up running into a really bad situation. I didn't even really date my ex-husband. We just kind of jumped into it. La'Porsha Renae woman you wife time Everybody is a human being. We should be able to coexist with one another. La'Porsha Renae human-being human everybody being I have never spoken for anyone but myself. La'Porsha Renae spoken anyone never myself A lot of people behind the scenes were telling me that I was going to have to do something with my hair, my weight, all of that stuff. La'Porsha Renae behind me hair people Labels, boxes, and politically correct terminology all seem small and irrelevant when being compared to the violent and brutal attacks on the lives of people who are different than what society says we should be. La'Porsha Renae small being society people A lot of the former Idols were voting for me, and that makes me feel really good. La'Porsha Renae feel good me voting I learned that sometimes our struggles are a little bit bigger than us and talking about them and coming through and having the courage to get out of them. I learned how many I touched and inspired through the journey of 'Idol' because I was just singing on the show. I wasn't really being an advocate for anything. La'Porsha Renae singing journey courage sometimes First time I sang, I was singing Alicia Keys in the bathroom of my mom's beauty shop. I was six. La'Porsha Renae singing mom time beauty The reaction that I got from 'Diamonds' I would have expected to get from 'House of the Rising Sun' or one of the other songs. La'Porsha Renae diamonds reaction house sun Growing up, Tina Turner was definitely one of my influences, and, um, I take things from different artists, and I put them in my music, and I put them in my persona and my - they help me form into the artist that I am, so - for people to actually hear that come through the music is exciting. La'Porsha Renae i-am me music people My fans are so loving and encouraging. They're with me on good days and bad days. La'Porsha Renae loving bad good me I don't want to come off as one of those artists that's not down to earth and real. La'Porsha Renae down real earth want A lot of fans have been requesting that in-your-face song, a sense of feeling empowered. And 'Good Woman' is that: a relatable song celebrating the good woman. I'm also really proud of the third verse, which I wrote. La'Porsha Renae woman feeling good song I had a high school sweetheart that was my first. We were together all through high school. I had just broken up with him because I didn't think I was good enough. He wanted to be an anesthesiologist. I wanted to be an entertainer. His life was more planned out, and mine wasn't. La'Porsha Renae good broken together life