The singer and actress is currently impressing audiences for her portrayal as Celie Johnson in “The Color Purple” (2023), starring alongside Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Halle Bailey, H.E.R., and more.
The musical drama had the second-highest Christmas Day opening, earning $18.15 million, according to CNBC.
“I’m so overjoyed today waking up to the news of @thecolorpurple being the largest Christmas Day movie release since 2009, coming in at 18.1 Million Dollars and receiving a CinemaScore A!!! Let’s keep filling up the theaters,” Barrino wrote on Instagram.
Amid the buzz surrounding “The Color Purple,” earning Barrino a Golden Globe nomination, it has also led her to reflect on her career trajectory.
While success may not be foreign to her, that doesn’t mean it has come easy.
Barrino’s rise to fame began at 19 years old. She was the season three winner of “American Idol” in 2004. The moment brought her to tears, and she would go on to become one of the more notable winners of the singing competition television series.
However, she would encounter various shortcomings that led her to lose “everything” after the major win. PEOPLE reports she had financial difficulties and she was sued by her father in 2006 due to how he was depicted in her memoir “Life Is Not a Fairy Tale.”
“It wasn’t easy,” she told PEOPLE in an exclusive. “I lost a lot. I lost everything.”
She says her early career struggles were due to being “very, very green.” Her financial literacy shortcomings became apparent through her struggles with money management and understanding contracts.
“You have to become a businesswoman and you link up with great business partners, but it doesn’t have a lot to do with love. It took me a long time to figure that out,” she explained, according to PEOPLE. “I didn’t know anything about contracts. I didn’t know anything about checking your money and making sure every day your stuff was where it was supposed to be. I just trusted and believed everybody that came into my life.”
Despite the roadblocks, Barrino, now a mother of three, has no regrets and believes it was “necessary.”
“I’m grateful for it.… If I did not go through that, I wouldn’t be the woman that I am today,” she expressed to PEOPLE.
