Words hurtSheryl Lee Ralphgrowing up, but she never let them stop her.
Born in Waterbury, Conn., to Ivy, a Jamaican fashion designer, and Stanley, a college professor, theAbbott Elementarystar, 69, tellsPEOPLE in her cover storythat she vividly recalls her peers bullying her and calling her “the ugly one,” growing up.
“They used to call me ‘ugmo’ and make fun of my hair, my lips, the way I talked," she says, growing emotional at the thought. “It used to hurt me. I used to think to myself, ‘Why do they have to be so mean?’ But I’m the kind of person, I’m going to move past it.”
Sheryl Lee Ralph.Obidigbo Nzeribe
Obidigbo Nzeribe
Sheryl Lee Ralph PEOPLE Cover.Obidigbo Nzeribe
Shortly after, she walked into an audition at the campus theater. There she found her calling and quite literally made a name for herself. “I said, ‘I’m Sheryl Ralph. No, SherylLeeRalph.’ I got the lead.”
Similarly she recalls legendsSidney PoitierandCicely Tysonsinging her praises, with the latter once stopping to tell her, “Many great things are going to happen to you. Many, many, many.” Says Ralph, “The elders have been good to me, and they would not be surprised.”
As they foretold, the star spent decades lighting up stage and screen before experiencing the career renaissance she’s in now, thanks to her Emmy-winning role as veteran educator Barbara Howard onAbbott Elementary.Looking back, Ralph couldn’t be prouder of her resilience and of her ability to love and stay true to herself.
“Suppose I’d listened to all the things that people said to me when I was young. Probably if I had access, I’d have changed my whole face because they told me I was ugly,” she says, “All I needed was time. All I needed to do was grow up. All I needed to do is grow into who I am becoming still. If I changed one thing, it might’ve all been very different for me.”
source: people.com
