Mary J. Blige has been in our ears, and on our screens, for more than 35 years. The nine-time Grammy-winning queen of hip-hop soul released her 14th album, Good Morning Gorgeous, in 2022 and recently co-starred in actor Chiwetel Ejiofor’s directorial debut, Rob Peace, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
From the looks of it she’s not slowing down at all. But in a new interview with Extra, the 53-year-old music icon who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this fall revealed that she is already thinking about her exit strategy. Asked what she’s singing about these days, Blige said, “Mary is singing about life. Life… love… being stable and understanding you can have things like love. You can have a good life.”
Just as importantly, Blige is also thinking about her future, which she said could include an exit from the stage sooner than you might think. “Right now, I’m definitely gonna do some more acting and I’m definitely gonna retire in, like, five or six years,” she told Extra without specifying what retirement would look like for her.
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Now before you freak out, Blige — who has had memorable roles in films including Rock of Ages, Mudbound and the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic Respect as Dinah Washington — said the music retirement is more of an “eventual” thing, explaining, “Right now, I’m still doing what I’m doing but not as often as I was doing it because I don’t have to now.”
For now her future includes joining Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Kool & the Gang, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest at this year’s RRHOF induction ceremony in Cleveland on Oct. 19. In a recent interview with Tamron Hall, Blige said she was “still trying to process” the news. “It’s a big deal. I’m just so grateful because I know it didn’t have to be this way but it is this way, and I give all the credit to God. I don’t even know what else to do. It’s just so humbling,” she said. “I don’t know what to do besides be grateful and thankful.”