Fantasia Barrino to Star in ‘The Color Purple’

Fantasia Barrino will front the cast for an upcoming big-screen adaptation of ‘The Color Purple’. She grew to fame as the winner of the third season of American Idol and is in final negotiations to play Celie, a role that she played on stage on Broadway in 2007. 

Whoopi Goldberg played the role in Steven Spielberg’s dramatic version of ‘The Color Purple’ in 1985. Barrino told Playbill.com about playing Celie, “If you really put yourself in her shoes, that can be very tiring. It can take a lot of energy out of you. I know when I get off the stage at night from shows, I’m exhausted. I run to my room, and I fall on the couch, and I have to take at least about ten minutes to wind down and to get my thoughts together and come out of the part of Celie.”

The American Idol season 3 winner said that ‘The Color Purple’ was the first musical she ever saw. “I had seen the movie, but it’s such an inspirational play. I was crying. I was saying, ‘Oh, Lord, I hope I’m not the only one crying!'”, she said. 

Barrino also added, “Oprah gave me a lot of advice. She sat me down… Just, you know, how a lady should carry herself. How to manage your money. How to not put your trust in everybody. Just watch your back. But most of all, you have to watch what you do. You have to carry yourself in such a way. You have to just watch your every move and carry yourself as a lady, so other young ladies who are watching you will know this is how you do it.”

—Apeksha Priya