The world is having a serious TIffany Haddish moment — and honestly, it’s about time. Haddish burst onto the scene in the summer of 2017 with her role in Girls Trip, where she outshined even A-list co-stars like Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith. With Haddish’s new movie Like a Boss hitting theaters on Friday, January 10, we’re taking a look back at everything we know about this actress, comedian, and author.
Ever since that breakthrough (and award-winning) Girls Trip performance, Haddish has been in major demand. She costarred alongside Tracy Morgan in the TBS sitcom The Last O.G., became Groupon’s spokesperson, and landed a two-year first-look deal with HBO. In 2018 she won a primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her gig hosting Saturday Night Live, and hosted the MTV Movie & TV Awards to massive success.
Haddish’s latest venture, Like a Boss, also stars Salma Hayek, Rose Byrne, and Billy Porter, and it’s exactly the kind of female-driven comedy we’re looking for in 2020. Suffice it to say, Haddish’s career is red hot — but how much do you really know about this rising star?
Life wasn’t always easy for Haddish. She had a difficult childhood with lots of upheaval and very little stability, and says that one comedy program in particular changed the entire course of her life. A few key celebs have stepped in to give her a helping hand over the years, and Haddish’s career has already made history in more ways than one.
To learn more about her journey from struggling artist to published author and Hollywood star, take a look through these 17 things you probably didn’t know about Haddish.
If you didn’t know Haddish before 2017 catapulted her to stardom, you’ll know her now.
A version of this article was originally published in November 2017.
She Could Be Replacing Ellen DeGeneres
With the recent news that The Ellen DeGeneres Show will be coming to an end after its 21st season, many have been wondering who networks would tap as the next queen of daytime TV — and many have expressed that Haddish is at the top of those lists.
“Tiffany is a favorite, she has humor and empathy in spades,” a senior NBCUniversal source told Page Six. “She’s top of the list to get a daytime show – she’s a fresh voice.”
She’s Planning to Adopt
Haddish recently opened up in an E! News interview about her intentions to adopt, and the parenting classes she’d taken on as preparation for welcoming a child into her home.
“I’m taking parenting classes now to adopt. I’m looking at [ages] 5 and up, really like 7,” Haddish shared. “I want them to know that I put in the work, and I wanted them.”
She May (or May Not) Be Dating Common
Rumors have been swirling about Tiffany Haddish and rapper Common for years, but a recent Instagram comment by Beyoncé’s mom Tina Knowles-Lawson may have outed the couple. Haddish posted a photo of her and Common for his birthday, and Lawson wrote “Beautiful couple” — which, by the way, is so true.
She’s Open to Hosting the Oscars — If It Pays Enough
Haddish hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 2018, and stole the show — so naturally, people are asking whether she’d be open to reviving award shows like the Golden Globes or the Oscars with her comedy too. At the 2020 Golden Globes, E! News asked Haddish on the carpet whether she’d be open to that Oscars hosting gig.
“I would love to [host the Golden Globes or the Oscars] but I wouldn’t want that responsibility all on myself unless I was paid a substantial amount of money,” Haddish said. “If they want to pay me the normal rate, then I want a partner to do it with.”
She Had a Bat Mitzvah for Her 40th Birthday
Haddish didn’t know she had Jewish ancestry until age 27, when she learned that her father was an Eritrean Jew. 13 years later, the star decided to learn Hebrew and have a bat mitzvah for her 40th birthday, inviting Jewish celeb friends like Sarah Silverman and Billy Crystal to celebrate.
She wound up calling the event a “Black Mitzvah,” and it sounds like she got some pretty spectacular gifts out of the night. Barbra Streisand gave the Like a Boss star a diamond Jewish star necklace, while Beyoncé’s mom (!) gave her a diamond-studded Bible.
“Ms. Tina gave me the most beautiful Bible with this cross on it and everything, and I was like, is she trying to say, ‘Hey! You know you black, right?'” Haddish joked on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “So, I read from that and the Torah ever yday. I read from both. They start out the same.”
Her Father Was a Refugee
Her father, Tsihaye Reda Haddish, was a refugee from Eritrea and was an Eritrean Jew. He left her mother, Leola, when Haddish was only 3 years old, and he was in and out of her life. She reconnected with him when she was 27 years old, but he was still never the parental figure she longed for.
He died on May 11, 2017, and Haddish visited the country for the first time to bury him there in 2018. To pay tribute to her late father, Haddish wore a traditional Eritrean gown to the 2018 Oscars. She told Ryan Seacrest that her father always knew she would make it there, and when she did, he wanted her to honor their heritage.
“So, I’m wearing an Eritrean, authentic princess dress,” she said on the red carpet. “And I’m proud of it.”
More recently, on May 22, 2019, Haddish because a naturalized citizen of Eritrea while visiting the country.
She Lived in Foster Care
After her mom suffered brain damage from a car accident, Haddish found herself, as the oldest sister, in charge of four younger siblings.
“I was basically a 10-year-old mom,” she told People magazine in April 2016.
It was a chaotic time, and the family was eventually split into foster homes two years later.
Her grandmother was able to reunite the family when Haddish was 15 years old.
She’s a Laugh Factory VIP
Even though she was under the care of her grandmother, Haddish was still acting out. A social worker told her she would either have to go to a psychiatrist or head to the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp. That one suggestion changed her young life after years of turmoil.
While she was there, she was mentored by Richard Pryor, Dane Cook and Charles Fleischer.
“Going to that comedy camp and having all those men tell me, ‘You’re beautiful. You’re smart. You’re talented.’ Like, for somebody to tell me that, even if they didn’t believe it or mean it, it was enough,” she said to People. “It was enough to light a fire.”
She Struggled with Reading
Haddish struggled with her education due to all the upheaval in her home life. It wasn't until she reached high school that she was truly able to read.
A teacher at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hill, California, took an interest in her and helped her catch up with her classmates at school. She no longer had to cheat on her schoolwork to get by.
“I was excellent at making people laugh and getting people to do things for me,”Haddish said to Madame Noire. “All I knew were my ABCs and like three-letter words and McDonald’s. Things you see every day. So I was a professional cheater."
She’s a Sexual Assault Survivor
Haddish talked about being raped by her aunt's friend, who also happened to be training to be a police officer. Instead of driving her home from a school dance, he took her to his apartment and raped her.
It was her first sexual experience, and it was violent. She told her story on the podcast, The Champs, and described the horrific course of events to the hosts.
“It felt like fire in my vagina, like fire sticks stabbing me," she emotionally recalled. "It was the worst feeling in the world."
She’s Guest Starred All Over the Place
Haddish has been a guest star on shows like That's So Raven, My Name Is Earl and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Even though she has worked steadily in the industry since 2005, she didn't have a major breakthrough for almost a decade until Oprah Winfrey's network came into her life.
Oprah Winfrey Helped Her Get Her Start
In 2014, Haddish got her first series regular role on Tyler Perry’s If Loving You Is Wrong on OWN. Her role as Jackie, a loyal worker at the Burger Fast restaurant on the show, elevated her career to the next level.
She only stayed on the show for one season because she booked an even bigger job on NBC’s The Carmichael Show. The show ran for three seasons on the network.
She’s Been Married — & Divorced
Haddish got married in 2008 to the private investigator who helped her find her father after his long absence in her life. Marriage was a part of the deal she made with her now ex-husband when he helped her find her dad.
I said, ‘Maybe you could find my daddy.' And he said, 'I'll find your daddy for you, but it's gonna cost you.' And he was like, 'I want you to marry me, that's what I want,’" she told Essence. “And so he found him in three weeks… And I'm a woman of my word."
The marriage ended in divorce in 2013.
She Took the Smiths on a Swamp Tour
During her press tour for Girls Trip, Haddish told the most hilarious story about taking Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith on a swamp tour she bought on Groupon. Not only did she give the couple a ride in her thrifty rental car, she also took them on a group adventure — no private boat in sight.
“You don’t want to be the bitch on TMZ that killed the Prince of Bel-Air,” she hilariously shared with Jimmy Kimmel. “That’s $280 million in the backseat of a $20-a-day rental, you got to be careful!”
Since revealing the story, she became Groupon's spokesperson and was featured in their Super Bowl ad.
She Has Her Own Comedy Special
If 2017 wasn’t already a good year for Haddish, it got even better when her comedy special debuted on Showtime in August. Tiffany Haddish: She Ready! From the Hood to Hollywood covers everything from her tough beginnings to, yes, that A-list afternoon with the Smiths in the swamp.
She’s One of the ‘Most Influential’
In September, Haddish was listed as the 23rd Most Influential African American in 2017 by The Root. She joins an impressive list of leaders and public figures between the ages of 25 and 45 who are making a difference in society.
She is on the list just behind Jordan Peele, Solange Knowles and Ava DuVernay — all people she was excited to be associated with. She tweeted her excitement on the day the list was published: ”Somebody made a list!”
She Published a Best-Selling Book
Haddish published her first book, The Last Black Unicorn, in December 2017. In it, she included personal essays about her tough childhood in the most fearless and funny way possible.
Kids teased her that she was a black unicorn because she used to have a wart on her forehead. Instead of having her feelings hurt, she turned the nickname into something special for herself.
"I started thinking that unicorns are beautiful. Unicorns are magical. And they're right, I am a unicorn," she told the LA Times. "I’m the last black unicorn! I'm a magical creature.”
The book is a New York Times bestseller, and it also has over 1,400 reviews on Amazon and an overall score of 4.8!
She Made History on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Haddish hosted Saturday Night Live for the very first time in November 2017 — and made history. She became the first black female stand-up comic to host the show in its 43 seasons. It was a hilarious episode, too; see for yourself and watch one of our faves below.
She Loves Her Alexander McQueen White Dress
Did Haddish's white dress at the Oscars look familiar? It should; she's worn it three times already — and we couldn't love her more for it.She wore it first at the Bad Girls premiere. Then she wore it during her SNL opening monologue in November. And when she presented an award during the Oscars alongside Maya Rudolf, there she was, wearing that white dress again, heels in hand.“I feel like I should be able to wear what I want, when I want, however many times I want,” Haddish said on SNL. “As long as I Febreze it.”
Amen!
She Brings Herself To Her Roles
Tiffany Haddish stole every scene she was in while starring alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and Regina Hall in Girls Trip. The movie was a game-changer for her career, and she put a lot of herself into the role.
“This role,” she said to The Undefeated, “I’d say it’s 85 percent me and 15 percent some stuff I would never do personally!”
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