Prior to taking on the role of Billie Holiday, Andra Day claims she suffered from a porn and sex addiction that she feared would affect her performance in the Hulu feature.
“I didn’t want any element of sexualization,” she said in her cover story for InStyle of her award-winning performance playing the jazz singer in “The United States vs. Billy Holiday.”
“I had come out of something in my own life — dealing with porn addiction, sex addiction,” Day added. “’m being very, very candid with you because I’m not the only one. But I knew I wanted all of that very much gone.”
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Day’s performance earned her the Best Actress award at the 2021 Golden Globes and she also received an Oscar nomination for the role.
“I feel now, after playing Billie, that I’m honoring her, and the strength that is femininity,” she shared. “I’m definitely in a healthier place to enjoy that because I’m outside of the addiction, if you will. So, yeah, it’s been really fun, because it’s been very new for me.”
The “Rise Up” singer previously revealed that she lost 40 pounds to play Holiday.
“I’ve had people ask me, ‘Do you feel prettier now that you’ve lost weight?’ I was like, ‘Hell, no! I liked being juicy! I was cool,’” she shared with the publication. “But I do like the way [the weight loss] feels on my body, I like the way it feels on my joints. You do notice a difference.”
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“Besides, to me, there is no such thing as a classic beauty,” she continued. “Beauty takes on so many different forms, in different times and depending on the nation. It’s just about being confident, loving yourself, and understanding your value.”
Day credits Holiday for boosting her self-esteem.
“And it has to do with Billie,” Day explained. “It was almost like she said, ‘Sis, we’re going to have to close this, because I have to survive.’ She opened me up to valuing myself in a way that I hadn’t fully before.”
Read her full InStyle feature here.
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