“Black-ish” star Jenifer Lewis may be proof that laughter is the best medicine.
The 60-year-old stage, film and television vet says she has always spread as much cheer as possible. “I’ve made people laugh all my life,” Lewis says. “I will rarely leave any place and not leave a smile.”
Yet Lewis sometimes struggled to break a smile herself.
She has faced personal issues that would overwhelm anyone, including an emotional breakdown, sex addiction and, in 2015, a man she was dating who allegedly bilked her for tens of thousands of dollars. She credits tackling bipolar disorder with giving herself license to laugh.
“Having been bipolar — at first untreated, for 34 years of my life — when you find your way through that forest, you don’t look back. What was magical and beautiful is that I realized I was worthy of laughter also,” she says. “I’ve learned to carry my joy with me.”
In her upcoming book, “The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir” — available Nov. 14 — Lewis will tackle many of her life’s successes and struggles with both honesty (“I’m not one to hide anything; I lay it out on the slab,” she says) and humor (a chapter about working in New York is called “Shoulders Back, Ti–ies First.”).
Lewis shares more with The Post about her memoir and career.
On her memoir’s intended audience:
“My whole thing was to write it for millennials … In my mind, we’d left them on their computers and they woke up and were like, ‘Where’s my childhood? Are you still going to take care of me when I’m 30? Can I stay here and just play some video games?’ I was, like, these kids don’t care about anything. But when they laid down in the streets and on college campuses about police brutality, it was then I really knew. All I did was say, ‘This is my story, this is my song. You’ve got one, too— let’s go.’”
On the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California, which killed dozens and injured thousands:
There’s a chapter called “Kicking Down Doors.” I had to literally kick down doors during the Northridge earthquake. I had studied Shotokan karate in my 20s and that night I had a memory with this front snap-kick I had learned, and without pause or hesitation I had to kick down doors and pull people out. You can’t make that kind of s–t up, I’m telling you. What a night that was. We got hit hard; Northridge was no joke.
On revealing that she’d been scammed by a con man:
“When I came out with it, everybody had a story — everybody had been a victim at some point. I found that very interesting … If there’s romance or an opportunity that seems too good to be true, then it probably is.”
‘I’ve made people laugh all my life. I will rarely leave any place and not leave a smile.’
On reuniting with “Black-ish” co-star Laurence Fishburne, with whom she worked on the 1993 Tina Turner biopic “What’s Love Got to Do with It”:
“Oh my God! We have been like brother and sister since [the movie]. I talk about Laurence in my book. People ask what it’s like working with Laurence. I tell them ice cream, cotton candy and Christmas morning. (laughs) I just love working with him.”
On her longtime friendship with Bette Midler, for whom she once was a “Harlettes” back-up singer:
“That’s my girl, honey. We’re always checking in. I was there opening night for ‘Hello, Dolly!’ I love and adore Bette; she’s always been there for me and my career. I just sent a donation to her charity for “Stages For Success” — a dramatic thing. She’s doing great stuff, and I admire her.”
“Black-ish” airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday on ABC
Lewis will appear at New York’s Strand bookstore on Nov. 14 and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on Nov. 15.