Fantasia‘s illustrious career looks set to ascend to even higher heights as she steps back into the role of Celie in ‘The Color Purple.’

Warner Bros‘ reimagining of the beloved tale hits the big screen as a musical movie on Christmas Day (December 25).

Anchored by the vocal powerhouse, the Blitz Bazawule directed film also stars Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, Ciara, Aunjanue Ellis, and more.

Styling and profiling for ELLE’s Women in Hollywood issue, Fantasia opens up about her breakthrough moment, how the film has helped her heal, and her future ambitions.

Check out pics and quotes below…

On Never Forgetting Her Start on American Idol:

“When I won Idol. That was my first time getting on a plane, going to Hollywood. I’ll never forget that night when Ryan Seacrest said my name. Sis, things started breaking off me. My heel broke, my bracelet, my necklace. And my grandmother was there, may she rest in peace. She was my biggest fan. If she was living right now, she would be too tickled to see what I’ve done. But she told me when it all broke, she said, ‘Chains are breaking off of you.’ The day that I won Idol, chains started breaking. Went through a lot afterward, but I’ll never forget that moment.”

On Being Mentored by Patti LaBelle:

“I talk to Patti [LaBelle] a lot—and she’s always real with me. I love her. She’s just one of those women that you want to sit around all day. She’s a diva, but not a diva. You’re like, ‘Man, that’s Patti,’ but she’s not making you feel like anything other than you could be her niece. I’ve honored her several times. And I’ll never forget, we did her birthday party. It was in New York. I can’t remember where we were. And I think that was around the time when things were very, very bad in my life and it was very, very public. And Patti literally sat me down. I think we talked for hours, girl, just hours. She’s just giving me some of her stuff raw, not uncut, just very raw. She was speaking into my life but giving me some of her stuff, which a lot of people don’t do because we want to make it look so perfect.

How can we minister and encourage our other women if we are never telling them the real stuff? And Patti gave me the real.”

On How The Color Purple Helped Her Heal:

“We did the last scene, which was the picnic scene. Do you remember that? When Nettie comes? We did that scene and Oprah and Blitz, our producer, they were like, ‘Something is missing.’ So they called us all back on a Zoom call, me, Ciara—love her, and the kids—the actors who played my children and my grandchildren and they asked us, ‘Do you guys feel like we got what we needed at the end?’ And we all were like, ‘Nope.’

“I started asking them, ‘How would you all feel if you haven’t seen your sister in years? Matter of fact, you don’t even know if your sister is alive? You think your children dead, you done gave up all hope. And all of a sudden, girl, they show up.’ That’s like somebody just on the ground just hollering, balled up, thanking God. It happens in different ways for different people. Especially in that time. It was hard back then. I said, ‘You guys need to just let us tap into what we need to tap into.’ So, for me, that moment there was a…I don’t know if you remember, I kind of cried out. It was like a wail.

“That was the moment for me. I needed them to give me a moment. Ciara did too. I believe that it was healing for all of us in our own situations, and we needed a moment. Everybody was quiet on set. Oprah sent me the longest text message. She was talking. I saved it. I’ll never lose it. And she said, ‘I can tell something broke off of you.’ But watch this, she said, ‘But I broke too.’ Everybody on set. Quiet.

“That was the moment for me. That one wail, I just needed to let it out because I did get everything back that I lost. Look, if I could just let you into my world for a day, you’d be too tickled. I got everything back that I lost.”

On Her Business Ambitions:

“I have a wine coming out. I went back to school, so I got my sommelier certificate because I didn’t want people to think that I was just a Black girl putting my name on a wine to try to make money. I really love the process of it, and I also love to drink it because it’s good. I love the process of wine. I fell in love with it when my husband took me to a winery and I felt like, this may sound crazy, but I kind of felt like my life was like what wine has to go through—the pressing. I wanted to know more about it. We’re coming out with a red wine; we’re coming out with a rosé.

I sketch out gowns that I want to bring forth, my grandmother loved robes and gowns. Back in the day, remember when the older mothers had their robes and their nice gowns? So, I’ve decided to put time into creating.”

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[Photo Credit: ELLE / Adrienne Raquel]

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