Tiffany Haddish is one of 2017's breakout stars. Her performance in Girls Trip put her on the map. But, how much does the average fan know about this rising comedian? Find out about her awful childhood, which was filled with abuse and bullying, her dreams of being a farmer with Oprah Winfrey, and her new friendship with Barbra Streisand.
Haddish has big dreams for the future and they involve the legendary media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who is also known for her impressive farm. "One of my goals, girl, is to meet Oprah Winfrey, right?" Haddish told Ellen DeGeneres recently.
"And then she'd be my auntie. Auntie O. And then we'd both be gardening together and stuff, right? She got a good garden. She got yard! She got a whole lot of backyard to grow stuff. So, I meet her, right, and then we gonna start, like . . . a co-op, and then the next thing you know we gonna start our own little booth and we gonna go to, like, farmers' markets together and stuff together and it'll be 'Tiff and O's Vegetables!'" Haddish dished. She ultimately dreams of taking their veggies on a nationwide tour with hopes of inspiring everyone to eat healthier.
But Haddish isn't just looking to scoop up Winfrey's veggies, she's got her own garden in South Central Los Angeles, she adds. Her specialty are collard greens.
Haddish's childhood wasn't easy. In her new memoir, The Last Black Unicorn, the comedian shares the abuse she experienced at the hands of her mother. As the story goes, Haddish's mom was involved in a terrible car accident that left her brain damaged. "I was told every day I'd never be nothing," Haddish wrote, according to People. "Now I look in the mirror and say, 'Tiffany Haddish, I love and approve of you.' It was all worth it." She recalled other nasty remarks her mother often made adding, "After the accident, oh my God, she would say the worst things to me, like 'You look like your ugly ass daddy, I hate him. I hate you.'… She couldn't get all her words out, so she'd just punch me. Just full on. Because of her, I can take a punch like nobody's business. Teachers would ask, 'Why's Tiffany's lip busted?' I didn't say anything. As bad as she was to me, I still couldn't help but love her."
A few years later, after an altercation with a neighbor, Haddish's mom was taken to a hospital where she was diagnosed with a disorder. "The doctors decided she's schizophrenic," Haddish wrote. "So my mom went into a mental facility."
Haddish's mom remains under medical care, and still isn't well. It's Haddish's wish to use her newfound fame and money to help her mom return to the person she used to be.
Because of her mom's mental illness, Haddish was forced to grow up rather quickly. She often took care of her siblings and herself. "I was basically a 10-year-old mom," she bluntly told People in the summer of 2017.
Once child services got involved, things went from bad to worse. "I was in group homes for a while," she wrote in her memoir. "I hate thinking about that. It was more like prison. My comedy skills came in real handy. I thought that if I made these girls laugh they wouldn't beat me up. But bully girl said, 'Ahh b*tch, we still going to beat your ass . . . but you funny.'"
Speaking with the Tampa Bay Times about her harrowing past, Haddish recalls the emotional rollercoaster. "I remember being in the system until I wasn't worth anything (in state funding)," Haddish said. "When I talk to some of my comedy buddies now they'll say: 'Tiffany, you ain't never been afraid.' And I'm thinking to myself: 'Well, you obviously never knew me.'"
In a candid interview with The Breakfast Club, Haddish revealed a scary medical moment. At age 13, she suffered toxic shock from a tampon. As she described, it was an experience that forever changed her life.
"So this is like my third period I ever had," Haddish recalled. "There were no maxi pads, nothing in the house, nothing to use. But, underneath the sink there were these super absorbent tampons. So I was like, 'Psh, forget it.' So I put it in… I only had it in for about four or five hours, but as soon as I took it out I started itching, started scratching."
As time went on, the symptoms got worse. Her tongue shrunk in size, she experienced a burning sensation all over her body, and she became dehydrated. Her family took her to the emergency room, where she was interrogated by a nurse. "I ended up having to stay in the hospital for three days," Haddish said. "They hooked me up with all these IVs. I was 13 [and] got my first pap smear. They basically broke my hymen." Her nurse took the time to explain the medical emergency adding Haddish was allergic to a chemical found in the tampon. '"If you ever use tampons again, it will be like committing suicide,'" the nurse warned.
Not all couples fall in love through romantic dates and flowers. Haddish married her ex-husband on a bet. Per an interview with The Breakfast Club, Haddish met a policeman on a cruise. They spoke over the phone for a year and then parted ways. Years later he tracked her down. At this point, he's an investigator and Haddish asked him to find her father. The man says he'll do it under one condition — she will marry him if he is successful. It took a total of three weeks for the investigator to find Haddish's long lost father. "I'm a woman of my word," Haddish said of the odd agreement. "If I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it."
Haddish said the marriage lasted five years and things "didn't work out." She blamed the demise of her marriage on his control and jealousy. In her memoir, The Last Black Unicorn, Haddish talks about marrying and divorcing him twice, but stated the physical abuse took a toll on her. "He grabbed me by the collar, he was like, 'It's time to go to the room now,' in front of everybody," she wrote of a scary time in Montreal. "Just snatched me by my shirt, and pulled me to the elevator and threw me in it…once we got to our hotel room, he was so quick. He snatched me by the neck and slammed me into the wall."
Haddish is at the start of a stellar career and has already made history. In November, she became the first black female stand-up comedian to ever host Saturday Night Live in its 43 seasons, according to ABC News. It was a monumental achievement by any means.
But as the star shared with The Breakfast Club (11:30 mins into interview), working on SNL wasn't all that great. Haddish says it was so stressful she lost seven pounds. Haddish also explained she wanted a big group of A-list cameos for the night, but says the production staff dragged their feet on booking the talent. When asked if she would ever consider returning to the show, she hesitantly agreed adding there would need to be a compromise. "The writers and stuff were really great," she said tap dancing around her true feelings. "They were really awesome. The writers and the performers were phenomenal… Everybody else is what they is."
Rising to the top of the comedy world isn't easy. As Haddish shares in her memoir, The Last Black Unicorn, the comedy scene is filled with sexual harassment against women comedians. "I can't tell you how many promoters tried to tell me that to get on stage, I had to get on my back," she wrote in her memior, according to People. Her response was always a powerful "Hell no!"
She discussed the tough environment and getting her start in comedy saying, "It seemed like everybody wanted to get in my panties. It was constant defending and battling. These men will try you every single time." She called the behavior "hazing" adding, "Once they figure out you're strong and you don't roll like that, then they start treating you like a colleague." But there was one bright spot along the rocky journey: Kevin Hart. She called the buzz-worthy comedian her "comedy guardian angel."
Haddish says not all of the women she started out with were able to dodge the negativity. "I look back at other women that started with me that were hilarious, they were superstars, but they compromised," she explained.
Since Haddish skyrocketed to fame, Hollywood has fully embraced her and she's now rubbing elbows with some impressive people. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Haddish found herself at a dinner party with the legendary Barbra Streisand.
Weeks later, Haddish told Ellen DeGeneres all about it. "We recently met at Ron Meyer's house, he's the chairman over at [NBC] Universal or whatever," Haddish detailed. "He invited me over for dinner and a movie, right? And then there she was, Barbra Streisand. She's like, 'Tiffany!' And I'm like, 'What up, girl!'" Haddish says she and Streisand bonded over music. "I had informed her about Cardi B and how she just transformed her whole life and how she's a role model to children, and how we have to be role models to young girls and show you can empower yourself," Haddish quipped. "You can have whatever you want in life."
Haddish also dished on her potluck night with Taylor Swift, who she met while hosting SNL. The comedian requested that Swift make barbecue chicken, potato salad and brisket. Haddish elected to bring the collard greens. "Taylor can cook, OK," Haddish quipped. "She can cook. The chicken was bomb! And she made cornbread: bomb! So good!"
A word of caution: Don't cheat on this rising star! Haddish, who is no stranger to drama and bad relationships, found a unique way to get back at her cheating ex-boyfriend. As she writes in The Last Black Unicorn, "Dating has been hard for me my whole life." So to even the score, Haddish did the unthinkable.
"I ate a lot of corn. A lot. And I didn't chew it so well," she wrote of a crazy time she cold-heartedly decided to poop in her ex-boyfriend's expensive Jordan shoes. After Haddish did the dirty deed, she didn't alert the guy. Rather, she allowed him to discover the mess when he slipped them on. In that moment of sweet revenge, Haddish let him know he stepped in "All the sh*t you put me through!"
Thinking back on that wicked time, Haddish told People, "I know I'm crazy… I always try to think of ways to get revenge without going to jail." Beyond that, she claims to be ready to date again adding, "I'm open to whatever God puts in front of me and makes my heart pitter patter."
Haddish knows better than anyone that bullies can leave emotional scars. Luckily for her, she was able to channel that negative energy into something positive. Haddish credits her childhood bullies for making her rich today. "I'm fixing to take all the mean stuff [those] bullies used to say about me and I'm going to make money off it," she quipped on Good Morning America while promoting her memoir, The Last Black Unicorn.
She also explained the unique book title, which is earning her lots of attention. "I used to get picked on school a lot," she said. "What I thought was a mole was a wart. I had a wart growing out of my forehead and it kind of looked like a horn and kids used to call me a dirty unicorn. It used to hurt my feelings really bad and I did things to myself that I probably shouldn't have."
Then Haddish began to think about those awful comments. "They're saying this for a reason," she explained. "Obviously they like me because they're looking at my horn. Obviously they're into me. As I got older, I'm like, 'You know what? I'm fixing to take all the mean stuff [those] bullies used to say about me and I'm going to make money off it.'"
In 2018, Haddish will be swimming in cash. She's launching a nationwide comedy tour and she's got several film projects slated for release including Night School, which co-stars Kevin Hart.
