Big Freedia recently appeared on The Real to talk about the release of her memoir, Big Freedia: God Save the Queen Diva!, which sits at No. 2 on Amazon’s ‘Southern U.S Biographies’ list.
Published in 2015, the memoir tells Big Freedia‘s stories from when she was a young, poor choir boy, struggling to overcome bullies, drugs, and poverty, to becoming the bounce diva and reality star that she is today.
Freedia appeared on the Dec. 2 episode of The Real where she talked about everything from getting booed on stage during a show in Connecticut to the tattoo that sparked a friendship between her and The Notebook actor, Ryan Gosling.
Following BigFreedia‘s introduction, Loni Love praised the rapper for having “so much confidence,” and asked if that’s always been the case. Freedia replied:
“I did not. At first, I used to actually be stage-frightened. I used to throw up before I used to perform, and my manager said one day, ‘Look, if you going to wanna be a performer, you’re gonna have to overcome this.’ So, as time went on… I started practicing, and hitting the stage more; I started getting more confidence, and that kinda just went away. Thank God for that.”
Adrienne Bailon and Garcelle Beauvais both agreed with Freedia, exclaiming “Thank God for that!” Garcelle then took over, diving into the memoir and bringing up one of Freedia‘s performances where she had to deal with some “unwelcoming audience members.” Freedia recalls:
“One time I had a show in Connecticut and it wasn’t so pleasant. And that was my first time in Connecticut. I was in between Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalife [sic], and the promoter was from New Orleans… they were not expecting to see a very large queen perform between Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalife [sic]. They were not accepting. They were like booing and throwing stuff at us.”
Big Freedia remained professional and continued to perform in front of the not-so-welcoming crowd, however, at the end of her performance, the Queen Diva got those rude folk right together.
“I told them off at the end and I walked offstage and got my check,” Freedia said. She then noted that since the incident, she’s visited Connecticut and had a completely different, positive experience.
Adrienne Bailon brought things back to a lighter side when she asked Big Freedia how she met actor Ryan Gosling.
“We met at SXSW — Ryan was shooting a movie,” Freedia said. “They brought him over and introduced me. We winded up hanging out, he winded up seeing my tattoo on my back; He became a fan. We hung out like that whole day, that whole night.”
Adrienne interjected, inquiring about Freedia‘s back tattoo, but the bounce diva said she’ll reveal that during her next visit. As for now, it’s “too hot for TV.” Watch the full interview below!
Big Freedia: God Save the Queen Diva! is available now on Amazon. Big Freedia is currently on a virtual book tour for her memoir and may be coming to a city near you!