Praised by Billboard as “among the top singers with a vocal that absolutely astounds with its intensity,” Tony and Grammy Award winner Heather Headley doesn’t need to prove she belongs in the “multifaceted” category—just don’t tell that to her early-February schedule, or her impressive resume.
Born in Trinidad, Headley’s family moved to the U.S. in the early ’90s and in 1997—while attending Northwestern University—she was cast in the musical Ragtime. Months later, she was cast as ‘Nala’ in the original Broadway production of The Lion King. In a full-circle moment, this month, you can see her reprise the role at The Hollywood Bowl on February 7 on Disney+, as she concurrently stars as ‘Helen Decatur,’ on Netflix’s hit romantic drama series Sweet Magnolias, now in its fourth season.
Busy, yes, but as Headley shared with us over a recent chat, outside of her illustrious career, she takes great care in keeping what she calls “her mask on” as she straddles the balance between motherhood and stardom.
You have a rather busy February. What are you looking forward to the most as your two big projects hit at once?
Oh, goodness. You know what’s so weird about that whole thing…sometimes, it all feels so removed. We finished the show nine months ago and then it goes into the hands of the post team and all you can do is wait. It’s a little bit like being pregnant. At the end of these nine months, you’re like, “But I know the baby! I’ve been carrying the baby! I know what’s going on with the baby, but now it’s time to introduce the baby to the world.”
There’s anxiety, and there is fear, but there’s also great excitement. You want the world to see your baby. You hope that everyone thinks your baby is cute. I know my baby is cute. But I hope everyone else says: “That is a cute baby.” That’s the only thing I can compare it to. And, looking at it like that, I guess I’m currently expecting twins!
When it’s finally out, it’s almost like a new birth again. For instance, with Magnolia, we ended in the summer and for all purposes, you say, “Okay, all right, that’s done,” but then it takes this gestation period until you remove yourself from it. To some extent, you’re older, and you’re thinking to yourself, “Okay, did I do this the right way? How would I do it now? Did I change anything?” Yes, it’s a plethora of emotions, but I think the lead emotion is excitement and happiness. I’m incredibly blessed and humbled by all of it.
Do you have a hard time sleeping the night before something like this comes out?
Well, I don’t sleep at all! But no, I’m doing better now because we got sneak peeks of it…and so you just go, “Well….” But I hate this part because there’s nothing I can do.
That’s why I love theater because if I think I messed up on Tuesday night, I can go back in [on] Wednesday and fix it. I can fix the note. But with this, you’re like, “I can’t fix anything.” At this point, you just have to have peace that this was the best that I did, and it was the best I could do at the time. Hopefully, I will sleep, but you do get up early and hope that the phone’s not ringing off the hook with bad news.
It won’t be. It will be all good news.
Sometimes, though, I hear my mother. Sometimes, it’s my mother going: “Heather, why did you not marry that man?” and I’m like, “Mommy!”
She’s your toughest critic?
There was one time I did some show, and she literally called me, upset with me, that I didn’t do the right thing in the show. I was like, “Mommy, you know better than this. There are other people who are writing it.” I had nothing to say to her. But she kept saying, “No, I know, I understand. But still!”
That is funny. You have three children. How do you balance everything between work and home life, and how do you make sure you take care of yourself?
Oh gosh. Okay, here’s the best way I can tell you about it very quickly. I was on a plane, and this is a true, true story. I was on a plane with our youngest son. As we were getting ready to take off, the air stewardess came to me and she stopped me, and she said, “If anything happens on the plane, you need to put your mask on first, right?”
I remember looking at her, and a bunch of things came to my mind. I was like, “Diva, listen, I’ve flown a million times, and I know the speech, all right?” Then, number two, I was like, “Nothing’s going to happen on this plane.” Number three, it was like, “I’m a good mother. If anything goes down on this plane, I’m going to put his mask on first and go.” I’m not lying to you. It was like the voice of good God came to me and made me listen to this lesson. He just stopped me and said: “Do you know why you put his mask on second, why you put your mask on first?”
Then I had this conversation with myself on the plane. It’s because if I put his mask on first and something happens to me, he is [as] good as dead. I remember it was just this moment to me because it was like God said: “I need you to put your mask on first.”
So I have taken to putting my mask on. I can’t be a good mom, I can’t be a good artist, I can’t be a good performer.
Most days my mask is waking up very, very early. I wake up [at] about 5 a.m., I write in my journal, I do a devotional and pray. My body is sort of used to it now and I love that time—just me and the house, the quiet. I just sit by myself. Then, maybe I’ll work out or get myself ready for the day when I’m home. Then, the kids come bounding down the stairs at like 7 a.m. and we get ready for the day.
For me, part of my balance is to have those times that I put my mask on. I was saying this to someone earlier..sometimes your mask is a bath, your mask is to go for a run, your mask is whatever it is. I do think that we all need to breathe sometimes and that’s what gets me through. As far as the balance is concerned, I have an amazing husband who really does make it easier, and beautiful children who have accommodated me. It’s a great family. I have a beautiful circle around us, too. My in-loves, as I call them, and friends. I have a couple of Magnolias that I can call when things go crazy.
Part of the balance is having people holding you up as well. The last thing I’ll say is that I’m figuring out at this stage in my life that part of the balance is being able to put certain things down at the right time. I think, sometimes, we hold so much that you’re imbalanced, right? There’s some days that I know I have to hold my family, I have to hold my husband, I have to hold God, I have to hold me, I have to hold my mom. But there’s some days that I have to say, “Okay, maybe this is not for today. Let me put that down.” Maybe it’s not today.
Every day, we don’t do it perfectly, but that’s part of my routine now. I have to wake up early and mask up, as I tell people all the time.
It sounds like you have it down. When you’re on Broadway, you have to know what cleanser works, and you have to know what works for your skin. Have you found any holy grails over the years?
My gosh, that’s a whole other conversation! About a year and a half ago, my husband said to me, he said, “You know that Magnolia is going to call you back. And I know how you are. You’re going to wait until the month before that they call you back and then be like, ‘I need to lose 60 pounds, I need to get my skin examined, I need to do all that.’”
He was like, “I love you just the way you are, but just because I don’t want to hear your mouth, go deal with what you have to deal with now.”
I went to my dermatologist and aesthetician and we came up with a cocktail. At this stage in my life, I want to know what I can use that keeps my skin perfect. Not perfect, but healthy, especially with all the makeup, right? All of the hair stuff we have to do, all the lights, all the stuff that has to happen to my skin, the barrage of things, I want to know what to do. We came up with something, and so far, it’s kept my skin in line! I have to say, between the facials, or the microderms, or the peel or whatever it is, my skin is keeping in line. This is not an every-week deal, but I do try to be good with my upkeep.
It’s been great to find a line of things that works for me as well. I love the vitamin C from SkinCeuticals ($182). My skin has enjoyed it and taken to it.
The hair is tough because my hair goes through a lot—especially on set. It’s tough because every day they have to be in it, sometimes twice or three times a day, they’re changing styles. But I want to give credit to our hair team there. Bernice West, who was in charge of us, she was like, “I’m here about the health of your hair.” It was great to have somebody on set, this beautiful Black woman who was just like: “Your hair is going to leave as strong as when you came in with it.” Because I use my hair, so it was good for her to help me out with that. I’m not saying I found the holy grail, but it’s a grail.
Well, SkinCeuticals is definitely a grail.
I use their line and I know it’s pricey, and it’s not fun, but I’ve just found that it hasn’t broken me out. A lot of times, there were other lines that would keep my skin fine, but when I went to set under the lights and stuff, things could turn. But I’m glad to hear that you think it’s a good line, too. That makes me happy.
