The 47-year-old actress feels she has turned from a “quiet, demure, gentle woman” into who she is today and insists she was never in the shadow of her famous mother, Diana Ross, but instead grew up in her “embrace.”

She said: “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more myself. And the more I am myself, the more my life looks like me … I used to think it was my job to be this quiet demure, gentle woman, who would listen and smile. It’s all over the movies. I feel like I grew up in her embrace, not in her shadow.”

And the “Black-ish” star is set to sing for the first time on screen in her new movie, The High Note. While she initially felt pressure because of her famous mom, when the legendary singer found out about the part, she cried happy tears.

Speaking to Oprah Winfrey on her 2020 Vision Tour over the weekend at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, she added: “There was this little girl in me who’s original dream was to be on a stage in a sparkly dress singing. I think it was very unconscious that I tucked her away. It felt dangerous. It felt like I was gonna be obliterated and compared …

“Every time there was a moment to sing publicly with other people, I would make it funny because that way people wouldn’t listen with the ‘Diana Ross‘ kid ear.’ It was as if I was walking around with not all of me because there was a part of me that wanted to shine, that I wanted to live and wasn’t. So, it was like this arm tied around my back. [When she found out], her face was covered in tears, and she said, ‘Finally.'”

Source: www.rollingout.com