Leslie F*cking Jones

by Leslie Jones

“I know it’s hard right now. If you get through it, I swear to God, you’re going to triumph better than anything. You’re going to be so strong. You just gotta get through it. Hold on. It does not last. It’s going to get better.”

We have to take care of ourselves and realize the wonderfulness in all of us. Because once we start doing that, once we start with respecting ourselves—really getting into the business of liking ourselves—we’ll realize that each of us is a unique person with God-given gifts that we have to use to the benefit of everyone around us. You are with yourself every day, all day, all night—might as well like yourself.

A lot of stuff needs to be fixed between generations. Every generation thinks they have a new set of issues to deal with, when actually it’s just a different scene, different clothes, different mechanisms, but the same damage getting passed down.

“The world’s not going to stop for that shit. This doesn’t define who you are. Don’t make this the focus of your life. There’s always going to be hurt before you get to the right place.”

wanted to be Leslie Fucking Jones, even if I didn’t fully know who that was yet.

don’t know if he cried after that; I don’t know if he knew he was allowed to.

But I know I haven’t done anything wrong. Yes, I will have to explain to my aunt why my vagina is all over the internet, but these photographs are my personal property, as is my vagina.

up to me and saying, “You are literally my hero right now. That was just exactly how you take your power back.” I was honest with Trevor. “This hiding shit? Becoming a victim shit? It doesn’t really work. And it doesn’t make shit fade away.” By owning it at the Emmys, the message I was sending was I’m not scared. I was built for hard. Then I doubled down by writing an SNL Update about the whole thing. “I was recently hacked myself,” I said. “All they did was release nude pics of me, which is nothing because I don’t know if you know this about me, but I ain’t shy… I am very comfortable with who I am. I am an open book. I keep my porn in a folder labeled ‘PORN.’ If you want to see Leslie Jones naked, just ask… You can’t embarrass me more than I have embarrassed myself… At a certain point, you stop being embarrassed and start being you. And I have been me for forty-nine years… The only person who can hack me is me.”

don’t know what you are, but I know that I want you here. You’re something I never knew I needed.” And yet what happened at SNL has happened so many times to me: People hire me because I’m Leslie Jones, but then they don’t actually know what that is, so they try to turn me into something else.

Diana Ross once say,

“Know who you are because if you don’t, they

will make you what they ...

Jamie Foxx was so right about living life, having all the experiences, all the hurts, the rejection, the happiness, the sadness. It all goes together to make up who you are. Go through it all—it’s yours. You should love it and own it as yours. It’s what helps you love yourself, and all of you, not just the good parts. You may not be perfect, but you are somebody, and you have a story. You don’t need to be anyone but who you are. So many of us are trying to escape from who we are. Stand in yourself. I swear, if you start that work, you will be amazed to find out you are awesome. There is only one you.