Leslie F*cking Jones

by Leslie Jones

When I think about how far I’ve come, I want to go back through my life and give my former self the love and respect she so often missed out on. I want to look after my younger me, tell her she’ll be alright—better than alright.

I’ve come to understand that that’s what I’m here for, now—that’s one of the reasons I’m on this planet: I was built to be strong, and I want to share it, pay it forward.

You are with yourself every day, all day, all night—might as well like yourself.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re Black and you’re a woman and you can’t do it,” he’d say. “You can do whatever the fuck you want. As long as you work hard. But you have to work hard. You can’t get the shit easy. As long as you are better than everybody else, you’ll get what you deserve.”

I knew in my head that I was better than them, but I didn’t know how to be better, if that makes sense.

It’s different in the South because you’re taken care of in a different type of way.

“You could kill him in another way though, Les, because people just hate not even being in a real relationship with you. It’s a form of death. It is cold in your darkness.”

The point is, no matter where I go, I will be Leslie Jones. I’m talented in spite of the bullshit. I will be successful at anything you give me to do because of my talent. No one can own that or take it away. And you got to be willing to walk away from something that is not for you, no matter how big it is. I don’t stay anywhere I’m not wanted. I don’t let people misuse me anymore—I don’t have to. My talent can take me anywhere I want to go. I’m not conceited or cocky. I’m just convinced.

Recently, I did a show at the Hollywood Bowl, and as I drove home that night, I couldn’t help but think about what Willie Jones Jr had said to me all those years earlier: “Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re Black and you’re a female and you can’t do it. You can do whatever the fuck you want as long as you work hard… As long as you are better than everybody else, you’ll get what you deserve… You are Black; you are female… That means that you are going to have to work harder than everybody else. But if you work harder you are undeniable. They can’t deny you. They going to tell you that you are a woman, they’re going to tell you that you’re Black. They will say you can’t make it. Don’t fucking listen.”