Mary J. Blige has achieved a lot in her decades-long career, but she’s not interested in retiring anytime soon.
“I’ve done pretty much everything that I want to do,” Blige, 53, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of cutting the ribbon at New York City’s Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop. “The boxes have been checked.”
Blige went on to say that she might be ready to hang it up in “a couple of years,” but she’s still enjoying herself at the moment.
“Sometimes I get fatigued, you know what I’m saying? I’m tired,” the R&B icon said with a laugh. “I’ve been doing this for 30-something years. So, in a little while, it’ll be time. … [But I’ll be] working hard until then.”
But whenever she finally does retire, Blige has some ideas about how she’d like to spend her golden years. “Retirement looks like traveling the world,” she explained. “Going to places I’ve never been before. Relaxing. Being on yachts and in homes and just enjoying the fruits of my labor.”
Blige’s second album, My Life, will turn 30 in November, and she’s already celebrating — the LP is one of her favorites.
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“That’s my baby,” she told Us. “Because it shows the difference between where I was and where I am. I was in such a dark state of mind. And life was not something that I wanted to live. When I had to make a choice and when I made the choice to love myself, those are two different dynamics. … I didn’t want to live, now I want to live. So I had to make the choice to choose myself and my fans and live. That’s what turned it all around. It was pivotal.”
After so many decades in the entertainment industry, Blige said she stays grounded in part thanks to her “spiritual life” — and thanks to her fans.
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“This has not all happened because of you,” the Grammy winner explained to Us. “This is blood, sweat and tears. This is your family. This is people helping you. There’s no ‘I’ in team, there’s no ‘I’ in any of this. And that’s how I stay grounded, knowing that I need help.”
She also knows how to enjoy the little luxuries, which is why opening Ghirardelli’s new NYC store made perfect sense.
“I love chocolate, period, but Ghirardelli is one of my favorites,” said Blige, noting that her go-to order is a caramel sundae. “I’ll be back and I’ll be back and I’ll be back.”
For more with Blige, watch the video above and pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
