Fantasia Sheds Tears During NAACP Image Awards Acceptance Speech For Outstanding Actress

Fantasia Barrino-Taylor shed tears of joy while accepting the award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture at the 55th Annual NAACP Awards.

Wearing a glamorous white dress, the songstress took the stage and was notcieably taken aback by the victory, admitting she hadn’t even thought to come up with an acceptance speech for the award due to her disbelief that she would win.

“I was afraid to play Celie,” the 39-year-old said of her acclaimed role in the adaption of the classic 1985 film The Color Purple. “But I’m glad I did because I kept saying ‘If I don’t win an award, the awards that I will win is the people who will watch [The] Color Purple and the women that will relate to her and will feel like Oscars when they walk out.”

Barrino-Taylor also acknowledged both her mother and grandmother for instilling her with pride and character. “I wanna say thank you to my grandmother, who’s in heaven right now, and my mother, who’s the Queen that I saw who carried herself with elegance and class and showed me that any room that I walked in, I didn’t have to compete with no one.

“My mother was a woman that went through a lot of things, but I saw her, after everything she went through, walk out as a queen. With a smile on her face, she always kept God first and I will continue to do the same.”

The renowned vocalist concluded her speech by bringing the audience to an uproar with a serenade attributing her success to God. “This does not make me, but I want to thank you for it.” she said. “But everything that I went through, God, God, God, and only God. So before I leave, I want to say ‘To God be the glory. To God be the glory. For the things that you’ve done.”

The win garnered Fantasia her first NAACP Image Award and marks a full-circle moment nearly 20 years in the making. From 2007 to 2008, Fantasia played Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway, earning an Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance. In 2008, Barrino-Taylor spoke on her experience playing Celie and the emotional toll it took on her.

“If you really put yourself in her shoes,” the American Idol winner told Playbill.com at the time. “That can be very tiring. It can take a lot of energy out of you. I know when I get off the stage at night from shows, I’m exhausted. I run to my room, and I fall on the couch, and I have to take at least about ten minutes to wind down and to get my thoughts together and come out of the part of Celie.”

In addition to winning the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, Fantasia also earned nominations for Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards and BAFTA Awards.

Watch Fantasia’s NAACP Image Award acceptance speech for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture below.