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WhenBrandyNorwood was just a little girl, she was wishing on a star.
Not a random cloud of gases dying somewhere lifetimes away.
Arealstar named Whitney Houston.
But its Brandy who experienced the Cinderella transformation firsthand, complete with fairy godmother.
I was like, This is not real.
In so many ways, theres no Cinderella like yours.
We just worked on bringing who I am to it, in the singing.
I wanted to sing in a musical theater way but have my own -ismsto it.
And that was supported by the powers that be.
At the time, colorblind castingwasnt as prominent.
I knew that it was special, but I didnt really know how special.
This is something I had never seen.
It was as if I wasnt even watching me as Cinderella.
So that was just my thing.
I just absolutely love braids.
you could still see theyre still in my hair today.
That was what I felt would be so much cooler if Cinderella also had braids, you know?
Because, yes, theres the first Black princess.
But what if we just take it all the way back to the motherland.
And just go head-on and put the braids right in.
I love that they allowed me to have braids.
It was so beautiful.
It represents who I am, who Black women are.
It speaks to our culture.
Youve said before thatgetting the call from Whitneywas like getting a call from your own fairy godmother.
She loved that I could be myself and she didnt want that part of me to change.
That was what she preached all the time to me up until she passed away.
So I keep that and I give a shot to live by that every day.
Thats what I teach my daughter as well.
What was it like seeing Whitney the executive producer on set?
She didnt have that kind of energy.
Her energy was very down to earth, loving.
Her spirit was humble.
She was just Fairy Godmother doing her acting and singing with all of us.
Im pretty sure she was, of course, doing her thing behind the scenes.
I just didnt see it.
Like, we just have so many beautiful moments and its actually captured.
it’s possible for you to find it our chemistry, us trying different melodies, trying different notes.
We just were very open with each other and it was a collaborative effort.
And then performing it in the actual film, like shooting with her it was just so fun.
I never could have believed that if you told me that when I was a kid.
This was a house that they built from scratch.
It felt like it was a part of Disneyland.
Thats the way it looked.
What was it like being aroundWhoopi Goldbergs extravagant Harry Winston jewelry?
Were there bodyguards watching her every move?Oh, my God.
She might have had a few bodyguards, but I was so blown away by her jewelry.
I was like Your jewelry!
And she goes, You know, its real, I said, Its real?
Yes, its real!
And she said to me, You know, thats what you have to learn.
I wouldnt know that.
But if thats the case, thank you, Whoopi!
Shes a beautiful spirit.
The chemistry between you andPaolo, your prince charming, is the heart of the movie.
I told him I got you too, and were gonna make this happen.
I was the rookie in the whole thing.
Everybody had such great musical-theater experience.
So everybody just really embraced me.
And Paolo was one of the ones that just made me feel so comfortable.
When you feel comfortable, you try things and when you try things, you make something magical.
Just let it be about the melody.
So that was my approach in this thing.
And then Whitney, though, Whitney did the acrobatics.
It was just a great balance of straight singing and then her singing just everywhere.
I am working on that.
I am definitely working on that.
I keep hearing the talks about it.
Its like youre our Fairy Godmother.That is so sweet to say.
So before we could get to the good part, shes like, Mom, I cant.
I cant take it.
She was very young.
Yeah, the Queen needs her crown.[Laughs.]
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