July 8, 2025 • 31 mins
In this solo episode, Michelle discusses the importance of showing up for your people, despite what you have going on. She also shares her travel chronicles for the week and makes an honest and raw confession. Check in to this episode if you're struggling to balance being present with yourself and others.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Coming up on Checking In with Michelle Williams. Listen, I
tell y'all all about delays and diversions, Whoever brings you
the most peace gets the most time, and Cowboy Carder
coming up next on an all new episode of Checking In.
Hey there, welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams. Y'all.
(00:39):
I sometimes dislike saying the title checking in with Michelle Williams, because, like,
I'm Michelle, why can't I just say checking In? So
let me start that over, y'all. Welcome to another amazing
episode of Checking In. We are wow to the second
(01:01):
month of Checking In. I was blessed to have some
amazing guests starting off this season, Raquel Hopkins, Deval and
Kadeen Like who are just absolutely incredible. This week, it's
(01:21):
just me again. I've got a few things to talk about,
a few things to share. And discovering that throughout the years,
you guys really enjoy my solo episodes. You also enjoy
those that that I have with guests. But it was
shocking that also the number of people who download the
(01:45):
solo episodes like, I was thinking that people really want
to sit for about thirty minutes and listen to what
I have to say versus dialogue with other guests. I
thought that that would be incredible to share my platform
with guests who I admire. But according to the Black Effect,
(02:08):
y'all like my solo episodes as well. So we're gonna
get right to it. I hope y'all have had an
amazing week we have had. We're coming off of the
fourth of July. I don't know if it was a
(02:29):
fourth of July for folks. I literally have to read
this text from my aunt. She is probably in her eighties.
Matter of fact, she is eighty, and my aunt says
she said, okay, I'm getting it in real time. My
(02:51):
aunt texted and said, good afternoon, Happy Independence Day, even
though your president is keeping it from being happy, have
a blessed day. I was absolutely losing it because I'll
never forget there was a time where we were just
excited about the fourth of July. We were getting our
(03:14):
are me and you ready? Whose house we going over?
What time is it gonna start? And all that good stuff.
But I'm excited because of Juneteenth and what Juneteenth has
been for us, and I'll never forget Juneteenth. My grandmother,
(03:35):
years before Juneteenth is what it is today. My grandmother
taking us to Juneteenth activities and picnics and festivals year
after year in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois. So shout
out to Juneteenth and God blessed the fourth of July.
(04:01):
All right, all right, So the week of fourth of
July was absolutely bonkers days of traveling. Okay, So let
me tell y'all. I've been in New York since about
end of August of twenty twenty four, and you know,
(04:27):
I knew that I was going to be leaving my
comfort zone. Okay, what is my comfort zone? My house,
my plants, my own bed, just my little nook that
I absolutely enjoy. So I was like, well, New York
(04:51):
to Atlanta ain't that far. You know, I'll just go
home like once a month to check on everything, to
make sure everything's okay, and the busyness of my schedule
it is a blessing. But I hadn't been able to
get home back to Atlanta as much as I would
like to. And then there are times where I could
(05:13):
have got on a plane to fly home, but I
was so tired from doing eight shows a week that
it was just best for me to get my weekly
massage and go to bed, you know what I mean.
So this week I said, you know what, let me
go on home. I want to see what's up at
(05:34):
my house. I get home, check my plants. One of
my beautiful plants gone dead. Okay, and they are on
this cool watering system. But when I opened up the
water reservoir, it was totally empty, and I was like, well,
(05:56):
you haven't been home in a while to really check
on it, and how long did you think this water
was going to be in this reservoir. It's a self
watering system. Great, great for folks who are I love
the self watering system because I have overwatered plants, you know,
(06:21):
but this particular system, it does the perfect amount of
watering for plants. Now, I could be going somewhere here
you can underwater or overwater, and so I just I
hadn't been home, and so one of my favorite plants. Oh,
(06:42):
it was gorgeous. It was absolutely gorgeous. It's one of
the plants where it just continues to grow and just
kind of like it grows over the table. It's like
a waterfall. It's beautiful. So I was able to put
water back in the reservoir, take the dead leaves off,
(07:04):
and hopefully when I get back, I'll see some buds,
some more budding. Cool. Get home, and I spend my
amazing time at home. I'm feeling refreshed. I am feeling rejuvenated.
I am feeling restored because I was able to sleep
on my own mattress that I absolutely adore. Miss Tina
(07:29):
Knowles has always said I probably have said this on
this podcast at least once. She told us, invest in
your mattress, especially that's where you're going to be spending
a lot of hours in the day, So invest in
your mattress. I'm proud of my mattress. I feel like
(07:52):
it's amazing. I love my bed. Okay, cool, Anyway, I'm refreshed,
I'm rejuvenated. I'm able to walk around my own neighborhood,
gets some sun and just ooh, drive my own vehicle.
It's the little things that I have been missing. Great.
(08:12):
I get on a plane to come back here to
New York, and I flew into Newark, and yes, I
know about the news of air traffic control and outages,
but I fly into Newark all the time when I travel,
(08:33):
and it's been great. Let me tell you why I
like Newark. It's quiet. The drive from Manhattan into Newark.
I don't know why I love it better than the
drive from like where I live here in New York
to LaGuardia or JFK. I think the drive to La
Guardian and JFK it just makes me too anxious. The
(08:54):
drive to Newark, it's just peaceful. The experience to me
me has been peaceful. We're in the air about to
land at Newark and the pilot comes on and says, hey,
we've got to circle a little bit. Those of y'all
that fly, if you fly frequently, sometimes that happens. Okay,
(09:19):
you know that when the pilot says we got a circle,
it ain't ten minutes, sometimes thirty minutes. I don't know.
So I'm like, okay, cool, We're gonna be fine, y'all.
He then comes back on the intercom and says, we
actually have to get some gas, so we're gonna land
(09:40):
in Norfolk, Virginia. He's like, we're gonna gas up. I'm
gonna have you back in the air. I'm like, okay, cool.
Show starts at death becomes Circle show starts at seven.
Its gonna be great. I can get to the theater
at six thirty for a seven o'clock show. I don't
(10:03):
like to do that. I've never done that because I
need at least an hour from makeup and prep, my
breathing and my stretching. Some people literally walk in the
door at six thirty for a seven o'clock show. My
hand claps to y'all for that. I can't do that.
I can, but that's not my desire. Okay, I just
mentioned I just told you guys my routine. Oh my gosh.
(10:26):
We land in Norfolk and it goes from thirty minutes
to an hour. Now, mind you, they have gassed up
the plane. It's gone from like one hour to hour
and a half, two hours, three hours, four hours, five hours,
six hours by the time but about four o'clock rolls around,
(10:52):
I'm like, I'm not gonna make it to the lunfont
Tan theater. Y'all. I do this routine. I have done
this routine quite often. I've never missed a show because
of a flight to diversion. I have never really missed
(11:18):
a work event period because of I've never missed a
flight for work anybody that books me for the past
twenty five years knows that you book me, I'm going
to show up. If I don't show up, it's because
I one. I think one time I was literally in
the hospital, like sick with something right, or I'm just sick.
(11:44):
And if I say I'm sick, I'm really really sick.
So I've never missed work. I've never you know, I
just I don't play that. That's just this. I guess
it's still the school of Matthew Knowles. I don't know,
but that's just I tried not to. I try not
to do that. So, yeah, we missed the show. I
(12:05):
missed the show. I'm gutted, I am disappointed. I'm like,
oh my god, but I'm so thankful for an understanding
management team of death becomes her totally understood. So it's
(12:25):
that that was that was a lesson learned, you know.
So I don't know if I'll be home anytime soon
because I don't want that to happen, or maybe try
flying into logorder or JFK. I don't know. But new
work has never been an issue for me. Again, I
have seen the news where it's been about outages and
(12:47):
air traffic control issues, but all right, So I finally
experienced it. That same week, I was all soul needing
to attend a close friend of mine her mother passed,
(13:07):
and I wanted to be at the funeral. I was
torn because you know, I'm under contract in this show
many times. I've been under contract for the past again,
twenty five years of my life, and I was torn
(13:31):
between how many moments am I going to miss by
being able to be present for someone in my life.
I've missed enough birthdays, I missed enough funerals, I've missed
enough graduations, y'all. I even missed my brother's first sermon
(13:55):
he preached. Now he understood because that year we filmed
the Boot Delicious video. He was totally understandable. But me
as his sister, as his baby sister, whom I adore
my brother, I was like, I cannot believe I'm missing
my brother preach his first sermon while I'm on set
(14:17):
shaking my thighs. It's a great video. I love those
Christian Dior shades. Those are I wish I could find those.
Those are vintage. So yeah, that's what was going on
while filming Boot Delicious. My brother preached his first sermon.
But you guys, everything worked out. Everything worked out, as
you can see all as well. But at this point
(14:39):
in my career and in my life, I'm like, man,
how many more moments of being present will I miss?
And that's the sacrifice of the business of show. That's
the sacrifice of I chose this life. So I'm not
asking for pity, sympathy anything, but I guess I'm understanding
(15:02):
of I guess where my mindset was. And I did
get permission, of course, again from management of death becomes
her to attend this funeral. I adore what I do.
I adore the show, and I'm so glad that I
(15:24):
was allowed to go to my friend's mother's funeral and
it meant the world to her. And the person that
did the eulogy looked over at the role that I
was sitting on, and there were some other friends and
stuff of the family sitting on that role, and he
(15:48):
said these words. He mentioned the words ministry of presence.
Sometimes your presence is comforting to someone. You might not
even have the right way words. You probably can't even
get to them in that moment at the funeral or
even a party, or their first sermon. Or a graduation.
(16:11):
But as long as they can look over and see you,
you never know what that does for a person. When
Beyonce and Kelly came to my opening night, Doctor Amira
and Brittany Tims Tina, I felt so anchored by their presence.
(16:37):
I was like, I don't care what happens tonight, I
am going to be okay the ministry of Presents And
there are times where people have even looked at me
like you're Michelle Williams, why are you here? What are
you doing here? And I'm not saying anyone said that
(16:58):
last week, but there are times I have shown up
two different things for people in my life, and I
don't let what I do or who I am in quotes.
I don't want that to ever get in the way
(17:18):
of showing up and being there for people that I love,
at least not at this time in my career now.
Sometimes it's just not possible. It's just not possible. But
I'm thankful that this time it was possible for me
to show up and be present so perfectly. You can
(17:43):
take inventory of your life about maybe people you can
show up for a little more, or take inventory of
people where you're like man they can show up for
me more, or if they don't, you probably might even
have to assess how much you show up for them.
(18:10):
So us this older woman. One day, she told me
that I was ministry in motion and literally just me
being able to show up and be present is just
something that I treasure, something that if I can show up,
I'm gonna show up, all right. So that was Thursday
(18:35):
of last week. Friday, we are off because it's fourth
of July. Death becomes her did not have a show,
So where did I go? So I went from the
city where I was in for this funeral, flew to Washington,
DC to see cow Boy Carter. The tour insane. Absolutely,
(19:02):
I just just have no but I do have words. Beautiful,
the visuals, y'all. She's she gives vocals every tour she's done.
But I feel like this tour beyoncey uh. There are
(19:25):
many times I had a Baptist fit. If you want
to know what a Baptist fit is is where you
just get to your arms, just get to flailing uncontrollably.
You yell, you scream, You're just just in awe. Listen, y'all.
I love because I feel like she's so gifted vocally
(19:48):
too that sometimes I personally, I just oh, I just
want to hear what she's gonna do. I just want
to know what vocal choice she's gonna use, where is
she gonna place this run, what is she gonna do
with the texture of her voice? Here? Baby? It gave
(20:08):
me everything I needed. You hear me. It was a joy.
It was a joy. It was a joy. She really really, really,
really really really this did I say? The sound? Like
who designed the sound for this tour? It was beautiful,
(20:33):
The visuals, the wardrobe, my god, and then vibing to
Miss Tina in the suite absolutely agredible. Oh of course
blue okay, you can't forget blue, roomy, absolutely adorable. Okay,
everybody banned dancers, Honey Balenciaga and just all right. So
(21:00):
that was my week, all right. Then I came back
to New York to do to show Saturday and two
show Sunday, a full, productive, amazing week. Dallas on yesterday,
(21:20):
which is supposed to be my day off, but Dallas,
and then today sharing with y'all my journey this past week,
the journey of showing up for the people you love.
The Cowboy Carter tour that was my first time being
(21:41):
able to go to the tour because I'm in a
Broadway musical and it's been difficult. But I'm glad that
there was a show on the fourth of July. There
was a show last night. Actually, like I said, that
was on the day off, but I had to go
(22:02):
to Dallas. I can't wait for y'all to see what
that was about. But y'all, it was also amazing to
be around people who bring me peace. And I saw
a friend of mine post something the other day. I
could be paraphrasing, but they it said something whoever brings
(22:24):
the most peace gets the most time, and that hit
me so deep. There are people that I love. There
are relationships that I don't talk about a lot publicly
because I just hold those relationships near and dear to me.
(22:45):
And there's sometimes I'll name some names, you know, because
of experience, I name some names just now. But sometimes
I don't go into the totality of those relationships because
I'm like, man, that's the only thing that I get
to protect kind of. But I've got some amazing, amazing folks,
(23:07):
and I always in some episodes, I've always said what
my prayer is for y'all, is that you also have
safe people, people that you can trust, people that you
can confide in, people that you can laugh with, like uncontrollably.
(23:28):
I have also been seeing these amazing videos and reels
about people who are during near smacking each other upside
the head because they're laughing so hard and their arms
are just going everywhere and they're just a key key
and just laughing uncontrollably. Those are the relationships that I
want to keep. The relationships that fortify me. What do
(23:52):
I mean by fortify? Relationships that strengthen me, Relationships that
are challenged in a way, Relationships that are inspiring. You
should never be jealous of anyone in your circle. They
should always be inspiring you. You should never be competing
(24:13):
or comparing yourself to anybody that's in your circle. Maybe
there are some people in my life that make me
tighten up, people that make me say, oh, oh oh,
I can do this a little better, I can tweak
this here. And I have a confession to make. I
think sometimes when I see Be on tour, it does
(24:39):
make me feel like, man, she kept going in music
and didn't let any naysayer stop her, And I'm like,
why did I let things stop me musically, and I'm like,
(25:01):
I really got to sit with that. I'm gonna go
to therapy about it. So yes, I have teased new
music and I know that I can do it. I
do know that I can do it. So we'll see
that happened to me on the Renaissance tour and Cowboy
(25:22):
Carter's like, she would not be doing what she's doing
had she stopped and listened to what the critics had
to say or the naysayers or the haters. She there's
no way she'd be in stadiums right now had she
buckled and you know, listened to what people had to say.
(25:46):
All right, So that's my confession. We'll talk about that later.
But yeah, back to being around people who bring me peace,
and those were the people that I was able to
be around this past week, and guess what, I'll do
it again. Also this week, I am taking some time
(26:08):
away from the show, not due to illness or a funeral,
but I've got some personal days that I hadn't taken,
and they're like, Michelle, you got to take your personal days.
And again, just I'm thankful for a strong work ethic. Again,
if I'm not sick or some type of emergency. I
(26:32):
want to be there. But this week I am excited
to report that I get to take a few days away.
It's my birthday month, and I'm excited about that. I
get some more time later on in the summer, and
(26:54):
we'll see what happens. I know a lot of y'all
have been asking me how long my run and Death
becomes Her the musical is, and just know that I'll
be there a while longer. I'll say that the reason
why I'm not saying anything is because producers haven't said anything,
and I'm not making no announcements that they haven't made. Okay,
(27:17):
So when the time comes, you all will know my
departure date. Okay. But for those of y'all wondering, lurking,
and asking, just know you've got time to come back
and see your girl, or you have time to come
see me. If you haven't been here, all right, you
(27:41):
can go to Broadwaydirect dot com. They have amazing specials sometimes.
If you go to Death becomes Her our official Instagram page,
you can find cool specials or discounts or what's going
on for this time. It's been an amazing run. It's
been an amazing time. I cannot wait to tell you
(28:06):
the plans for later. We'll see, but it's been a
joy of being in death becomes to the musical. It's
like I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave.
So we'll see what happens. But thank y'all for allowing
me to share my time of travel and what I've
just been thinking. I'm forty five years old and I
(28:28):
am just I just I want to be there for people.
I don't want to continue doing things that keep me
from being present from my friends and family and the
people that mean the most to me. All right, So
I hope this makes you think I and you know,
(28:48):
take inventory of the people in your life. And again,
whoever brings the most peace gets the most time. Thank
y'all so much for listening to my travel chronicles this
week and just kind of what I've been thinking about.
(29:10):
We will see you again next week, all right, Thank
you again. I cannot I can't continue to do this
without y'all's love and support. Black Effect would not continue
to bring me back because y'all are just really really
supporting me, and I really really really appreciate it. All Right,
(29:33):
we'll talk again. Soon.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of iHeart
Radio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Coming up on Checking In with Michelle Williams. Listen, I
tell y'all all about delays and diversions, Whoever brings you
the most peace gets the most time, and Cowboy Carder
coming up next on an all new episode of Checking In.
Hey there, welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams. Y'all.
(00:39):
I sometimes dislike saying the title checking in with Michelle Williams, because, like,
I'm Michelle, why can't I just say checking In? So
let me start that over, y'all. Welcome to another amazing
episode of Checking In. We are wow to the second
(01:01):
month of Checking In. I was blessed to have some
amazing guests starting off this season, Raquel Hopkins, Deval and
Kadeen Like who are just absolutely incredible. This week, it's
(01:21):
just me again. I've got a few things to talk about,
a few things to share. And discovering that throughout the years,
you guys really enjoy my solo episodes. You also enjoy
those that that I have with guests. But it was
shocking that also the number of people who download the
(01:45):
solo episodes like, I was thinking that people really want
to sit for about thirty minutes and listen to what
I have to say versus dialogue with other guests. I
thought that that would be incredible to share my platform
with guests who I admire. But according to the Black Effect,
(02:08):
y'all like my solo episodes as well. So we're gonna
get right to it. I hope y'all have had an
amazing week we have had. We're coming off of the
fourth of July. I don't know if it was a
(02:29):
fourth of July for folks. I literally have to read
this text from my aunt. She is probably in her eighties.
Matter of fact, she is eighty, and my aunt says
she said, okay, I'm getting it in real time. My
(02:51):
aunt texted and said, good afternoon, Happy Independence Day, even
though your president is keeping it from being happy, have
a blessed day. I was absolutely losing it because I'll
never forget there was a time where we were just
excited about the fourth of July. We were getting our
(03:14):
are me and you ready? Whose house we going over?
What time is it gonna start? And all that good stuff.
But I'm excited because of Juneteenth and what Juneteenth has
been for us, and I'll never forget Juneteenth. My grandmother,
(03:35):
years before Juneteenth is what it is today. My grandmother
taking us to Juneteenth activities and picnics and festivals year
after year in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois. So shout
out to Juneteenth and God blessed the fourth of July.
(04:01):
All right, all right, So the week of fourth of
July was absolutely bonkers days of traveling. Okay, So let
me tell y'all. I've been in New York since about
end of August of twenty twenty four, and you know,
(04:27):
I knew that I was going to be leaving my
comfort zone. Okay, what is my comfort zone? My house,
my plants, my own bed, just my little nook that
I absolutely enjoy. So I was like, well, New York
(04:51):
to Atlanta ain't that far. You know, I'll just go
home like once a month to check on everything, to
make sure everything's okay, and the busyness of my schedule
it is a blessing. But I hadn't been able to
get home back to Atlanta as much as I would
like to. And then there are times where I could
(05:13):
have got on a plane to fly home, but I
was so tired from doing eight shows a week that
it was just best for me to get my weekly
massage and go to bed, you know what I mean.
So this week I said, you know what, let me
go on home. I want to see what's up at
(05:34):
my house. I get home, check my plants. One of
my beautiful plants gone dead. Okay, and they are on
this cool watering system. But when I opened up the
water reservoir, it was totally empty, and I was like, well,
(05:56):
you haven't been home in a while to really check
on it, and how long did you think this water
was going to be in this reservoir. It's a self
watering system. Great, great for folks who are I love
the self watering system because I have overwatered plants, you know,
(06:21):
but this particular system, it does the perfect amount of
watering for plants. Now, I could be going somewhere here
you can underwater or overwater, and so I just I
hadn't been home, and so one of my favorite plants. Oh,
(06:42):
it was gorgeous. It was absolutely gorgeous. It's one of
the plants where it just continues to grow and just
kind of like it grows over the table. It's like
a waterfall. It's beautiful. So I was able to put
water back in the reservoir, take the dead leaves off,
(07:04):
and hopefully when I get back, I'll see some buds,
some more budding. Cool. Get home, and I spend my
amazing time at home. I'm feeling refreshed. I am feeling rejuvenated.
I am feeling restored because I was able to sleep
on my own mattress that I absolutely adore. Miss Tina
(07:29):
Knowles has always said I probably have said this on
this podcast at least once. She told us, invest in
your mattress, especially that's where you're going to be spending
a lot of hours in the day, So invest in
your mattress. I'm proud of my mattress. I feel like
(07:52):
it's amazing. I love my bed. Okay, cool, Anyway, I'm refreshed,
I'm rejuvenated. I'm able to walk around my own neighborhood,
gets some sun and just ooh, drive my own vehicle.
It's the little things that I have been missing. Great.
(08:12):
I get on a plane to come back here to
New York, and I flew into Newark, and yes, I
know about the news of air traffic control and outages,
but I fly into Newark all the time when I travel,
(08:33):
and it's been great. Let me tell you why I
like Newark. It's quiet. The drive from Manhattan into Newark.
I don't know why I love it better than the
drive from like where I live here in New York
to LaGuardia or JFK. I think the drive to La
Guardian and JFK it just makes me too anxious. The
(08:54):
drive to Newark, it's just peaceful. The experience to me
me has been peaceful. We're in the air about to
land at Newark and the pilot comes on and says, hey,
we've got to circle a little bit. Those of y'all
that fly, if you fly frequently, sometimes that happens. Okay,
(09:19):
you know that when the pilot says we got a circle,
it ain't ten minutes, sometimes thirty minutes. I don't know.
So I'm like, okay, cool, We're gonna be fine, y'all.
He then comes back on the intercom and says, we
actually have to get some gas, so we're gonna land
(09:40):
in Norfolk, Virginia. He's like, we're gonna gas up. I'm
gonna have you back in the air. I'm like, okay, cool.
Show starts at death becomes Circle show starts at seven.
Its gonna be great. I can get to the theater
at six thirty for a seven o'clock show. I don't
(10:03):
like to do that. I've never done that because I
need at least an hour from makeup and prep, my
breathing and my stretching. Some people literally walk in the
door at six thirty for a seven o'clock show. My
hand claps to y'all for that. I can't do that.
I can, but that's not my desire. Okay, I just
mentioned I just told you guys my routine. Oh my gosh.
(10:26):
We land in Norfolk and it goes from thirty minutes
to an hour. Now, mind you, they have gassed up
the plane. It's gone from like one hour to hour
and a half, two hours, three hours, four hours, five hours,
six hours by the time but about four o'clock rolls around,
(10:52):
I'm like, I'm not gonna make it to the lunfont
Tan theater. Y'all. I do this routine. I have done
this routine quite often. I've never missed a show because
of a flight to diversion. I have never really missed
(11:18):
a work event period because of I've never missed a
flight for work anybody that books me for the past
twenty five years knows that you book me, I'm going
to show up. If I don't show up, it's because
I one. I think one time I was literally in
the hospital, like sick with something right, or I'm just sick.
(11:44):
And if I say I'm sick, I'm really really sick.
So I've never missed work. I've never you know, I
just I don't play that. That's just this. I guess
it's still the school of Matthew Knowles. I don't know,
but that's just I tried not to. I try not
to do that. So, yeah, we missed the show. I
(12:05):
missed the show. I'm gutted, I am disappointed. I'm like,
oh my god, but I'm so thankful for an understanding
management team of death becomes her totally understood. So it's
(12:25):
that that was that was a lesson learned, you know.
So I don't know if I'll be home anytime soon
because I don't want that to happen, or maybe try
flying into logorder or JFK. I don't know. But new
work has never been an issue for me. Again, I
have seen the news where it's been about outages and
(12:47):
air traffic control issues, but all right, So I finally
experienced it. That same week, I was all soul needing
to attend a close friend of mine her mother passed,
(13:07):
and I wanted to be at the funeral. I was
torn because you know, I'm under contract in this show
many times. I've been under contract for the past again,
twenty five years of my life, and I was torn
(13:31):
between how many moments am I going to miss by
being able to be present for someone in my life.
I've missed enough birthdays, I missed enough funerals, I've missed
enough graduations, y'all. I even missed my brother's first sermon
(13:55):
he preached. Now he understood because that year we filmed
the Boot Delicious video. He was totally understandable. But me
as his sister, as his baby sister, whom I adore
my brother, I was like, I cannot believe I'm missing
my brother preach his first sermon while I'm on set
(14:17):
shaking my thighs. It's a great video. I love those
Christian Dior shades. Those are I wish I could find those.
Those are vintage. So yeah, that's what was going on
while filming Boot Delicious. My brother preached his first sermon.
But you guys, everything worked out. Everything worked out, as
you can see all as well. But at this point
(14:39):
in my career and in my life, I'm like, man,
how many more moments of being present will I miss?
And that's the sacrifice of the business of show. That's
the sacrifice of I chose this life. So I'm not
asking for pity, sympathy anything, but I guess I'm understanding
(15:02):
of I guess where my mindset was. And I did
get permission, of course, again from management of death becomes
her to attend this funeral. I adore what I do.
I adore the show, and I'm so glad that I
(15:24):
was allowed to go to my friend's mother's funeral and
it meant the world to her. And the person that
did the eulogy looked over at the role that I
was sitting on, and there were some other friends and
stuff of the family sitting on that role, and he
(15:48):
said these words. He mentioned the words ministry of presence.
Sometimes your presence is comforting to someone. You might not
even have the right way words. You probably can't even
get to them in that moment at the funeral or
even a party, or their first sermon. Or a graduation.
(16:11):
But as long as they can look over and see you,
you never know what that does for a person. When
Beyonce and Kelly came to my opening night, Doctor Amira
and Brittany Tims Tina, I felt so anchored by their presence.
(16:37):
I was like, I don't care what happens tonight, I
am going to be okay the ministry of Presents And
there are times where people have even looked at me
like you're Michelle Williams, why are you here? What are
you doing here? And I'm not saying anyone said that
(16:58):
last week, but there are times I have shown up
two different things for people in my life, and I
don't let what I do or who I am in quotes.
I don't want that to ever get in the way
(17:18):
of showing up and being there for people that I love,
at least not at this time in my career now.
Sometimes it's just not possible. It's just not possible. But
I'm thankful that this time it was possible for me
to show up and be present so perfectly. You can
(17:43):
take inventory of your life about maybe people you can
show up for a little more, or take inventory of
people where you're like man they can show up for
me more, or if they don't, you probably might even
have to assess how much you show up for them.
(18:10):
So us this older woman. One day, she told me
that I was ministry in motion and literally just me
being able to show up and be present is just
something that I treasure, something that if I can show up,
I'm gonna show up, all right. So that was Thursday
(18:35):
of last week. Friday, we are off because it's fourth
of July. Death becomes her did not have a show,
So where did I go? So I went from the
city where I was in for this funeral, flew to Washington,
DC to see cow Boy Carter. The tour insane. Absolutely,
(19:02):
I just just have no but I do have words. Beautiful,
the visuals, y'all. She's she gives vocals every tour she's done.
But I feel like this tour beyoncey uh. There are
(19:25):
many times I had a Baptist fit. If you want
to know what a Baptist fit is is where you
just get to your arms, just get to flailing uncontrollably.
You yell, you scream, You're just just in awe. Listen, y'all.
I love because I feel like she's so gifted vocally
(19:48):
too that sometimes I personally, I just oh, I just
want to hear what she's gonna do. I just want
to know what vocal choice she's gonna use, where is
she gonna place this run, what is she gonna do
with the texture of her voice? Here? Baby? It gave
(20:08):
me everything I needed. You hear me. It was a joy.
It was a joy. It was a joy. She really really, really,
really really really this did I say? The sound? Like
who designed the sound for this tour? It was beautiful,
(20:33):
The visuals, the wardrobe, my god, and then vibing to
Miss Tina in the suite absolutely agredible. Oh of course
blue okay, you can't forget blue, roomy, absolutely adorable. Okay,
everybody banned dancers, Honey Balenciaga and just all right. So
(21:00):
that was my week, all right. Then I came back
to New York to do to show Saturday and two
show Sunday, a full, productive, amazing week. Dallas on yesterday,
(21:20):
which is supposed to be my day off, but Dallas,
and then today sharing with y'all my journey this past week,
the journey of showing up for the people you love.
The Cowboy Carter tour that was my first time being
(21:41):
able to go to the tour because I'm in a
Broadway musical and it's been difficult. But I'm glad that
there was a show on the fourth of July. There
was a show last night. Actually, like I said, that
was on the day off, but I had to go
(22:02):
to Dallas. I can't wait for y'all to see what
that was about. But y'all, it was also amazing to
be around people who bring me peace. And I saw
a friend of mine post something the other day. I
could be paraphrasing, but they it said something whoever brings
(22:24):
the most peace gets the most time, and that hit
me so deep. There are people that I love. There
are relationships that I don't talk about a lot publicly
because I just hold those relationships near and dear to me.
(22:45):
And there's sometimes I'll name some names, you know, because
of experience, I name some names just now. But sometimes
I don't go into the totality of those relationships because
I'm like, man, that's the only thing that I get
to protect kind of. But I've got some amazing, amazing folks,
(23:07):
and I always in some episodes, I've always said what
my prayer is for y'all, is that you also have
safe people, people that you can trust, people that you
can confide in, people that you can laugh with, like uncontrollably.
(23:28):
I have also been seeing these amazing videos and reels
about people who are during near smacking each other upside
the head because they're laughing so hard and their arms
are just going everywhere and they're just a key key
and just laughing uncontrollably. Those are the relationships that I
want to keep. The relationships that fortify me. What do
(23:52):
I mean by fortify? Relationships that strengthen me, Relationships that
are challenged in a way, Relationships that are inspiring. You
should never be jealous of anyone in your circle. They
should always be inspiring you. You should never be competing
(24:13):
or comparing yourself to anybody that's in your circle. Maybe
there are some people in my life that make me
tighten up, people that make me say, oh, oh oh,
I can do this a little better, I can tweak
this here. And I have a confession to make. I
think sometimes when I see Be on tour, it does
(24:39):
make me feel like, man, she kept going in music
and didn't let any naysayer stop her, And I'm like,
why did I let things stop me musically, and I'm like,
(25:01):
I really got to sit with that. I'm gonna go
to therapy about it. So yes, I have teased new
music and I know that I can do it. I
do know that I can do it. So we'll see
that happened to me on the Renaissance tour and Cowboy
(25:22):
Carter's like, she would not be doing what she's doing
had she stopped and listened to what the critics had
to say or the naysayers or the haters. She there's
no way she'd be in stadiums right now had she
buckled and you know, listened to what people had to say.
(25:46):
All right, So that's my confession. We'll talk about that later.
But yeah, back to being around people who bring me peace,
and those were the people that I was able to
be around this past week, and guess what, I'll do
it again. Also this week, I am taking some time
(26:08):
away from the show, not due to illness or a funeral,
but I've got some personal days that I hadn't taken,
and they're like, Michelle, you got to take your personal days.
And again, just I'm thankful for a strong work ethic. Again,
if I'm not sick or some type of emergency. I
(26:32):
want to be there. But this week I am excited
to report that I get to take a few days away.
It's my birthday month, and I'm excited about that. I
get some more time later on in the summer, and
(26:54):
we'll see what happens. I know a lot of y'all
have been asking me how long my run and Death
becomes Her the musical is, and just know that I'll
be there a while longer. I'll say that the reason
why I'm not saying anything is because producers haven't said anything,
and I'm not making no announcements that they haven't made. Okay,
(27:17):
So when the time comes, you all will know my
departure date. Okay. But for those of y'all wondering, lurking,
and asking, just know you've got time to come back
and see your girl, or you have time to come
see me. If you haven't been here, all right, you
(27:41):
can go to Broadwaydirect dot com. They have amazing specials sometimes.
If you go to Death becomes Her our official Instagram page,
you can find cool specials or discounts or what's going
on for this time. It's been an amazing run. It's
been an amazing time. I cannot wait to tell you
(28:06):
the plans for later. We'll see, but it's been a
joy of being in death becomes to the musical. It's
like I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave.
So we'll see what happens. But thank y'all for allowing
me to share my time of travel and what I've
just been thinking. I'm forty five years old and I
(28:28):
am just I just I want to be there for people.
I don't want to continue doing things that keep me
from being present from my friends and family and the
people that mean the most to me. All right, So
I hope this makes you think I and you know,
(28:48):
take inventory of the people in your life. And again,
whoever brings the most peace gets the most time. Thank
y'all so much for listening to my travel chronicles this
week and just kind of what I've been thinking about.
(29:10):
We will see you again next week, all right, Thank
you again. I cannot I can't continue to do this
without y'all's love and support. Black Effect would not continue
to bring me back because y'all are just really really
supporting me, and I really really really appreciate it. All Right,
(29:33):
we'll talk again. Soon.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of iHeart
Radio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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