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August 28, 2025 16 mins

In this My Legacy Bonus Drop, EGOT winner John Legend reflects on the lessons his children have taught him – and how those lessons shape everything from his activism to his music. 

He opens up about parenting with purpose, finding fulfillment through family, and mentoring the next generation on The Voice. With a heartfelt story from his plus one Dr. Andre Perry, this episode is all about love, legacy, and lifting others. 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is my legacy, and welcome to this week's bonus Drop.
Today John Legend opens up about the lessons his children
have taught him, the values he hopes to pass on,
and the joy of lifting up new talent as a
mentor on the Voice. It's personal, inspiring and straight from
the heart. Let's jump in, John.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I do know that there have been a few campaigns
that Martin and I have been involved in social justice wise,
that you also have been involved in, so we know
your commitment to humanity and social justice. I think the
last one would have been the voting rights we were
both involved in, you know, the push for and we
still are federal voting rights legislation.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
So and you know, we get involved in that because
democracy is so foundational to everything else that we do.
And for ordinary people to have a voice in their
elections and in their communities and how their communities are run,
how their tax dollars are being spent, what the priorities
of the government are.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
It's so important.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
And the forces that are against democracy, the forces that
try to crush the voices of the people, they do
that because it's easier for them to enact policies that
aren't helpful for the majority of Americans if they're not
accountable to the majority of Americans, if they can find
ways to diminish the value of people's vote, diminish the

(01:28):
effect of people's vote. And so I've spent a lot
of time and a lot of energy fighting for voting
rights because I know how foundational they are to everything
else that we do. And the politicians that are against
them know that. That's why they work so hard to
continue to crush voting rights, diminish voting rights around the country.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well as remind people that doctor King told the world
to give us the ballot before he told the world
about his dream.

Speaker 5 (01:56):
Well, John, you actually talked about young people and lessons
and mentorship in the world old knows you through the voice.
Is this incredible mentor to so many young people and
young talent. Imagine people come to all the time asking
for advice about how to be successful. But I want
to ask you a different question. If young people ask
you for advice, how do you live a fulfilled life?

Speaker 4 (02:17):
Fulfillment comes from multiple things.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
I think One, you need to be around people that
you really love and have valued friendships, have a valued companionship.
You need to be around love and to give it
and receive it, and so many of the experiences that

(02:40):
you're going to remember and value for the rest of
your life are going to be determined by the people
you get to do it with, and so that's key.
I think having those personal connections, having a tribe, whether
it's a blood related or not chosen family, all of it.
I think it's really important to have that love around you.

(03:03):
And a real bonus is that you get to do
work with people that you really care about and value
and enjoy being around too. Now a lot of times
people don't have as much. The job market isn't always easy,
and sometimes you end up in jobs that you're not
super excited about as a young person. But I think
a lot of fulfillment eventually is going to come from

(03:25):
you getting to do something that you really are passionate
about and you love doing every day. I know doctor
Perry gets to do something he's passionate about and is
stimulated by and engaged by every day, something that's challenging
but also rewarding at the same time. And I think
people need that balance of challenge and reward. So you

(03:46):
need to feel like what you're doing is not easy
that it requires you to put your best foot forward,
but also is rewarding when you get it right. It
can't be too easy or it doesn't have that sense
of reward when you get it right.

Speaker 4 (04:03):
And so I think when it.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Comes to careers and and and and things, people spend
a lot of their time on. I tell people to
find something you really care about, something that challenges you
and pushes you, but will also reward you when you
get it right.

Speaker 6 (04:21):
Beautiful Andre, when we're talking about creating a better future,
I think of my own daughter. You've spoken about losing
your father at such a young age, and I did
as well. How has that shaped how you show up
as a dad?

Speaker 7 (04:42):
Oh man, I'll share a story that happened. There was
a storm in my personal life. I'm now divorced, but
there was some very challenging times during that time. And
on one day my son saw me walking up the stairs,

(05:06):
very despondent, very sad. He looked at me. He might
have been eleven, maybe the eleven he saw and he said,
what's wrong?

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Dad?

Speaker 7 (05:17):
And I said, oh, nothing's wrong. He said, I lived
with you for eleven years. I know something with something's
wrong right? And now I said, Hey, something's challenged with
the family right now. And he looked at me and
he said, but we have each other, right, we have
each other. I as a dad, I do ask of

(05:41):
my son, ask of my family, ask of the communities
that I serve. Make sure you hold on to the
assets that are within your grasp, Love them, cherish them,
nurture them. There will be storms in our lives. There
will be shocks, economics shocks, social shocks, all these different things.

(06:03):
But we have each other and it is through that cooperation,
through that struggle together we can get through. We can
get through this time. And so when I work with John,
I mean he he reminds me off the time through
his lived experience. I mean, people will see the brilliance

(06:27):
in terms of the artistry, but the brother's been through
it and he learned how to pour his pain, his
emotions into things that will uplift communities. And so I
just love being around people who understand that we have

(06:47):
each other. There is strength between us and we can
get through these challenging times.

Speaker 6 (06:54):
John, you have four children yourself. What's the most important
thing your kids have taught you and the most important
thing you hope to teach them.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Part of it is that they inspire me to think
about their future, but also to think about what I've
learned from my own experience growing up, to value that,
to value family, to value even though my mother went
through tough times, she's back in our lives now, my

(07:25):
father's in our lives, and just knowing the value of family,
extended family, it's renewed my desire to be in touch
with my cousins and be in touch with my aunts
and uncles, and be in touch with my mother and
father and Chrissy's mother and father just in giving them

(07:46):
that cocoon of love and family that I think really
helps every kid develop. They've really taught me to appreciate
the value of family and really extended family, because I
just see how much joy they get from being with
their cousins, being with their aunts and uncles, being with
their grandparents.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
I really value that.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
And I think I went through a period in my
twenties and thirties where I was so focused on my
career and even when Christy and I were just married
but without kids, focused on our relationship, and I don't
think I valued.

Speaker 4 (08:27):
Extended family as much as I do now. And I
think my.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Kids really helped teach me how important extended family is
and caring on traditions and doing holidays together and all
these things that there was a time when I think
I took it for granted, but I don't take it
for granted anymore.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
So I definitely learned that from my kids.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
And the thing that I try to pass on to
them one is just kindness and how to be a
quality human being with character and kindness and gratitude and
love for their neighbors. We try to show them that
with our own actions, both Christie and myself, we're very

(09:14):
active politically but also philanthropically in giving, helping people who
are struggling with hunger, helping people whose reproductive rights have
been taken away, helping people who have been incarcerated, helping
people who need access to better schools, better grocery stores, etc.

(09:35):
Both of us have been focused on that kind of work,
and we bring our kids with us when we're doing
a lot of that work, so they can see what
it means to be blessed and then pass on those
blessings to other people, and so hopefully they'll carry that
with them as they go forward in life. And I

(09:55):
want them to be successful whatever they do, to love
what they do and to be successful at it, but
also always remember how blessed they are and to pass
on those blessings.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
To other people.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
We love that and what we collectively, the four of us,
we have an initiative called Realize the Dream, and I
hope that both of you get your kids involved with
us where we are collectively wanting to unite our communities
and the country through committing one hundred million hours of
service as a way of building community by Doctor King's

(10:29):
one hundredth birthday, So one hundred for one hundred fantastic.
But it's one thing to talk about these things, but
for kids to actually be a part of the world
in which they're going to inherit, for them to actually
serve in communities, that's something that we're incredibly excited about.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
We love it.

Speaker 8 (10:48):
If you could share this episode with someone who you admire,
someone who shows up for you, who cares about you,
who lives their legacy every day. We'll be back in
a moment.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Now back to my legacy.

Speaker 8 (11:04):
Jump after twenty years of your first Grammy Award winning
album to this amazing moment in time where we are now.
You have a new tour called Get Lifted, which is
so exciting. So tell us about Get Lifted, and also
tell us about where do you find the passion of
love in your heart to get Lifted.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Well, I'm so grateful for a twenty year career. You know,
I launched my career publicly with this album, Get Lifted.
It came out in December of two thousand and four.
I toured with it all of two thousand and five,
so it is right around twenty years since that came out,

(11:45):
and we're doing a new tour to celebrate twenty years
of Get Lifted. And you know, when I think about
Get Lifted, it takes me back to that time. It
takes me back to all the struggles I had leading
up to getting a record deal, being told no, having
to persist through all of that, but also believing that
I had something special to offer the world with my music,

(12:05):
with my message, and persisting and continuing to fight on
until I finally got that opportunity to present it to
the world. And I just feel a sense of great
gratitude for the career that I've had, for the relationship
that I've built with my fans, And this tour is
really a celebration of that relationship. We can get nostalgic.

(12:27):
We can go back to that time when the album
came out and everybody can remember where they were when
they first heard ordinary people, what part of their life
this album helped them get through. We're going to celebrate
all of that starting late August all around.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
North America, and we're so excited to do that. And
what gets me lifted there are a lot of things.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
First of all, my family does They bring me joy,
They make me laugh. We have such a fun time
over here, and it's very inspiring to be a father.
But another thing creatively that gets me lifted is making
new music.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
I love writing songs.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
I love that sense that every day can be something
new that I create in the world that's going to
reach the entire world. It's a very unique position I
get to be in that I get to write something
that the whole world may hear and it could change
the world. Every time I go into the studio and
write something new, it could make a big difference in

(13:28):
my life, but also in other people's lives too, And
so that gets me lifted, just that creative process and
completing projects and creating new things that are going to
make an impact in the world and leave a legacy
behind that will outlive me. And then, I would say,
more relevant to what we've been talking about today, I
get lifted when we get to visit some of the

(13:50):
communities where we work and see the impact of the
work that we're all contributing to, see the lives that
are changed, see them on people's faces, hear the stories
that they tell about how much their community has been
uplifted by the work that we're doing.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
That gets me lifted to and it gives me hope.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
And even in a time where it feels like we're
beset by so many challenges and a presidency and an
administration that seems so hostile to the goals that we've
set out for ourselves, hostile to the idea of a
beloved community, it gives me hope to see the results

(14:36):
of the work that we're doing, and that hope is
what we need. One of my friends says, hope is
a strategy, because if you don't have that hope, it's
hard to get up every day and do the work,
because you need to feel like that work is going
to pay off. And every time I get to meet
folks who have been helped by the work that we're doing.

(14:57):
It fuels my hope and it fuels the future work
that I do.

Speaker 7 (15:01):
And you know, by the way, I don't know, I
mean John realizes this, but Get Lifted was released around
the same time Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast.
So when when I think of Get Lifted, I do
remember the songs that we were listening to as we

(15:25):
struggle and how we came back, and so I you know,
you never know when you release the song, how it's
going to land in.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
How it's going to live. It's going to live in
the world, and people take.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
It and whatever they want to do it that it
can do that and you don't control that anymore. It
just it goes out and it lives in the world
and it's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Thank you for joining us. If you enjoyed today's conversation, subscribe, share,
and follow us on at my Legacy Movement on social
media and YouTube. New episodes drop every Tuesday, with bonus
content every Thursday. At its core, this podcast honors doctor
King's vision of the beloved community and the power of connection.

(16:12):
A Legacy Plus Studio production distributed by iHeartMedia creator and
executive producer Suzanne Hayward, Come executive producer Lisa Lyle. Listen
on the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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