Salt-N-Peppa hitmaker Cheryl ‘Salt’ James has revealed that early in her career she was pressured to get an abortion and said that her decision to have her daughter was the “best thing” she ever experienced next to finding Jesus.
The 57-year-old singer and her singing partner Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton — from the famed female rap duo of the 80s and 90s — appeared on “The Tamron Hall Show” and shot down claims that women can’t be moms and balance that with a successful career, something they had both managed to do, Billboard magazine reported.
“And that was why we are true to who we are,” Denton said. “They could recognize ’cause we wanted to be moms and we was moms.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever said this out loud,” Cheryl James says on the @TamronHallShow in a clip shared first with Billboard. https://t.co/qzdwQHcfHw
— billboard (@billboard) May 8, 2023
“We said, ‘We can do it’ and whatever came my way, I handled it, which was taking the good with the bad … ’cause someone has to do it!” she added. “When they think it can’t, they panic, the labels and people. ‘Oh my god, how are you gonna? The sales! Sales, sales!’ But you know, we did it.”
James admitted “they [the record label people] do get scared I don’t think I’ve ever said this out loud, oooh Tamron! I was actually asked to have an abortion — I won’t say by who.”
“But to your point, yeah, you just have to know that it’s something that you’re capable of handling if you want a kid and you want to have a career,” she added. “And it’s definitely harder.”
“Having my daughter, besides finding Jesus, is the best thing that I’ve ever experienced, my kids,” Cheryl continued. “Like, I needed that lil’ baby in my life, you know? She kept me company on the road.”
James shares two kids with ex-husband Gavin Wray. Denton has a daughter with ex-husband Anthony Criss. She also has a son from a previous relationship.
Other celebrities with successful careers like pop singer Pink recently revealed she was told having kids would ruin her chances of reaching fame.
“Everyone told me, ‘If you have children right now, your career’s over,'” Pink recalled.
“Obviously, we’re all much more complex than any of that, but when I had a child, I think it softened me to the world, the part that didn’t understand me,” she added. “And I think that’s when my career began, really.”
“I mean, I did a lot of stuff before that, but really, truly, I think it’s when I started to really understand myself and understand the world and my place in it,” the singer continued.
Pink is married to husband Carey Hart and they share two kids together.