The beloved emcee opens up about how her anxiety overwhelmed her before she joined Katy Perry onstage at the 2015 Super Bowl.
Missy Elliott might be a world-renowned musician, but she suffers from anxiety like anyone else. Ahead of her historic induction as the first female rapper into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the 52-year-old reflected on her experience dealing with anxiety in an interview with Robin Roberts for Good Morning America.
The singer-songwriter recalls being overwhelmed by her anxiety right before she was due to join Katy Perry onstage during her Super Bowl XLIX halftime show.
"I didn't know how huge, how many people watched the Super Bowl. When I did it, I ended up in the emergency room," she tells Roberts. "My anxiety kicked in. Because it was a secret and then, the day before, people started whispering, 'I think Missy is coming out [during] Katy Perry's set.' I started freaking out."
She continues, "So in the wee hours of the morning before the Super Bowl, before I performed, I was at the emergency room. It feels good to be in a time now where you can talk about it. Because you realize, there's a lot of people who suffer from anxiety."
Ironically, Elliott became the breakout star of that year's halftime show, with fans praising the nostalgia the performance evoked. Billboard estimated that sales of the rapper's catalog increased 1,000 percent in one day. "Get Ur Freak On” and "Lose Control” even made it into the iTunes Top 10.
It's instances like that, that make it obvious why Elliott is being honored with her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The four-time GRAMMY Award winner tells Roberts that she has always dreamed of being a "superstar... I never wavered. I never changed. I said it every time."
Still, even after three decades in the music business, the singer said her latest accolade is unfathomable. She explains that as a hip hop artist, Rock Hall enshrinement seemed "so far out of reach."
With her induction taking place during the 50th anniversary of hip hop's birth, Elliott says the Hall of Fame honor is further proof that "no matter what people say the hip hop world is something special and unique."
Elliott will be among just a handful of rappers whose plaques are on display at the RRHOF museum in Cleveland, joining icons such as JAY-Z, LL Cool J, The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, N.W.A, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, Run-DMC and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
She'll be inducted by her friend of 20 years, Queen Latifah, whom she praised as someone who "[came] before me, open that door, left it open... And I owe so many flowers, bouquets. It's not enough bouquets for those women that came before me. And she's one of those women."
Elliott's mother will also be present at the 38th annual induction ceremony on Friday night, her first time seeing her daughter perform live. "She's never been to a show because, you know, I had some little words I didn't ever want her to hear," Elliott tells GMA. "And so she's comin' for the first time."
Elliott will be formally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Friday night, alongside fellow 2023 inductees Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine and The Spinners.
The induction ceremony will be broadcast live coast-to-coast on Disney+ on Friday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and will be available to stream following the ceremony. ABC will air a three-hour prime-time special, 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, featuring performance highlights and standout moments on Jan. 1 (8-11 p.m. ET), available the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
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