She felt utterly lost over the death of her mom when she was just seven years old, but Maya Rudolph had to find a way around the pain in order to move on in life.
You may have seen her take on various roles on the popular show, Saturday Night Live or even as Lillian from Bridesmaids, but Maya Rudolph is more than the roles she plays. And behind her ability to make others laugh resides a deep pain that stems from the death of her mother when she was just seven years old.
Being the daughter of the famous soprano singer, Minnie Riperton, was not easy.
"When I was a kid, and people would come up to me or stare at me because of my mom, I didn't like it. I really didn't like it. I used to think, 'Oh, they're staring at my hair, because it's so big and ugly.' Because I didn't realize people were just staring at my mother, like, 'Wow, that's her daughter!'" the actress said to the New York Times, according to E!Online. "I didn't know; I was a kid. And kids always personalize things."
But despite that, to Rudolph, her mom was just that — her mom. And when she lost her 31-year-old mom to cancer in 1979, it devastated her. Not knowing how to deal with her grief, she did the only thing she could, which was act out. "For many, many years, I couldn't even touch this conversation. Like my mom was always—it was such a painful—" the actress continued, unable to finish the sentence.
"I don't remember if I ever did proper grieving. I know I did, but it came out in ways—like when I was a kid, I went to a new school and I kicked people. I was like the kicker for a year."
Adding to that, the Grownups actress mentioned, "And then people tell me stories that I don't remember, like I'd be crying at a roller-skating party, and they were like: 'What's wrong? Why are you crying?' And I wanted to skate with a boy, and they said that I was like, 'My grandma died.' Which wasn't true! But I was f--king laying it on thick."
"I definitely think that children process very differently. And I'm genuinely fascinated by it, so I wish I knew all the ways that I do or did, but I don't. But I know that the place that I was with it most of my life was more of a, 'Poor me, why me?' Up until very recently, it was still, like, a sting to talk about her," she said.
And she couldn't explain why her mother's death was so public. Completely "lost", the mother-of-four recalled how her seventh birthday party, two months after her mom's death, was the subject of a Jet magazine cover story. "It was weird to grow up that way, thinking, 'I'm the kid whose mom died, and everybody knows it.' Or at least you feel like everybody knows it."
As years passed, it didn't get any easier. Rudolph revealed that sometimes, it got "kind of intense. Complete strangers would just be like, 'I felt like she was this angel!' And you're like, 'I'm 16. Why are you telling me about my dead mother?'"
However, no matter what the outside world had to say, to the 47-year-old actress, her mother's passing was painful and very personal. And when it came to her own kids with her long-time partner Paul Thomas Anderson, she knew she wanted to pass down her mother's legacy.
When she gave birth to her fourth child, Rudolph hid the details of her new daughter from public eyes. It was after nearly a year later that the actress finally revealed the name of her fourth child. As a tribute and honor to her mother, she named her youngest, now 6, Minnie Ida Anderson, reported TMZ. After all, it was all she truly had of the mother who left her behind during her tender years.
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/14/magazine/maya-rudolph-snl-amazon-forever.html
https://www.eonline.com/news/968374/maya-rudolph-recalls-the-pain-of-losing-her-mom-at-a-young-age
https://www.tmz.com/2014/07/29/maya-rudolph-baby-birth-certificate-minnie-girl-secret/
