Tiffany Haddish Stops Show To Thank Social Worker Who 'Saved Her Life'
The stand-up comedian and actress, known for films like Girls Trip and
The Secret Life Of Pets 2, uploaded a clip to her Instagram on December 23 of the
moment she heard a woman in the crowd call out to her, asking if she remembered
her.
'I don't know if you remember, my name is
Coleta Lewis?' yelled out Haddish's former social worker.
Shocked, the 46-year-old repeated her name
and went closer to the edge of the stage.
In tears, Tiffany Haddish said, 'Turn the
lights on,' as the edited clip shows the two embracing each other in a tight
hug under a spotlight.
'You saved my life. I'm where I'm at right
now because of you,' she said.
The LA native said Lewis encouraged her and was
among the first to believe in her comedy career.
She thanked her and said, 'I love you,' as
the crowd erupted in applause
Tiffany Haddish said Lewis gave her 'two
choices' for the summer after she was getting in trouble at school: The Laugh
Factory comedy camp or psychiatric therapy.
After she began to win at drama festivals,
she asked Lewis which option 'had drugs,' and who told her, 'If you're going to
do drugs, you're going to therapy.'
'That changed my whole life,' said the
comedian.
Still astonished at the sight of Lewis, she
apologized to the rest of the audience, calling the performance 'one of those
weird reunion shows.'
Tiffany Haddish said if it weren't for Lewis,
she would 'probably have had like six baby daddies and s***.'
The comedian revealed in the comments on her
post that she was considering quitting stand-up comedy and needed a sign from
God to keep going.
'I remember being on stage, saying to myself,
'This is the end of stand-up, and this is just how I want to finish.' Then out
of nowhere God sends the 1st person outside of my family that actually believed
in me,' she wrote.
She thanked Lewis again for saving her life
and placing her in the comedy camp, which she called her forever home.
'In that moment again God showed me that he
is real and hears my prayers. He inspired her to drive from Georgia to Alabama,
just to tell me she is proud of me,' added Haddish.
'Coleta, I am forever grateful God made you,
and you never gave up on me. Thank you.'
Haddish is very open about her struggles as a child,
growing up in the foster care system, which she and her siblings were placed in
around the time she was 13, after her mom suffered from a brain injury after a
car accident.
From that experience, she's an advocate for
foster youth and reform in that space.
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