*Gabourey Sidibe appears in the new Apple TV+ documentary “Number One on the Call Sheet,” in which she shares a poignant story about her time as a phone-sex operator before making it big in Hollywood.
Sidibe recalls her early struggles navigating an industry that prioritizes White beauty standards, even extending to the way Black women are expected to sound. “I got the role of Precious when I was 24,” she shares in the doc, per PEOPLE. “And before that, I was just acting in between whatever it was the rest of my life. And the rest of my life at that point, I was working at a call center as a phone-sex operator. FYI, the company was mostly Black women. You’re not at all allowed to be Black on the phone.”
To attract more callers, Sidibe had to alter her voice and persona. “There’s a Black girl line. Guess what — was barely ever called, that one. So my girl name is Melody. And every call, I’d be like [in a high-pitched, Valley Girl voice], ‘Hello.’ And he’s like, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ ‘Hi, I’m Melody.’ ‘How you doin’? Are you good?’ ‘Yeah, I’m totally good right now. Um, I just got home from school. I’m in college, and it’s, like, my sophomore year…’”
Reflecting on these experiences, Sidibe highlights the broader issues of racial bias and self-perception.
“We are trained to hate ourselves,” she says. “And the world around us is also trained to reinforce it. But there’s something in me that’s like, ‘I don’t bend to that.’ Whatever it is that you don’t like about me, I’ll do it harder, and I’ll smile in your face. And that’s what I felt Precious needed to be.”
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“Number One on the Call Sheet” also features Hollywood icons such as Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, and Will Smith. The series is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Apple TV+ Premieres Groundbreaking Two-Part Documentary ‘Number One on the Call Sheet’
