She is also getting personal and recently opened up to  E!’s Daily Pop on why she doesn’t have children. “I have nieces and nephews forever and I’m always watching how people are scrambling for babysitters,” Blige, 51, said. “I don’t want to go through that. I like my freedom to go and move and do what I want to do. I don’t want to have to tend to someone all the time.”

Mary has so much freedom that she is partnering with Lifetime to produce a project under her Blue Butterfly production banner. The coming-of-age romantic drama, written by Sonja Warfield and Rachel Ingram, is titled Real Love and based on her 1992 song of the same name. Blige said in a press release earlier this month, “I wrote ‘Real Love’ based on my real-life experiences and my fans connected to it in a deeply personal way. It’s exciting to now use this song and my music to create a new story by way of film, continuing to build on a pillar of the foundation of my production company, Blue Butterfly.

My passions for acting and music now include developing diverse stories with music as the backdrop. I am grateful to Lifetime for their partnership in the story of Real Love.“ An air date has yet to be announced.

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