Mary J. Blige Reveals Her Plans to Retire from Music (Exclusive)

With nine Grammys, Mary J. Blige has been baring her soul about her personal struggles from addiction to heartache since her debut album in 1992. Blige has now, deservedly, made it into the 2024 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

“Extra’s” Carlos Greer spoke with Mary, who was “still trying to process” everything. As for being an inductee, Blige called it “the most amazing thing,” adding, “It is in a class by itself.”

Blige is known for hits like “Real Love,” but what is she singing about nowadays?

She answered, “Mary is singing about life. Life... love… being stable and understanding you can have things like love. You can have a good life.”

Mary also opened up about her future plans, saying, “Right now, I’m definitely gonna do some more acting and I’m definitely gonna retire in, like, five or six years.”

Mary clarified that she was hoping to retire from music eventually but pointed out, “Right now, I’m still doing what I’m doing but not as often as I was doing it because I don’t have to now.”

While Blige is dating, she noted that the glow she is exuding is “mostly the love I have for myself.” She elaborated, “The glow is the love for Mary J. Blige. I find my real love. And my real love is me and I found it.”

Mary, who was back in her hometown of Yonkers, reflected on her past there, commenting, “It was hard. My mom was a single parent… So if you survive it, you have friends and you have had love. It made us stronger… You can ask any writer from Yonkers — Jadakiss, DMX, Lady Gaga. It’s something about Yonkers that made you strong.”

Blige was in Yonkers “to give back” with 100K as part of the Pepsi x Mary J Blige Strength of a Woman Community Fund to support programs that help underserved women.