Jennifer Holliday: ‘Barbra Streisand told me I shouldn’t lose weight’

nypost.com:

“And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” in her Tony-winning role as Effie White in “Dreamgirls,” Jennifer Holliday is still here, folks.But now her signature number has a completely different meaning for the 62-year-old diva, who has overcome weight struggles, career setbacks and a multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 1999.“When I first sang it, I was 19 going on 20 years old,” Holliday told The Post. “And as I became a young woman and then a real woman and then a grown-ass woman, the song took on different meanings.

It’s a song of survival today. It’s like, ‘And I’m telling you that I’m still here. I’m not going.’ So for me, more so than anything, it’s me telling the world — and telling myself — that I’m worthy to still be here and that I still have a lot more to offer.”Holliday will be belting out “And I Am Telling You” — along with other show tunes and standards — when she makes her return to Broadway for a mini residency at 54 Below that runs Tuesday through Feb.

26. Part of the cabaret’s Diamond Series, her six-night stand in the intimate supper-club setting was originally slated for February 2021, but was postponed due to COVID-19.“This is our third time trying to do this.

It’s been a ‘Diamond’ in the rough, literally,” said Holliday with a laugh. “So now my show is gonna be more of a personal type of show . . .