Maya Rudolph is tired of answering questions about her deceased mother, singer Minnie Riperton. The soulful vocalist died of breast cancer in 1979 at age 31.
In a new interview with Variety, the Emmy winner revealed that she wishes interviewers would stop asking her about her mom.
“My whole career, people have always brought up my mom, which is wonderful. But then they also bring up the tragedy of losing my mother when I was little. And they ask me how old I was when she died,” she shared.
“First of all, if you know me and you know who I am, you already have that information. And the second thing is, who wants to be asked about their childhood trauma every time they talk about their career? I’m 52 years old, and I have survived my childhood trauma.”
Riperton died when Maya was six years old, and the “Loot” star said the tragedy “makes a sad story.”
I answer the question and then afterwards, I’m like, “Why the f**k did I do that again?” Maybe this is the day where we just go, like, “You can stop asking.”
“It just makes a sad story. But we’re talking about great things and humans are capable of so much more than one thing,” she added.
“But for whatever reason, people want to really focus on the sadness, and I’m like, “I’m good.””
Elsewhere in the interview, Rudolph admitted to having a hard time sending her 18-year-old daughter Pearl off to college.
“It’s just really confusing,” she told the outlet.
“Why the f— do we let them go?” she asked. “I’m nowhere near understanding it yet. Why did they invent parenthood this way? It’s all painful.”
“I’m okay, but I can’t lie — it’s hard. Changing diapers was so much easier!”
The “Saturday Night Live” star is also mom to daughters Lucille, 14, and Minnie, 11, as well as son Jack, 13, whom she shares with husband/filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.