Ciara Unplugged

In Our World Exclusive, Mega-star Ciara Talks About Being a Woman of Colour in the Entertainment Industry, Living Her Dreams, and That Decision Not to Have Sex…

-  Kerrie Simon-Lawrence

When Ciara arrives at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel for our cover shoot, a sense of calm settles over the room. In the few days leading up to the shoot, we’ve been scouting out locations in the hotel to take photos, spent more hours stuck in traffic than any human should ever have to (missing very important meetings), and learnt – the hard way – that drone photography isn’t permitted by law in LA. (Who knew?)

Then Ciara walks into the room, an almost-ethereal air about her, and our faith is restored. Or perhaps we’re just stunned by how damn beautiful she is. We can’t be sure which. Either way, she’s much more cheery than should be expected from anyone at 7.30am, and certainly more than should ever be expected of someone who happens to be carrying a whole other person. (At the time of going to print, Ciara was expecting her second child, though the due date was a closely guarded secret.)

‘Let’s do this,’ the star says as her makeup artist and best friend Yolonda (who flew in for the shoot from Ciara’s home town of Atlanta) gets to work.

For the only child of military parents, who grew up moving from town to town before finally settling in Atlanta, you’ve got to wonder if the 31-year-old sometimes takes a look at what her life has become and gets the urge to pinch herself.

‘I definitely have moments when I’m just so amazed at my journey,’ she says.

‘I’ve really been able to achieve my dreams – not all of them, but many. The journey has been incredible, and I’m definitely grateful.’

For Ciara, the dream to be a performer was conceived early on. ‘I’ve always loved music and I’ve always loved dance,’ she says. ‘The first time I saw Michael Jackson on a TV screen, I thought, “Perhaps someday I could be something like that”.’