00:00 Grandma of three Patti LaBelle's life forever changed 25 years ago.
00:04 Now she's too good to be solo.
00:06 Patti LaBelle admitted her life was forever changed after she collapsed on the stage 25 years ago.
00:12 These days, she is open to dating and admitted she already had a nice person in mind.
00:16 LaBelle is a doting grandma who does not trust one of her granddaughters on her stage anymore.
00:21 Patti LaBelle turned 79 this year and is still singing, acting, hustling, and looking for love.
00:26 The Philly native suffers from a disease mainly invisible to those who do not have it themselves,
00:31 Diabetes 2.
00:32 The New Attitude star's life changed the night she collapsed on stage in 1994.
00:37 She assumed that it was from exhaustion due to excessive touring.
00:40 A visit to the doctor's office told her otherwise.
00:42 "I had no idea what was happening," she recalled in a 2023 essay.
00:46 "But that night in the hospital, when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, my life was forever changed."
00:51 She contends that falling out on that stage saved her life as she wasn't that girl who goes to the doctor.
00:56 Initially, she was angry and terrified when receiving the diagnosis.
01:00 The star had witnessed her uncle and aunt lose sight due to diabetes.
01:03 Closer to home, her mother's legs were amputated because of the ailment and she passed away in her 60s.
01:08 Change did not happen immediately.
01:10 LaBelle was in denial at the beginning.
01:12 Once she decided to prioritize her health, she found solace in one of her greatest passions, cooking.
01:17 The Grammy winner swapped up butter for a vegetable steamer.
01:20 That is not to say she sacrificed flavor.
01:23 "As long as it's spicy and garlic, I can prepare it," says the artist, who even takes her pots and pans on tour
01:28 so she can control her food intake by cooking with fresh produce from local farmers' markets.
01:33 Her new kitchen staples are grape seed oil, habanero, and garlic.
01:36 She prefers cooking for herself, but when she does eat out,
01:39 she checks with the chef to ensure that they are not putting anything in her food she disapproves of.
01:44 "Even if you have diabetes, you can be fierce, cute, and eat well," she says.
01:48 "I have diabetes. Diabetes does not have me."
01:51 Well into her 70s, the diva is still regularly affirmed that she is cute and beautiful.
01:56 On an Instagram post about her Forbes cover shoot in August 2023, an admirer wrote,
02:01 "So so sooo beautiful."
02:03 A second echoed, "Beautiful?"
02:04 Another added, "I am so happy to see you're sharing. Sick. Good look."
02:09 Not that she needs outside validation. She knows her worth.
02:12 Going on The Jennifer Hudson Show in February, she admitted that she was "sorta kinda dating."
02:16 LaBelle was still friends with the "wonderful man" she was married to for 32 years.
02:20 The superstar got a round of applause when she added,
02:23 "So I think in life I need to find happiness for myself,
02:26 other than what I had back in the day with him, which was wonderful.
02:29 But I'm too good to be solo."
02:30 The Love, Need, and Want You star is unfamiliar with dating apps beyond the commercials she has seen,
02:35 but hinted that she does not need them as she had a nice person in mind.
02:39 She lives alone with her shih tzu, Mr. Cuddles, in her Gladwine, Pennsylvania home.
02:44 She loves residing in the suburbs.
02:46 "It's so quiet and dark at night. Sometimes I feel like I am living in a jungle," she says.
02:50 Patti LaBelle is the "glam-ma" of three precocious grandkids.
02:54 After explaining how Mr. Cuddles does everything she tells him not to do,
02:58 LaBelle joked in a City Life feature in mid-2023,
03:01 "I have a cute and bad dog and a cute and bad grandkid."
03:04 She clarified, "Well, the grandkids are not bad. They're precocious."
03:08 During the 2021 holiday season, she received one of the best gifts ever.
03:12 Her grandson, Zuri, Jr., she posted on Christmas how excited she was to spend the day with him
03:18 and how blessed she was to have her children, grandkids, and loved ones with her.
03:21 She shared two snaps of the newborn and a photo with his two sisters,
03:25 Jia and Layla, wearing matching baby blue dresses.
03:28 Though when you've been blessed, Sombird lets her grandbabies get away with things she would not tolerate with anyone else.
03:34 LaBelle told People that they play with her jewelry and break things whenever the youngsters come to her house.
03:38 "I thought it would have a fit," she admitted, "but I don't mind."
03:42 The two granddaughters did a People photo shoot with their glam-meh in 2019.
03:46 In one shot, the diva belts it out on a vintage microphone while the younger girl is sitting on a baby grand piano while her sister is standing on the bench.
03:54 For the grandkids' bedtime, the Grammy Hall of Famer sings "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
03:58 as well as hits from her repertoire like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Somebody Loves You, Baby."
04:03 However, a bedtime favorite is "Lady Marmalade."
04:06 "Oh, the little baby two-year-old is singing, 'Chachee, kitchee, ya ya, da da,' about hooker, okay," the grandmother said, laughing at the then-two-year-old Jia's affinity for her raunchy hit.
04:17 While she is careful not to become a stage grandmother, LaBelle has given the toddlers a taste of the limelight by inviting them on stage.
04:24 "Jia would just say her name and refuse to leave the stage," the granny elaborated.
04:28 "And Layla, if she came out, she was going to take the mic. She's going to turn up, so don't trust her on the stage now."
04:34 The star considers the birth of their father, her eldest and only biological child, Zuri Sr., her greatest accolade.
04:41 He is her manager, best friend, and business partner.
04:44 Together, they have a 100% stake in Patty's good life.
04:47 The singer shared a video of Layla holding up her frozen peach cobbler in a store while punting her granny's products on the toddler's birthday in September this year.
04:55 "She is beautiful and definitely has her beautiful grandma's facial features," one commented.
05:00 By her own admission, LaBelle's cooking is going places her singing career has not gone.
05:04 At 10, she was already working on perfecting her spicy ketchup recipe in her family's garage.
05:09 The Wonder Years actress published her first cookbook in 2019.
05:13 Patty's good life was launched off the success of her line of hot sauces in the late 2000s.
05:18 They have expanded to provide a pantry of staples and comfort foods based on her recipes.
05:22 Patty LaBelle has a full table of around 20 people at her Thanksgiving table, but her sweet potato pie is enjoyed by thousands on the holiday.
05:30 According to her Forks 50/50 feature this year, Walmart sold one sweet potato pie every second over the three days before Thanksgiving on their launch in the fall of 2015.
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