Diana Ross reveals what she is doing now is not 'work': 'Really having fun'

Diana Ross famously said, "You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself." And the celebrity from Michigan did just that.

Over the course of her more than 60-year career, Diana has become well-known throughout the world as the lead vocalist of the Motown group The Supremes, as well as a solo performer, record producer, and Oscar-nominated actress.

She has therefore more than earned a little time off the pedal as her 80th birthday, which is on March 26, draws near.

However, the titan of entertainment has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. Diana, whose estimated net worth is a whopping $250 million, doesn't even consider what she does to be labour.

“I’m only doing it because I want to do it, so it’s not really work,” she once told Interview magazine. “I mean, it used to be work. Do you know what I mean? Now the show is set and when I walk out on the stage, I’m really having fun.”

Fans all over the world have been enthralled by Diana's path from modest beginnings to impenetrable icon status. Along the way, she faced institutional racism, misogyny, and persecution in addition to unprecedented achievement.

About her on-screen career, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2016, and was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of jazz legend Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues.

But even with all of her achievements—two Grammy Awards, thirteen more nominations, two plaques on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—Diana's need for fame and her obsession with perfection were sometimes seen negatively.

It’s something she acknowledges in her memoir, Secrets Of A Sparrow. “I demand perfection from myself,” she wrote. “And the best possible job from all those around me.”