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They're some of the most famous people in entertainment but Halle Berry, Adele, Oprah and John Legend all admit that if it wasn't for the inspirational teachers they had at school, they definitely wouldn't be where they are today.
HALLE BERRY
The American actress has frequently sung the praises of her former teacher and lifelong mentor, Yvonne Sims.
Halle (57) met Yvonne, who was a school counsellor, while in fifth grade in her hometown of Bedford, Ohio. The two became close and even though Halle eventually changed schools, they kept in touch.
Yvonne helped counsel Halle, who grew up mixed race and with a single mom, throughout her teens and into adulthood.
“My mom was a single mom, so she worked a lot. My sister and I were very much latchkey kids,” Halle said when she appeared on reality TV show Celebrity IOU.
“I had a white mother and she (Yvonne) – being a black woman – taught me about my culture.”
“She would take me to art museums, teach me about black history, about my heritage, because it wasn’t really taught in schools," Halle recalls.
“We had this thing called cookie talks. I would go to her house, and we would sit at the kitchen table and have really deep conversations.”
“She just picked me up, you know, and quickly became more than a mentor, almost like another mother.”
When it came to choosing a godparent for Nahla Ariela Aubry (15) and Maceo-Robert Martinez (10), her kids with former partners Gabriel Aubry and Olivier Martinez, Halle knew that it had to be Yvonne.
“If she hadn’t come into my life, my life would have been completely different,” Halle says.
ADELE
As one of the world’s most successful singers and song-writers, Adele needs little introduction. But she has a former English teacher to thank for helping her develop her passion for writing.
In 2021, during her An Audience with Adele concert at the London Palladium, she accidentally came across the teacher, Miss McDonald, while fielding questions from the audience.
When actress Emma Thompson, who was in the crowd, asked who from her past had inspired her, Adele mentioned , Adele mentioned her English teacher from Chestnut Grove Academy, a high school in London. “Miss McDonald . . . she got me really into English literature. She was so bloody cool, so engaging.”
Turned out Miss McDonald was in the audience, much to Adele's delight. The two then exchanged an emotional hug.
"You really did change my life,” Adele told her. “I’ve always been obsessed with English and obviously now I write lyrics.”
READ MORE| Pieter-Dirk Uys on how telling jokes helped him survive school and the teacher who changed his life
OPRAH WINFREY
The American media mogul attributes her success to her fourth grade teacher. Oprah (69) credits Mrs Duncan from Wharton Elementary in Nashville with instilling confidence in her as well as the belief that she can achieve anything she puts her mind to.
"I ran home the first day of the fourth grade to tell my dad I had the best teacher anybody could ever have," Oprah recalls.
During an episode of he Oprah Winfrey Show in 1989, Oprah invited her on as a guest so she could pay tribute to her.
"It's why I have a talk show today,” she said.“I always, because of you, felt I could take on the world. You did exactly what teachers are supposed to do — create a spark for learning that lives with you from then on.”
She continued, "I wanted to be a fourth-grade teacher because of Mrs Duncan."
Even though she never became a fourth-grade teacher Oprah opened a learning institution, The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa to change lives and empower girls through education.
JOHN LEGEND
Award-winning singer John Legend (44) has often spoken about the pivotal role his English teacher, Mrs Bodey, from North High School in Springfield played in his life.
He was 10 when his parents divorced and he says the teachers and counsellors at his school helped him cope.
But Mrs Bodey was the one who helped plant the seed of belief that he could be an artist.
"Until her class, I hadn't believed in my ability as a writer," he said in 2017. “She recognised my potential and showed me that I could write with creativity, with clarity, with passion."
Not only did Mrs Bodey nurture his creativity, she encouraged him to participate in public speaking and get the good academic marks that led to him receiving a scholarship to further his studies.
“They (Mrs Brodey and other teachers) pushed me to earn a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, to hone my writing as an English Major,” he says.
John has tried to pay it forward by giving inspirational speeches at schools as well as working with organisations that seek to change lives through education.
SOURCES:DAILYMAIL.CO.UK, WOMENSHEALTH.ORG, PEOPLE.COM, EDITION.CNN.COM, OWLAG.CO.ZA, GRAMMY.COM
