Tiffany Haddish stopped the laughs and turned on the lights at her comedy show after recognizing a social worker who ‘saved her life.’
The stand-up comedian and actress, known for films like Girls Trip and The Secret Life Of Pets 2, uploaded a clip to her Instagram on December 23 of the moment she heard a woman in the crowd call out to her, asking if she remembered her.
‘I don’t know if you remember, my name is Coleta Lewis?’ yelled out Haddish’s former social worker.
Shocked, the 46-year-old repeated her name and went closer to the edge of the stage.
In tears, Tiffany Haddish said, ‘Turn the lights on,’ as the edited clip shows the two embracing each other in a tight hug under a spotlight.
‘You saved my life. I’m where I’m at right now because of you,’ she said.
The LA native said Lewis encouraged her and was among the first to believe in her comedy career.
She thanked her and said, ‘I love you,’ as the crowd erupted in applause
Tiffany Haddish said Lewis gave her ‘two choices’ for the summer after she was getting in trouble at school: The Laugh Factory comedy camp or psychiatric therapy.
After she began to win at drama festivals, she asked Lewis which option ‘had drugs,’ and who told her, ‘If you’re going to do drugs, you’re going to therapy.’
‘That changed my whole life,’ said the comedian.
Still astonished at the sight of Lewis, she apologized to the rest of the audience, calling the performance ‘one of those weird reunion shows.’
Tiffany Haddish said if it weren’t for Lewis, she would ‘probably have had like six baby daddies and s***.’
The comedian revealed in the comments on her post that she was considering quitting stand-up comedy and needed a sign from God to keep going.
‘I remember being on stage, saying to myself, ‘This is the end of stand-up, and this is just how I want to finish.’ Then out of nowhere God sends the 1st person outside of my family that actually believed in me,’ she wrote.
She thanked Lewis again for saving her life and placing her in the comedy camp, which she called her forever home.
‘In that moment again God showed me that he is real and hears my prayers. He inspired her to drive from Georgia to Alabama, just to tell me she is proud of me,’ added Haddish.
‘Coleta, I am forever grateful God made you, and you never gave up on me. Thank you.’
Haddish is very open about her struggles as a child, growing up in the foster care system, which she and her siblings were placed in around the time she was 13, after her mom suffered from a brain injury after a car accident.
From that experience, she’s an advocate for foster youth and reform in that space.