Ciara meant what she said when she told women to “level up” on their road to marriage, and she isn’t backing down from her controversial comments.
In January, the singer reposted a viral video clip from Pastor John Gray in which he gave an impassioned sermon geared toward single women who are looking to get married and become wives.
“A wife is not the presence of a ring, it’s the presence of your character,” the popular minister said. “Too many women want to be married, but you’re walking in the spirit of a girlfriend. Ask the Lord to deliver you from that spirit, and carry yourself like you are already taken. And I promise you when you carry yourself like a wife, a husband will find you.”
Ciara co-signed the message by posting it on Instagram using the hashtag #LevelUp, and the Internet went off. The star, who is now married to NFL star Russell Wilson, became a trending Twitter topic at the time because of the comments and many of her fans felt they were a tad bit hypocritical, given her romantic past.
After receiving criticism of all kind, Ciara responded in a statement to clarify her intentions.
Months after making the comments, Ciara is still discussing the social media snafu and clarifying her thoughts.
Talking to ABC News as the newly named ambassador for Pandora Jewelry’s Shine Collection, the mother of two is attempting to clear the air one more time.
“It was simply about loving ourselves. I believe in the philosophy: Act like a queen to be treated like a queen. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be in a relationship… it’s not about someone validating you,” the 32-year-old said.
She added: “You validate yourself with how you love yourself —that validation is important, first and foremost. I identified with what he was saying because I know that woman— because I was that woman he was talking about. I have people in my crew that are single people and so it would be insane to look down on a person that’s single. “
“To me, the greatest thing about it is self-love and understanding the importance of self-love and how powerful self-love is. If I love myself first, I’m taking care of myself and then I can also be loved how I deserved to be loved. It was just to say level up — level up on how we love ourselves. It’s OK if people don’t understand things. That’s fine, but I know the place that I came from was from a place of love.”