When you speak with Sheryl Lee Ralph, it’s hard to believe that this is her first time living life like the rest of us. She is all about sharing her knowledge with everyone around her. A Hollywood mainstay since the 1970s, the Abbott Elementary star is more than an acting icon: she also wants to make sure people learn how to be their best selves, their healthiest selves, and figure out how to love themselves along the way.
Ralph is reminding fans that to be their best selves, they have to have hard conversations about their health. Like Brooke Shields and many other women, Ralph was a part of the THRIVE@50+ influencer event in partnership with GSK, which was all about empowering women to advocate for themselves through their health, including with shingles. (For those who don’t know, shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash that can happen anywhere on your body, and if you had chicken pox, you probably have the virus in your system already.)
According to Ralph, her involvement in this campaign started in an unlikely place: her family group chat. “My aunt, the matriarch of the family, sent out this whole post to the family,” talking about shingles. Her aunt told everyone, “Make sure you talk to your doctor about vaccination because I don’t want you to have shingles like your grandmother.” The next day, Ralph got a call from her manager about GSK’s initiative.
She added, “That’s exactly why we are thriving at 50 plus, [because we] have the conversations. Because if you’re over 50, you’ve probably had chicken pox, or know what chicken pox is. You already have the virus, which is why we want you to talk about it, because you don’t need to have it talk about it.”
Having conversations about health is the way to get back your power, and Ralph knows it. Health has “always been something that I’ve done,” Ralph says, referring to her foundation, DIVA: Divinely Inspired, Victoriously Aware. The foundation originally started as a way to fund research and help those with HIV and AIDS, but as of 2025, they’ve grown to focus on five pillars: Health Awareness, Women and Girls, LGBTQ+, Social Justice & Racial Equity, and Food & Housing Insecurity, per their website.
“My Hollywood is talking about it,” she said. “One thing I’ve realized in life is that the longer you can stay healthy, the better your life will be… Have the conversations, talk about these things.”
She added, “Please prioritize yourself, prioritize your health because you do not want your children coming back home, having to help you heal through shingles. Take the time to talk to your doctor and your pharmacist about the possibility of your developing shingles. You can also talk to them about vaccination. Do it for yourself.”
Ralph actually learned about the importance of health at a very young age. “I lead with my dad. My dad always said to me, ‘Your health is your greatest wealth.’ As I’ve grown up, I’ve realized that too many people don’t value their health. They don’t pay attention to it. So with this campaign, I look at the way I look with my family: Have the conversations, talk about it, don’t hide it like it’s something to be ashamed of,” she replied.
Having conversations, as Ralph said, can be hard, especially for parents. “What parents have a problem sometimes doing is not teaching what they don’t know. Don’t be afraid to talk about it with their children,” Ralph said, speaking from experience.
As a proud mom of two, she’s also all about communication and educating other parents to do the same, even if it can be a hard, or unpleasant conversation to have.
“They make me very proud in life…I cannot tell parents enough: you are the most important thing in your children’s lives. It is up to you to be your best self through the good times and especially through the bad times because they are watching you. They are listening to you,” she said. “Your children deserve better from us through our frustrations and everything.”
Ralph is also open and honest about her mental health and her self-love journey, which hasn’t always been easy.
“I think everybody has to come to the place where they are in in love with themselves, that they appreciate themselves. I think about when I was little and they used to call me all kind of bad names. I remember my mother was there to always tell me that I was wonderful, that I was beautiful, that they didn’t know what they were talking about,” she said. “Now, as the years have passed, I think about, suppose I had listened to those people… Suppose I had changed anything about myself, I wouldn’t have been the person that I am still becoming.”
In fact, Ralph says the negativity did nothing but make her stronger. “You gotta love your haters sometimes because sometimes the haters bring the heat that polishes the diamond,” she explained.
What the Emmy-winning actress really wants is for people to take back their power with their health, both physical and mental. The best way to encapsulate who she is was a moment in the conversation where she showed off a bracelet that read “Worthy,” and talked about her powerful morning routine.
“I wake up in the morning, I look in the mirror, and I say, ‘Oh, look at you, I love you so much.’ And that’s before the lipstick and the lashes,” she joked. “You gotta love who you are, then go from there.”
