Patti LaBelle turned 77 in May of this year. Patti divorced her husband, Armstead Edwards, in 2003 after 31 years of marriage. In a new interview with People, Patti said that she is happily single and living “life like it’s platinum.” Recently, Patti has been finding her joy in cooking and spending time with her granddaughters, Gia, six, and Leyla, four. Patti told People that she is teaching Leyla and Gia how to cook, just like her parents taught her. Patti said that she still uses a flip phone and that Gia has been teaching her how to use technology. Below are a few more highlights from People:
These days LaBelle has her hands full with Mr. Cuddles and her granddaughters Gia, 6, and Leyla, 4, whose dad is her son Zuri Edwards, 48. On any given night, she can be found in the kitchen of her Philadelphia-area home with the girls trying out recipes.
“I learned to cook from my mom and dad; now they’re learning from me,” says LaBelle. “It’s just fun!”
“Leyla, the little baby, she thinks she has a YouTube cooking channel,” she continues. “She makes sushi, and then at the very end she says, ‘Bye-bye.’ So she thinks she can cook, and I think she will be a good cook.”
As LaBelle passes down her skills in the kitchen to the girls, they’re teaching her a thing or two about technology.
“Gia is trying to teach me how to use a smartphone because I have a flip phone,” she says. “She’s 6, and we were at a restaurant last night. I said, ‘Oh, wow, Gia, what are you doing?’ And she said, ‘Grandma, I have 70 something likes’ — I don’t know what she has, but anyway, she was showing me how to work certain parts of the phone.”
“I said, ‘Oh, baby, I don’t know how to do that,'” she continues. “She said, ‘That’s right, Grandma. You have a flip phone. I’m going to spend the night one night, and I’m going to show you how to use everything on this phone, okay, Grandma?’ They’re going to teach me. It’s great to have babies.”
I love seeing Patti living her best life. I find it beautiful that Patti is happily single and fulfilled. That is not to say that being happily single is for everyone because trust and believe I am just not there these days. However, it is nice to see someone who is truly happy living alone with their pet. I think it is so sweet that Patti has been enjoying spending time with her grandbabies. It sounds like Patti is a real glam-ma. I am sure that Leyla and Gia appreciate having this time with Patti, especially learning how to cook those amazing meals. They are creating memories that will last a lifetime. I also wonder if Patti is teaching her granddaughters about the wonders of having a good skincare routine.
I love how Patti is open enough to learn from her very young granddaughters. It’s the cutest thing that Gia is six and is teaching Patti how to use a smartphone. I love how Patti said that Gia said she had “likes” and Patti doesn’t know what that is. To be fair it was quite clear during her Verzuz with Gladys Knight that Patti was not up on her technology so it’s a good thing that she is surrounded by these young technologically savvy children. I am sure when Gia spends the night, she and Patti will get up to some shenanigans.
Photos via Instagram
Know how she feels! Had to have my 16 yr old twins get my phone hooked up to my car!
Precious story is PRECIOUS!
Sometimes I don’t get that mindset. I’m glad she was open to learning but my parents are older than her and while they aren’t on TikTok, Twitch, etc. they have been using smartphones for over a decade, text, have social media, figured out Zoom and Teams during the pandemic, etc. Maybe just overly sensitive as I’m almost 50 and get annoyed when many of my age group peers are still die hard Facebook users, complain about new tech being too hard to learn, can’t believe it when I tell them I have neither a landline nor cable and so on.
Agreed. There was a point when I stopped helping people who are tech Luddites. I mean, all it does is make them dependent upon other people to do almost everything for them business-wise. (i.e., Urgent Cares making you upload your DL and insurance cards every time, or government or other forms that have to be submitted online, DocuSign, etc. etc.) It’s called “Learned Helplessness.”
Recently I was helping a lady who I found out receives 10 GRAND a month spousal support. Yet she has everyone doing everything for her and she can’t make a move without checking with someone first. I helped for a while, but really the poor woman has bigger issues than I can help with. Being single, I do everything for myself and already have my hands full. Tech is getting harder and harder but I still try to keep up.
Anyway, long live Patti LaBelle. Love her.
And here I thought I was really doing something by getting my daughter her first phone at 10. Cute!
Yup, that’s what it comes down to. I remember not too long ago watching a you tube video of a 3 year old explaining how to work the product I just bought. And do you know, he was right? Gave perfect instructions. No shame here.