Actress Lela Rochon Shuts Down Criticism About Her Appearance Since ‘Waiting to Exhale’

Lela Rochon has had enough of the shady comments.

The “Waiting to Exhale” actress recently stopped by the “Sherri” show to discuss the upcoming 30th anniversary of the 1995 film and her new project “The Family Business: New Orleans.”

But during her Feb. 19 chat with host Sherri Shepherd, she took a moment to clap back at fans who have made comments on her appearance over the years.

Since starring in ’90s classics like “Why Do Fools Fall In Love,” “Boomerang,” and “Harlem Nights,” longtime fans of Rochon have noticed a change in her “bombshell” appearance.

The noticeable shift caused fans to leave nasty and shameless comments about her weight gain under her photos. Some even speculated the change was a result of heartbreak due to her film director husband Antoine Fuqua’s cheating scandal.

He and Rochon have been married since 1999 and have a son and daughter together. But in 2019, papparazi caught him kissing Eddie Murphy’s ex-wife Nicole Murphy. Neither has filed for divorce and Rochon even referred to him as her “husband” on “Sherri” when she revealed that the “Training” filmmaker sent their daughter gifts for Valentine’s Day.

While Rochon has rarely — if ever — responded to the body-shaming gibes, she took the opportunity on Shepherd’s show to do so.

After acknowledging that “Waiting to Exhale” turns 30 years old this year, Shepherd asked Rochon what the chances are that the world will see a sequel to the beloved film. 

Rochon responded, “We were going to and you know unfortunately Whitney [Houston] passed and then Fox has the rights and they were going to do it.” The 60-year-old said she had her own ideas for what the second film should focus on. 

“I thought it should be about our children and then we sort of move in and out. Because my daughter that I had in the movie would be 30 now,” Fox explained.

Then, addressing her haters who have had something to say about how different she looks now, Rochon paused and said, “So all y’all that be saying ‘She don’t look the same,’ don’t expect me to look the same. It’s been 30 years.” 

Shepherd responded, “You look the same-ish” and Rochon laughed along adding, “-ish. I like that!”

The clip was reposted by Golden Era Stories on Instagram, where fans showed their support for Rochon. 

One person said, “Mama is still tea don’t get it twisted.”

A second person wrote, “Who’s complaining? She’s still a beautiful woman. She looks good and healthy at her age.” 

“She’s looking healthier and happier and looks great. Normalise getting older it’s a blessing,” wrote a third.

A fourth pointed out the double standards of how male celebrities are treated when it comes to beauty standards versus female celebrities. 

“It’s been literally 30 years,” they started. “And the sad part is these industry men grow old and nobody bothers to treat them this way but let one of the women grow old and she has to deal with this every few days.  MOST PEOPLE don’t look the same way they looked 30 years ago.” 

While she hasn’t confirmed it, Rochon appears to have also been dropping weight within the last year. Based on her Instagram photos from last April, her waist looked as if it was slimming down. Plus she is definitely in an era of self-love. She posted a photo of her glammed up in a blue bodycon dress with a blue fur coat on Feb. 17. 

The caption read, “Never give up on u” and received over 60,000 likes. The stunning picture even caught the eye of Shepherd, who asked Rochon to talk about what her thoughts were when she decided to do this photo shoot. 

Smiling from ear to ear, the mother of two responded, “You know, you got to give the haters something to hate about.”