Tiffany Haddish had a recent emotional reunion that left audience members and her followers in tears.
The comedian-actress shared a video about crossing paths again with a woman Haddish says “saved [her] life” when she was a child. The two came face-to-face during one of Haddish’s recent comedy shows, and the moment felt like more than a reunion — it came across as a powerful sign for the “Girls Trip” star.
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In the video shared on Dec. 22, Haddish looks down into the audience as a woman says, “I don’t know if you remember me, my name is Coleta Lewis.”
Haddish, who immediately recognized her, screamed, “Coleta!? Lewis!? My social worker!? Turn the lights on.”
The video cuts forward to Haddish hugging Lewis in the audience, picking her up off the floor, before cutting back to Haddish onstage, emotionally showing gratitude to Lewis.
“You saved my life,” she said tearfully. “I’m where I’m at now because of you. You encouraged me. You were one of the first people to believe in me. Thank you. I love you.”
Addressing the audience, Haddish explained that Lewis, who she says was her second social worker, gave Haddish two choices over the summer after she continuously would get in trouble in school.
She said Lewis told her, “You can go to Laugh Factory Comedy Camp or psychiatric therapy, ‘cause something is wrong with you.”
The room laughed while Haddish wiped tears from her face.
“And I was winning all them drama festivals and I said, ‘Which one got drugs?’ and you said, ‘You gon’ be on drugs, you gon’ go to therapy. So I went to the comedy camp, and now I’m smoking weed, but I’m good though.”
Haddish said that the ultimatum changed her “whole life.”
“Yo’, I wouldn’t even be doing this right now if it wasn’t for you. I probably would have like six baby daddies and sh-t,” she said with a little comedic relief at the end.
In the caption, she wrote, “Holiday Reunion with my social worker. Thank you, Coleta, for everything.”
The 46-year-old gave more context in the comments to explain why seeing Lewis again was such a pivotal moment for her. She wrote, “I wanted to quit doing stand up I was over it. I was praying to My God before that show to give me a sign that I should keep doing stand up.”
“Then out of nowhere God sends the 1st person outside of my family that actually believed in me,” Haddish said. “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 placed me in the best possible home The Laugh Factory comedy club. She saved my life and I will forever be grateful.”
She added, “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. Coleta I am forever grateful God made you and you never gave up on me. Thank you.”
One person in the comments who was moved by the video wrote, “I’m NOT crying you crying? Full circle moment!!!”
A second emotional person typed, “I’m in tears!!! Everyone needs someone that believes in them. Hers changed her whole life.”
A third fan reacting to the video said, “It takes just one person. Sometimes it’s not even your family.”
Someone else joked about the way Haddish picked Lewis up from the ground. They said, “Coleta gonna have back problems from now on!”
Haddish grew up in South Central Los Angeles with her mom and three siblings, but her life was changed when her mom got into a car accident. Haddish was around 9 when this took place and she explained that things were different because her mother suffered brain damage in the accident.
She told David Letterman in a 2019 appearance on his Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” that her mother became “violent and verbally abusive.”
At that young age, she was tasked with taking care of her three siblings, which led her into foster care three years later.
“You’re dropped in these strangers’ houses, you don’t know these people, these people don’t know you, you don’t know if they’re gonna hurt you, if they’re gonna be kind; you don’t have a clue what’s going on,” Haddish told Letterman.
I used to sleep in my car because I was homeless. And you know what I never cried then. I was hurting more than ever. But now I am strong enough to let the hurt out. sometimes I will still sleep in the car just to remind myself where I come from and also I just be needing naps.
— Tiffany Haddish (@TiffanyHaddish) April 9, 2019
The “Night School” actor met Lewis in high school, and when Lewis noticed Haddish struggling, that is when she gave her the ultimatum. Haddish told People magazine in 2019, “When you’re in foster care, if the right person comes into your world even for just a moment, they can help you reset and restart. She realized the gift I had, and she got me to a place where I could nurture that. It opened up my world.”
People also spoke with Lewis, who said, “I remember going to see her at the Laugh Factory and cheering for her. If I could see her now, I’d hug her and tell her I’m not surprised how successful she is.”
It’s not clear how long it had been since Lewis and Haddish had seen each other. However, in Haddish’s video it appears they spent a little more time together after the show. Clips of Haddish and Lewis talking backstage flashed across the screen as they talked in her dressing room.
As far as continuing stand-up, Haddish has tour coming up next year between February and July. Based on her post, this was already scheduled to happen back in October, but it might be safe to say that she will be moving forward with it.
