Tiffany Haddish took a moment during a recent show before Christmas to recognize someone in the audience who "saved her life" when she was younger.
On Tuesday (December 23), Haddish shared a clip on Instagram that featured her speaking to a woman who called out to her during her stand-up routine, asking if the comedian remembered her.
"I don't know if you remember, my name is Coleta Lewis," yelled out the woman who turned out to be Haddish’s former social worker when she was a child. After repeating the name back, Haddish got emotional and came closer to the edge of the stage to greet her. "Turn the lights on," Haddish directed towards the venue’s staff.
After sharing a hug, Haddish addressed the woman through tears. "'You saved my life. I'm where I'm at right now because of you,' Haddish said, before thanking her for being one of the first people to push her towards being a comedian.
Haddish reflected on her childhood, saying that Lewis gave her two choices for the summer after she got into trouble at school: go to a comedy camp or a psychiatric camp. The comedian ultimately chose the comedy camp, and the rest is history.
In the caption for the post, Haddish wrote that she considered this interaction to be a divine sign to continue doing stand-up comedy. "I remember being on stage, saying to myself, 'This is the end of stand-up, and this is just how I want to finish,'" she wrote. "Then out of nowhere God sends the 1st person outside of my family that actually believed in me."
"Coleta, I am forever grateful God made you, and you never gave up on me. Thank you," Haddish added.
In other recent news, Haddish announced in November that she got married to herself. In an episode of her Peacock docuseries Tiffany Haddish Goes Off, the comedian documented walking down the aisle and exchanging vows with herself.