Donna Summer’s daughter talks about her battle with cancer that took her mother’s life.
On last episode From the Allison Interviews podcast, Brooklyn Sudano recalled details of her mother’s battle with lung cancer, which took the singer’s life in 2012.
“My mother was an especially strong person. I believe her decision not to share [her diagnosis] The thing with the world was that she was a girl of religion and really believed that God would heal her,” said “My Wife and Kids” star Allison Kugel, 42.
Summer, whom Sudano described as “certainly one of the strongest people” she knew, kept a positive outlook and surrounded herself with individuals who shared the identical energy.
“Whenever you’re in the general public eye, you find yourself carrying a whole lot of human emotion with you,” Sudano continued about her “soldier” mom. “She didn’t think she could handle other people’s fear of her illness or their expectations of what it will be like.”
The ‘Love to Love You Baby’ hitmaker has never been hospitalized, much to her doctor’s surprise, and Sudano said the late star had been ‘working’ on receiving love ‘without having to give’ within the last yr of her life.
“She just had a strength and can that surpassed anyone I’ve ever experienced before, and he or she passed away at home in Naples, Florida.”
The Grammy-winning Queen of Disco, who has died aged 63, is the topic of an HBO documentary that premiered this week.
“Love to Love You, Donna Summer,” which premiered on May 20, opens the lid to the struggles the singer has faced throughout her successful profession.
She experienced sexual abuse by the hands of her pastor as a baby and was later physically abused by her partner Peter Mühldorfer, who said he “never could forgive himself” after he hit her.
Her mental health deteriorated and he or she sincerely contemplated suicide – but her foot got stuck within the hotel curtain as soon because the hostess entered the room. She later admitted that if one other “10 seconds” had passed by, she would already be at a loss.
“Love to Love You Baby” – one of the crucial scandalous songs of its era – established Summer’s legendary status, but despite her public identity as a sex symbol, the disco legend was a born-again Christian.
“Once I first discovered this song, I went to my little sister Amanda and said, ‘Oh my god, I even have a crazy song for you! ”said Sudano to Kugel.
But a few of Summer’s remarks have perplexed her through the years—namely, the comment: “God didn’t make Adam and Steve. He created Adam and Eve.”
“Her intention was not meant to be hurtful, but obviously a whole lot of people have been hurt by it,” Sudano said. “We wanted to acknowledge it, but the way in which it turned out and all of the things people said about her and what she thought concerning the LGBTQ+ community was the exact opposite of who she was.”
In actual fact, the actress said that the community was “an enormous a part of her fan base” and their lives, saying that Summers “got caught up in a changing time about what to say and what not to say.”
Still, Summer’s success was “groundbreaking,” Sudano said.
“I believe in so some ways it was very empowering for therefore many individuals to see and witness a girl, especially a black woman, on stage and just have your individual power,” she said. “It was groundbreaking for the time.”