Beyoncé’s alter-ego Sasha Fierce was the persona she created whenever she was on stage. Fierce was more than just another name for the singer, however, and was a mechanism she used to cope with her fame better. But there was one instance where Beyoncé wished she could manifest her imaginary persona in a real-life double.
Sasha Fierce would’ve come in handy when Beyoncé pursued her acting career
For the most part, fans usually only saw Sasha Fierce make an appearance when Beyoncé was performing her music. In an interview with Oprah, the singer shared the specific kinds of circumstances that triggered Fierce’s arrival back in the day.
“Usually when I hear the chords, when I put on my stilettos. Like the moment right before when you’re nervous,” she said. “Then Sasha Fierce appears, and my posture and the way I speak and everything is different.”
But at its core, Beyoncé likened becoming Fierce to playing a character.
“It’s kind of like doing a movie. When you put on the wig and put on the clothes, you walk different,” she explained. “It’s no different from anyone else. I feel like we all kind of have that thing that takes over.”
It was an ironic statement considering Beyoncé was slowly building up her acting career as well. Through movies like Dreamgirls, Cadillac Records, and Obsessed, she had shown considerable potential for acting to many in the industry.
At that point in her life, she shared that her passion for moviemaking nearly rivaled her passion for music.
“I’m finally connecting the way that I connect with music,” she said in a resurfaced interview with Vogue. “I’m getting lost in the movies the way I get lost onstage.”
Ironically, however, her music career sometimes interfered with her acting ambitions. There were a few roles she could’ve taken that she had to turn down because of her other obligations. During those situations, Beyoncé wished Sasha Fierce was a real person.
“I’ve gotten three offers, but they are all filming while I’m away on tour,” she said. “I wish there really was a Sasha Fierce, because I’d send her on the road and I would go and do the movies.”
Interestingly enough, Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles, felt like her daughter became Fierce in Cadillac Records. If so, it might’ve been the first time Fierce ever made an appearance in a film.
Why Beyoncé killed off Sasha Fierce
Beyoncé confided that she couldn’t be anymore different from her split personality. Whereas Sasha Fierce thrived in the spotlight, the Texas native still saw herself as a country girl at heart forever.
“I don’t have a split personality,” she once told Rolling Stone. “But I’m really very country and would rather have no shoes on and have my hair in a bun and no makeup. And when I perform, this confidence and this sexiness and this whatever it is that I’m completely not just happens. And you feel it, and you just start wildin’ and doin’ stuff that don’t even make sense, like the spirit takes over. That magic, that’s what I love. If you see me on TV, I’m not a humble, shy person, but it’s a transformation into that. It’s a job. In real life I’m not like that.”
But Fierce wasn’t meant to stick around for long. Eventually, Beyoncé stopped identifying with the alter-ego entirely. She and Fierce simply became one person.
“The thing that’s interesting is I don’t need Sasha Fierce anymore, because I’ve grown and I’m now able to merge the two,” she once told Allure (via Vibe).
