Loading the player… By Brande Victorian ·Updated March 2, 2022
Ciara and Russell Wilson are officially authors now with the debut of their first children’s book, Why Not You?. Released by Random House, the picture book for readers ages 4-8 builds on the mindset the celebrity couple was raised with and that led them to be superstars on the field and on the stage.
“For me it was in the words. My parents spoke life into me,” Ciara tells ESSENCE of the upbringing that inspired the book. “I didn’t have a lot, but I had a why not you attitude. Also seeing my parents make it happen with the little that we had also inspired me. For me, that was my way of my why not attitude, they supported me and my dreams.”
For Ciara, that meant her dad driving her to recording sessions and sleeping on the couch in the studio until she was done laying tracks on her way to becoming an international singing sensation. For Russell, that attitude was instilled in him in the way he was pushed to excel above and beyond.
“For me, growing up, my dad and my mom used to always ask, ‘Son, why not you? Why don’t you graduate early, why don’t you play pro-football and pro-baseball? Why not you?’ Russell says. “And that was a subconscious question that I think we all have to ask ourselves sometimes in life.”
That question was one Russell admits he asked when it came to woo-ing his now-wife with whom he’ll celebrate six years of marriage this July. “It’s how I got Ciara,” Russell says doubling down on the fact that even adults have to remind themselves, “Why not you?”.
“I asked myself that question. ‘Why not you Russ, Why not you?’ Shoot. Everybody talking about the prayer. I was asking myself ‘Why not you?’ and that’s how we got here.”
The “here” is being proud parents of three and widely established as couple goals for single men and women, which Ciara says is “really sweet” while adding the caveat, “We’re human just like everybody else.”
“It’s a blessing. I think it just speaks to the power of love, just to be honest,” she adds. “Love is real. For Lita, my fashion brand, Lita by Ciara, we always say ‘Love is the answer’ but we also say ‘Love is the way.’ And it’s a blessing that God brought us together and God always has amazing plans and this definitely was an amazing plan and it’s rooted in him.”
Check out our full interview with Ciara and Russell Wilson on how they raise their kids with a Why Not you attitude in the video above.
TOPICS: Ciara Russell Wilson
The post Russell Wilson Talks New Children’s Book And How A ‘Why Not You?’ Attitude Helped Him Land Ciara appeared first on Essence.
