'Get On Up' Star Jill Scott, Goes Blonde On The Cover Of Essence Magazine; Singer Reveals That Her Character On James Brown Film Helped Her Understand Her Mothers Violent Past

Singer and actress, Jill Scott has a new attitude, and it shows as she glows on the front page of the cover of Essence Magazine for the September Fashion issue.

The newly slim star is sporting a black Ekineyo dress, along with a platinum blonde wig, Essence revealed.

Scott has a lot to be proud of, she has lost 63lbs, and is a star in the new hit biopic of James Brown's, Get On Up film, featuring Chadwick Boseman.

The film hit theaters on Aug 1, as Scott played the role of Brown's second wife, Deidre "Dee Dee" Jenkins. The actress and R&B singer is the mother of a 5-year-old son, Jett, who she talks about during her interview with the magazine.

"My only job is to be happy," Scott says. "So for everybody that cares about me and is not trying to be all up in a celebrity's business, just know that I'm happy. My son is happy. We enjoy our lives."

When the singer is not on mother duty, she stays busy working in the studio on her untitled fifth album, not yet due for a while. "I'm a wood-burning stove," the singer says. "It's a slow brew."

Scott revealed to Wenn, that playing the role of an abused wife in the Get On Up biopic, help her understand her own mother's abusive history.

"My mother was in an abusive relationship early in her life, and she took us away from that. I couldn't quite understand why she stayed, but I have been able to learn some things about that particular kind of woman - the level of love."

Scott continues, "Someone would easily say it's foolishness to stay with someone who is abusive to you. But what I learned about DeeDee is that there is a love that's greater and wider and more powerful than anything I, as yet, understand in this life, and I will always take that with me."

The singer finishes, "Do I want to be in an abusive relationship? Of course not! But I would understand better as I go on in this life, absolutely. And Dee Dee still loved James. Period. I think I do, too."