Tisha Campbell: The Life Story Behind the Martin Star

Tisha Campbell has been performing since she was a child, and she has never really stopped. She sang in church, she danced in school, she acted on Broadway, she made audiences laugh on two of the most popular sitcoms of their time, and she recorded an album in between. Most performers are lucky to be good at one of those things. Campbell is good at all of them, and she has spent more than forty years proving it, one job at a time. Her name is tied to Gina Waters on Martin and to Janet Kyle on My Wife and Kids, and those two roles alone would be enough for most careers. Campbell built a career that goes far beyond them.

She was born Tisha Michelle Campbell on 13 October 1968 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and she grew up in Newark, New Jersey, a city with a deep history of Black music, churches, and neighbourhoods where talent was noticed early. Her mother, Mona Campbell, worked as a talent manager. Her father, Clifton Campbell, was a singer and a factory worker. Music was not a hobby in that house. It was part of daily life, something you heard in the kitchen, in the car, and in church on Sunday. Campbell grew up inside that sound, and it shaped her voice, her timing, and her understanding of what a performance can do to a room full of people.

Newark gave her a school that mattered, a stage that mattered, and a community that expected her to work hard. She went to Newark Arts High School, where she studied music and theatre, and she began auditioning for professional work while she was still a teenager. By the time she was eighteen, she had a film role in a major Hollywood musical, and she was on her way to Broadway. It was a fast start, and it could have burned her out. It did not, because the training she had received at home and at school had taught her that talent is only the beginning, and that the rest is work.

What makes her story worth reading is not only the famous roles. It is the length of the career, the honesty with which she has spoken about her health and her marriage, and the way she has kept working when the big shows ended and the parts became smaller. She has played mothers, wives, friends, nurses, and singers, and she has done it on television, in film, and on stage. She has raised two sons, she has lived with a long-term lung condition, and she has kept her sense of humour through it all. This is the story of a child star who became an adult actor, and of an adult actor who became a voice for other people.

Oklahoma City, Newark and a House Full of Music

Oklahoma City in 1968 was a long way from Hollywood, and Campbell’s family did not stay there long. They moved to Newark, New Jersey, while she was still young, and Newark became the place where she grew up. Newark in the nineteen seventies was a city of neighbourhoods, churches, and schools, a place where Black families had built a rich culture of music and community, and where a talented child could find an audience. Campbell found one early. She sang in church, she sang at home, and she learned that a voice could lift a room.

Her mother understood the business of performance, and her father understood the feeling of it. Mona Campbell worked with performers, and she knew what an audition asked for, what a rehearsal demanded, and what a contract meant. Clifton Campbell sang, and he knew what it felt like to stand in front of people and give them a song. Between them, they gave their daughter two kinds of education: the practical one and the emotional one. She learned how to prepare, how to behave in a room full of strangers, and how to sing as if the song mattered, because it did.

Church was her first stage, and it taught her things that no acting class could. In a church, the audience is not polite. They respond, they call out, they clap, and they let you know when a song has reached them. A child who sings in church learns to read a room, to feel the energy of the people in front of her, and to give more when the room gives more. Campbell learned that as a girl, and she carried it into every performance after. Whether she was on Broadway, on a film set, or on a sitcom stage, she knew how to listen to the room and how to answer it.

Home was also a place of discipline. Her parents made sure she understood that school mattered as much as singing, and that a performer needs to be able to think as well as to move. She did well in her studies, and she learned that the business of acting is not only about talent. It is about showing up on time, knowing your lines, and treating people well. Those lessons stayed with her, and they are the reason she has lasted so long in a business where many talented people do not.

Newark Arts High School and the Road to New York

Newark Arts High School was the turning point. The school gave Campbell a place to study music and theatre seriously, with teachers who expected her to work and with classmates who were as driven as she was. She took classes in voice, in movement, and in acting, and she learned how to build a performance from the ground up. She sang in choirs, she acted in plays, and she began to think about where she could go to learn more. New York was close, and New York had the best teachers, the best stages, and the hardest auditions in the country.

Her mother took her to auditions, and the auditions were strict. A Broadway audition asks a young performer to sing, to dance, and to act, all in a few minutes, in front of people who have seen hundreds of hopefuls that week. Campbell learned to walk into those rooms, to do her work, and to walk out without falling apart if the answer was no. That is a hard skill for an adult, let alone a teenager, and she learned it early. The rejections taught her as much as the successes, because they taught her that a no is not a verdict on her talent. It is a verdict on a single room on a single day.

New York also taught her about the business. She learned how casting worked, how agents worked, and how a young performer had to protect herself in a world that does not always protect young people. Her mother was there, and that mattered. A child with a parent who understands the business is a child with a shield, and Campbell had one. She was not left to navigate the industry alone, and she was not pushed into work she was not ready for. She was guided, and the guidance showed in the choices she made.

By the time she finished school, she was already a working performer. She had appeared on television as a child, she had done stage work, and she was ready for a film. The film that came would put her in front of a national audience and would show the world that a young Black actress from Newark could sing, dance, and act in a major Hollywood production. She was eighteen years old, and her career was already moving.

Chiffon, the Plant and the Big Screen

The film was Little Shop of Horrors, released in 1986, the film version of the stage musical about a florist’s assistant, Seymour, who grows a plant that eats people. Campbell played Chiffon, one of the three street singers who narrate the story, comment on the action, and sing some of the best songs in the film. Chiffon, along with Crystal and Ronnette, was a Greek chorus in matching dresses, and the part asked for everything Campbell had: a strong voice, sharp dance moves, and the ability to be funny and knowing at the same time.

The film was directed by Frank Oz, and it starred Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and Steve Martin. It was a big production, with puppets, sets, and a cast of experienced performers, and Campbell, at eighteen, had to hold her own in the middle of it. She did. Her performance was bright, confident, and full of energy, and audiences noticed her. The film was a success, and it showed that she could work in a major Hollywood film, with a major director, and not be overwhelmed. That is a rare thing for a young actor, and it is one that casting directors remember.

The part also showed something important about her range. Chiffon was not a lead, but she was essential. The three singers carried the story, set the tone, and gave the audience a way into a strange tale. Campbell learned how to be essential without being the star, and that lesson served her for the rest of her career. Many actors only know how to be the centre of attention. Campbell learned how to make a scene better from the side, and directors valued that. It is the difference between an actor who needs the spotlight and an actor who can share it.

After Little Shop of Horrors, she worked on Broadway, appearing in stage productions in New York and learning the discipline of live performance. Theatre is where an actor learns whether a performance is honest, because there is no editing, no second take, and no camera to hide behind. Campbell learned it, and she kept returning to the stage throughout her career. The stage was her school, and she stayed in it for years, even as television and film offered her more money and more fame.

Spike Lee, House Party and Learning Film Comedy

In 1988 Campbell appeared in School Daze, the film by Spike Lee about life at a Black college, and the experience taught her a different kind of filmmaking. Lee was a director who asked his actors to be bold, to be honest, and to trust the material. The film dealt with colourism, class, and identity inside a Black college community, and it was not afraid to make its audience uncomfortable. Campbell played a student in the film, and she brought to the part a humour and a directness that fit Lee’s style. Working with him taught her that a film could say something serious and still be entertaining, and that an actor’s job is to serve the truth of the story, not to make the audience comfortable.

Two years later she appeared in House Party, the 1990 comedy about a teenager, Kid, who throws a party while his parents are away. Campbell played Sidney, Kid’s girlfriend, and the part asked her to be smart, funny, and warm, a young woman who could hold her own in a film full of jokes and music. House Party was a hit, and it became a favourite with young audiences. It showed that a film about Black teenagers could be funny, joyful, and successful, and Campbell was part of that success. She played Sidney as a real person, not a joke, and the audience loved her for it.

In 1992 she appeared in Boomerang, the romantic comedy starring Eddie Murphy, playing Yvonne, a friend of the main character. The film was a big studio production, and Campbell’s part was smaller, but it gave her another chance to work with a major star and to learn how a large comedy is built. She played Yvonne with warmth and humour, and she learned how to make an impression in a short time, a skill that would serve her well in television, where a guest part might last only a few scenes. She was learning how to work in films, how to build a character quickly, and how to make the audience remember her even when she was not the star.

Those three films, in four years, gave her a film career that many actors would envy. She had worked with Spike Lee, she had been in a hit comedy, and she had appeared in a major studio film with Eddie Murphy. She had also learned the difference between stage, film, and television, and she could move between them. That flexibility was her strength, and it was about to pay off in the biggest way, when a television comedy called Martin came looking for an actress to play the leading lady.

Gina Waters: The Woman Who Stood Up to Martin

Martin began in 1992, a television comedy starring Martin Lawrence as Martin Payne, a radio host in Detroit, and Campbell was cast as Gina Waters, his girlfriend and later his wife. Gina was a smart, stylish woman who worked in public relations, and she was not afraid to stand up to Martin, to argue with him, to laugh at him, and to love him. Campbell played her with a confidence that made Gina the centre of the show, not a background figure. She was not there to make Martin look good. She was there to be a full person, with a career, with opinions, and with a sense of humour that could match his.

The show ran for five seasons, until 1997, and it became one of the most popular comedies on television. It was bold, it was funny, and it spoke to young Black viewers in a way that few shows had done before. Martin and Gina’s relationship was at the heart of it. The two characters argued, they laughed, they made up, and they loved each other, and viewers followed their story with great interest. Their wedding became a famous episode, and their love story became a model for many young viewers. Campbell and Lawrence worked well together, and their chemistry made the show stronger. They made Martin and Gina feel like real people, with real feelings and real problems.

Gina mattered for another reason. At a time when Black women on television were often shown in narrow ways, Gina was a full person. She had a job, she had friends, she had opinions, and she was not afraid to say what she thought. Campbell played her without apology, and young women who watched the show saw in Gina a picture of what a strong and loving woman could be. That representation mattered, and it is one of the reasons the character is still remembered. Campbell did not just play a girlfriend. She played a woman, and she trusted the audience to understand her.

During the Martin years, Campbell also recorded music. She released an album called Tisha in 1993, and the album showed that she could sing as well as act and dance. The single “Push” received radio play, and the album gave her a chance to show another side of her talent. She was not only an actress. She was a performer who could do many things, and she wanted the world to see that. The album did not make her a pop star, but it proved that her voice was real, and that her training had been real too.

When Martin ended in 1997, Campbell faced the question that every television star faces when a long-running show ends: what comes next? Many actors who become famous as one character spend the rest of their lives trying to escape that character, or they disappear because they cannot find another role that fits. Campbell did something different. She kept working, she took on new roles, and she showed the world that Gina Waters was only one of many characters she could play.

Janet Kyle and a Second Sitcom Family

In 2001 she was cast as Janet Kyle on My Wife and Kids, the family comedy starring Damon Wayans as Michael Kyle, a father of three. Janet, known as Jay, was the mother of the family, a wife, and a woman who worked hard to keep her household together. Campbell played her with warmth and humour, and viewers loved her for it. She was a mother who was smart, funny, and strong, and she was not afraid to say what she thought, whether she was talking to her husband, her children, or a neighbour.

The show ran for five seasons, until 2005, and it became a popular family show. It showed a Black family in a way that was funny and loving, and it dealt with the everyday problems of raising children, of work, and of marriage. Campbell was at the centre of it, and her work earned her praise. She showed that she could play a mother as well as she could play a girlfriend, and that she could make a family comedy feel real. A new generation of viewers, too young to have watched Martin, met her as Jay Kyle, and they loved her just as much.

Playing Jay was a different job from playing Gina. Gina was a young woman in love, figuring out her career and her relationship. Jay was a mother of three, a woman who had been married for years, and who had to balance the needs of her family with her own needs. Campbell played that balance with a skill that came from her own life, because by then she was a mother herself. She had married the actor Duane Martin in 1996, and the couple had two sons, Xen and Ezekiel. She knew what it was like to raise children while working long hours, and she brought that knowledge to the part.

The show also gave her a chance to work with Damon Wayans, a comedian with a sharp sense of timing, and the two of them built a partnership that felt like a real marriage. They argued, they laughed, and they supported each other, and the audience believed it. By the time My Wife and Kids ended, Campbell had starred in two long-running sitcoms, she had played two very different women, and she had become one of the most recognisable faces on American television. She was ready for the next stage of her career, and she would take on roles that asked new things of her.

The Album, the Voice and the Stage That Never Left

Music has never been a side project for Campbell. It has been part of her work since childhood, and she has returned to it throughout her career. The album Tisha, released in 1993 during the Martin years, was her most visible statement as a singer. It was an R&B album, with songs about love, independence, and self-respect, and it showed a voice that was strong, clear, and trained. The single “Push” was the best-known track, and it received play on radio stations that had already been playing her as an actress. The album did not turn her into a chart star, but it proved something that mattered more: she was not an actress who could sing a little. She was a singer who could act.

She has continued to sing in stage work, in concerts, and in special events, and the stage has remained a home for her. Theatre asks for the voice to carry a room without a microphone, for the body to tell a story without a camera, and for the performance to be complete in a single evening. Campbell learned those skills as a young performer, and she has kept them sharp. When she returns to the stage, she is returning to the place where she learned her craft, and the audience can feel the difference. A stage performance has a directness that television cannot match, and Campbell has that directness.

Her voice has also been a tool in her acting. A sitcom actor needs to know how to use the voice to land a joke, to show anger, to show tenderness, and to do it all in a few seconds. Campbell’s training gave her that control. She could raise her voice without shouting, she could drop it to a whisper and still be heard, and she could change the rhythm of a line to make it funnier. That control is one of the reasons her performances on Martin and My Wife and Kids still feel fresh. The jokes land because the delivery is precise, and the delivery is precise because she trained for it.

Health, Divorce and Speaking Plainly

In later years, Campbell has spoken honestly about her health, and that honesty is one of the most important parts of her story. She has said publicly that she lives with a long-term lung condition, widely reported to be sarcoidosis, a condition that causes inflammation in the lungs and that can make it hard to breathe, hard to sing, and hard to work long hours. For a singer and an actress, whose voice and breath are her tools, that is a frightening thing to live with. She has spoken about learning to manage it, about resting when she needs to, and about taking care of herself, and her honesty has helped other people who live with similar conditions.

She has also spoken about her marriage. She and Duane Martin were married in 1996, and they raised two sons together. The marriage ended in divorce in 2020, after more than twenty years, and Campbell has spoken about the pain of ending a long marriage, and about the need to move forward with dignity and with love for her children. She has said that she wants to be a good example for her sons, and that she wants to show them that it is possible to go through a hard time and to come out stronger on the other side. That is a mature way to handle a difficult time, and it is a lesson for anyone who has been through a divorce.

She has continued to work in television, taking on roles in shows such as Dr. Ken, where she played Damona Watkins, a nurse and a friend of the main character, and in other series where she played supporting roles. She has also appeared in films, and she has worked as a singer, performing in concerts and in special events. She has not stopped working, and she has not stopped learning, and she shows no sign of slowing down. Her later roles have shown a different side of her talent. She has played women who are older, who are wiser, and who have been through hard times, and she has brought to those roles a sense of honesty and a sense of humour.

She has also become a mentor to younger actresses, sharing what she has learned about the craft and about the business. She talks to young performers about the need to study, to be patient, and to keep learning, and she tells them that fame is not the goal. The goal is to do good work, to be a good colleague, and to build a career that lasts. Young actresses listen to her because she has lived the life she talks about, and because she speaks with honesty and with humour. She is not giving advice from a book. She is giving it from forty years of work.

Campbell’s legacy is not only in the roles she has played. It is in the example she has set for young Black women who want to be artists, and in the way she has shown that a performer can be many things at once, and that each of those things can be done well. She is a singer, an actress, a dancer, and a mother, and she does each of those things with love. She has been part of Martin, part of My Wife and Kids, part of Little Shop of Horrors, and part of the Broadway stage, and each of those is a piece of American culture. Her story is a reminder that a career is not a single role. It is a long series of choices, made with courage and with care, and Campbell has made those choices for more than forty years.

My Take:

When I think about Tisha Campbell, the first thing I feel is admiration for her range, and I mean the kind of admiration that comes from watching someone do many things well. She acts, she sings, she dances, and she does each of those things with a seriousness that I respect. Many performers are good at one thing, and they spend their whole lives doing that one thing. Campbell is good at many things, and she has spent her life learning new skills and using them. That is a rare gift, and I think it is one of the best things about her.

I think her role as Gina Waters matters because Gina was a Black woman on television who was smart, stylish, and strong, and who was not afraid to stand up to the man she loved. At a time when Black women on television were often shown in simple and narrow ways, Gina was a full person, with a career, with opinions, and with a sense of humour. Campbell played her with a confidence that I still admire. She did not apologise for Gina. She let Gina be who she was, and she trusted the audience to understand her.

What I admire above all is how she carried on working once Martin had finished. Plenty of actors who find fame as a single character pass the rest of their lives trying to shake that character off, or vanish because no other part fits them. Campbell did something different. She took on Janet Kyle on My Wife and Kids, a mother of three, and she showed the world that she could play a mother as well as she could play a girlfriend. She did not let Gina define her. She let Gina be one chapter in a longer story, and she kept writing new chapters.

I also think about her work as a child star, because that is a hard road to walk. She began performing when she was very young, and she grew up in front of audiences, on Broadway and in films. That can be difficult, because a child star is expected to be perfect, and to grow up in public is not easy. Campbell did it with grace, and she became an adult actress who is respected for her work. That is not a small thing. Many child stars do not make that transition, and Campbell did, and she did it by working hard and by staying true to herself.

There is a sorrowful thread in her story as well, and I have no wish to conceal it. She has spoken about living with a long-term lung condition, and about how it can make it hard to breathe, to sing, and to work long hours. That must be frightening for a singer and an actress, whose voice and whose breath are their tools. I think about how hard it must be to go to work when you are not feeling well, and to keep smiling for an audience when you are struggling. I respect the courage she has shown in speaking about her health, and in continuing to work despite it. Her honesty has helped other people who live with similar conditions, and it has shown that a star can be open about her struggles.

I admire the way she has handled her divorce, too, because ending a marriage after more than twenty years is a painful thing, and she has done it with dignity. She has spoken about the need to move forward, about the love she has for her children, and about the importance of being a good example for her sons. That is a mature way to handle a difficult time, and it is a lesson for anyone who has been through a divorce. You can be sad, and you can still be strong, and you can still be a good parent. Campbell has shown that.

Her work as a mother also stays with me. She has two sons, and she has tried to raise them with the same values that her own parents gave to her. She has said that her children are the most important thing in her life, and that she tries to make time for them, even when her schedule is full. That is a simple idea, but it is a powerful one. A parent’s love can change a child’s life, and Campbell has tried to be that kind of parent. I count that among the finest things about her, and it is a part of her story that deserves more attention than it gets.

If I could learn one thing from her life, it would be the value of training. She did not become famous by accident. She studied music and theatre at Newark Arts High School, she worked on Broadway, and she learned her craft step by step. That training gave her the tools to play many different roles, and it gave her the confidence to take on new challenges. Too many young people want fame without training, and they are disappointed when fame does not come. Campbell’s life says something different. It says that if you train hard, if you learn your craft, and if you keep learning, you will be ready when the chance comes, and you will be able to keep working for a long time.

I also take from her the lesson that being many things at once is perfectly fine. She is an actress, a singer, a dancer, and a mother, and she does not feel the need to choose only one. In a world that often orders people to choose one trade and stay with it, her life shows that one person can hold many gifts, and put each of them to use. That is an encouraging message for young people who feel tugged in several directions at once. You do not have to choose one path. You may tread several paths, and take a lesson from every one of them.

Her story holds a lesson for anyone once known for a single thing who hopes to be known for more. Do not let one role define you. Go on learning, go on attempting fresh things, and go on showing people what else lies within you. Campbell did that, and it worked. She keeps working, keeps learning, and keeps discovering fresh parts, more than four decades after she started. That is a lengthy career, built on talent, on training, and on the bravery to attempt new things.

I believe her legacy will endure because she has reached so many corners of American culture. She has been part of Martin, part of My Wife and Kids, part of Little Shop of Horrors, and part of the Broadway stage. She has been a singer, a dancer, a writer of songs, and a mother. That is a rich life, put together through work, through learning, and through a love of art. I am happy her story is being shared, and I hope young readers meeting her for the first time see in her a model of an artistic life lived with bravery, discipline, and joy.

I keep returning to the idea of Gina, because Gina is the character that many people remember best, and I think Gina teaches us something important. Gina was proud of who she was, and she was not afraid to say what she thought. She was also willing to learn, to change, and to love. That combination of pride and growth is rare, and it is something I admire in Campbell herself. She is proud of her work, and she is also willing to learn new things. That is a sound way to live and a sound way to work, and I believe it explains why her career has endured so long.

In the end, her story reminds me that art is about far more than passing the time. It concerns identity, community, and the chance to glimpse yourself on screen and feel that your life counts. Martin gave many young Black viewers a picture of a couple who loved each other, who argued, and who stayed together, and Campbell was at the centre of that picture. She helped to create a show that made people feel seen, and that is a powerful thing. I hope that future shows will learn from her example, and that they will create more characters like Gina, characters who are complex, funny, and real.

I also think about the way she has used her voice to speak about health, because that honesty is rare and important. Many stars hide their health problems, because they are afraid that audiences will see them as weak. Campbell has chosen to speak, and she has helped other people who live with similar conditions to feel less alone. That takes courage, and it takes generosity as well. It proves fame can serve other people, and not merely make its owner well known. I admire her for making that choice, and I count it among the finest parts of her story.

In the end, I admire Tisha Campbell because she is a woman who has lived her life with courage, with discipline, and with joy. She began as a child star, she became a television star, and she became a mother, and she did each of those things with care. That is a rich life, and it deserves to be honoured. I hope her story encourages young readers to work hard, to stay patient, and to never allow a single role, or a single setback, to define them.

I also think about the way she has balanced a career with motherhood, because that balance is something many women struggle with. She worked long hours, she travelled, and she kept her sons close, and she did it without losing herself. That is not easy, and it is a credit to her that she made it work. Her life shows that it is possible to have a career and a family, if you are clear about what matters and if you are willing to work hard at both.

There is another lesson in her life that I want to remember, and it is about the importance of honesty. She has been honest about her health, about her divorce, and about the challenges of being a working mother, and that honesty has helped other people who are going through similar things. It is easy to hide your struggles and to pretend that everything is perfect, but Campbell has chosen to be open, and that openness is a gift to her fans. It shows that a star can be human, and that being human is not a weakness.

Finally, I think her legacy will be in the young women who saw Gina and Janet and felt seen, and in the young artists who have learned from her example that they can sing, dance, and act, all at once. She has shown that a Black woman can be many things, and that she can do each of them well. That is a powerful message, and it is one that will last long after her shows have ended. I am glad that her story is being told, and I hope that young readers will see in her a model of courage, discipline, and joy.

I also think about the way she has kept her sense of humour through hard times, because humour is not easy to keep when you are dealing with health problems and with divorce. Campbell has kept hers, and she has used it to make audiences laugh and to make her own life lighter. That is a strength, and it is a reminder that laughter can help us through difficult times, even when the times are very hard. I hope that young readers will learn from that example, and that they will find their own humour when they need it most.

One more thing I carry with me from Campbell’s story is the sound of a room that answers back. She learned in church that a song is not finished until the people listening give something back, and she has spent forty years earning that answer, in theatres, on film sets, and on television stages. That exchange between a performer and an audience is the heart of her work, and it is why her work still feels alive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What role made Tisha Campbell famous?

She became famous as Gina Waters on Martin, the television comedy that ran from 1992 to 1997. Gina was Martin Payne’s girlfriend and later his wife, a smart and stylish woman who worked in public relations. Campbell played her with humour and heart, and viewers loved the character.

Where was Tisha Campbell born and raised?

She was born on 13 October 1968 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and she grew up in Newark, New Jersey. Her mother was a talent manager and her father was a singer, and both encouraged her love of music and performance. She attended Newark Arts High School, where she studied music and theatre.

What was Tisha Campbell’s first big film role?

Her first big film role came as Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors in 1986, the film version of the musical about a man-eating plant. She played one of the three street singers who performed throughout the film, and the role showed that she could sing, dance, and act in a major Hollywood film.

Who did Tisha Campbell play on My Wife and Kids?

She played Janet Kyle, the mother of three children and the wife of Michael Kyle, on My Wife and Kids, which ran from 2001 to 2005. Janet was a smart, funny, and strong mother, and Campbell played her with warmth and humour. The role introduced her to a new generation of viewers.

Did Tisha Campbell release music as a singer?

Yes, she released an album titled Tisha in 1993, during the years of Martin. The album showed that she could sing as well as act and dance, and it gave her a chance to show another side of her talent. She has continued to sing in her stage work and in concerts.

What has Tisha Campbell said about her health?

She has spoken honestly about living with a long-term lung condition, widely reported to be sarcoidosis, and about how it can make breathing, singing, and working long hours difficult. She has said that she has learned to manage the condition, to rest when she needs to, and to take care of herself, and her honesty has helped other people with similar conditions.