Queen Latifah graced the public with her special presence as she spoke to graduating college students at an HBCU.
The Emmy-winning entertainer was the guest speaker at the 2026 graduation ceremony for North Carolina A&T, where she spoke about pride, wisdom, and having confidence.
Latifah shared her inspiring story, warning graduates to lean into their “delusional faith” and create their own lane. Just as she did.
Before the ceremony began, attendees captured behind-the-scenes footage of Latifah in an alarming video that has fans concerned about her health.
Weeks after images had fans on their toes about Latifah’s health, a viral clip has done the same. Several Aggie students and school administrators were seen walking ahead of the 56-year-old Hollywood star as she stepped from behind a curtain with a cane.
“Wait! What happened to the Queen?” said one alarmed fan on Instagram after viewing the footage from May 9.
Another said, “Okay, let’s talk about the cane and the limp?!?! I need help ???????”
A few skeptics wondered if the “Just Wright” actor recently had knee surgery, although there have been no reports to suggest so.
“Call Leslie Wright rn! What’s wrong with my auntie knee?!” wrote one person, referring to Latifah’s 2010 role in the previously mentioned movie as a physical therapist in the NBA.
Coming to her defense, one person said, “At our age over 50, it could be the hip, could be the knee who knows. As long as she’s alive and at least walking with a cane. Hey, she’s still amongst [the] living.”
Fans’ concern comes weeks after the “Ladies First” rapper was forced to shut down gossip over viral AI-images of her in a hospital surrounded by doctors and nurses.
Can’t believe what you read on the internet or see,” she said in an Instagram video. “Can’t believe nothing now, right? I’m good. Peace.”
“Everybody’s sharing such care and concern, but honestly, what you saw on Facebook was fake,” she continued, insisting she was “fine. I’m 100 percent a-ok.”
Her confident response echoed the same forward-moving mindset she expressed in her graduation speech at North Carolina A&T.
The rap pioneer, born Dana Elaine Owens, said her “delusional faith” started early at 16, when she called herself Queen Latifah. By 18, she named her debut album “All Hail the Queen.”
She grew up in East Orange, New Jersey, taking buses and trains into New York City to sneak into music clubs. She said she survived on $1.50 a day, often buying “two 50-cent hot dogs and a drink,” but still carried herself like the star she believed she would become.
The “Equalizer” star said she had big dreams and needed to surround herself with those who believed in her. She recalled the time she got a new agent after “the top agent at my agency, William Morris, said straight up, ‘You’ll never be an A-list star. You’ll never be a movie star.’”
Queen Latifah moments ago at the North Carolina A&T commencement:
“Be brave enough to walk down that road that no one else can see but you”.
“Find the people that believe in you and rock with them”
REAL 🏁 pic.twitter.com/0TnGeLoz53
— TimeoutSPORTS__ (@TimeoutSPORTS3) May 9, 2026
Queen said she knew she had to “leave him behind” and find an agent who “did believe,” and she did.
“You have to have the bravery to step forward by yourself and go into a lane that no one else has driven,” she told the crowd. “That’s why they call it your lane because it was made just for you. Nobody can get in your lane.”
By the end of her speech, Queen Latifah walked off stage with the glow that everyone knows her for and still carrying the same confidence that built her career decades ago.
For fans, the moment became less about the false health scare and more about the mindset she continues to stand on: believe in yourself long before the world does.
