Sherri Shepherd mourns Natalie Desselle Reid’s death in an emotional video: ‘You changed my world’
When news of the passing of 53-year-old Natalie Desselle Reid broke Monday, Dec. 7, thousands of fans opened up about her positive impact and how much she was loved and admired.
Among those publicly eulogizing the star of the cult comedy B.A.P.S is fellow comedian Sherri Shepherd, also 53.
The former co-host of The View wept in an emotional video and said Desselle Reid, who died of colon cancer, “changed my world.”
Natalie Esselle Reid died of colon cancer. She was 53.
“I am incredibly sad right now,” said Shepherd who detailed the first and only time that she and Desselle Reid connected on a deep, personal level.
“I remember one time when Natalie and I had an audition, and we had so much fun in the audition. And I didn’t really know her. I knew Natalie from TV. She knew me from TV,” said Shepherd. But, as the conversation went on, the pair hit it off so well, after the audition, they continued talking for hours inside a vehicle until it was dark.
“We talked about Hollywood, how it was toward Black women and how hard it was getting a job,” continued Shepherd, who said she was “depressed” and “hit hard” about Desselle Reid’s death, because they were the same age and both made people laugh for a living.
Sherri Shepherd gets emotional reflecting on her memories of Natalie (Credit: Instagram)
“We talked about relationships. We talked about kids. We talked about our faith in God. We talked about our family. We laughed over memories we had working on shows,” Shepherd said.
Their bonding session ended with the two exchanging numbers and promising to keep in touch. But, according to Shepherd, Desselle Reid faced “some difficulties,” returned home, and “I wasn’t able to reach her.”
Shepherd said she now regrets not cultivating the relationship further and apologized for failing to do so.
“She changed my world. Natalie, I’m sorry that we never got to keep in touch. And I regret that that was our only time that we really got to talk and really got to know each other, because you were really something special.”
The tearful entertainer, who said she was making the video for the benefit of Desselle Reid’s family, also had a word of encouragement for anyone feeling insignificant.
“If you don’t think you make a difference in this world, you do,” Shepherd said. “One thing that you do can change a person’s world.”
In an official statement issued by Desselle Reid’s family, they said, “She was a bright light in this world. A queen. An extraordinary mother and wife. Her diverse career touched so many and she will be loved forever. Naturally, we are grieving and processing this profound loss and we thank you in advance for respecting our privacy at this extremely difficult time.”
Desselle Reid was reportedly in hospice care and surrounded by loved ones when she died.
