Maxwell Opens Up About His Hiatus, Love Life, & Michelle Obama on 'Wendy'

Maxwell is opening up. The Grammy-winning crooner, who recently performed his new single “Lake by the Ocean” on “The Late Show,” sat down with Wendy Williams to discuss everything from his love life to his seven-year hiatus.

During Friday’s conversation, Maxwell also spoke about why he cut his signature Afro, saying he really “wanted to not be a haircut.” Instead, he’s focusing on the music as he gears up for his long-awaited album blackSUMMERS’night, due July 1.

Watch the full interview and see highlights from Maxwell’s Q&A below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGA5f4xqIjE

On his seven-year hiatus: “I’m not a celebrity type…I’m not interested in it. I see the pitfalls of all those sort of worlds. I don’t disrespect anyone’s hustle, you get there how you get there. The music, for me, is more important. It’s the most important thing that I feel I will leave behind.”

On touring during his hiatus: “We were touring. We’re doing the ESSENCE Festival…but we did it a year ago. You know the thing for me that I was so excited about and blessed about was I like the feeling that I don’t have to have a record out to be able to go out and record and to do a show for people.”

On his love life: “I’m in love. I can say that I feel really a deep love…Right now we move around so much…A woman wants to feel number one and you always have to really, really make them know, ‘Look, this is just what I do. I love you very much, please understand.'”

On First Lady Michelle Obama: “There’s a song on the new album where I namecheck her. It’s basically saying, ‘I just want a Michelle Obama lady to hold me down when the world goes crazy.'”

On cutting his ‘fro: “I wanted to not be a haircut. I wanted to be music. I wanted to not be a gimmick, a caricature of myself and more importantly [people] who were more than how they looked were very much more interested in civil rights and representing an African-American man in a way that was much more broader…I just wanted to evolve.”

On health: “I’m 42. You gotta take care of yourself. You see that, there’s a responsibility to health.”

On crazy fans: “Showing up in the room and being in the room when I got in the room. Someone was really very resourceful that day. When I went to the bathroom, there was someone in the bathtub.”