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Patti LaBelle has been known to famously kick off her shoes during her impassioned live performances, but the legendary R&B diva says the reason she started flinging her feet was practical.
“My corn was hurting the first time I ever did it,” the 80-year-old singer confessed on the Sherri show Thursday. Asked by host Sherri Shepherd about her love for shoes — and for kicking them off mid-song — LaBelle copped to wanting some rapid relief after walking on stage with ill-fitting heels.
The “Release (The Tension)” singer says there was only one option: “I had bad feet and the corn hurt and I kicked the shoe off and then it felt good,” she told the delighted audience. “The corn felt great, so I said, ‘Let me kick the other one off,’ and then my feet were free for the next 90 minutes.”
While LaBelle admits that one incident may have inadvertently kicked off a little showmanship (pun intended), it hasn’t stopped the star from hoofing it in heels. Only these days, her choice of fancy footwear is a little more demure. “I love those six-inch pumps I used to wear,” she said. “Honey, I was hot! But I can’t do it no more. [Even] five-inch I can’t do. I can do kitten heels.”
LaBelle will soon be back on the stage as she hits the road for this summer’s The Queens tour, which sees the Grammy Hall of Fame inductee in concert with Chaka Khan,Gladys Knight, and Stephanie Mills. Captioned as “4 Legends, 1 Stage,” the 20-date trek kicks off in May. Find tour tickets here and see LaBelle’s full interview on Sherri below:
