Fergie recently penned a letter to her younger self to mark her 50th birthday.
Taking to Instagram this Thursday (March 27), the former Black Eyed Peas singer – real name Stacy Ann Ferguson – shared a carousel of images, including shots of her as a child and a screenshot of her name listed in Billboard’s Top Women Artists of the 21st Century ranking.
Reflecting on her career to her 4m followers on the milestone birthday, the ‘London Bridge’ singer wrote: “I honestly didn’t know what to post to mark this landmark number, so I started with a letter to my younger self.
“Dear little Stacy, one day you’ll be 50 and you’ll be proud of yourself. You won’t have it all figured out, but you realize …. who does? Success really is in the journey, and true happiness can be found in the smallest simple moments. Keep loving deeply with all your heart, and keep working on yourself. It always all makes sense later. I love you.”
Reflecting on the Billboard chart, she described it as a “beautiful surprise” that made her feel her music “means something”.
“I also could not acknowledge this milestone without including my son Axl Jack,” she continued. “The sweetest love I’ve ever known. You make me want to be a better human every day. Onward and upward!”
Official accounts for The Black Eyed Peas, Questlove, Nancy Sinatra and more all commented below her post to wish her a happy birthday. The singer joined the former in 2002 for their ‘Elephunk’ album and sang on most of their biggest hits, including ‘Boom Boom Pow’, ‘I Gotta Feeling’ and ‘My Humps’.
Speaking about her solo work to NME back in 2016, she touched on feeling liberated as a mother and as a pop performer, in light of her single ‘M.I.L.F. $’. “Just because you’re a mom, that doesn’t mean being a mom has to be the only thing that defines you,” she said.
“You can be a politician; you can be a teacher; you can be sexy, flirty and fun and naughty once in a while. You can be all these great things other than just being a mom, and still be a fantastic mom at the same time. Being a mom is my first priority, but it’s not the only thing I am.”
Her track ‘Glamorous’ featured in the Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman-starring Deadpool & Wolverine soundtrack last year.