Queen Latifah On Her Name

Rap goddess-turned-actress Queen Latifah has revealed the secret of her name - she's trying to make women feel like royalty.

The CHICAGO star, real name DANA ELAINE OWENS, created the regal rap name as a response to male rappers referring to women negatively in their songs.

She says, "We didn't treat ourselves like queens. We made bad decisions with men and thought we weren't beautiful just because we were told we were too fat, too skinny or our butt was too big. We were tearing away at our self-esteem.

"So I thought, 'If you think you are a queen, you are going to make people treat you like that and you'll start feeling like that.'"

She continues, "So that was the name I chose, but my mom laughed at me. 'Queen? I'm the queen, I raised you,' she said. So she is the real queen and just lets me borrow the title. And she still makes me take out the trash when I go home."