Tiffany Haddish Breaks Down in Tears as She's Reunited with Teacher Who Taught Her to Read
“I’m so grateful for you, I’m so glad I met you,” said a tearful Tiffany Haddish to her drama teacher on ‘The View’
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(Left-right:) Mrs. Grieb and Tiffany Haddish on 'The View' May 7Tiffany Haddish is reuniting with a teacher who had a huge influence on her.
On the Tuesday, May 7 episode ofThe View — for Teacher Appreciation Day — the Girls Trip star, 44, thanked the person who taught her how to read in high school: drama teacher Mrs. Grieb.
In 9th grade at Los Angeles’ El Camino Real High School, Haddish recalled, Grieb “figured out that I couldn’t read. I was very good at hiding and masking and pretending and she figured out that I couldn’t do it very well.”
The teacher “would have me come to her class at lunch, in that 15 minute break, and she would give me magazines and newspapers and she would sit with me to read. Basically by the end of the semester I was reading!”
“It sounds like a reunion’s a little overdue,” quipped host Sara Haines, before surprising an emotional Haddish by announcing that Grieb was joining them on the show.
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(Left-right:) Mrs. Grieb and Tiffany Haddish on 'The View' May 7Haddish, who said that she’d kept in touch with her teacher via social media and telephone, had not seen her in person in 25 years. “Thank you so much for being patient with me,” the Afterparty star tearfully said when asked what she wanted to tell Grieb. “Thank you so much for always encouraging me, and taking time with me and listening to me.”
Referencing her difficult childhood, Haddish added while wiping away tears, “During that time I was really struggling a lot and you were the most consistent, constant thing in my world next to my grandma. I’m so grateful for you, I’m so glad I met you. Thank you so much for being kind.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin then presented Grieb a limited-edition copy of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a play that won Haddish a high school drama competition. “Thank you,” responded Grieb. “It’s a great play, and she was great in it.”
“I still remember it. Want me to do it [now]?” joked Haddish.
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(Left-right:) Mrs. Grieb and Tiffany Haddish on 'The View' May 7“Great teachers,” said Whoopi Goldberg, “you never know your effect on a student. If you’re a teacher sitting out there, thank you for everything you do.”
In Haddish’s new memoir, I Curse You with Joy (out May 7 from Diversion Books), the actress details the ups and downs of her career and personal life, including her mother’s struggles with mental illness, which led Haddish to become her family’s caretaker before ending up in the foster care system.
“I wanted this book to be about something,” Haddish told PEOPLE of the follow-up to her 2017 New York Times bestsellerThe Last Black Unicorn. “I felt like I needed to live a little more life and get a better understanding of where I am now.”
Among Haddish’s upcoming screen projects is Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’sBad Boys: Ride or Die.
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