Alicia Keys has advised her younger self not to be "swept up in jealousy".
Alicia Keys
The 36-year-old singer has admitted there is a "fallacy" around women being "catty" and argumentative, and the brunette beauty has admitted if she could go back in time with the knowledge she has now she would tell her teenage self not to dwell on petty problems but to use the dramas as fuel to propel her into something better.
Speaking to Glamour magazine, which Alicia is the cover star of for the March issue, she said: "There is this fallacy about how women are catty, that we're all in competition with each other. I'd say: As opposed to getting swept up in jealousy, use that pang to give you an indication of what you are looking for."
And the 'Fallin' hitmaker believes women should stand together and give positive comments to one another.
She explained: "I don't know if we tell women great news about themselves enough. You'd be surprised how often a young woman doesn't hear positive things about herself - not in her home, not at school. It's hard to create a beautiful image for yourself when you've never seen it or heard it."
Alicia - who has sons Egypt, six, and Genesis, two, with her husband Swizz Beats - has admitted she "loves" being a parent because it has made her realise what is most important in her life and has left her feeling "fulfilled".
She said: "I love being a mom. And I think what I love the most is the way it makes me think about what's important and what's not important. What to fight for and what to just be cool with. What it is that I'm teaching through example and what it is that I was taught that I don't want to teach.
"You can be very fulfilled as a mother, but that can't be the only way you are fulfilled. What about being a woman? What about being yourself? Your awareness of what's happening in the world? It lives altogether in a way that makes a whole. I guess I'd say I'm the wholest I've ever been."
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