Denzel Washington's success was laid out in a "prophecy".
Denzel Washington
The 'Fences' actor will never forget when he was a college drop-out and a friend of his mother proclaimed he was destined to travel the world and "speak or preach" to millions of people.
He recalled of the incident in his mom's beauty salon:
"I could see her in the mirror behind me and every time I looked in the mirror she was looking right at me.
"It was March 27th, 1975 and I started acting four months later and she said, 'You know young man, you are gonna travel the world and speak or preach to millions of people'.
"She said that and then she wrote 'Prophecy' - she couldn't even spell it well - and then my mother wrote, 'Preacher', and then I wrote my name. It was on a blue envelope; I still have it.
"When she left, I said to my mother, 'Who was that lady?' and she said, 'She's one of the oldest church members in town and she's known to have the gift of prophecy...' "
And the 62-year-old actor admitted the encounter helped him to adjust to his Hollywood success as he knew he had a "purpose" in life and whatever was happening to him was "supposed" to happen.
The Oscar-nominated star told 'Access Hollywood': "This was supposed to be my life.
"She actually called it. It's nothing I did... I knew I had a purpose, so when things started happening, I had to understand that this was supposed to happen. I'm not here to tell you I did all the right things..."
Denzel - whose father was a minister - has previously spoken of his belief in God.
He said: "There's never been a time where God didn't direct, protect, and correct me.
"There may have been times where I was less than faithful to Him, but He had faith in me."
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