{"id":24625,"date":"2025-12-20T13:52:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T13:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=24625"},"modified":"2025-12-20T13:52:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T13:52:15","slug":"i-couldnt-sit-there-why-queen-latifah-left-the-head-chair-empty-for-7-years-after-her-moms-2018-death-leaving-guests-in-tears-every-christmas-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=24625","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI Couldn\u2019t Sit There.\u201d \u2014 Why Queen Latifah Left the Head Chair Empty for 7 Years After Her Mom\u2019s 2018 Death, Leaving Guests in Tears Every Christmas Eve."},"content":{"rendered":"

For over a decade, the holiday season at the Owens-Latifah household was defined by one woman: Rita Owens. As the matriarch of the family and the self-described “love of her life,” Rita was the heart of every festive gathering. But when she passed away in March 2018 after a courageous 14-year battle with a heart condition and interstitial lung disease, the world wondered how Queen Latifah\u2014born Dana Owens\u2014would carry on. The answer came not in a takeover of the family hierarchy, but in a silent and heartbreaking gesture of devotion. Since 2018, Latifah has famously refused to sit in the “head chair” to lead the family. Instead, she chooses to keep her mother\u2019s place exactly as it was, leaving the seat vacant for seven consecutive years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Silent 10 Minutes: Honoring a Legend<\/b> In the years following Rita’s passing, relatives have described a poignant ritual that takes place before the music starts and the guests arrive at Latifah\u2019s holiday gatherings. Queen Latifah prepares a full plate of food and places her mother\u2019s favorite holiday gift on the chair at the head of the table\u2014the seat Rita always occupied. A relative recently recounted that before the party officially begins, Dana stands silently in front of that empty chair for 10 minutes. Despite being the primary caregiver and the “General” of the family for over a decade, Latifah refuses to take the seat for herself. As one family member noted: “She wasn’t taking her mother’s place; she was honoring it.”<\/span><\/p>\n

A Bond Forged in Caregiving<\/b> This deep reverence stems from the extraordinary bond the two shared throughout their lives. Rita, a dedicated high school teacher, was Latifah\u2019s “champion” and her first co-star, famously playing her mother on the sitcom Living Single<\/i>. From the moment Rita collapsed at school in the mid-2000s, Latifah transformed her life to be her mother’s primary caregiver. She moved Rita into her home, leading a team of family and friends to manage her complex health needs. Even in late 2025, Latifah continues to honor Rita through her work with the American Heart Association and her documentary Beyond Breathless<\/i>, which shines a light on the lung disease that eventually took her mother\u2019s life.<\/span><\/p>\n

2025: The “Last Holiday” Legacy<\/b> As the 2025 holiday season reaches its peak, Queen Latifah\u2019s personal traditions continue to mirror the spirit of her most beloved film role. Fans often revisit her 2006 classic, Last Holiday<\/i>, during December, where her character Georgia Byrd learns to live life to the fullest. Latifah has shared that this “live for the moment” philosophy was her mother’s greatest lesson. In December 2025, Latifah hosted her annual holiday fundraiser for the Lancelot H. Owens Scholarship Foundation, named after her late brother. She continues to use the season not for “Diva” celebrations, but to fund education for Newark students\u2014a mission Rita Owens, a lifelong educator, deeply cherished.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Plate for a Bright Light<\/b> Queen Latifah\u2019s refusal to sit at the head of the table is a powerful reminder that grief doesn’t disappear; it evolves into a living tribute. To the public, she is a mogul worth an estimated $70 million, but in that dining room on Christmas Eve, she remains simply a daughter. Friends on the set of The Equalizer<\/i> say she still carries a photo of Rita in her trailer, ensuring her mother “sees” every performance. By placing a plate of food for a woman who is no longer there, Queen Latifah proves that the most majestic seat in the house isn’t the one you sit in\u2014it’s the one you keep empty for the person who made you who you are.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For over a decade, the holiday season at the Owens-Latifah household was defined by one woman: Rita Owens. As the matriarch of the family and the self-described “love of her life,” Rita was the heart of every festive gathering. But when she passed away in March 2018 after a courageous 14-year battle with a heart…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}