“I do not drive, Jennifer. On Tuesday’s episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, Cox revealed to host Jennifer Hudson, “I’ve had my learner’s permit twice.” Cox then recounted the tragicomic story that’s held her back all these years from finding freedom on the open road.
Cox recalled a particularly hectic week in June 2019, during which, “booked and busy” with Pride month events, Cox’s boyfriend at the time broke up with her out of the blue. “I remember waking up in a puddle of tears, calling my therapist, and I was a wreck, but I got through the press I had to do for that day.”
But then there was a driving lesson, one she was to have “right before” taking her official test for a license.
“The instructor tells me, “Okay, now turn into the traffic,” as I’m driving on 21st Street and Fifth Avenue. It’s almost rush hour when I look and see a large bus, and I think, “I can’t do this… I’ll pay you for your time.’ Cox said. “I just got out of the car,
“I can’t do this,” and I was that Viola Davis meme picking up the purse from the back seat.
Cox made a name for herself with the role of Sophia Burset, the witty and loquacious hairdresser at Litchfield Penitentiary in Orange Is the New Black. In 2014, the 52-year-old Alabama-born actress became the first openly transgender performer to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy in the acting category.
The following year, she became the first openly transgender woman to win a Daytime Emmy for her documentary Laverne Cox Presents:
The T Word. Clean Slate, a comedy starring the comedian George Wallace about a transgender daughter and her cis father learning how to deal with the transgender daughter’s transition, is the actress’s most recent project. The show,
which debuted on Amazon Prime Video on February 6, features a lot of driving, which may have brought Cox back to her feelings.
“You sometimes have to work after a breakup. [But] there is no way with the trauma of the breakup could I get behind the wheel of the car and kill myself or somebody else. She jokingly told Hudson, “I guess that’s a good excuse.”