Doja Cat’s mom, Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer, stole the spotlight in her daughter’s “Gorgeous” music video.
Fresh off the release of her fifth album Vie, Doja sat down with Angie Martinez on the Angie Martinez IRL podcast and opened up about casting her mother for the cameo. While the star-studded video also featured top models like Anok Yai, Paloma Elsesser, and Irina Shayk, it was Sawyer who ended up being the scene-stealer.
“I put her in my video… and she served,” Doja said around the 11-minute mark. “You only get like two seconds of that. And when she was on set, she came in totally fine. She was just really happy to see me. Lots of smiles. We talked a little bit, then got in front of the camera. I helped dress her a little to make her feel like the mom I know.”
Doja described her mom’s presence as “evolved and incredible,” even revealing with a laugh that Sawyer “hit my vape.”
“I didn’t know that she would come in front of camera… I was like, ‘Who are you?’ Because she really was — if you look at the playback — she’s just really giving,” Doja added, motioning to her mother’s striking poses.
“And I was like, oh, that’s why I do that half as good,” Doja said. “That’s where it comes from. I always knew when she did her makeup in front of the mirror she was always posing. But I didn’t realize that once she got in front of a camera, she would absolutely ace every single take. Even while they were just doing her makeup and we were watching the live feed—not even recording—she was still serving. … It blew my mind.”
Doja shared that the experience has inspired her to include her mom even more in her world. “Now I want to dress her all the time and bring her everywhere,” she said. “I mean, I always do, but I loved having her on set with me and that’s something I’m not scared of anymore.”
Earlier in the chat, Doja reflected on her upbringing, calling it a “tough childhood.” As one of five kids raised by a single mother, she acknowledged how challenging it was. “She’s incredible, the strongest mother, but it taught me a lot of things and I think it also made me, in some form, stronger,” Doja said.
