JoJo Feels ‘Fortunate’ She Can ‘Repay’ Her Mom with Vacations in Adulthood After Growing Up with Little Money (Exclusive)
JoJo Feels ‘Fortunate’ She Can ‘Repay’ Her Mom with Vacations in Adulthood After Growing Up with Little Money (Exclusive)
0
Share
Jack IrvinWed, October 21, 2026 at 7:52 PM UTC
Joanna “JoJo” Levesque in October 2026Credit: Manoli Figetakis/Getty -
Joanna “JoJo” Levesque spoke to PEOPLE at the 2026 Room to Grow Annual Gala in New York City on Tuesday, Oct. 20
The pop singer and Broadway star looks back on growing up with a single mom, who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet
JoJo tells PEOPLE about feeling “fortunate” to repay her mom these days by going on vacations together
Joanna “JoJo” Levesque is looking back on her childhood.
Long before JoJo became a well-known pop singer and Broadway star, she was raised in a small town outside of Boston by single mom Diana Levesque, who nannied and cleaned houses to make ends meet as they worked to find success in entertainment.
“I just wanna give credit to my mom for being a single mom and somehow raising me, just making a way out of no way,” JoJo, 35, tells PEOPLE on the blue carpet at the 2026 Room to Grow Annual Gala at Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Diana Levesque and Joanna “JoJo” LevesqueCredit: Robin Platzer/FilmMagic
Room to Grow is an organization that provides families in low-income circumstances with guidance and support for the first three years of a child’s life, and the cause is close to JoJo’s heart. “[My mom] that there were organizations that helped,” she says. “It’s very possible that something like Room to Grow could have been a part of that in her life.”
While the mother-daughter duo didn’t have much financially growing up, Diana found ways to make JoJo’s formative years special. “My mom reading to me every single night is one of my best memories,” she says. “We’d go to the local library, and she’d let me pick out a book or she’d read me one that she loved growing up, and that was such a big part of my childhood.”
Advertisement
Fast forward to now, and JoJo’s earned hit songs including “Leave (Get Out)” and “Too Little Too Late,” starred in Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway and authored the best-selling memoir Over the Influence. These days, she takes pride in giving back to Diana.
“It’s the best. It’s so cool. I’m like, ‘Ma, where do you wanna go?’ She said somewhere in the States. I’m like, ‘Let’s go there, let’s do the dude ranch in Montana, but do you wanna see part of the world you haven’t been to?,’” explains JoJo. “I’m fortunate that I can somehow repay her a tiny sliver of what she’s given to me. It means everything.”
Emmet Cohen and Joanna “JoJo” Levesque in October 2026Credit: Jeanette D. Moses/Variety via Getty
This year’s Room to Grow Annual Gala was attended by the organization’s CEO Akilah B. King, co-chair and board member Ashley Graham and founding board member Uma Thurman, among others. At the event, JoJo performed “Too Little Too Late” and a cover of Etta James’ “At Last” while her boyfriend, jazz musician Emmet Cohen, accompanied her on piano.
Next month, JoJo will embark on a North American tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her second album, 2006’s The High Road.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
