Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys revealed this weekend how her mother considered aborting her. Keys expressed how grateful she is that her mom eventually chose to give her life.

In an interview with CBS, correspondent Tracy Smith asked about how Keys’ mother Terry Augello (then a single paralegal), who “nearly had an abortion” after becoming pregnant from flight attendant Craig Cook.

“Right. Even her mother said to her, ‘Terry, you never do anything easy.’ She was making a really big choice,” Keys explained. “And at the time, I’m sure she didn’t even know why she was making that choice exactly. But she knew it. She knew what she needed to do.”

Smith then probed Keys about her childhood growing up in Hell’s Kitchen and the difficulties they encountered in a deprived area of New York.

“I can’t even imagine, as a mother today, me sending my kid off into those streets. But if you had to, I mean, what’s she gonna do? She had to go to work, I had to go to school. We had to live. That’s how it is,” Keys said. “I am so grateful to her for choosing me. And I really appreciate her.”

Today, the singer is a mother. The 39-year-old said last year that she struggled with her four-year-old son not wanting to appear in public with a rainbow manicure.

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