Tracee Ellis Ross is honoring her mother Diana Ross as she celebrates her 80th birthday!
On Tuesday, the pop icon turned 80 — and in celebration of the major birthday, her daughter, 51, reflected on all of the milestones that she’s reached throughout her legendary career and as a mom by posting a touching Instagram tribute.
The Emmy-nominated actress fittingly posted a video featuring 80 shots of pop superstar from throughout her lifetime, including several iconic photo shoots, some of her album artwork and an endearing image of the mother-daughter-duo. The slideshow was accompanied by Ross’ classic song “If We Hold On Together,” and in the caption, the black-ish star opened up about how much she admires about her mom.
She began, “Oh how I love you Mom. 80 incredible pictures of you in 80 seconds to celebrate your 80th birthday today ♥️.”
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Tracee continued by sharing that she looks often up facts about her life, since her mother’s career is so well-documented, and found it “staggering” to see how much she accomplished in the span of 1976 to 1985 when she and her sisters were born. (Rhonda Ross Kendrick was born to Diana and Berry Gordy in 1971, then the following year, she and first husband Robert Ellis Silberstein welcomed Tracee, and Chudney Ross was born in 1974. Her sons Ross Arne Naess and Evan Ross, whom she sharees with ex-husband Arne Naess Jr., were born in 1987 and 1988, respectively.)
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She wrote, “my mama @dianaross put out an album a year, did multiple tours, produced and starred in a variety of TV specials, shot Mahogany and The Wiz, produced her legendary 1983 Central Park concert with an estimated 800,000 attendees (when the first night of the show got rained out, she chose to pay for and re-do it the next night), left Motown, purchased an entire floor of a prestigious Fifth Avenue building, bought an estate outside of New York, and an office building where she where she manufactured Diana Ross Pantyhose and other merchandise, and other huge personal life moments?”
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The Girlfriends alum noted the historical context of just how significant member of The Supremes’ feats were at the time. “This was at a time when women couldn’t apply for credit or serve on a jury, and didn’t have access to birth control but could get fired for being pregnant. (Mind blown),” Tracee added.
“By 1977, she’d launched herself into a wildly successful, independent life as an artist, a mother and a Black woman,” the TV star wrote. “She had a huge iconic career on her shoulders, with no manager, no partner, by the end of that decade no mother, and three little girls to raise.”
The Golden Globe winner continued, “And those are just some of the Google headlines. What’s not available on Google is that she was also waking us up for school (she is the best waker-upper), having family dinner and bath time, recording while we slept, planning our birthday parties, play dates, doctor’s appointments, settling arguments between siblings…you know, all the mom stuff.”
She concluded the heartfelt tribute by reiterating how much the Grammy winner means to her by simply being her mother. “Amidst shattering records, breaking glass ceilings, and setting a new bar for style and glamour, we, her children, were always her priority. As I often say, ‘Diana Ross’ the beloved global icon is legendary but she doesn’t hold a candle to my Mama,” the performer said.
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Tracee has long spoken about how much respect she has for the “I’m Coming Out” singer and maintained a close relationship with her over the years.
In a 2022 interview with InStyle, she told the outlet about how relatively normal her childhood was, despite being raised by a pop star. “My mom was extremely present,” she said. “Waking us up for school, sitting for dinner with us and giving us a genuine, anchored, real family life and home life. The most important thing to my mother was not fame, it was her children.”
The actress won’t be the only member of the Ross family celebrating their mom’s special day.
Last month, the musician’s son Evan spoke to PEOPLE at a New York Fashion Week event about his mom’s epic birthday plans and how they were planning on throwing a big bash.
“My mom’s 80th birthday is coming up. I’m not able to say where yet, but it will be something to be remembered,” the actor, 35, teased.
He added, “I think she’s going to go all in, which is exciting.”