Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Danielle Brooks Talks New Film, Early Career Struggles, Hollywood, Broadway, Motherhood + More

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INTERVIEW: Danielle Brooks Talks New Film, Early Career Struggles, Hollywood, Broadway, Motherhood + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hold up.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Every day I wake up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Wake your ass up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 3: The Breakfast Club. You all finished or y'all done?
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Morning, everybody.
• 0:09
  Speaker 4: It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: We are The Breakfast Club. Lawna Rose is here as well.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Yes, indeed.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: We got a special guest in the building.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: My South Carolina brethren, Danielle Brooks.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Sister.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Brethren, sisters, family, all the same thing.
• 0:23
  Speaker 5: You can call him sister.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: You can definitely call him sister.
• 0:26
  Speaker 5: He act like a southern old auntie. I always tell
• 0:29
  Speaker 5: him that.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: How are you feeling?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I feel so good. I'm glad to be here. It's
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: been a long time.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: I know you just said that. It's been what, 13 years?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, something like that. Yeah, it's been a long time.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I was in Orange is the New Black, and I
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: was a baby. I was probably like 23 when I
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: came in here.
• 0:43
  Speaker 5: You were 23 on Orange is the New Black?
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I was 22 when I started.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was a baby.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: And you've done so much since that, what was that,
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: 13 years ago?
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, 12, 13 years ago.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Jesus Christ.
• 0:54
  Speaker 5: You have had such a.
• 0:56
  Speaker 6: impactful elevated career at like starting so young I didn't
• 1:00
  Speaker 6: know like that.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Was I just graduated Juilliard at 21 had my little
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: struggle year and then at 22 popped into Oranges in
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the Black wow yeah and then have been working ever
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: since thank.
• 1:10
  Speaker 7: God what did Juilliard prepare you for and what could
• 1:15
  Speaker 7: it never and also what could it never prepare.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: You for you know what it's funny because I sat
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: with Juilliard alum yesterday and the current students all black
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: you know students And we were talking about this, and
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the one thing that Juilliard Can't give you is the talent,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: is the heart, is the soul portion. They can give
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: you the technical. They can give you a toolbox for that.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: But other than that, you know, and it's funny. When
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I did Orange is the New Black, I remember being
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: interviewed once, and they were like, what did Juilliard give you?
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: And I said nothing at the time, which is not
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: true because they did give me the skills, but they
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: couldn't teach me that heart stuff. They couldn't teach me
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the grit and all of that. So I always say
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: take what you need and leave the rest from any–
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: you know, conservatory that you go to. Any place, anybody
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: that gives you advice, take what you need and leave
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the rest.
• 2:02
  Speaker 6: A lot of people think that when you get, you know,
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: in these big Hollywood careers and these roles that it's
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: keeping with you, like you talk about their heart.
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: That's like something that's like inputting in you. You were
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: raised a certain way.
• 2:14
  Speaker 6: But people try to, I think, sometimes separate the two.
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: Talk a bit about like keeping your root amidst all
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: of that because you're in Juilliard, you're, you know, doing
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: all these things. It's completely opposite of you know, what
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: some of us, like, come from and know.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I mean, look, I definitely am not a
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Nepo baby. My baby will be a Nepo baby.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Talk that talk.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Talk that talk. But, no, I came from, you know,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: where Charlamagne is from. I'm from South Carolina, small town.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Grew up in the church. You know, like, low to
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: mid-class family. Definitely only at the time all I saw
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: was the radio people or the news people on TV
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: that made me say, well, maybe I can do that.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But to get to
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: this point, to get to this moment in my career,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the only thing that really keeps me grounded is one God, faith. Period.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Number one source. And then my family, my friends, they
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: are my foundation. They keep me grounded. They tell me
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the truth, even if I don't want to hear it.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: So I make sure to keep positive people around me.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: That is important. Negative, don't come over to the Danielle
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: camp at all.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: And then your godmother left you 20 grand to go to.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: College, right?
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Yes, she did. Yes, she did. She was actually a Delta,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated member. Miss Annie Edge, she
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: was an older woman, had no kids, had no husband.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: We connected. I asked her to be my godmother at five,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: six years old. She said yes. I was by her
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: hip all the time. We were tight, so I'm a
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: little old lady, too. And I am a little saucy
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: old lady, too. And, you know, she just was so
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: filled with love. But she passed away when I was
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: 15 from cancer. And it was like one of the
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: first people that I ever lost to that capacity. And
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: lo and behold, she left $ 20, 000 in her will for
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: me to go to college. And thank God she did
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: because we needed every dollar.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Every last cent of that, absolutely.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: You know why I love that?
• 4:08
  Speaker 7: Because she believed in aversion. of you that she never
• 4:13
  Speaker 7: even lived long enough to see it.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: But God put that in her back then.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: To see it, Charlemagne.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: To see it.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Hell yeah, and I put Give It Back. I started
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a monologue competition in South Carolina called CCC Monologue Competition.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: It's in honor of August Wilson, but obviously my godmother,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: and it's my way of giving back. We do scholarships
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: and things like that, and And to give back to
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the kids. So, yeah, I think of it all the time.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: You know, like the people that we love, all of
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: us have those people that don't get to see the
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: fruits of their labor, of what they poured into us.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: It's pretty awesome. So just honoring her, you know, while
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: she's looking down.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: When did you know that this was going to be
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: your path, right? When did you know that it wasn't
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: going to be something else? And how difficult was it
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: to continue on when you got the nose, when there
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: might not have been enough money for tuition and books.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: And board and all that?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I think God always told me this was for me.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: He always had said, you just got to trust me.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I got you. It might not look how you think
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: it will look, but I got you. And I had
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: to lean on that. But when it first hit me,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I think it was my first yes, getting into Juilliard.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Somebody said, yes, you have talent and we're willing to
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: like pour into you for four years in New York.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I'm like, OK, OK. But it wasn't until that and then.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I think once I learned I was here to stay,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: which I knew it inside, but you have all these doubts, right?
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: So I think I knew it like fully when I
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: got Oscar nominated. I think that I know it took
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a long time to be that confident. But I think
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: that was the moment I was like, no, I'm having
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: longevity in this industry. I'm not going anywhere. But before that,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: it was like that climb, like so hungry and so.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: like just wanting it so bad and like, can I
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: hold on to it? But there was something once that
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Oscar came around, the Oscar nomination came around, there was
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: something that settled in me. It was like, girl, you
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: got this. Like you are that bad. You got it.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: So let's talk about the doubt. But before you go there,
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: I want to talk about the doubt too, right? Cause
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: living in New York.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: City, you see so many people that graduated from Juilliard.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: You see them in restaurants working.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: It was one of them.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: And I went to one restaurant the other day where
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: they actually sing while they're serving the food.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Oh, yes. I have a friend that does that right now.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: It's super challenging.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: So with all that, you know, you hear all the
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: time that Broadway is not doing well and movies are
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: not doing well. What were the doubts that you had
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: and how did you overcome those doubts?
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Oh, DJ Envy, I had so many doubts. I think
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I just, I don't know. I just didn't believe that
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: it was real. You know, I think something in me
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: was just so I don't know, and disbelief that I
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: could have that greatness in me. I think growing up,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I was taught about humility a lot and just to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: kind of downplay yourself. And that did not serve me
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: well at all, you know. And so I think playing
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Sophia on Broadway is the thing that reminded me because
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: I had a song called Hell No. And so singing
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: that every night was me saying hell no to my fears.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Hell no that I can't do this. You know what
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: I'm saying?
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: And so I just, when you sing that song for
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: a year of your life, eight shows a week, it
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: does something to you. You know what I'm saying? And
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: so that was one of those moments. But I definitely
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: had a lot of doubts, and I had to find
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a way to overcome them through therapy, through, you know,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: spiritual work with God and all of the things. But, yeah,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: that's a little bit of.
• 7:40
  Speaker 7: 2 Corinthians 5-7, we walk by faith, not by sight.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, come on, somebody. That's what that is.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: What about when you... We're 15, right?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, what you want to know?
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: And your father took you to see... The Color Purple.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: The Color Purple.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it changed my life.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: And years later, you end up playing so cute.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Charlamagne!
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you something. Let me tell you. Let
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: me tell y'all.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: Let me tell y'all how good God is, okay?
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: So, yes, Dad took me to see Color Purple at 15.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: That was the first Broadway show I saw. Ten years later,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I end up starring in it after auditioning for so
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: many Broadway shows, not getting them. First one I get
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: is the Color Purple. Mm-hmm. Takes me to get my
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: first Grammy. Takes me to get my first Tony nomination.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Next thing you know, 10 years later, they asked me
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to do the movie. Well, I auditioned for the movie.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: And get this Oscar nomination. The thing that blows my
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: mind about all of it is yesterday I met a
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: young woman named Angel. And her name was Angel. From
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: South Carolina. First Broadway show that she saw. was the
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: piano lesson with me and Sam Jackson and J.D.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Washington.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: First Broadway show. Then she says from there she looked
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: in the playbill and saw that I was from South
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Carolina and that I went to, she just did some
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: research and found out I went to this governor's school
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: in high school, right? So she ends up applying, using
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the monologue from the piano lesson, gets into this high school.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: It's a conservatory. You live there for two years on campus.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: It's really fancy. She gets into that, then decides to
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: audition for Juilliard and gets in. Wow. I met her yesterday.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying is some God shit going on.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Hold on. So she went to the governor's school?
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Was she the only black? Because you were the.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Only black girl.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: I was the only black girl.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I was too busy crying. I didn't
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: ask her that question. I was too busy in my feels.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: But how insane.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: That's God.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: It's God. So we just got to continue to do
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the work and walk in what he's telling us to do.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: That's why I just love what we do. A lot
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: of times we talk about with the art, we're not
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: doing rock and science. We're not saving lives as doctors,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: but we are. We actually are changing people's lives and
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: the trajectory of what they see for themselves. I look
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: at you, Charlamagne, I'm like, God damn. And like, Lord,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: forgive me for using your name in vain, but you
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying? How far you have come.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: In your career.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: It's insane. You know what I'm saying? So we just
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: got to keep, and it helps people, it reminds them like,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: just again, how far they can go. You know what
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: I'm saying? So yeah.
• 10:12
  Speaker 7: When you're that young, right, and you're the only in
• 10:15
  Speaker 7: a room, like the only black woman, the only black girl.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: In that drama class at government school, do you start developing.
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: or do you quietly develop a habit of proving that
• 10:23
  Speaker 7: you deserve to be in the room?
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Ooh. I think it's a little bit of both, but
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I think what messed me up in the beginning was
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: when I was at Governor's School at the high school
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: in South Carolina, I was the only black girl, yes.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: So when it came to auditioning for colleges... I was
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: really like, it can only be one. So what's this
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: other black girl over here trying to audition? No, it
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: can only be one. And then it was me and
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: one other sister in the Juilliard class of 18, because
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: they only allow 18. It was only two of us.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: And that's when I was like, oh, there's room. We're
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: going to make room. Even though they got me playing
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: soldier to the left, and playing witch number three. Like,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: there's room for all of us. And I cheerleaded the
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: hell out of my sister, and she cheerleaded the hell
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: out of me. And now she's a Tony winner, and
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I'm an EGOT nominee. But we supported each other through it.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? So it did at first
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: mess me up a little bit, but I quickly got
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: out of that mindset and was like, nah, it's room
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: for us all.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: What's the importance of learning every aspect of drama, right?
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: Because you see some people that can sing, but they
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: can't act. Or they can act and can't sing. Or
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: can act and can dance and can't. What's the importance
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: of knowing every aspect of it?
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I think it's what you want to do. You know
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying? Where you want to take it. Like,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I knew for me that the singing could take me
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: to another place.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: And you always knew you could sing?
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Or did you have to learn?
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: No, that's another one of those fears. because when you
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: assist a dark-skinned, black, plus-size woman and you went to church,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: they expect you to sound a certain way.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: They want Whitney Houston.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Okay, they want Mahalia Jackson.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: They want Tasha.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Cobbs, you know what I'm saying? And so I was
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: not those, you know, but I knew that if I
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: hid behind a character, oh, I could be Mahalia Jackson.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: You know, but singing as Danielle had always been a
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: fear of mine. But I think to your question is
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: what you want for your life. You know, like I've,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: expanded and thank you so much lauren for shouting out
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: my podcast the intermission i.
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: Watch your podcast so much number one the name of
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: it i thought was so genius because it just you're
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: just always a light i don't this is my first
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: time meeting you in person but i was perfect intermission
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: like your intermission but intermission because of your work but
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: but the conversations that you have i feel like i
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: mean it just you do a good job you you
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: just showed a side of yourself that i think it's
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: just like a homegirl so i watch it because i
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: feel like i'm with my homegirl just Learning these people.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it. We got to have you on, too.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Come to Atlanta. I'm down to come.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Please, please.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: We got to have you on. That would be amazing.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: But I've been expanding my world, you know. So I
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: think for any artist, it's like if you want more,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: you got to put more into it. Like plant those seeds.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Like for me, I know I ain't no dancer. I
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: can move. But the one, two step, you know, all
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: that stuff is not my calling. But so what I
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: did was for my Color Purple audition, I got in classes.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I paid this girl $ 50 to teach me a pas
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: de bourree sachet and make it happen. You know what
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I'm saying? So I think it's what you want. And
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: for me, I want more. I want everything that God
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: has for me.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: And I might learn along the way, he told me
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: to put this down. Don't try that, you know? But
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: at least I gave it a shot.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: Has being such a light as you are, has that
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: ever been heavy for you?
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's such a good question.
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Because I'm not perfect by any means. There's days I
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: want to cuss somebody clean out on a plane. And
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I don't. I choose the latter. You know, I have
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: to bite my tongue a lot of the times because
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: what I do know is it's so easy for us
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: to affect each other, especially the best example is New York.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: You can wake up and out your window, you hear
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: somebody cussing somebody out.
• 14:05
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: And so I just know how much we affect one another.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: And if I can do my part as a human
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: being and come with good energy and know it ain't
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: got nothing to do with me, it's probably something that
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: happened before. But then that person's life or whatever that's
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: causing them to be a little off. Like, let me
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: come with the God. You know, let me come with
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the love. And so I try to do that. And
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: if I can't do that, Lauren, I stay in the house.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? I go to my quiet
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: place so that I don't affect people in a negative way.
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: How do you navigate business, though? Because I feel like
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: you come off so, like, positive. And, like, people don't
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: be trying to play with you, like, when it comes
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: to your business. Like, how have you figured that out
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: coming from South Carolina all the way to, like, you
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: got that?
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Girl, yes, they try to play with my business.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, like, so what was that journey like for you?
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Girl, they got to go. I clip them. Clip, clip.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: But I don't have to because I got an amazing
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: team of people that I have been working with for 14,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: 15 years that'll do that for me. Good cop, bad cop.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: I can go be good cop, they can be bad
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: cop for me, and we handle it that way.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: Man, my favorite role from you, man, is Leota.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: And Adebayo, Peacemaker.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God.
• 15:13
  Speaker 7: I always wonder about that. I don't want to give
• 15:16
  Speaker 7: it away if you've never seen it, but the alternate
• 15:17
  Speaker 7: Earth episode. And I saw James Gunn said when he
• 15:21
  Speaker 7: wrote that, he sent it to you, and y'all had
• 15:23
  Speaker 7: a conversation because he wanted to make sure you were
• 15:25
  Speaker 7: comfortable with how the racism was handled.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: I want to know what you.
• 15:29
  Speaker 7: Told him And were you triggered playing that role?
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I told him, that's a great question. He did do
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: all of the things he said he did. There was
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: no Hollywood BS. He did call me. We talked about it.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: I was cool with it. Because it's a fictional world anyway.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: This world is messed up with racism. I'm down. Let's
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: have the conversation. But when I tell you, you got
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: about 40 white people chasing your ass down the street.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Lord have mercy.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: And it was not fun, let me tell you, trying
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: to jump a gate and, like, jump into a pool,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: you know, because you have 40 white people chasing you. Yeah,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: take you back, you know, to what our people had
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: to go through. And that was the hard part, you know.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: But I was willing to do that, to have that conversation,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: especially in that kind of world, comic book world. You know,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: there's not many of us in that world to begin with.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: And every time we get to enter that space, or
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: most times, they always have something to say. about us
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: being in those spaces, but we belong in those spaces
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: as well. So I'm very grateful to James Gunn for
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: putting me in that position. I never would have thought
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: that I would get to do that.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: Do you like being in those conversations?
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: Or is it ever a burden being the black person
• 16:40
  Speaker 7: in the room who gets asked, is this racist?
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: Is this racist?
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, who wants to really have that conversation?
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: But if I'm the one to do it, then I'll
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: do it. But yeah, it gets.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Tiresome. You know, I'm sure that you felt that way
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: at times as well. It gets tiresome. But hey, I
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: guess I'm that person.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: Is we getting to season three?
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: No. We're not. I know. I know.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: How?
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I know. I know.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: It ended all crazy.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I know. I hope James. But that's the thing. James
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Gunn is in control. He can do what he want
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to do. Hopefully he'll bring us into other things that
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: he does.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: But yeah.
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: That's crazy.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I know. I know.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: They got to keep the universe. I mean, the universe
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: is going to keep going.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Because he's- I know. We were supposed to do something
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: with Viola Davis because I play her daughter. She plays
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Amanda Waller. I play her daughter in it. And we
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: were supposed to do a spinoff, but I don't know.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: It didn't work out.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: That's crazy.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: We'll see what the future holds, because that would be fire.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: That would be so fire.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: But he's going to leave Peacemaker and that other.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Child, you got to have James Gunn come on here
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and talk to you. Damn.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Now, your new movie, If I Go, Will They Miss Me? Yes.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: You shot that in 22 days?
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Break that down. That's no time at all.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: No time at all. And we shot it in the hood.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: And it looks amazing. It is so good.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: I cannot wait.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: That's the first thing she said.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: She said, it looks good for a shot in 22 days.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: It is so good.
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: The coloring, the way, like, it's very much, I saw
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: you say it gives a Moon Knight feel, and it does.
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: It's like the color and the shadow and everything. That's
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: a lot in 22 days.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Girl, and Walter Thompson Hernandez is that dude. He is
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: the next Barry Jenkins or plug in amazing director. He's
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: that guy. He directed it. He wrote it. He edited himself.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: You know, he started out as a short film at
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Sundance and now has moved over into a feature with J.L.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Fonz from Pea Valley. And he's also in Lanterns. But
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: the story is a love letter to Watts and a
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: love letter to fathers and sons. And it hits on
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: all of the things. And it's so beautiful, y'all. If
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: you love cinema, this movie is for you. If you
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: just need, I mean, if you got a child, you
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: are a child, this movie is for you.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: I love the conversation about fathers and sons, right?
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: I have four girls, two boys. And watching it, I
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: love my daughters. I hug my daughters. I kiss my daughters.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: I don't necessarily do the same for my sons. And
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: it is not because of I don't love him, but
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: it's like you have a different relationship.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Maybe that's what this is about.
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: And I was like, yeah, I need to do that more.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: I need to hug and kiss my son and let
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: him know I love him in a way that we
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: usually don't do.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: And DJ Envy, this one is so great because the
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: young boy... He sees his father as a God.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: As a hero. That's all he wants.
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: You were talking about the comic books and stuff. He
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: romanticizes his dad as this mythical character.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: It's so beautiful. And the God that he is, but
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: he doesn't see himself like that. And the thing is,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the father is struggling with allowing the boy to continue
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: to stay in this innocent place. Like this childlike wonder.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: And use his imagination. A lot of us do that
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: because we want to protect. our children and show them
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: what the real world is like. And we, a lot
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: of times adults say too, well, I grew up all right.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: My parents didn't hug me and my parents didn't do this,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: but I came out all right.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Did you though?
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Like, do you have an issue with like, emotional intelligence
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: or you know are you able to let somebody hug
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: you like you know there's these things that we say
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: we are good but are we really and this movie
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: asks you to look at yourself and reflect you know
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: and then John Batiste did the music for it like
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: it's it's so special and I just it's the little
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: engine that could is how I describe this movie so
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: like to be able to talk about it on this
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: platform is a huge deal because I think it can
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: get there to the masses, but we gotta, like, we
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: gotta do the work. You know what I'm saying?
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: You got involved in this film not because of the paycheck,
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: but because of the passion.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I didn't make nothing. Respectfully.
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: What I thought was interesting though, right, like you probably
• 20:48
  Speaker 6: get scripts and things coming at you like crazy and you,
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: this one, you're like, not only do I want to
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: be a part of it, but you're out here like
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: driving the conversation about it.
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: You get a chance to really dive into the art.
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: Is it you wanting to refresh and reset yourself because
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: Hollywood can be totally, like, scripts go, go, go, and
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: this is, like, colorful and it's passion? Or is it
• 21:08
  Speaker 6: you really being like, we need to center more of this?
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: We need to center more of this. You know, I
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: think when you're in a position... Like I am. I'm
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: so grateful to have movies like Minecraft or have TV
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: shows like Peacemaker. You know, those are the shows that
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I love, get to the masses and pay the bills.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: But then there's another group of movies and TV shows
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: that really move the culture and make us better people, hopefully.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: And so that's why I said yes. That's why I'm
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: putting my own money behind this as an EP group.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: to promote this movie and, you know, to support what
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: this director is putting out because it's necessary work, yo.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I don't like watching movies that I'm
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: in a ton of times. Like, I really don't. Like,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I watch it once and I'm done.
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: I have watched this movie probably four or five times.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Every time I see something different. Every time I'm fucked up. Like,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I am crying. And a good cry. Like, you know,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: like a healing cry. Like, I'm like, and a cry
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: of like, I've come so far as a person. You
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying?
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: You a mom, a wife. I'm a mom.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I'm a wife, yo. I go through a lot of stuff.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: You know, like, I'm not saying like I've had a
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: lot of trauma and all this stuff, but like, I'm
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: a real person. I go through shit.
• 22:20
  Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? In this movie, it just
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: reminded me like, yeah, I'm making the right steps as
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: a mom. I'm making the right steps as a wife.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? So I think everybody should
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: go see it and do a little bit of this
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: crying thing.
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: There was a scene where you apologized to your son.
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: First of all, your son in the movie, he is
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: the most stoic but impactful child actor I've ever watched, right?
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: But you apologized to him in that scene. And I
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: saw you say that was improv. That was improv. And
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: you're emotional here with us right now.
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: What are you learning more about yourself as a parent
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: as you watch?
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: I hope that's not a used tissue.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: No, man. Why would I do that?
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: No, because it's all crumpled up.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: It's all crumpled up.
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: You know how your auntie would pull something out of
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: her purse and charge?
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: No, because I come in just like that.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: And it ain't.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: She just been holding it.
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: It ain't did nothing to me.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: I can't wait.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: They were taking too long with the Kleenex.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to hear what y'all think about this
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: film because I just cannot wait. I cannot wait to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: hear what y'all think.
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: I think it's amazing.
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: I think it paints another side of, we talk about
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: escapism as a bad thing sometimes because you don't deal
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: with who you.
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: Are because you're trying to get away from it.
• 23:31
  Speaker 6: I think this movie shows you what the positive, how
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: escaping something can positively impact you if you have the
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: right support around you. Like your son in the movie,
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: like him drawing and having this whole magical world.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: With the right support, he becomes genius.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think we have a responsibility as parents, aunties, uncles,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: whatever it is, to really pour into our children.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: And I think we got work to do. You know
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying? Because at the end of the day,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: we're all big kids. children trying to act like adults. Like,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: you know, like we all actually don't know what the
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: heck we doing. You know what I'm saying? Um, so
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I think this movie is a reminder to, to go
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: search for the help that you need. You know, if you,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: y'all are all big advocates for therapy and things like that. Like,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I think you have to do the work and, um,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: especially if you want to get rid of like generational
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: curses and make them generational blessings is what I think.
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: So is that the emotion you were feeling? Like you're
• 24:36
  Speaker 6: watching this, like, wow. Like, I can give that to
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: this character because I grew, like, in real life.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Like, somehow God knows exactly what you
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: need or what a character needs at the right time.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: And I was going through a lot of similar things
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: at the time. And so it was very close to home.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: So when you talk about that improv, like, I know
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: what that's like. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Now,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: I'm not asking people to go do a deep dive
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: on my life. Now, you ain't going to find none. But, yeah,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: there was moments that I had felt like Lozita, you know?
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: And so that improv came from a real place.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask, did it change you as
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: a mom?
• 25:18
  Speaker 7: Oh, 100%.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: How? I am so protective of my child. I always
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: have been. But, like, the thing is there's this thing
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: where you're like, okay, I'm going to be protective of
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: my child, but... you might start teaching them it's okay
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: to accept certain behaviors.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: What do you mean?
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Like you don't want them to say, okay, X person
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: is talking to me disrespectful. So you tell your child,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: just ignore your uncle, just ignore your daddy, just ignore
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: your mama. No, you can't accept that. And a child
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: who's five, six, seven years old, they don't have the language,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: nor can they, to a grown adult. So who has
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: to step in? Another grown adult. And so that's what
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. It's like I'm proud of myself for saying, like,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: my family, we're going to do this right. You know
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying? And I'm glad that the people that
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: are in my life did the work so that we
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: could heal as a family. And now we're better for it.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: We're so strong. We're tight. She's thriving. You know, I'm thriving.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Everybody's doing so well. My husband's amazing partner. So yeah,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: that's what I mean. It's like, we got to do
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the work because sometimes these, a lot of times these
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: kids cannot advocate for themselves.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: You give yourself grace because it's easy to beat up
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: on yourself. Right. But, We always say there is no
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: instruction manual.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: There's none.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: When the baby's born, they don't give you a pamphlet
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: and be like, here you go.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: You got to figure it out.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: And everybody has to go through stuff. That's life. You
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying? He talks about flying, right, in
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the film. And he's always referencing the planes and stuff.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: But we all are going to have to go through
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: turbulence in this life to get to the destination. And
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: I can't. stop my baby from going through turbulence. But
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: what I can do is say we're not going to
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: have it in this house. You know what I'm saying?
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: And that's what I would encourage other people to do.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: And I think that's the importance of the work that
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: we do. I don't like to share. I don't want
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: to overshare any part of my life because that is mine.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I don't owe anybody anything. But what I will say there,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: we all do have testimonies and things that can help
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: other people be better human beings.
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: Has becoming a mom changed your relationship with ambition? Because,
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: you know, once you have a child, now you got
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: to start saying no.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: I know. I do say no a lot. It does.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: It makes me more pointed. Like, I now live in
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: the South. I don't live in New York anymore, and
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: I miss it. I lived here 14 years.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but that cost of living down South so much better.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: It's nice. I sit on my porch and drink lemonade.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? Like, I love it. I
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: love it so much. Um, but so when I come
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: and step out of my home, I'm here to work.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I'm here to get the thing done. But the great,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: excuse me, the great part about it too, is I
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: can take her with me. So when we shot Minecraft too,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: I took her to New Zealand with me and I'm
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: giving this little six year old that kind of experience,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And that to me is
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: like the coolest thing. Like, She's a nephro baby. That's beautiful.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I know I keep saying it and I'm joking, but
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: what I mean is there's opportunities. I'm exposing her to
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: so much more. You know what I'm saying? Hoping that
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: it eases her life a little bit more than mine was.
• 28:43
  Speaker 7: You're always very kind to yourself, but has motherhood forced
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: you to be even more kinder because you know your
• 28:49
  Speaker 7: daughter's watching?
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Hell yeah. Hell yes. There's so many conversations I've had
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: with my husband where I'm like... I don't like how
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: this person did me, and I think da-da-da. And he
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: would say to me, well, what would you tell your daughter?
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: I'm like, dang. I guess I should act like that,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: shouldn't I? So it's definitely changed the way in which
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I approach people because it's how I would want her
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: to approach. Or even how I tell her how to
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: handle certain situations in her little six-year-old life when the
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: little girl pull her hair at school. I have to
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: talk to her in a different way.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: What do you tell her?
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Two things. One, go to the teacher. Let her handle it.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Second time, if she don't handle it, I'm coming up
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: to that school. And handle your business. If you need
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: to pull her hair back, you're going to pull that
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: little girl hair back. She going to learn today.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 29:40
  Speaker 7: Worse than the hair pulling? Well, the hair pulling is
• 29:41
  Speaker 7: bad too. When they just want to touch the little
• 29:43
  Speaker 7: black girl's hair.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Why? Why? Why y'all ain't want to touch me? That's
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: funny you mention it because I did Karma's World with Ludacris.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: And there's an episode like that where the little girls,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: they have a sleepover and the white girls want to
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: touch her hair. And she's like, mommy, you don't want
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: to touch my hair? But yeah, that's a real thing.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: That's a real thing that happens now as a grown
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: woman where people are touching your hair.
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: But you know how bad that pisses you off when
• 30:04
  Speaker 6: that happens to you, right?
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: Like, how do you talk to your baby?
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: You're not a dog.
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but like how you talk to your baby where
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: like you don't... Oh, I.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Thought you said you got a dog.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: No, I don't.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: You said you not a dog. You not a dog.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Like stop touching me.
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: But it make you feel like that.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Or when they like, oh my God. Like you an animal.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: They can't even put the words. They be like, is
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: that the... No, this is my favorite. Oh my gosh,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: your hair is grown so fast.
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: Come on now.
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: But how do you.
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: Not you, but what if there was a woman that
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: you knew who had, like, bald spots?
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: And you saw it grow in.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: That is real.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: I know, but I'm saying it as a compliment.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Like, oh, my God.
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: Don't feed into him.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: I ain't feeding him. I ain't messing with him.
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: No.
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: It'd be the... I didn't know I was being.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: Offensive when I said that to you.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: You said that to somebody.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: I said it to Lauren, but I've met.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Them for real.
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: Come on now.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: You don't know if women have alopecia and the things
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: that they go through. No, I knew what it was. Hey, hey, Charlamagne,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: let me tell you something.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: She did tell me what it was.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: It's a crown, okay?
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Whether it got hair on it or not.
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: You know about not having hair on a crown?
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: I don't have any.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: It's been a while. She told me why she had it.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: But then I've seen it grow in over the years,
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: so I gave her a compliment.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Now, how'd you get that compliment?
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: I was like, yo, your ball spot.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Did you say that out loud to Dean?
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: Definitely.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: He says it every day on the show. He literally said,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: you got hair.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: You got hair.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Like, people walk up to me and they be like.
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: I didn't know you were that tall. And also, I
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: don't even see a ball spot.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Anymore.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I didn't know you were that tall either. I was
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: very shocked. You have model height. You're giving model height. Yeah,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: editorial value. She's been killing New York Fashion Week, eating
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: it down. You've been out here. Yeah, I love fashion.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I really do.
• 31:40
  Speaker 6: You always had that love for fashion, or has that
• 31:42
  Speaker 6: come from, I know you talk about wanting to see representation,
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: like more brown skinned. you know, plus-sized women in the space?
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: Have you, like, intentionally been like, I'm going to be
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: the girl that pop out? I did at first, but, like,
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: you can't control the industry, right?
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: And so, for me, I have always loved fashion. It was, like,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: 2016 was the year of the plus girls, honey. And
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: I had a billboard. You remember that old P. Diddy
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: billboard that he had in Times Square?
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, with the mohawk and all that shit?
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: I took over that shit. I know that's right.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: What?
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: And Lane Bryant, it was in my undies, actually. In
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: that 16-foot... How the hell I missed that? Yeah, I
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: pull it up. Um, so yeah, I was definitely into that,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: but you know, the times come and change and all
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: of that. But, um, the, the love for it hasn't lifted.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: And I think for me, it's like, I just want
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: to feel like myself in clothes and that's the limitation
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: is like, you don't get to feel like yourself because
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: these are the only options out there. And if I
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: could help change that, that would be awesome. But also, Lauren,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: like I don't have to be that girl. Like I
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: would love to be that girl. Believe me. But if
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: it's not for me, it's not my calling. If it's
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: supposed to be somebody else, I respect that as long
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: as it gets done. Because when I tell you growing up,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: it sucked. Like looking in a magazine and not seeing
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: someone that looked like me. I remember high school, I
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: did a paper on it. Like I had picked like
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: 20 magazines and I opened all the magazines and it
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: To see who looked like me. Dark skin, plus size,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: maybe even curly hair. You ain't even got to have
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: curly hair. Nobody. The closest version of me was Raven-Symoné.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: That was it. You know what I'm saying? And she
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: don't look like me at all. So I just feel
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: like it matters so much what we put out there.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: We just had the conversation about the young girl Angel
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: from South Carolina. Having that representation matters.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: How do you learn to love?
• 33:23
  Speaker 7: Your body in a culture that has been sending you
• 33:26
  Speaker 7: messages your entire life about which bodies have.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: I love my body, honey. I do. And the thing is,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: it's gone through so many phases. I have lost 60 pounds, y'all.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: And people don't know it at all. I must have
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: been hiding that from y'all in these pictures. But I did.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: When I had my daughter, I had gained 60 pounds.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: I was almost 300 pounds.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Nobody knew that. But go back and look at some pictures.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: You're going to start seeing it. But I did the
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: work on myself, you know, and I loved myself then.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: But like the point I'm trying to make is that
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: we go through different iterations, especially as women. And I
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: love the version of myself now. Do I still want
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: to continue to work on myself to see certain things?
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Like I want to be able to wear like my
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: back out in dresses and stuff like that. Like I would,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Have desires of that.
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: You'll be having your back out.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but girl, I'm going to keep, that's my point.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have my back out, but wait until
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: I get it toned up. I'm going to really have
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: my back out. We're going to do them low dips
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: and stuff. So I just, there's like, you only get
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: one life and I want to see and experience all
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: of those things. So I'm going to keep working, but
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: do it in a healthy way and just never lose
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: myself in that. But yeah, I really do love my body.
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: When you work.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Stretch marks and all.
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: When you were pregnant and being a wife, but also
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: being out here in Hollywood, did you ever feel like
• 34:44
  Speaker 6: you lost yourself? Because your character in the movie is
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: fighting to show a platform of her own while fighting
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: for the family, right? Have you ever felt that?
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: That I've lost myself? No.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: No.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: I think that's what I'm so grateful for. When I
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: had Ludacris on my podcast, which I'm so grateful he
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: said yes to that, he talked about what success looked like,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: and he said for him was keeping his sanity. in
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: this industry, and I think that's something I pride myself on, too.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: I've never lost myself. Have I made some wrong mistakes?
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: You know, have I let ego lead sometimes and things
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: like that? Yes. But I correct it, you know what
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: I'm saying? And, again, keep people around me that remind
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: me of what's important. And I've been good. So, no,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: I haven't lost myself, and I'm grateful that I got
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: a sane mind in this crazy-ass business.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
• 35:34
  Speaker 7: Was there ever a moment where Hollywood made you question
• 35:36
  Speaker 7: something about yourself?
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Like, am I enough? You know, I
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: think the fashion industry more than anything has. You know, like,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: you can be an EGOT nominee and still not be
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: invited to the Met Gala. You know what I'm saying?
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: I've never been invited to the Met Gala.
• 35:51
  Speaker 6: That's crazy because you are such a big-name talent in fashion.
• 35:55
  Speaker 5: Like, we see the fashion.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: Like, you give it.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you. But, yeah, I mean, I was in
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: the biggest press tour with Color Purple, you know, thriving
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: in that, getting nominated for everything, and was not invited.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: Whole Oscar run. Whole Oscar run. And so I think
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: sometimes that makes me feel like, dang, like, Oprah has
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: said that one thing that people really want in this
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: world is just to be seen. And I have that desire, too,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: to be seen, not in a negative way, and I
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: don't feel seen with that. I have a wonderful stylist,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Daniel Hawkins, that is helping me to be seen in
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: these streets. But yeah, I think that's a place where
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: I feel a little, I wish I could make a
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: bigger statement.
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: You ever connected with Sergio Hudson?
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: I know, Mr. South Carolina. We know each other. I've
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: been to his shows. I didn't get to go this year,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: but I've gone to several of his shows, and he's
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: such a great person. But, yeah, I mean, I would
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: love to go with him one day. That would be dope.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: That would make too much sense. I know, but, you know,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: they aren't always the decision makers. You know what I'm saying?
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes he's like, yeah, Sergio, you can get him.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: He's not the one that makes that decision.
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Even though Anna Wintour, tell me if I'm wrong, but
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: has stepped down from her position, that woman's still running
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: the show. You know what I'm saying? And she has
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: people in place that say yes. And from what I hear,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: these people out here will maybe sometimes hear a day
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: before that they are invited.
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: That's crazy.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: It's insane.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: But you're right, though. You got a Grammy. You got
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: a nominee. You've been invited. Huge movies like Minecraft.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Huge Minecraft. Yes.
• 37:31
  Speaker 7: Big shows like Peacemaker. Orange is the New Black is
• 37:34
  Speaker 7: a hit.
• 37:34
  Speaker 6: And in my opinion, if a fashion house is looking
• 37:37
  Speaker 6: for a girl who's like representation for people, like you've
• 37:41
  Speaker 6: always been there.
• 37:42
  Speaker 5: You've always been fashionable.
• 37:43
  Speaker 6: Would you even like to, when the invite comes, is
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: this something that you would even, like you want to go,
• 37:48
  Speaker 6: but like it's kind of like y'all been stunting on
• 37:50
  Speaker 6: me this whole time.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: At this point, it's like nah. I don't operate that way.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: I know people that do, but I don't. Because that's
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: their problem. I'm going to go have me a good time. Like,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: y'all kids. You know what I'm saying? I ain't got
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: time for that. Like, okay. So I'm going to stop
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: myself from enjoying myself and maybe even getting another deal
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: or having a relationship with somebody because of somebody else. No.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: I'm going to that party. And I at least want
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: to experience it one time. You know, I would love
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: to experience it one time. So we'll see what's in
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: the stars.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: Do you ever get tired of having to be representation?
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: Sometimes you just want to be Danielle.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: I think that's me being representation. I am Danielle. You,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: whoever is supposed to connect with me will connect with me.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: And to be honest, I don't think my representation is
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: only stuck at being a plus size dark skin girl.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: I think my representation expands that. I think orange is
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the new black taught me that, you know, that the,
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: it's almost that thing they say about like the more
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: specific you are in a story, the more it resonates
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: with more people. And I think that's the thing that
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: I'm aiming for. I want, You to relate to me
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: through parenthood. You know what I'm saying? Me and you
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: through fashion. Me and you through South Carolina. I think
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: that's what representation is. It compilates. I think that's the
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: way you say the word. But y'all know what I'm
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: trying to say. It's so much larger than just the thing.
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: That multi-connection. Multi-connection. Is that why you launched your podcast, Intermission?
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: Because I was surprised to see you do a podcast
• 39:21
  Speaker 6: that seemed so free because I feel like with the
• 39:24
  Speaker 6: type of career that you have, it would normally be
• 39:26
  Speaker 6: kind of like PR protected a bit because of all the...
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: political things at play when you are like on those
• 39:31
  Speaker 6: Oscar runs.
• 39:32
  Speaker 5: And stuff like that.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: That's a great question. I think for me, the reason
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: I started the intermission, there's so many interviews, including things
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: that I've seen with y'all, watch you with Miss Pat,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: I've watched you with so many, Birdman, I'll be, y'all
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: be with everybody, right? But I watched these interviews and
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: And I learn so much, you know, about myself and
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: by people sharing more about who they are. And so
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: to be honest, I've been doing this since 2011. Right
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: when I came out of school at a Juilliard, I
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: had no money. I was working at a restaurant. I
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: scraped up $ 357 to get a camera. Get a camera
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: because nobody was hiring me as an actress. So I
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: go to use the Juilliard studios and get in there
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: and got no good lighting, got no good sound, but
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: we're going to make it work. And I was interviewing
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: Corey Hawkins, Devon Joy Randolph, Tiana Pears. I was interviewing people.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Get Orange is New Black. And at the time, my
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: team tells me the quality of your podcast or YouTube
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: channel at the time is not matching where you're going.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: So I took it down. And so cut to doing
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Color Purple three, four years later or, you know, three,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: four years ago. I was like, I want to do
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: this podcast thing again. So I'm excited. I shoot four episodes,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: have great guests. The quality is matching now. And it
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: was this battle of like, do I do what the
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: team wants me to do, who I respect, or do
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: I do what I want to do? And I ended
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: up going with the team and them saying, hey, if
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: you get Oscar nominated, let's hold off. So I held off.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: And so here we are. I said, no more holding off.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do this thing that's in my heart.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: And so that's how, you know, the intermission got launched.
• 41:10
  Speaker 6: Did you navigate the convo as well? The convo you
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: had with Kandi, you know, she's going through everything, right?
• 41:15
  Speaker 6: And the way that you navigated through her divorce conversation,
• 41:18
  Speaker 6: it didn't feel like it was like media, headline, whatever.
• 41:22
  Speaker 6: She was so comfortable with you because you have a
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: prior relationship, but you knew the questions to ask, but
• 41:27
  Speaker 6: also the follow-up questions were great. And I was like, oh,
• 41:30
  Speaker 6: she really, because sometimes with celebrities in these podcast platforms,
• 41:33
  Speaker 6: Y'all have producers and it's like question here, question there.
• 41:36
  Speaker 6: I do all of them myself. Yeah, like y'all just
• 41:38
  Speaker 6: talked about hanging out in Amsterdam for a while. And
• 41:40
  Speaker 6: I was like, oh, okay. You navigate the conversation as well.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: I do all the work on myself when it comes
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: to asking the questions. I also have been interviewed so
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: many times, so I know what annoys the hell out
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: of me. And I know what works. And it's really
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: when people like you are listening. That's the main thing.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: People have to listen. A lot of times people... This
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: is a question. They don't listen.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: They don't listen or take the time. You know, just
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: a minute ago, you asked me a very deep question,
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: but you were waiting for that answer. If you would
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: have said something, I would have went on and not
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: have given you anything. But you took that time to
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: hear me and say, I'm open. What you got, Danielle?
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: And so I said, I'll give a little. And that's
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: what I've been learning, too, along the way. Like, I
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: just went to another podcast, and they told me it's
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: about giving of yourself a little bit, too, sharing a
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: little bit about yourself, which has been hard. when you
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: talk about the PR stuff. Because I'm like, oh God,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: I don't want to share too much.
• 42:32
  Speaker 6: Not that you've been hiding, but you've always crafted your
• 42:35
  Speaker 6: brand where we knew what we needed to know, and
• 42:38
  Speaker 6: we still loved you.
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: But you're really open on the podcast. You talk about
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: a lot.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: I've been talking about some things, so y'all better go
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: watch it before I stop talking about some things.
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: But you created a safe space for yourself.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: I did, yeah. And it's been a little hard. It's
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: been a little hard to say, okay, I'm going to
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: open up about some stuff. But I think it's going
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: to be great. And I hope that my next season
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: can be in New York. It will be in New
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: York because that way I can get some guests that
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: I want, truly, truly want. Because I think it's been
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: a little challenging being in the A. Really? Yeah.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: I think there are more people in the A than
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: New York.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: No, I think what happens in Atlanta, people come through.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: They come through real quick, and then they're out. And
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: they don't stay. And so that's where it's been a
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: little challenging. And also, Atlanta's music heavy. So you're going
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: to get a lot of rappers, or you'll get a
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: lot of housewives.
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: I think Atala Perry shot so much in Atlanta that
• 43:34
  Speaker 4: you would see more and more actors and actresses.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Not lately. That's what made me move to Atlanta.
• 43:39
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: Because I had three jobs. I had a renovation show.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: I had Color Purple at the time, and I had
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: Peacemaker coming up. So I was like, I'm moving to Atlanta.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: This is great. My parents are close. So it was
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: a lot of work. And now, no, it's not like that.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: It's changed a lot.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: What do you prefer more, doing movies or Broadway?
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: I like both for different reasons. I love Broadway because
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: it's live. You never know what the heck is going
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: to happen. I think it's just more visceral of a response. Like,
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: you feel the audience, you know?
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: Immediately.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: But that TV is something special about that TV and film, too. One,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: it does pay all my bills.
• 44:16
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because Broadway ain't doing it. And I've always said
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: I think Broadway actors should make what TV actors make
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: because the work is insane.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: How different is it?
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: Because you hear all these, you know, like you'll hear
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: celebrities come to Broadway for a month or so.
• 44:30
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: I always wondered, I was like, is it the same
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: amount of money?
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Hell no. When they come to Broadway, it's for the love.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: Hell no. It is for the love, honey. No, you
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: are not. No, no, not at all. Like, I don't
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: know how you, no, no, no. You can't pay no
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: rent with that, child.
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: Even when you're starring in a hit?
• 44:48
  Speaker 7: No.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: No. You can't, no. It's disrespectful. How much Broadway actors?
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: The tickets ain't cheap, though.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: You think the actors getting that? They're not. Eight shows
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: a week. There's only seven days in a week. No, sir.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: The actors in Broadway are not getting paid nearly as
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: much as they should be. It's disrespectful. Wow. Yeah, it's
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: a lot of work. And the conditions aren't always the best.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: You know, like, you'll be in a space, and it's mad, like, dust,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: you know, and you got to sing, and it's just
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: old buildings. You know what I'm saying? It's just not ideal,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: but you make it work. And when I was on Broadway, like,
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: I felt like an athlete. You know, like, I couldn't
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: go anywhere. I was doing Orange is the New Black
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: and Color Purple at the same time. So it was
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: a lot on the body, like, wearing scarves every... night,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: couldn't celebrate, couldn't go out. You have to shut down
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: and just be in the work or your body's going
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: to tank on you.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: It's my last question.
• 45:52
  Speaker 7: You've spent the first part of your life asking the
• 45:56
  Speaker 7: world to make room for you.
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: Now the world's made room for you.
• 46:00
  Speaker 7: What do you believe you're supposed to do with the room?
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: What am I supposed to do with the room? I
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: think it's I think it's to... That's such a great question, man.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: I think just to remain being a vessel for people,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: to uplift people, to let them know that they need
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: to shine that light as bright as they can. Don't
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: let anybody dim your light. Don't doubt what God is
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: giving you. I feel like I'm just at this point
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: where it's like, how can I be of even more service?
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Because I've been serving, but how can I be of
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: even more service? So that's why, like, the Century Cycles continues.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: Monologue competition means so much to me because it's allowing
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: these younger generations to know somebody like myself came from
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: a small town just like you and did the thing.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? Black woman on Broadway. I'm
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: a co-founder of that. And that's a reminder to say, ladies,
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: we can set our own table. The Tonys might not
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: see us, but we see each other. So I feel
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: like I'm in this place producing, doing, you know, if
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: I go where they miss me on that, like just
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: trying to, I'm in that place of making sure that
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: I am being a platform for other people to stand
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: on too.
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: You definitely doing that.
• 47:30
  Speaker 7: You know, I got a, me and my wife, we
• 47:32
  Speaker 7: own a crystal, a couple of crystal franchises, but one
• 47:35
  Speaker 7: we got in Orangeburg. I got a South Carolina Wall
• 47:37
  Speaker 7: of Fame in there.
• 47:37
  Speaker 4: Oh, shit.
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: And I got your picture up in there.
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, shit.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: I got to go see it.
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: But you, Chadwick, Stephen Colbert. Who else we got in there?
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: You got to get some more. You know, Nicole Beharie
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: in South Carolina. Nicole Beharie's in that new movie with Yaya.
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: With Mark Wahlberg and Yaya? By any means?
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think she plays the wife in that. Oh, wow, wow, wow.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: But Nicole, yeah, she's South Carolina too. You got to
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: look her up. You'll know her when you look her
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: up for show. She's been working forever.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: Who else? I know Tiana Paris is, is well, she
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: was in Marvel.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Tiana's dope.
• 48:10
  Speaker 7: She played Miss, not Miss Marvel, Monica Rambeau.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, she did. Yes, she did. Yes, she did. And
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: she's in a new movie with John Cena. See, I'm
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: not putting my friends on. I'm talking about my people.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? But yeah, that's amazing and
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: thank you for adding me and seeing me in that way.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're an inspiration.
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: They see you, they see themselves.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: That's the way I feel. Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, what about you? Have you seen yourself like,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: when you look, back are you like damn i just
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: can't believe how far god has taken me.
• 48:38
  Speaker 7: Very grateful i feel i feel a sense of gratitude
• 48:41
  Speaker 7: every single day like you just find yourself saying thank
• 48:43
  Speaker 7: you god taking deep breaths like thank you god so
• 48:47
  Speaker 7: yes always feel a sense of gratitude.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah and what about you lauren as you've come
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: on to the show.
• 48:53
  Speaker 6: I'll be sitting here in real time sometimes like god
• 48:55
  Speaker 6: wow like this is insane like i literally it happens
• 48:58
  Speaker 6: random times a day random days, sometimes I might get emotional,
• 49:02
  Speaker 6: like all the time, like literally all the time.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: And DJ, you know, I'm going to ask you, like
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: with your kids and everything.
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: You know what, for me, it's still not believable, right?
• 49:13
  Speaker 4: I still feel like I'm that 16-year-old kid that's DJing
• 49:16
  Speaker 4: and making mixtapes, and I want to go out and
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: make sure people are, listening to my mixtape as the
• 49:21
  Speaker 4: cars drive by, you know, and having six kids, encouraging
• 49:25
  Speaker 4: them and watching them because when I first started DJing,
• 49:27
  Speaker 4: it wasn't a career.
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: My parents just wanted me to get a job with
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: a hat, which was health insurance, right?
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: But seeing what they want to do outside the box,
• 49:35
  Speaker 4: like my daughters want to dance, right?
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: I'm like, what career is that? But I don't care.
• 49:39
  Speaker 4: But whatever it is, I'm going to be all in
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: because it might be Broadway. That's why I asked a
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: Broadway question sometime.
• 49:44
  Speaker 5: They're Knicks dancers now. He is being very hard.
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: They're Knicks dancers now?
• 49:48
  Speaker 5: Are you kidding me?
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: Are you kidding me?
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: Where's dance going to take you?
• 49:54
  Speaker 5: The Knicks dancers.
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: That's major.
• 49:56
  Speaker 5: You're one of the biggest years for them.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Congratulations.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: You did good, Dad.
• 50:02
  Speaker 4: Watching them and just encouraging them and pushing them is
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: everything for me.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: Why you turn this into the intermission podcast?
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 50:08
  Speaker 6: Because I'm really curious about people.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: And that's been the best part. It's like I really
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: want to connect with people. So thank y'all for letting
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: me turn this into the intermission podcast.
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: Well, it's Danielle Brooks. We appreciate you for joining us.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning.