Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Meagan Good on Being Underestimated in Hollywood & Breaking Out of the Pretty Girl Box

Transcript

INTERVIEW: Meagan Good on Being Underestimated in Hollywood & Breaking Out of the Pretty Girl Box · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We all finished or y'all done?
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: We are The Breakfast Club. Launa Rose is here as well.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: We got a special guest in the building.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, indeed.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Megan Good, welcome back.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: What's up?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Hey, girl. How you feeling?
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: I'm feeling good.
• 0:21
  Speaker 5: And you smell good. What is that?
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: Thank you. I received that in Jesus' name. I don't
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: know what it's called. It's a perfume that Jonathan bought
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: for me that I smelled somewhere and I fell in
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: love with it. He went back a week later, and
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: I still don't know the name of it.
• 0:32
  Speaker 5: I know that's right, John.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Yes. Yes.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 6: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 6: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 4: Yes. Yes.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Yes. Yes.
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  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Yes. Yes.
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: Yes. Yes.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Yes.
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  Speaker 6: Yes.
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  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
• 0:36
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Yes. Yes. Yes.
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: Well, salute to you.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: You were just in here giving hair tutorials as well.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Hair tutorials.
• 0:42
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: I was talking about how- He said hair tutorials.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, that sounded crazy.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I was like, hair.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: It sounded like you said hair. I did not say hair.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: How does that sound like that?
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: It definitely sounded like hair tutorials.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: That's why I said hair.
• 0:53
  Speaker 5: And your tongue is big.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: That's what it sounded like.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: You know what? Reasonable doubts either.
• 0:59
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yes.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: Season four.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: It's getting spicy over here.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: You're playing a district attorney, right? Yes.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: And I think I saw you say before that if
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: you weren't an actor, you would have been a lawyer. 1,000%.
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: What is it about law and justice that has always
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: interested you? I like to argue. Poor John.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: No, no.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: That's Young Dolph. Young Dolph says she likes to argue
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: so much since law school.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: No, I do.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: I really do. I like, like, looking at facts. I
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: like having a good argument. I like playing devil's advocate.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: I don't get super emotional about what I'm trying to prove,
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: even though I can be very passionate. And I'm okay
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: with not changing someone's mind as long as we're, you know,
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: growing and educating each other through the process. But, yeah,
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: I rarely lose an argument.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: So Devil's Advocate was one of your favorite movies, huh?
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: I did like that movie.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was great.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: So you can agree to disagree in an argument then?
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: But not necessarily.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: 1,000%. Okay. 1,000%. Yeah.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Because most people that like to argue, there's no agreeing
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: or disagreeing. You better take my point or we're going
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: to keep arguing even if it takes seven days.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: But I'm like, when you argue, we were just talking
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: about this yesterday. When you argue with someone, I feel
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: like the point is not to get them to agree
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: with you, but to get them to understand where you're
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: coming from. And I think a lot of people argue
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: to try to change the other person's mind. I'm like,
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: you're going to disappoint yourself. Like, half the time a person,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: even if you have changed their mind, they have too
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: much pride to admit it. Yeah. You know, it's not
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: really about that. It's about understanding each other, I think.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: After playing a prosecutor, do you have a different perspective
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: on how justice works?
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: That's so long. But, yeah, in a way, in a way,
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: I do. I think, I mean, some people are really
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: good at their jobs. Some people aren't. And I think,
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: for me, the perspective is really interesting because I learned
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: a lot about how, you know, all this gets rolled
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: out and the research that you do and a little
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: bit about law. And so I guess I would say
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: I have a different perspective, yeah.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Now, last time you were up here, we were talking
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: about social media and you said at one point it
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: was getting to you and it was pissing you off
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: at times. Has that released at all?
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: So you don't let that affect you at all? No.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Not at all.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: No, I don't care.
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: You unplug.
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: You be like, after the internet, you don't.
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah. And then partially, too, it just doesn't bother
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: me like it used to. It used to really hurt
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: my feelings, but now I'm just like, this has nothing
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: to do with me. When somebody's saying something, a lot
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: of the times it has to do with things that
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: they've been through, their own trauma. And unfortunately, when you're
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: in the public eye, like I heard you talking about
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: earlier with the bathing suit, it's like, unfortunately, when you're
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: in the public eye to some degree- people think that
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: you're a punching bag, you know? Right. And a lot
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: of what they're doing is projecting their own issues, their
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: own things, you know, and it has really nothing to
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: do with you. So the more that you free yourself
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: of that, and then think about the people they're talking about.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: They're talking about everybody. They're talking about Beyonce. That's right. Like,
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: I'm in good company, you know?
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: If Jesus comes back right now, they'll get on his
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: ass about something.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Everything.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: You took so long. Why you took so long to
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: get it?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: What made me think about that is you did, I think,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: a yoga video. And then I think a day later,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: they made an AI. Maybe this wasn't AI. It was AI.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: They made an AI of Jonathan grabbing up one of
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the dudes because he said hi to you or something
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: like that. Oh, really? I did.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: It was weird.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: I'm like, y'all weird for that. Y'all so weird for that.
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: I laughed at it because I was like, that's not
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: even what he was wearing that day. And his shirt
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: wasn't off. He's very shy. I was like, nah. That
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: ain't it, but it was funny.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: The other video, though, when you was just walking through
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: the field.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, baby.
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: That wasn't no damn AI.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: No, that was real.
• 4:18
  Speaker 7: And that went viral. I mean, that went so viral.
• 4:21
  Speaker 7: And did people just talk about how beautiful you are
• 4:23
  Speaker 7: and the essence of you? Like, that had to feel
• 4:25
  Speaker 7: good to see the other side of it. Because I
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: saw that part.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: I saw people being like, yo.
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: And it looked like the men on the field forgot
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: why they was there.
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: They was like, hold up. I'm like, girl, go ahead.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: But AI, things like that, that don't scare you?
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: It does.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: Because it looks so real.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: It looks so real.
• 4:42
  Speaker 6: And now it's not like the beginning where you could see, obviously,
• 4:44
  Speaker 6: they were still trying to get things together and update it,
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: where you could.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: Tell, like, no, that's fake. But now you really can't tell.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Is that scary to you? It definitely is scary because
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: people can do stuff like what Envy was just talking about.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: And then also you just don't know. You just look
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: at stuff and you're just like, wait. did the bear
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: really come back after all that time? And it's like, no, no,
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: the bear did not come back.
• 5:06
  Speaker 7: There was that photo of you. You were on Runyon,
• 5:10
  Speaker 7: I think. And it was AI'd. And you had to
• 5:12
  Speaker 7: come out and say it was the pregnancy photo.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: I know, yeah. It's crazy.
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: And people weren't reporting that photo.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: It's crazy.
• 5:18
  Speaker 7: It was picking up. People thought it was a real
• 5:20
  Speaker 7: thing because it looked. And I looked at it and
• 5:22
  Speaker 7: I'm like, I didn't know if it was real or not.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: I wish it was real.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: On your way.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Thank you, ma'am.
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: Season four of Reasonable Doubt, right?
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: Now, Regina. You play Regina. And Jax was like, she's dominant, right?
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: And I feel like there will be like a challenge
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: between Regina and Jax. Is that what this is supposed
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: to be? Like, will Regina somehow end up on the
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: other side of Jax?
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: And they.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: Is this threatening, supposed to be threatening to Jax's character?
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: Well, I don't want to give it away for y'all.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: Just a little bit. What I will say is I
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: was very intentional about the dynamic. To me, and it's
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: kind of like the personality that I developed for Regina,
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: it's not about being dominant. It's just about her being
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: in her own skin and wanting to do the right
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: thing and see the right thing happen. And so I
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: intentionally went for her. Regina being just a lot softer
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: and a lot, you know, like she's still nothing to
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: mess around with.
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: You can't underestimate her character.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: Exactly. But, but I wanted it to feel like, you know,
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: instead of, because oftentimes when they try to pit women
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: against each other, you know, it's like, well, this, this,
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: this is that. And I take the approach of like, okay.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying? And that's intentional because I
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: want the dynamic between them to feel like these are
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: two very different women, you know?
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: But, but it's real easy to make it seem like
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: it's like, like it's, I don't want to say a
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: different agenda, but like you're coming for her, or it's
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: just like the clash.
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: We all going to have.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: To find out.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: So what does Regina see in Jax that makes the
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: relationship so complicated?
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: Well, I think it's more because Regina is not very,
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: what's the word? She's not very confrontational. I think Jax
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: is more like, no.
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: No, no, no.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: And I think it really stems from Regina trying to
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: get her to testify in her own trial, you know,
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: and her not being in a place yet where she's
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: ready to do that. And she feels the pressure of
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: people trying to tell her how she should respond or
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: how she should be dealing with her healing process. And
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: anybody who comes into that space, she's like, no, back up,
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: you know, which is totally understandable. So I think that's
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: the beginning of when things started to go left. Now
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: they're in court against each other in a trial, and
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: both of them feel that they're right. And so I
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: think that's where the confrontation is at this point. But
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: I don't want to tell you where it goes, but yeah,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: it's the seasons.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: What you just said is so true, because that's the
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: problem I be having with adults. You call it confrontation,
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: but I just call it some people don't know how
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: to communicate. And I always tell adults, use your words.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: You should be able to talk to me about whatever
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: the issue is. Even if I did something that hurt
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: your feelings or offended you, I would rather you talk
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: to me about it. I don't consider that confrontation.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: I don't either. And I feel like that is a
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: big issue for a lot of adults. And I'm like, y'all,
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: just express what you're feeling. And I don't know why
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: people don't, but a lot of people don't.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: What did you.
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: Bring to Regina's character that wasn't necessarily on a page?
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: Did you sit with the writers and say, I want
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: to make this character more complex, right? Because I heard earlier,
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: and when you were talking about before, earlier in your career,
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: you wanted to break out of that pretty girl box, right?
• 8:32
  Speaker 6: And so would you say this role gave you range
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: to do so, to show more range, you know?
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: I think it's definitely a character that I haven't played before.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: And for me, you know, there is what there was
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: on the page, and then there was me determining, okay,
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: how do I want to make her live and breathe?
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: What do I want her essence to be? What do
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: I want her energy to be? What do I want her...
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: passion and desire to be and figuring out all of that.
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: And then also being very intentional that she's so much
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: different than Jax. So that when you get them together,
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: you feel that these are just very much two different
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: women who are walking the path they're walking. And then
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: I think the complexities come in with stuff that they
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: had already written, which is what's going on with her
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: family and what's going on with her life and as
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: she's trying to navigate being a caregiver. And so, you know, Brandy,
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: who's on the show as well, she in real life
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: is a caregiver to her mother.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Um, it was really, we had a lot of conversations
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: where different things were going on in her life at
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: that time. And so, um, even pulling from that. And
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: then I had some stuff going on. Um, Oh, I
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: don't want to give it away. Cause I don't, that
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: hasn't happened yet, but yeah. So I had some stuff
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: going on in, in my own life, not with my mom,
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: but with my aunt. And just, I was able to
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: kind of pull from all these different things and really
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: understand what that is and what that experience is like.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: And in some ways, um, that can take over your
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: entire life. It can affect everything that you do. Even
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: the things that you're passionate about, you almost become less
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: passionate about because you're dealing with real life things at home.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Like Jess said, do you have to make sure that
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: you watch the roles that you choose now because you
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: don't want to be in that box?
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: How the hell do you break out the pretty girl box?
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: You're not waking up ugly.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: I think it's just about choosing, as you were saying,
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: things that are different than what I was able to
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: do before. And now it's just having the opportunity to
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: do that. Because in the past, a lot of times,
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: certain things I would want to go in for and
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: they just wouldn't see me. They were like, well, I
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: don't think she's really right for this. And I'm like,
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: you don't know if I'm right for this because you've
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: only seen me do one thing. And I can't show
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: you the things that I'm right for unless I have
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: an opportunity to do other things.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: And so.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: It's really interesting because my 40s have been really about
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: choosing things that make me happy, that challenge me, that
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: are completely outside the box. Harlem was a big part
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: of that. People were like, but is she funny? And
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: I was like, y'all, I'm awkward as hell. Just give
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: me a chance. I'll show you. And I love physical
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: comedy and all of that. And people were just like, well,
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: I don't know if she can do that. And I'm like,
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: just give me a chance and I'll show you what
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: I can do. So the wonderful thing is I feel
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: like the best is yet to come. I feel like
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: in every single season of my life, in my 20s,
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: I was one thing. In my 30s, I was one thing.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: In my 40s, I'm another thing. And it's been fun
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: to explore, you know, all the things that are yet
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: to come. But I don't, like people ask me what's
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: my favorite movie. I'm like, I haven't done it yet.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Side note, I think you could beat Charlamagne in arm wrestling.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Your arms are diesel right now. Thank you. I really
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: think you could beat Charlamagne.
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: In arm wrestling.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Have you seen Moms?
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah so we see him every day.
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: I don't know what what have you learned what did
• 11:34
  Speaker 7: you learn from Regina as a caretaker or caregiver about
• 11:37
  Speaker 7: the essence of like time and patience and taking your
• 11:40
  Speaker 7: time um.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: I think because of some of the things that were
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: also going on in my personal life at the time
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: that I was shooting it um time I think we
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: all have to be really really intentional about it um
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: And going back to negative commentary online, it's like when
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: you think about things in the essence of how much
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: time you have here on this earth, so many things
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: are just not important. So many things that we waste
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: time thinking about or stressing about or worrying about take
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: away from our quality of life and take away from
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: the time that we have here when really we should
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: really be like, you know, this is the time that
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: I'm given. I want to... have the best quality of life.
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: I want to enjoy myself. I want to spend time
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: with the people I love. I want to do all
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: the things I've thought of or dreamt of doing and
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: really be intentional about that happening in our lives. I
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: think for me with Regina, it was looking at like, oh, wow,
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: she's in a place where her career is going the
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: way that it's going and that's good. But this is
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: what's really going on. These are the things that really
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: matter is her family, her sister, her mother. And so
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: her navigating that to me also reflected in my own life. Yes,
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: I'm at work and I'm blessed to be able to
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: have a job that I love and do something that
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: I enjoy. But, you know, things are at home, you know,
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: to be to be. Blunt, my aunt passed away while
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: we were filming.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: And so thank you.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: But it happened right when I was dealing with a
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: lot of stuff that the character was dealing with. And so, yeah.
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: Oh, and that answers my question because I was going
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: to say, although you did get advice from Brandy because
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: she is a caregiver and had been so long for
• 13:19
  Speaker 6: her mom. It's a layer of complexity with Regina because
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: she's caring for a mother who gave her up.
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: As a child.
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: And so it's like you have to, like, how do
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: you play the conflict with, like, a loving mom and
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: then dealing with the pain that they caused you?
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: You know, like, because I know you can get that
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: part from Brandy.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: No, what's interesting is my dad's an incredible dad, you know,
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: but we didn't grow up with him in the home.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: And so when I was four and Lamaya was six,
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: my parents separated. And me and Lamaya, and it's really
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: interesting because I had said, you know, when the role
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: was coming up, I was like, I understand this so
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: much because Lamaya had a totally different experience than I had.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: And we're not even completely two years apart. For her,
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: it was a lot of like, well, why this and
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: why that and why this? And for me, it was like, well,
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: at least we get this and at least we get that.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: At least we get this, you know? And so it
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: was very much... Regina and Tatiana, where our perspectives on
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: it was just a different experience. And I think also
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: kids who don't have one parent in the home always
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: are looking for that kind of love and always looking
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: for a way to kind of like bridge the gap
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: in terms of what they experienced and, you know, and
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: so I understood that as well from Regina. It was like, yes,
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: her mother gave her up, but she's still looking for
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: that love and she still wants to reconcile that and
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: she still wants to be okay with it so that
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: she can be okay in her life, you know? And
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: then Tatiana's approach is completely different.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: As an actor, you know, when you lose somebody while
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: you're in the middle of a production, how do you
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: channel that grief creatively?
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: You put it into the character, you know? So much of,
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: you know, when my aunt passed, it was kind of
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: sudden in the sense of like, you know, she was fine.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: And then she went into the hospital and then she
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: went into a coma and we really thought that she
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: was going to come out of it. And, um, and
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: I also think the hospital did a horrible job. That's
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: another story, but, um, we really thought that she was
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: going to come out of it. And so then when
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: she ultimately did get to a point where it was like, okay,
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: we need to pull the plug. Um, it, that emotional rollercoaster,
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: I think is a lot of what Regina is kind
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: of coping with where it's just like, what's going to
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: happen and is she going to be okay? And is
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: what she's doing going to be enough or is it
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: completely out of her hands? And, I think really just
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: channeling all of that energy into her experience allows... And
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: I think in every experience as an actor, whatever is
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: going on in your life or whatever you've been through,
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: you use those things as part of developing the character
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: because you understand it intricately because of your experience. And
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: so it also gives you a chance to heal. Again,
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: like when I was doing Harlem... so much life was
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: happening to me at the time that I was doing
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: Harlem every single season. My life was changing dramatically from
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: season to season in real life. And I was able
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: to channel all of that into what the character was
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: going through. And I even discovered things about myself that
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: I didn't even realize through what Camille was discovering. And
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: so it's also been very much like that with Regina,
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: where I discovered certain things that ways that I felt
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: or things that I was kind of journeying through even
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: at that time through the character.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Your aunt was clearly one of the women that helped
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: shape you.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: How do you leave it, you know, when you're acting
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: and you're doing these movies and films, how do you
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: leave it there and not bring that home to your
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: relationship and make sure that it doesn't spill over to
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: what's happening now?
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Um, I don't, I think some people are like method
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: actors and do it that way for me. I use
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: it as my safe place to let it out. And
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: then I leave it there, you know, and I don't
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: take it home with me. And if they're, are things
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: I'm dealing with at home, I unpack that, you know,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: and unpack it with Jonathan, unpack it with my family.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: But I don't bring other things home. I use that
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: as an opportunity to get it out and release it. And,
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: you know, sometimes, like, even in a scene, it feels
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: really good to cry because you know that you're not
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: just crying about what's happening in the scene. You're crying
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: about other things, and you need to also let it
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: all out, but you're channeling it through what the character
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: is feeling.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Couldn't that be crazy, though?
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: Couldn't you cry... couldn't you cry too much? Because you're
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: crying real tears, but the scene is like, all right.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: But then that's weird, because then the director's like, could
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: you bring it down a little bit?
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: That has happened before. I actually remember when I was
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: doing Think Like a Man, and me and Romney had
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: this scene where we broke up. I literally really, really cried, cried, cried, cried, cried,
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: and Tim was like, we don't need all that. You know,
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: I'm just kidding. And I was like, okay, cool. Well,
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: I got it out, so now we're good. And now
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: I'm going to pull it back.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: You're like, motherfucker, I ain't acting.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Give me a break, matter of fact.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: So what was something that you.
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: Were actually going through that made you stop more than.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: At that time, I don't remember exactly what was going on.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: But I've definitely had moments like that. Like, if I
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: was doing a scene and I cried, and then when
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: they said cut, I would go back to my trailer
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: and just like, literally cried out because everything was right
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: there on the surface. And I was like, okay, well,
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: might as well deal with it now, you know? Other
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: times you use it for each take as much as
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: you need. And then, you know, a lot of times
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: it's out by that time. And then other times you
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: got to go back to your room and just, you
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: know what I'm saying? Let it out and just deal
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: with it. And then, but it's over by the time
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: the day is over.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: So that's a blessing.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Now you're also talking about things that are meaningful, right?
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: And we've seen you running around, you know, encouraging people
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: to vote.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Election day is coming up.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Why is that so important to you? Because people are exhausted.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: People are politically exhausted. They're tired.
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: But this is the time to rally that last bit
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: of energy that you have. I think what a lot
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: of people have to understand is if you don't vote,
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: you are voting. And there has been such an intentional
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: thing to try to stop our votes, to change our
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: votes inside the voting polls, to encourage people not to vote,
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: to make them feel like their vote doesn't matter. Well,
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: clearly it matters because we wouldn't have the president that
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: we have now if the people who hadn't voted, you know,
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: the people who voted hadn't voted. So I think that, um,
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: it's kind of a scary time, you know, um, And
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: all this talking and conversation around everything. And it's like, yeah,
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: don't talk about it. Do something. And I said this
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: the other day. It's like faith without works is dead.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: So we can't just have faith and just sit there.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: It's like, well, where are your works? What are you
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: going to do? And these are the things that we
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: can definitely do that will make all the difference in
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: the world. And if we all show up that way,
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: then we can actually shift things. We have to be active.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: We have to be active. Because people think that this
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: is not at their doorstep.
• 19:49
  Speaker 7: It is.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: Everybody is in danger, honestly. And if we don't get
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: out there and do something, then we will have let
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: it happen. And not just to us, we will have
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: let it happen to our mothers. We will have let
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: it happen to our siblings. We will have let it
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: happen to our children. We will have let it happen
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: to other people's children, you know? And so I think
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: that people really have to get really, really serious and
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: inconvenience yourself. You know, I was seeing something online the
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: other day where it's like, you can stand in line
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: for this concert. You can stand in line for this,
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: you know, new makeup product or whatever it is, but
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: you don't want to stand in line for voting. It's like, no,
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: inconvenience yourself for one day and get out there and
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: really do your part because not only are you depending
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: on yourself, everybody else is. is counting on you and
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: need you.
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: You know? I saw that you were in Baton Rouge
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: at Southern University. You were on campus talking to the students.
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: What were some of the conversations that you were having
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: with them and some things that they voiced that they
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: were worried about?
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: I think a lot of them feel like it's not
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: going to make a difference and expressing to them that
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: it is going to make a difference.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: It, it has historically made a difference, you know, and, um,
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: also making them understand that they're the future, you know,
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: but everything that they do now is going to decide
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: what our future and what their future is going to be. And, um,
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: getting them to understand their power and getting them to
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: be responsible and accountable, um, for what happens next and
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: not let life happen to them instead of, you know,
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: and so, um, Yeah, just really having those conversations with
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: them and wanting them to understand it's not just about
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: a post you see online and conversation. You really got
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: to do it.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: I know you got to go, but I do want
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: to ask you about the pretty girl box thing, right?
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: Do you believe Hollywood has punished you? Or just punishes
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: beautiful women sometimes because they don't take their talent serious?
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: All they see is the face?
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: I don't know. I mean, maybe.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: Maybe.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: I think that a lot of times people just assume...
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: that you're not capable of certain things or, you know,
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: just see you in one light. And I've seen a
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: lot of women deal with it, you know, but I
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: think that I don't really I don't stay too long
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: or harp on it. I'm like, what am I going
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: to do about it? You know, and so for me,
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: it's just being intentional and doing what I can do
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: and what I need to do. And then also making
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: sure the young girls that are behind me, you know,
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: don't have to work as hard as I did, you know,
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: and don't have to be in those boxes and are
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: given other opportunities, even if I just create them for them,
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: you know?
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Well, good luck not being pretty, Megan Good. I don't know.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: We'll see how that works out for you.
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: Do you feel like that, the pretty girl box that
• 22:30
  Speaker 7: you're talking about kind of overshadowed your voice a bit?
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: Because I feel like now I hear you talking about
• 22:34
  Speaker 7: the voting thing and it's like years ago, I don't
• 22:36
  Speaker 7: know if I thought about you in that space of
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: like all these things that I know you're so passionate about.
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: Do you feel like it overshadowed your voice?
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: I think that my voice, I think I've just kind
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: of in the past like maybe 15 years really started
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: speaking up a certain kind of way because I think
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: that maybe I overshadowed my own voice by assuming that
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: people wouldn't want to hear from me because that's what
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: it felt like. You know, it felt like very much
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: like stay in your lane. And I'm like, this is
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: my lane. You know what I'm saying? This is my life.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: Everything that we do, all these things affect all of us.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: And then I also just think at a certain point,
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: you just stop being afraid to be exactly who you
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: are and it doesn't matter if someone likes it or not.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: And then also understanding the responsibility that you have with
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: the platform that you have that God has so graciously
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: given you. It's not just about being an actor or
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: being creative or creating art. It's like, what are you
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: actually going to do that makes a difference for not
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: just you, but for everybody else. And so I feel
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: incredibly fortunate to have the platform and there's things that
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: I really care about and I'm really passionate about. So
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: it behooves me to, you know, make sure that I
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: do that and represent that because that's what I want.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: It's not even that I want a legacy, but that's
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: what I want people to say when I'm gone, you know,
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: is not talk about me a certain way, but that
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: those things made a difference, you know, and yeah.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Word.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: She has to go, ladies and gentlemen, but we appreciate
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: you for joining us.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Thanks for having us.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Reasonable Doubt Season 4.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: You can check it out right now. Megan Good. It's
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club. Good morning.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: Thank you.