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INTERVIEW: Brandee Evans On 'Reasonable Doubt', Caregiver Appreciation Month + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Don't know.
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  Speaker 2: Every day click up the Breakfast Club morning.
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  Speaker 3: Everybody's d j n V. Just hilarious, charlamage the guy.
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  Speaker 3: We are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest
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  Speaker 3: in the building. Indeed, she's in season three A Reasonable Doubt,
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  Speaker 3: which starts on September eighteenth, So it's.
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  Speaker 1: Out right now. Brandy Evans, welcome you.
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  Speaker 4: I'm amazing. I'm in New Yorker. I love New York.
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  Speaker 4: You do, yes? I do?
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  Speaker 5: Like literally now, I'm trying to figure out how I
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  Speaker 5: can be like in the l A Coast and in
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  Speaker 5: the we in the East Coast.
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  Speaker 4: You're from Memphis, I am wanting raised. Yes, okay? Cool?
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  Speaker 4: And so you you you like New York? I do?
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  Speaker 5: I feel like, you know, New York people keep it real,
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  Speaker 5: and I feel like sometimes I love you La, but
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  Speaker 5: sometimes y'all be a little sensitive.
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  Speaker 4: So I think, I I that's what I like about
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  Speaker 4: New York.
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  Speaker 2: That's what kind of keep it fake, real, fake real
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  Speaker 2: to each other. Really, yea, he.
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  Speaker 4: From New York. Okay, from somewhere You from, Oh you
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  Speaker 4: Southern like me?
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  Speaker 6: You already know?
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  Speaker 4: So what does that mean that you're just you're trying
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  Speaker 4: to figure out Folks, out here.
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  Speaker 6: No, I've been figuring them out and thinking about a
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  Speaker 6: long time ago.
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  Speaker 1: That's not true.
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  Speaker 5: Long time ago, queen Okay, okay, we were just talking
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  Speaker 5: about going to Queen's.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, ask me.
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  Speaker 6: If you've been to a Didty party?
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  Speaker 4: What Ask him?
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  Speaker 6: He's gonna lie and say no, ask him.
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  Speaker 1: I've not been to Okay, okay, And if I have,
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  Speaker 1: it was way do you see what I'm saying.
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  Speaker 4: There'm no judgment. I used to dance for Diddy, so
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  Speaker 4: she was.
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  Speaker 5: Assistant, Lari and Gibson all that I never saw the
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  Speaker 5: things that people.
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  Speaker 2: You missed the lie because the lie was so good.
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  Speaker 2: First that I ain't never been no Didty party, and
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  Speaker 2: if I did, it was.
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  Speaker 6: Way way way back in.
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  Speaker 1: I was joking, joke, I never been no damn Diddy
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  Speaker 1: party party.
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  Speaker 4: I ain't never been on one iground.
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  Speaker 5: I went home to get my mama down the stage.
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  Speaker 4: I feel good. I feel amazing.
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  Speaker 5: It's caregiver appreciation months speaking up taking care of my mama.
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  Speaker 5: So this is my respite break to just being out
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  Speaker 5: here in New York doing what I want to do,
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  Speaker 5: seeing some art, enjoying some cold weather.
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  Speaker 4: Because I feel like we don't really get that in LA.
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  Speaker 6: Who's all the caregivers out there? Man? Break down?
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  Speaker 2: What exactly do caregivers do? Because it's such an unappreciating
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  Speaker 2: service that they that they provide.
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  Speaker 4: That's a good question.
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  Speaker 5: Everything care like for me my mom, Diane Harrington, she
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  Speaker 5: has multiple sclerosis, she has Alzheimer's and she's paraplegic. So
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  Speaker 5: basically it's like having my newborn with me at all times.
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  Speaker 4: And it just depends on what you're dealing with.
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  Speaker 5: It could be from feedings, the doctor's appointments, emotional support,
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  Speaker 5: just sitting with them, taking them out.
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  Speaker 4: You just never know.
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  Speaker 5: But caregivers need love and check on us too because
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  Speaker 5: we ain't all right.
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  Speaker 4: All the time.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, people, I'm sure I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: you're through the system, but you know, people get paid
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  Speaker 2: for that.
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  Speaker 5: Not everywhere. That's I'm glad you mentioned that New York
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  Speaker 5: is a blessing. LA is a blessing. I think I
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  Speaker 5: heard Florida has a little bit, but everywhere else it's
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  Speaker 5: been frustrated.
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  Speaker 4: And that's why I had to move Mama from Memphis.
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  Speaker 6: Wow.
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  Speaker 5: So and then I moved it to Atlanta season one
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  Speaker 5: when I was filming Pea Valley and had to move
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  Speaker 5: a back because I lost all my benefits. So it
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  Speaker 5: is that's that we just did care Fest out here,
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  Speaker 5: and that's what we were talking about, getting the care
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  Speaker 5: because people aren't doing that, and either all of us
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  Speaker 5: are either going to be caregivers for somebody or somebody's
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  Speaker 5: gonna care for us at one time in our lives.
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  Speaker 4: So I don't know what's up with the government. So
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  Speaker 4: who does care for you?
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  Speaker 6: Then?
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  Speaker 4: Because you've been doing this for a long time, you
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  Speaker 4: take care.
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  Speaker 5: But I've watched your journey just over the years, even
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  Speaker 5: before I met you, and you are like your mom
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  Speaker 5: is your baby in between rolls, and I even shot
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  Speaker 5: a project with you, and on a break, you on
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  Speaker 5: a phone mama, making sure everybody is in place while
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  Speaker 5: you're doing the things that you have to do to
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  Speaker 5: keep making the money right. And then as soon as
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  Speaker 5: you finish, you and you go, you wit your mom,
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  Speaker 5: you wake up, you go back on set. That's right,
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  Speaker 5: Because during Pretty Stone, I had Mama in the hospital,
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  Speaker 5: so I was on the phone with doctors and they
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  Speaker 5: were like cut and I was like holding the doctor
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  Speaker 5: stayed while I did a scene on the phone and
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  Speaker 5: came back. So yeah, rehearsed in lines and remembering the
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  Speaker 5: script and everything like that. I write my friends and family,
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  Speaker 5: I will say more so my friends. No, not to
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  Speaker 5: my family, but my friends are the ones that are
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  Speaker 5: out there with me, people like Ivri, who's with me here?
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  Speaker 4: When I'm filming season one, A p.
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  Speaker 5: Valley had a caregiver walk out and I checked the
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  Speaker 5: live camera stream, I'm like, what's going on? What's going
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  Speaker 5: on in Mama's room. He had connected all of my
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  Speaker 5: friends together. Then they took turns taking care of my
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  Speaker 5: mother while I filmed because the caregiver walked out.
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  Speaker 4: So my friends on.
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  Speaker 5: My ride or Diyes Sasha, you know, my Bestisasha. Sasha's
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  Speaker 5: at the house of Mama now, like they, I just
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  Speaker 5: have a good village, a good chosen family, which is
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  Speaker 5: a blessing.
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  Speaker 1: Would you ever put your you know a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people talk about putting their moms or parents in the home.
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  Speaker 1: Would you do that?
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  Speaker 5: And while glad that actually I promised my mama ever
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  Speaker 5: would and she did go in one. So that's my story.
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  Speaker 5: On her birthday in twenty and fourteen, she had a fall.
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  Speaker 5: I was dancing background for Lettercy at the time. My
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  Speaker 5: little brother called me. He was like, Mama fail, she
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  Speaker 5: has to be in a rehabilitation center. And I'm like,
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  Speaker 5: the one promise I made to Mama, which was never
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  Speaker 5: put in a nurse home, she had to be in it,
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  Speaker 5: but never again. So that's when I fought for my
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  Speaker 5: life to start teaching dance classes all over the country
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  Speaker 5: and asking every celeb I knew, like, I don't need
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  Speaker 5: your money, but.
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  Speaker 4: Just a repost is a blessing.
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  Speaker 5: And we raised fourteen thousand dollars in four days, and
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  Speaker 5: I got my mama out of that nursing home. When
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  Speaker 5: that was December twenty first, it'd be nine years. I've
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  Speaker 5: had her since that day.
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  Speaker 3: The reason I ask is, you know, sometimes parents will say,
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  Speaker 3: you know what, I don't want to, you know, be
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  Speaker 3: a problem with your Like I don't want to, you know,
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  Speaker 3: you know, mess up what you have, So put me
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  Speaker 3: in a home so that way there is help.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's some people that say, you know, I'll
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  Speaker 1: never put my mind in a home.
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  Speaker 3: But having that kid twenty four to seven, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: I'm sure you know it's almost impossible.
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  Speaker 4: Right then it's nine thousand dollars a month, right to
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  Speaker 4: be exact.
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  Speaker 3: So my wife's had dementia in all times, and we
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  Speaker 3: had a full day, and if.
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  Speaker 1: We didn't have a nanny helping, it would.
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  Speaker 3: Be almost impossible, because you know, there's been times when
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  Speaker 3: she didne walked out the house and just kept walking,
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  Speaker 3: while there.
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  Speaker 1: Was times where you know, she didn't know where the
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  Speaker 1: toilet was. So you know, it's like having a newborn
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  Speaker 1: at times.
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  Speaker 3: There's been times when you know there's so much going on,
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  Speaker 3: So how do you deal with that twenty four seven
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  Speaker 3: and still work and still.
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  Speaker 4: Take care of God?
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  Speaker 5: Because at this point it's just got to be all
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  Speaker 5: God because I'm so exhausted in New York. That's the
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  Speaker 5: first time I don't have the baby monitor about my ear,
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  Speaker 5: and so when you hear that cough, you don't know,
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  Speaker 5: just like with your baby, are you choking or are
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  Speaker 5: you coughing? So then you're getting up, running into the
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  Speaker 5: room trying to have that rest.
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  Speaker 4: It is exhausting. It is very exhausting.
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  Speaker 5: But I also don't knock people that have to do
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  Speaker 5: that because everybody's situation is different. I think that if
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  Speaker 5: you have to put them there, you got to stay
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  Speaker 5: on top of them.
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  Speaker 4: I was stalking the home like I was showing up.
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  Speaker 5: I was popping up. At one point. They was like,
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  Speaker 5: we feel like you're watching us.
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  Speaker 4: I am.
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  Speaker 5: I am because it's my mom and that where she was.
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  Speaker 5: My mom probably wouldn't be alive right now if I
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  Speaker 5: wouldn't have gotten her. One time I popped up and
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  Speaker 5: Mama was like laid over with a fever and I
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  Speaker 5: had to break her fever.
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  Speaker 4: By the way, you can.
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  Speaker 5: Break your fever with alcohol, just rub it on the
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  Speaker 5: baby's back. Mama taught me that when I was a
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  Speaker 5: little girl, rub rubbing alcohol on the back.
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  Speaker 4: But yeah, I honestly don't know. I'm still trying to.
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  Speaker 5: I'm working through it with therapy and just trying to
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  Speaker 5: find my peace and taking more vacations and things for
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  Speaker 5: myself too. And that's hard too, because now Mama had
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: a meltdown about me coming to New York because she's like,
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  Speaker 5: why are you leaving me? And I can you know
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  Speaker 5: with kids. I know y'all overstanding, you don't want to
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  Speaker 5: leave the babies, but we gotta work.
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  Speaker 4: We gotta have some time for us because I came
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  Speaker 4: for from the empty cup.
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  Speaker 2: I loved this conversation so much because years years and
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  Speaker 2: years years years ago God blessed the dead. Andre Herrel
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  Speaker 2: called me and had a whole conversation about this exactly
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  Speaker 2: and introduced me to the world of cadgive was and
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  Speaker 2: introduced me to a woman named Gina Lisa Montacero. And
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  Speaker 2: she's the founder of the Medicated Visory Group and they're
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  Speaker 2: a consulting company who assists elders and family caregivers. And so,
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  Speaker 2: you know, she helped my family with some stuff, and
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  Speaker 2: she helped a lot of my friends.
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  Speaker 6: I think it's just something that people don't know about
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  Speaker 6: it and.
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  Speaker 5: We don't think about it until we have to be
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  Speaker 5: in that situation, right, because I never thought about it,
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  Speaker 5: and then I realized, oh, this is Medicare, Medicaid, all
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  Speaker 5: the different things like it's hard and if you don't
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  Speaker 5: have it, you can't get your supplies, you can't pay
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  Speaker 5: and paying for these supplies at the house is very
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  Speaker 5: expensive if you don't have that help.
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  Speaker 6: So that's what Gina Lisa does.
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  Speaker 2: She helps you just navigate the help get system because
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  Speaker 2: it's complex.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, and they don't want us to know about
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  Speaker 4: it at all. They definitely don't want us to know
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  Speaker 4: about it. So yeah, and so you said therapy, so
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  Speaker 4: you are currently. Yes, I gotta find new therapist.
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  Speaker 5: Though the last one I had, I'm like, it's been
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  Speaker 5: a minute and she ain't really answer that phone.
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  Speaker 4: So I need to find me.
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  Speaker 5: But then it's finding the right people, and they're trusting
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  Speaker 5: people too, because I'm like, it's like, I don't really
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  Speaker 5: want you to talk about.
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  Speaker 4: What I do.
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  Speaker 5: I just want to I want to be Brandy. I
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  Speaker 5: don't want to be the actor. I just want to
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  Speaker 5: be Brandy the caregiver and.
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  Speaker 1: Just talk about things.
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  Speaker 6: What about y'all?
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  Speaker 4: Is that hard for y'all to do when you go
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: to therapy? Y'all go to therapy.
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  Speaker 6: I'm on my.
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  Speaker 4: Second yeah, trying to find that right fit.
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  Speaker 5: It's like, yeah, I haven't I heard it. It's like
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  Speaker 5: I haven't started therapy yet. I would like to, but
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  Speaker 5: I just I haven't started yet. But I hear that
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  Speaker 5: a lot in people like my son's father. He's like, Yo,
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  Speaker 5: I just can't find the right person, you know what
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: I mean. And then he also battles with trusting, like, yo,
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  Speaker 5: how can this person tell me anything?
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  Speaker 4: How can he fix me? If he never been through
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: what I've been through?
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: If they don't look like me or you know, so
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: he's battling like trying to find a black man to
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: talk to you.
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  Speaker 6: I got a good one for him.
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  Speaker 2: We need to share talk about my first my first therapist.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted somebody that was completely opposite, so I was looking.
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  Speaker 2: I actually was looking for like an Asian woman, but
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: I ended up with a white woman and she was cool.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: But it is something about having a black male therapist
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  Speaker 2: who's culturally competent.
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  Speaker 6: You don't got to explain too much. A lot of
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: things he already understands.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, now, but.
• 9:58
  Speaker 6: You always gonna be kind of hard because he to
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: deal with you.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: So I needed to you know what, Excuse me.
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: I didn't.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Like how I'm doing.
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: I'm doing good. I'm very better now. Ye Season three,
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: Reasonable Doubt. I'm so proud of you. What drew you
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: to the character Monica? Well, first of all, I wasn't
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: drawn at all to the character Monica because she's a mess.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: But I was drawn to the show total opposite. So
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: I've always wanted to be Unreasonable Doubt. I've been watching
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: the show. It was on my vision board, and I
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: want to do something different than p Valley. So but
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: then when Ramula called about the director session, I was like, oh,
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: my lord, Monica, and I didn't find out till after
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: I auditioned what was happening. They gave me the storyline
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: in the arc of this, and I was like, Oh,
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: this is gonna be good.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: And they finish dragged me and these internet streets.
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: But that's when I knew it was gonna It's gonna
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: be worth it, and it's a great story, not a
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: great but an important story to tell. Because have y'all
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: seen it yet? It's okay if you haven't, No, okay,
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: all right. So I'm playing an agent and there's this
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: child star named Ozzie Edwards and just like most child
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: stars they growing up with, you know, they got the money,
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: the fame. But the gag is I'm his agent who's
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: been molesting him since he was thirteen years old, which
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: is terrible.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: But a lot of.
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: Times people let that pass with boys because they think,
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: you know, it's dope that there's an older woman trying
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: to turn him on. But it's not cool, so he
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: kept it hidding. The secret comes out and it's a gag.
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: And I have six nephews.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: You're trying to be funny, They can't share nothing with you.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: I'm asking yeah, I'm fine, are you No? No, no,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: but I didn't want to make sure he wasn't triggered.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: That's what happened to him. He was blested by an
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: older woman. Yes, but the reason he wanted it to white,
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: the reason because she had a Jerry I.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Didn't like to smell her jerak that's what I saw. Yeah,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: but I actually didn't like what she was doing to me. Okay,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: but I told myself it was just smelling her Jerry
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: crow when I was eight.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: Okay, yes, but you know what different things to cope
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: this This young man on episode nine, the younger version
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: of me says to him, Oh, I'm sorry to know
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: you were gay, which is terrible. And that's what I
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: feel like some women will do to young boys too,
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: to try to push them off and make them feel like,
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: you know, that's why you want. Yeah, they do all
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: types of stuff. And and she was wrong, not you
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: so well.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: He was talking about drink girl.
• 12:41
  Speaker 6: And then therapist.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, but then when he got old it happened again.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: He would sitting on laps.
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  Speaker 6: It was just.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: This is how much work it was.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: Like it you would have been ugly to be to
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: you boy.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: And I'm doing all this work.
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: What well, the finale dropped last week, okay, okay, And
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: at the end because his his attorney Jax, who is Amiazi,
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: she plays the star in the show, Well, she finds
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: out what happened, she puts Monica on the stand and
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: it comes out to the family everybody, and then at
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: the end, Monica decides to go in and shoot the
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: place up. Yeah, and we don't know who she shot.
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: So emotional place you've ever had to go to for
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: a role with it.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: That probably that absolutely.
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: I got six nephews and so just to think about
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: my baby boys like i'd be in jail or hell,
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: did it?
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: Absolutely not?
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: Because I think it's my job as an actor to
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: tell the stories, even the ones that are difficult. And
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: I've had fans that are like, I can't believe you
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: do that. After Mercedes, we love Missades, why would you
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: come do this? Maybe they'll make you pay attention to
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: your baby boy when they come home. Maybe they'll make
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: you ask different questions or if you see him shifting.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: So that's why I always want to take on roles
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: that tell important stories.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: We work out. I love working out, going hiking.
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: Honestly, I've been with Mama so much, did I just
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: have to just tamp away from it? But yeah, just
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: stay in touch with who I am and step twelve
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: of the actor the actor Handbook for me is let
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: it go.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: So it's not real.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: I was gonna ask, so, how are you with your nephews?
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Do you have different conversations with them now? Like, hey,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: let me talk to you for a second.
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: Oh, always, because I know DJ, because I know you listening. Yes,
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: that my nephews are cute too. So I've already had
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: that situation with them with older women and I pick
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: up the phone and call. I told one girl, I
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: was like, I will find you and you will go
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: to jail. And I'm just gonna leave it at that.
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: So nephews, absolutely, Jesus, absolutely, they do it all the time.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: I mean, so, I'm not crazy so seeing this, I
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: also did my research on it. But I've also seen it.
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: I'm the only girl, so I've seen how the women act.
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: You know, you know your brother final he's married and
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: he's younger. You know, so yeah, you look at.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: People, sorry, do you look at people differently when you
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: see like so not a big thing in our community
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: is you'll see like a thirty year old dating an
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: eighteen year old or a forty year old dating a
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: twenty year old. Do you look at people differently now
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: because of that, because of the role you play.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: No, I don't think so long as they are of age,
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: I need them to be of age, because I mean,
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: as long as they've grown, that's that's their business.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: I stay out of it. But longer but under age,
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: I'm absolutely und I'm snitching.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: I think it is very important that you did bring
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: up the fact that when it's like a double standards. Yeah,
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: when it when it's a woman, right, who is older
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: going after a guy? I mean, you know a young guy,
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: people tend to like leave that.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah it's okay. Oh you you did that, that's what
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: you told her. It's not okay.
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: And the whole time you don't even know how the
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: young person is thinking. These young men, their minds are
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: not even like they trying to be cool at the
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: end of the day, and the whole time it's like, damn,
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: I was really molested.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: I was That's appropriate.
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: You wouldn't even make jokes about it if it was
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: a woman.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: No, that's that point. That is a huge point.
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: No one's making a joke about it when it's someone.
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: Why are we joking about it when it's man? That's
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: a wonderful question.
• 16:01
  Speaker 6: No, for sure, don't try to act figure even now.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: Yo, you make fun of.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Yours? Are you cold?
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: I'm really hurting on the inside. No, Brandy.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: When you think about your evolution from dancer the actors,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: what part of your past shows up the most in
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: your your acting today.
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: I think as a dancer, we learn how to take direction,
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: and we learn how to take direction quick because you
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: ain't got time for that. And if you if you
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: were Loria and Gibson and she said I need you
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: to point that toe and get to the end of
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: the stage by the next eight count, you're gonna figure
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: it out.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: So I feel like I took that, especially with.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: On P Valley, because we had to do dancing and
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: things of that sort, I was able to take that direction.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: So I think directors enjoy that. And I've always heard
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: that dancers are the best actors because they can take
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: direction easily. And we not, we not, we have thick skins.
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: So you literally could yell at me and be like
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: that sucks, and be like, for real, no, what you
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: need on the next take to make it not sound
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: like I just it's real hard for me to get
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: in my feelings about that.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: How was your auditions for p Valley chow a vary
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: over there?
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: My friend he helped me choreograph it, so I was
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: already teaching dance classes and so, but I did a
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: slow routine because I felt like everybody the first routine,
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: I did a chair routine and it's actually on the
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: internet if y'all google Brandy Evans Valentine's Day neo hip
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: hop and heels, and I did the slow routine and
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: they were like, where you come from? Because I couldn't
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: get an audition, they told me that I didn't fit
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: any of the roles that they were currently casting for
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: pre vally.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: They said, we.
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: Don't fit any And I found out on Valentine's Day
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: twenty eighteen. So my agent was like, I was like, yeah,
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: this is show. My friend just called me about if
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: you heard about it. She's like, yeah, we already tried.
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: They said no.
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: So then a couple months went past, my homegirl sends
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: me the script. She was like, my sister auditioner for this,
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: and I really think it.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: Should be you.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: So I was like, oh that little strip of show.
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: That's how I had an attitude at that point. I
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: was like, they don't want me, and so she was like,
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: just read the script. And so then I took pictures.
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: I'm a PK preacher's kid. Took pictures of me being
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: a PK. Mercedes is a PK. Took pictures of me
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: teaching Miss Tina how to dance at the Hip BT experience.
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: Took pictures of me and my daddy at church, like
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: whatever you needed. Then I got the audition, did the
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: chair routine when there was no one even in the
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: room to see me. When I tell you, they could
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: care less that I came in that audition. At first,
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: I just had the reader in there, and now I
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: remember her looking.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: From the side.
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: She was like, where are you from? I was like Memphis,
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: She's like where you been? I said, waiting on y'all
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: to call me in. And so then I got the
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: call back and I called ivari. I was like, listen,
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: we got it up to Andy now. And so I
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: read the script that said that it was six inch
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: hills was in the pilot script. So I said, I'm
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: gonna do the routine and six inch chills and so
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: by the time we finished that routine, I was doing
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: front hand springs and six inch chills. I worked with
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: my acting coach, Raquel Gardner to make sure I was
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: locked in and the rest is history.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is this is great for me being a dad, right,
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: for daughters, two sons. My two girls dance, right, and
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: it's a lot of money. Yesterday, it's a lot of money.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: And they dance. I mean they get out of school
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: at three o'clock. They dance from four to eight, six
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: days a week, competitions, we fly all over the place.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: But I always just like, well, what's the end goal?
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: You know what I mean?
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Because you spend so much money.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: And I like it because it keeps them away from boys,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: It keeps them out out off the phone, off the internet,
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: or out the malls.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: But I always like, well, what is the the.
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: Well I paid a school was paid for so I
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: got a full scholarship at the University in Memphis, and
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: they can get the scholarship there. They can get scholarships.
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: If they don't they don't want to go to college.
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: They just want to go and train, you know, Alvin Ailey,
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: you know different things.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: So there is an end goal. Katie Perry.
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: I toured the world with her, so and then I
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: became a choreographer, So all of that is very important.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: They're gonna need that on that resume. So there's an
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: end go.
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: They paid mama's medical bills, it might be paying yours
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: one day.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: You never know, how did you feel? Because when they
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: do dance and they just don't do hip hop. They
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: they do tap, they do baallet, they do everything. Actually
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: you need it, they really into it. But how does
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: it feel because there's not too many of us out there?
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: Like when we go to these competitions and.
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: We go, oh, yeah, I was the only black girls.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: That only black girls. It's good because they're recognizable. Soon
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: as they see me, they be like, oh, that's your kids.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: But how did that affect you mentally?
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: I think because I went to perform in our school
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: where we were very diverse, but like on Memphis Elite,
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: I was many times I was one or two black
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: girls when I was the only black girl on scholarship
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: my freshman year at the University of Memphis, and back
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: then it was just known that it was going to
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: only be one and I remember I was fighting for
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: that one scholarship but I was like, how many black
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: girls one?
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: But I really didn't think anything of it.
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: I think because my dad kept me in such diverse schooling.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: Are they at a diverse school? Yes, I think that
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: that's the world, though I feel like a lot of
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: times we may be the only one. So for me,
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: I felt like it's been a blessing for me because
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: some of my friends are actually unable to navigate that
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: diversity and like, you know, it's only one of us,
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: And I'm like, I ain't paying no attention to that
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: because I've been around that my whole life. So I
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: think that it's cool they know how to navigate in
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: those different worlds right now.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: You know, people talk about the physicality of Pep Valley
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: all the time, but what's something mental about that role
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: of Mercedes that people don't realize.
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: Oh, that's a really good question. My back is still
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: in the workman's comp though.
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: Right now.
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: But I think mentally for me, let me just say,
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: because I talked to high school English, so then I
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: jumped into that accent so hard back home that a
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: lot of times my friend be like, you can you
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: get out of chuck Atleasta? Because what happened to your
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: like what happened to your dialect? So I feel like
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: it shifted that. But mentally, we were filming so late
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: at night, you almost like you almost felt like you
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: were a part of that world so much. You're going
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: to bed when the when the sun is up, and
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: then you're going to work, and we're we're literally on
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: set at two three in the morning and then going
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: to bed at seven am, like you were really immersed
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: in that world. So I think that this season you're
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: gonna see some some things and you'll understand when you
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: see it that it took a lot for me to
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: get some of those things out of my head. Season
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: two was tough because of my daughter and the abortion
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: scene and all of that information. But I also my
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: daughter passed away, so I had a steel birth and
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: so she would have been the same age.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: Lyric would have been the same.
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: Age as Azaria or Tererica on Pa Valley, So that part,
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: you know, mentally for me was tough because I felt
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: like Azaria, it was like my daughter in real life,
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: so things like that, detaching from that at times so
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: that those.
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: Scenes were emotional.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: Those were the most emotional, but they were the most
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: beautiful to me. Because it felt like I got my
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: baby in a sense. It's like God gave me a
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: Zaria who played Terarika in that same age, So it
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: was like I was able to have my baby girl.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: In season two of Pivley.
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: Now that you say that, yeah, you were more your
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: Mercedes definitely was more emotional, and it was a lot
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: more scenes where the stories were crying too, trying to
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: think all the steaks at hand of trying to save
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: her baby, and that was the whole thing, just trying
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: to make life better for herself and her child and
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: then her mother exactly the exactly. It was very tumultuous,
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: and that was my real life a little bit not
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: like that. And now she wasn't Patrice Woodbine, but me
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: and my mom had a tumultuous relationship. So I was
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: able to And where was that.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: In life?
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: No, not just in life. I think it was just
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: that mother daughter dynamics. Sometimes that could just be like that.
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: But when I start caring for her, you know that
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: had to shift because you gotta forgive. But I was
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: able to use p Valley season one to get out
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: everything I'd never say to my mama, And oh, I
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: get to say what now okay, so just healing, healing
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: through p Valley.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: I feel like that was a very healing.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: That was a great segue because I was going to
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: a playing that dynamic change how you see generational trauma.
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: Absolutely absolutely, I was just talking to someone about that
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: certain things isn't necessary, isn't necessary to get that whooping,
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: isn't necessary to beat them? Can you actually talk to
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: them and tell them what's going on?
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: Can we can we communicate better? So I do think
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: playing those different roles, you don't have to yell and
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: scream and and be little, you know, because the hope
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: this is the same person that you're belittling. It's the
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: same person you want to come to you and trust
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: that you can. They can tell you their deep secrets.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: Come to me, come to me. We don't want to
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: be scared.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: So that that to me made me pay attention to
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: you know what, if im I'm blessed to be able
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: to be a parent, I would parents so differently. But
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: I also the older I get, I also know we
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: all do the best we can because I feel like
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: all of us, you know, our kids could probably say
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: the same thing, like when you did this, you did that,
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: you're doing the best you can, and the older you get,
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: you start realizing, you know what, my mama, Mama really
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: did the best you could.
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: But I do realize as a parent, every child challenges
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: you do.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 24:41
  Speaker 6: You think you're gonna parent all of them the same,
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: you can't.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: No, No, I mean there's a core foundation of love, right,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: I know you love them, but no, they all will challenge.
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: You in different way.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, words, did you challenge your mother? I don't know.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: Mama will swing on me so quick. I don't.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: I don't know that I got that challenge. I might
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: have tried to challenge one time and never again. Yeah,
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: I still to this day. But I also love that
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: healthy respect because to this day, I don't care if
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: she in that wheelchair. I'm nothing to go talking crazy
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: to her at all. That's my mama. And I feel
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: like you only give one you respect your parents. Yeah,
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: So how does she feel about your success? Have you
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: ever just sat down and just talk to her about it?
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: How does she I'm not gonna cry, I'm not. I
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: don't know that she knows. Yeah, the Alzheimer's of it all, Yeah,
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: I don't know that she knows. Almost every day I'm
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: reminding her.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Of who I am, but she remember, Does she remember you?
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: I was gonna ask that at a days.
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: Yes, Sometimes she doesn't, and I go and hide in
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: the closet, and that's the biggest acting job I've ever done.
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: I'll go put myself on speakerphone and I'll go call
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: her daughter, Brandy, and then I'll hide in the room
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: and talk to her, and I'll come back and it's
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: like almost like the notebook. Sometimes like she'd remembers sometimes
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: sometimes she doesn't. I'll say, you know, where do we live?
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: She'll say Memphis because she remembers Memphis. But then I'll
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: point to myself on the screen and like she saw
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: reasonable down had an attitude.
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: She was so upset. I was like, Mama, it's not real.
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: I really did not touch that boy.
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: But then then I'll come back and then she'll be like,
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: I was like, that's me and she was like really,
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: you know. So it's just I've learned to not not
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: make them confused more by it and just be like, yeah,
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: you know what, it's okay, it's okay.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: That was one of the toughest things I've ever seen
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: my wife deal with. We were actually on the plane.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: We were coming back from overseas Dubai and we were
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: in first class and she got up and she was
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: trying to go downstairs because she said she.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Had to go to work and they're like, go to work,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: there's work. So she woke up. I was like, no, mom,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: this standing heel and she did not know who her
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: daughter was.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: And my wife started crying because she was like, how
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: does my mom not know who she was?
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: And then when I got up, she knew who I
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: was and it was the weirdest. It was the weirdest thing,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: like she knew me.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: Here was showing I'm just trying to go to work
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, no, mama, this is we're in the plane.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: But she didn't know who my mom was, and but
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: when we landed she did. But it was just it
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: hurt so much because I was like, this is my mother,
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: Like I'm her carry give but I'm the one.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: That makes her take a medicine.
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: Watch it and where you grow on a plane. Yes,
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: it's very My MoMA asked me for car keys the
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: other day. I just want to lay them on her lap,
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: like you just got it. At this point, we just
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: smiled and played again. I said where you going. She's
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: some about to drive to turl from She's from turl Arkansas.
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: I was like, okay, then, well it's a little late
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: right now, but I'm put the keys right here. I'm
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: gonna go to bed, you know, like I've learned to
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: play with it. But then I go back in that
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: room and cry. You know, I try not to cry
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: in front of her, but it is it is the
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: hardest thing ever. It's like, Mama, don't remember me. When
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: she asked me that time, like what's your mama name you?
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: And I was like Brandy. She's like, oh me too,
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: And I was like, oh my gosh, she doesn't know
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: it's me.
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: What if you to sleep that car crank up.
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: Miss, I've probably been happy.
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: I would have been happy if like girl getting getting
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: a passion seats over?
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: Yes, and I dream about that? Does your wife dream
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: about that? Does she dream about Oh? I dream about
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: her walking?
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: You know she walked and she did.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: You know, there was a couple of times like I
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: remember one time she walked out the house. So my
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: daughter was watching, and my daughter was young at the time, sixteen,
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: and she said, Grandma, and you know, she walked out.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: My daughter Grandma, where you going? And so you know,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Grandma said, get off me. She was like no. So
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Grandma slapped her right and she's like, where are you going?
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: She was like, I'm going home, Grandma. You can't go home,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and there's beers out there. She was like, well, pray
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: for the beers.
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: I't worried about my baby. They don't like for you
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: to correct them, now, don't.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: That was one and another thing that we still have
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: to watch what she well, watch what she watches on
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: television because her favorite show was Judged.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: You they Maury love that.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Well, what happened at night? You know the way we
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: like feed the dogs and feed that. She would cry
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: every day because you see that and think she had
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: to give to the dying dogs and dying cats and
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: dying kids in Africa with the flies, like that would
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: affect her like she would be balling.
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: I'm so glad you said that because I tell my
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: caregivers that. I said, we keep it light in here.
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: We don't watch the news in the house. No, we
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: don't turn on. I was like, if there's a movie
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: and you see something said, if you about to cry,
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: turn it, like because I don't want her crying. So
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: we are very clear were watching Martin, We're watching girlfriends,
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: you know what I mean, Watching joyous.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: Things and things that make you smile. For sure, that's
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: so important. I love that. And you actually document a
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: lot of that too.
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: Girl.
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: You talking about you, your fans and followers.
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: They love more than they love me. I'm like, I'll
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: post something.
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: I'd be like, yeah, watch my new show. They don't
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: be saying no. I look up Asta mama, two million followers.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I've looked too many likes.
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: I'm like, god, Mama, but yeah, thank you for loving
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: my mom.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: How does the experience of being a kid given for
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: your mother's sharpen your emotional strength as a performer?
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: I think patience. That's a good question, emotional strength.
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: I just feel like if I can make it through
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: caregive and I can make it through anything, because most
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: times I will jump on the carpet and you don't
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: know if I've just left the emergency room or I'm
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: trying to manage a UTI or trying to set up scheduling.
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: You know, just yesterday walking down walking down the street
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: in New York, and I'm like what, I'm like, Lord,
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: I just want one day where I don't have to
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: manage it. But then I have to check myself because
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: I'm like, there's gonna be one day where you wake
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: up and wish that you could be stressed out. But
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: I just tell myself if I can handle all this,
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: Like I don't know what it's like to study lines
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: and not have Mama in the other world. So the
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: blessing is okay, So you've done this well caregiving.
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: What will happen later on in life?
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: I don't know, because my whole career has been while
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: caregiving for Mama. Season one, I had her with me,
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: So when we were wrapped the show, I know my
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: castmates were probably like.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: Dang show, never want to go nowhere with us.
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: I was with Mama, and I was embarrassed to tell
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: them what was going on with Mama. But if Iri
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: knows that all my furniture got broke when I came
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: to Atlanta, and I was hiding that I was sleeping
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: on the floor the whole first half season of Pea Valley,
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: only my best friends knew that. Wow, because I didn't
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: want the network to find out and think that I
• 30:42
  Speaker 5: couldn't handle it.
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: So a lot of times I do hide what's really
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: going on. You know.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's got to be like this. It makes
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: you thinks like what is what is your purpose?
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Because I have the service in a way. But then
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: it could also feel like your purpose because I feel
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: like what you're doing, documenting it and telling people who's
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: gonna help so many other people.
• 31:00
  Speaker 6: But then you're also an actress, so it's like, what
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: is Brandy?
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: I think I'm still trying to figure that out. That's
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: that's why I'm still trying to figure out. I know
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: that I love acting, but I love my mother more,
• 31:13
  Speaker 5: and so she's gonna always always say I'm a caregiver
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: first and then I'm an actor. But then I was
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: crying to my friend should other day. I was like,
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: so if mama passes, what do I have? Like though,
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: that's just authentic being authentic right now, like what do
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: I have? I keep saying I'm hustling for mama, hustling
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: for mama.
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: What about me?
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: So I don't even know what that is right now
• 31:35
  Speaker 5: because all I can see is where's this next job?
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: Because I gotta feed my mama and I got to
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: take care of it. I mean, we are.
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: When I audition for Pee Valley, Mama was on a
• 31:43
  Speaker 5: camera in my phone because I couldn't afford a caregiver.
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: So I woke up early, I fed her, and I
• 31:48
  Speaker 5: put the phone in my purse, rushed to will share
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: the audition was like Mamma, on the way back, rush back, Like,
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: I don't know what it's like to just live and
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: be in the career.
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: So what does what makes Brandy happy? Like what do
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: you do? Do you ever just go out to dinner?
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: Yes, I'm by myself a lot, Like you know, I
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: love a good dinner. Yeah, I'll find the time because
• 32:14
  Speaker 5: the caregivers like, I'm like, y'all please, can y'all just stay?
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: And some nights I'm like they're like, well you're back home.
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: I'm like, can you spend a night so I can
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: just sleep through the night because I'm not going to sleep.
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: But I love to watch movies. I love to go
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: to a movie. I love to go to run your
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: canyon and just hike. I love to sit at the
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: beach and just hear the water. So and ride my bike,
• 32:34
  Speaker 5: but just moments that I can just hear myself because
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: I feel like I'm always listening for my mother.
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah in every way.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, how did faith guide you during like moments
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: when acting roles weren't coming in as fast as you.
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: Hope everything, because I didn't get my first acting role
• 32:51
  Speaker 5: until I got Mama. But that was my prayer, like, God,
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: please bless me to be able to take care of
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: my mother and have the job now.
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: Need to be a little bit more specific, Lord, please.
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: Let it be able to be smoother so I'm able
• 33:04
  Speaker 5: to have the jobs to take care of her now.
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: But it's so stressful, like sometimes it's not fun because
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: it's it's like everybody's like, look what you're doing. I'm like,
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: but you don't know that by the time I go back,
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: Like when I get off of this, I got to
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: go FaceTime make sure do y'all have all the groceries
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: y'all need in La?
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: Do y'all have this?
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: So I'm praying for a moment of peace to truly
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: know that I can go away and Mama will be okay,
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: and then I don't have to micro manage everybody.
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: But God is everything to me everything.
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: Of course, now I know people Valley's coming back, but
• 33:37
  Speaker 6: why did it?
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: I have no idea it's coming back. And baby is
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: so good.
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: We wrapped up on it last season. Yes, we or
• 33:49
  Speaker 5: last year, rather, we shot last season. We finished in
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: was it November maybe October of last year.
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: Before, and it's just been sitting on it when it's
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: coming out.
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: You know what, I will say, they're sitting on it.
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: I think they're just perfecting it even more. You know,
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: our show runner co Tory Hall is very specific, and
• 34:06
  Speaker 5: that's the reason y'all love it so much is because
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: she pays attention to those details. She makes sure that
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: everything's perfect. I mean even our closed caption. We want
• 34:15
  Speaker 5: to make sure it's right, so y'all know what we're saying.
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: So she just posted a couple of months ago that
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: post production is done, So I think we're just.
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: Waiting to get the word. But I'm waiting, like y'all
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: because it's a it's a good one.
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: You're happy with what the next chapter of Mercedes.
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: Oh I'm so happy with the next chapter of Mercedes,
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: Like it's beyond my wireless imagination.
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: It's gonna be crazy and y'all, y'all gonna lose it too.
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: And the show couldn't have been casted any better. Like everybody,
• 34:40
  Speaker 5: everybody's so good, oh so great?
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: Yes, I know. I tried to, but I couldn't speak
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: to girl.
• 34:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, y'all want them down now?
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: I wanted them down there, girl.
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that our audition for Oh my God is.
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: She played on and the girl who got the role.
• 35:01
  Speaker 5: That I auditioned for she played she kills it too,
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: she would She played the crag kid on Snowfalls.
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: She was let.
• 35:11
  Speaker 5: And girl, I couldn't get the trust the chuck a
• 35:13
  Speaker 5: Lisa all down. I was like, damn for real, I couldn't.
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: And then they wanted me to, like, you know, do
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: some dances.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: I wasn't flexible like you, Brandy.
• 35:23
  Speaker 5: I couldn't shot like Gail killed it though, I love you,
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: But yeah, that was Gail John.
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: I love.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: I love, I love her.
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: She's phenomena just as well. But yeah, it was. It's
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: perfectly cast and I can't wait.
• 35:35
  Speaker 5: But even more, I can't wait to see your role
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: in a reasonable doubt. Yes, thank you, Yes, I want
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: you to see different. Yeah, it's crazy, Like I knew
• 35:43
  Speaker 5: it was crazy. I went in a store yesterday and
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: somebody was like, don't just be walking up in here
• 35:47
  Speaker 5: after you shot somebody. I was like whyzy, Like I
• 35:51
  Speaker 5: will post a picture of my mom and they like,
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: does she know you like to shoot people?
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: I was like, oh my goodness.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: They going hard for Brandy to be Oh and you
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: know the finale, I took the wig off and I
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: came out with the set it off braids and it
• 36:06
  Speaker 5: was like, yo, yeah, but.
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, don't break it down.
• 36:09
  Speaker 6: I've got two more questions. It's about Mercedes.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: But what's the lesson from real life Brandy that Mercedes
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: that's really needs.
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: Oh oh, that's a good question. A lesson from Mercedes
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: is pretty dope.
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: Maybe that even when things look like they aren't gonna
• 36:30
  Speaker 5: go the way you want them to keep going, don't
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: let it break you. Because I feel like at times
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: you saw Mercedes break a little, but she always picked
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: herself back up. But I think I've gotten better with
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: as of late just being like, all right, it's gonna
• 36:45
  Speaker 5: have to work out, because we a lot of times
• 36:47
  Speaker 5: we freak out first and then we circle back. I'm
• 36:49
  Speaker 5: getting better. Ain't there yet, but I'm getting better with
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: just being like.
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: It's just is what it is. It's gonna work out.
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: Yeah, So let's flip it. What's a lesson from Mercedes
• 36:57
  Speaker 6: that real life Brandy.
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: Needs that hustle. Oh that's good.
• 37:04
  Speaker 5: You know what, don't be afraid because I think about
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: you know, Mercedes going after her gym, and I want to.
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: Write my book. So as you as you called me
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: out on this in this moment, what you're so scared
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: of Brandy write your book right?
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: Brand okay, all right?
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, because she went after it anyway when things and
• 37:24
  Speaker 5: I always keep saying, yeah, I know why I got
• 37:26
  Speaker 5: time to write.
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: I got mama, I got this and that Mercedes figured
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: it out. Thank you to get my girl up here.
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Thank y'all for having me.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: That's right, it's Brandy Evans. Thank you for joining us.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much everything.
• 37:42
  Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you, and y'all make sure y'all get
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: y'all some caregiver merch. I have a Caregiver Strong March
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: shop dot Brandyevans dot com. And I have one that
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: says the shirt that says I don't have a capacity
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: because it's okay to not have the capacity sometimes, and
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: one that says caregivering Strong, because it's a different type
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: of strength when you're a caregiver, all right.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: And the Evans is the breakfast Club, Good morning, Hold
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: up every day I wake up, pake your ass up.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: The breakfast club.
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: Y'all finish, y'all done,