INTERVIEW: A.J. Johnson & Tressa Smallwood Talk 'Fighting To Be Me', College Hazing, Polygamy + More

The Breakfast Club Sits Down With A.J. Johnson & Tressa Smallwood To Discuss 'Fighting To Be Me', College Hazing, Polygamy. Listen For More!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wake that ass up in the morning. Breakfast Club Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Everybody's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We are
the Breakfast Club Law on the roaster head for Jesson.
We got some special guests joining us this morning. We
have A J Johnson, She's back. Good morning, Good morning,
we have TRUSTA Smallwood Welcome.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good morning everyone.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
How you feeling this morning?

Speaker 4 (00:21):
Ladies?

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Listen, I'm in New York. It's cold as I'm on
the walk, but I'm here.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It ain't that bad if you came, but we could
go to been like thirty twenty degrees.

Speaker 5 (00:29):
Well, you know, when you're bouncing between La and Africa.
Anything under seventy is like, I'm not going outside.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (00:34):
Last time I saw you was then gone. Yes, but
you living there now?

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Well, I was back and forth then.

Speaker 5 (00:40):
You just didn't know it because it was December and
everybody was hanging out. Okay, but I've been back and forth,
living and working since twenty nineteen.

Speaker 7 (00:46):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, yeah, I got the email early.

Speaker 8 (00:51):
I was ing it was everything happening politically, or you
just really wanted to just go and be, you know,
back in Africa.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
I' would be honest.

Speaker 5 (00:58):
It was it was I love the life that I
was developing there, but with the pandemic, I saw governmentally
and politically what didn't feel right to me. Not that
I knew what was happening, but just you know, in
terms of the and honestly, when Africa opened up late
twenty twenty, I got there around November twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
So if you remember, we had been told, oh it's
gonna be two weeks.

Speaker 5 (01:21):
Oh it's gonna be six months, yes, right, yeah, right
when it first started in twenty twenty. And of course,
you know you call on Monday, you did by Friday.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
So I was like, so right.

Speaker 5 (01:29):
So when I got to Africa and I'm watching CNN
from there, me and my African friends are like, well,
why is everybody dying? You know, we had masks on
just to respect it. But it was like, you know,
you take a pill and everything's fine. So I was like,
you know what, something's not right, and let me start
making moves now. So I started investigating like citizenship and
just what it would take to do business there and
to live there.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
And so I'm bouncing back and forth.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
So you're dual citizen.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Oh yeah, I love it. Oh yeah, you've.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
Been helping people get dual citizenship to saw Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:56):
I mean you know I when it says help just
to clarify because your people plugging my DM.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
You know, who do I need to write? What do
I need to do? Listen? Can I pay you to
get my passport?

Speaker 5 (02:06):
So I said, what that means is really, you know,
I'm taking groups over with retreats.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
I got a retreat in July and a retreat in December.

Speaker 5 (02:13):
Been doing that for five years, just to show you
the country, just to introduce it to you intimately, you know,
get you off a tour bus and out of a
group of one hundred and just really have you, you know,
meet people, really have real estate conversations, learn what it's
like to be employeed. When you're there, the rules are different,
the country's different, and so we can't keep going as
Americans expecting Africa to be America or to be run

(02:33):
like that. So I try to educate and share, you know,
form my life so that when it's time and you're
really saying I.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Want to make a move, I want to be a citizen.
You know what it really takes.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
What got you to gun? And when did you first
go to Gun? It was like this is I like this,
this is where I want to live.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
I told you this, John Bade, I actually went for
our birthday turn up. I was going through a breakup
and I was like, I need new I need new fragrances,
new freight, I need new men, new food, new clothes,
new music. And so I went in twenty nineteen and
I went with both Saint John and uh and Boris
and Nicole Kujo and they took a group of celebrities.

(03:11):
At the time, it was called Full Circle Festival, and
so I was part of that and that seven days
changed my life mentally, spiritually, nutritionally.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Health wise.

Speaker 5 (03:22):
I mean I saw a difference in my hair and
skin and weight management. No lie, like in four days,
just because the food was different, you know, no chemicals,
no hormones, and we don't know what that's like unless
you spend time over there. And so I was like, oh,
I'm so down with what I'm seeing and feeling. And
so I just started saying, you know, I'm gonna sell

(03:42):
some of my air Mas bags. I'ma stop buying, you know,
i'ma stop buying some of the red bottoms, and financed
some flights over there and the more I went, the
more I learned about, of course, US as a culture
that we don't know, and the more I started embracing
the African that I am.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
When you think about your overall talk about what y'all
here for.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
We've got a lot of catch it up.

Speaker 6 (04:05):
When you think about your overall mental wellness, how does
living in Ghana affect it as a poll living into
the United States of anxiety?

Speaker 5 (04:13):
I mean, first of all, you know, to get off
the plane and see everybody black. I'm not saying that
there's not you know, issues within us as people, but
they're they're sure not racial issues.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
I don't experience personally. I don't experience any colorism.

Speaker 5 (04:29):
You know, I'm still talking to a lot of women
who are dealing with you know, light skinned, brown skin.
You know over there it's you know, the black of
a berry, because our skin is so beautiful, and so
that part the safety of it. I'm not running from
the cops, you know, if I see sirens behind my car,
I don't get nervous. And even just the love, the
love and acceptance is different. The conversations are different. You know,

(04:50):
we're talking about you know, being African and what that
means and how do we get our resources back in
our pockets as opposed to the man that's going on here.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
So it just I'm just more comfortable.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
I love it, and we're creators, you know, we're creative
creators naturally, so I have more experience with more collaboration
spirits as opposed to I got mine, you get yours,
which I think is a lot of what happens here,
and so I really love the collaborative energy I'm experiencing there.

Speaker 8 (05:18):
How is celebrity different being in Africa versus being over
here in the seats?

Speaker 1 (05:24):
I think, Well, I'm answered a couple of ways.

Speaker 5 (05:26):
One of the reasons I'm back and forth is because
I feel and see my value there as an American celebrity.
And I don't mind that, you know, I know that
they value my work and my and my resume, and
so we're using that as well, teaching master classes and
things like that. But at the same time, I think
the African celebrity also wants some of the American celebrity.

(05:49):
So now after five years, I've got friends in the
business there and we're trying to you know, we're looking
for scripts.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
You know, It's one of the reasons why I trusted,
not connected.

Speaker 5 (05:56):
We're looking for international scripts so that we can join
forces and bridge and do more projects. So I think
there's benefits to the celebrity on both continents. But again
it's like, you know what happens if we come together.

Speaker 8 (06:07):
That's the point, right, And I know that you guys
are here to talk about Fighting to Me, the Dwyn
Curry story. You mentioned Tressa and Trust. I know you're
new to the platform. I want to introduce yourself in
Mega My Media.

Speaker 7 (06:17):
What you do, Yes, absolutely so I'm trust Siza Real Smallwood.
I'm CEO of Mega My Media, an independent movie production
company that's making our own way in the industry. So
where THEI gets cut, we don't get cut.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
There you go, there you go.

Speaker 5 (06:33):
And I want to make sure you all know how
important that is, which is why I'm paddling around with
marsis because you know, nowadays the studios are are governing
what we're doing, and they're not really that interested in
our stories. And so this Fighting to Be Me is
my second project with Mega Mind and Tresa. I did
a Christmas movie which I hadn't done. I'm trying to
check the boxes of things I hadn't done, and so

(06:56):
I did Holiday Heartbreak with Trusta and I was like, yo, family,
Family Run. I was like, this is good. It feels good.
You know, the project's good. I'm getting paid on time.
I'm like, I love this.

Speaker 6 (07:06):
I love this doing Curry for the people who are
from dwyn Curry, you have a close relationship with well Dwenn.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
Dwynn is a very well renowned and respected Hollywood stylist
from the nineties and honestly, not only is he known
for styling celebrities like Lisa Ray and Yo Yo and
Missy Elliott, he was one of my first stylists when
I right after House Party when I hit you know,
but you know, in the nineties, you know, being gay

(07:35):
and and and being in that world wasn't necessarily as
accepted as it is now. And so Dwynn, looking for
love and acceptance, turned to a life of crime and
so yeah, and so in all of that celebrity and
and and Alcohlade, he became a convicted felon for credit
card fraud. And so now she in trance in the

(07:56):
trans community, is now an advocate, has done time and
is trying to teach the more visible community in the
LGBTQ plus you know how to survive and thrive actually
without it being criminal.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Breakdown some of the people that Dwin styled for, because
Dwinn style for a lot of people.

Speaker 5 (08:15):
Yeah, and I mean, I'm just naming a few us
and Lisa Ray, Missy, Elliott, Gabriel, Union, me DMX on there.
I mean, and I'm telling you in the nineties it
was like when doing I mean it's depicted in the movie,
when dwyn would walk in a restaurant a club, it
was like, you.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Know, the celebrity, the for real celebrity.

Speaker 5 (08:32):
Had arrived, because you know, we look at styling now
as just you know, who puts your hair and clothes together.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
But Dwynn was creating the images.

Speaker 5 (08:40):
Dwynn was actually creating the celebrities in the nineties based
on knowing your image is how you walk in the room,
what you look like. And so in the nineties, a
lot of us, as black talent and the culture, we
didn't know that.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Like in the movie it depicts you saw where Yo
Yo Yoyo.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
Was like, you know, I'm a rapper with braids in
a bandana, and Dwynn was like, oh no, no, no,
you got to be you gotta be a sexy and
change her whole career trajectory.

Speaker 7 (09:03):
So it should respect her a lot even now to today,
you know, they reach out to her like, hey, we
don't want to let what's happening now and how people
are kind of turning their backs on a lot of
people in the community, and they're like, you know, you
did this for us, you changed us, and they're stepping
up for Oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:19):
There's a lot of times I don't get dressed without saying, okay,
this shoe or the shoe, and.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
I'll send her, I'll send her pictures and she'll be like,
neither wine do that. And I was like, okay, okay,
So that was.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Your story so important out of all the stories that
you could have picked or choose, Why was this story
so important to both of you guys?

Speaker 7 (09:36):
I think for me personally, you know, it's a responsibility
of mine to tell the diverse stories that other people
won't tell. You know, we know that in Hollywood it's
really challenging to get a project greenlit. And so because
I have the capability of deciding, you know what I'm
going to shoot, and I have distribution, I say, you
know how can I change somebody's life?

Speaker 3 (09:56):
What's the story?

Speaker 1 (09:57):
You know?

Speaker 7 (09:57):
And even with with Dwyn Curry, I had a lot
of people say to me, hey, why why would you
pick this in particular when you know that it's a
touchy subject in this day and age. And I said,
that's exactly why I'm tackling it, because nobody else is
going to do it. And even when you think about
the role that Aj plays in the movie s Twin's
mother who said, hey, I knew you were gay. I'm

(10:20):
not gonna say I agree with this, but you're my son.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
I love you. People need to hear that now, right.

Speaker 7 (10:26):
People are going through it, and you need to know
that there are people that are gonna believe in you,
that they're gonna speak up for you, despite what everybody
else is saying out here right. Trans yes, trans, And
and to be clear, you know a lot of people
are trying to figure out fully trans in terms of
having the sexual you know, assignment. No, but she is,

(10:47):
she is trans, but not without the sexual without the assignment.

Speaker 6 (10:51):
I wonder how networks feel about that now, because when
you see you know, President Trump sign in executive order
basically saying that there's only two genders female now do
even network you want.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
To touch them, They don't.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
They do not.

Speaker 7 (11:02):
And so this was a project that we shot last
year and we shot it in April in Washington, DC,
and even then people were like.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
What is this Charlotte shooting? You know what's going on?

Speaker 7 (11:16):
You know, but again, you gotta be courageous enough to
tell the story, but know why you're telling it. And
God is a god of love. I don't care what
any of us believe, you know. We wanted to show
that this is unconditional love. And if when you watch
the movie, you see it from Dwen's uncle who said, hey,
I don't like what you're doing. I don't like the drugs,

(11:37):
I don't like any of this, but I love you
and I'm going to see you through this. And I
think that that's something that we all need right now,
just unconditional love.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
And after that was dope for that time period too,
because that time period was a time where I think.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
Most people wouldn't understand.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
And for the uncle to actually say, no, I don't
care what you what you do, what you're intruth, I
want you to go to rehab, right, but I love you.
I thought that was amazing and.

Speaker 7 (11:58):
I don't want your riches because remember Dwenn tried to
buy the Lolas, right, yeah, because it was like, okay,
I'm getting money, Like now I want this is how
I'm going to get you to like me. And the
Uncle's like, yeah, I don't need that. I love you
just because I love you, and.

Speaker 5 (12:11):
I'm just gonna say for me, honestly, the response for me,
even twenty years after doing Baby Boy, helped me decide
to do it. I mean, Dwynn was like, you have
to do it, you know, you have to play this role.
Tressell was like, there's nobody else. You have to do it.
And it wasn't. The personal connection for me to Dwinn
and his mom and made me say yes. I learned
with Baby Boy that so many women and so many

(12:33):
mothers look to that story for permission to be complex
and complicated in their mother's son relationships.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Mama gotta have a life too, come on now and so.

Speaker 7 (12:45):
Right.

Speaker 5 (12:46):
And so when I read the script and looked at
the story, I liked the complexity of their relationship. I
like the complicatedness of it, and you know, I feel
like that's love too, And especially in the in families
navigating the LGTQ community, and so I wanted to do
my part to give permission to these women, as mothers
and sisters and the families to know it's not easy,

(13:09):
and it's and it's complicated, but you have permission to
allow it to be. And so sometimes I think visually
can change something. I posted one of the scenes on
my Instagram yesterday where he first comes to tell me
on a phone call that he's gay, and so even that,
as simple as that is, like, that's the thing in
our culture, right, that's the thing in our community.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Do I say it? Do I not?

Speaker 5 (13:29):
I interviewed a lot of gay trans families, and so
many gay men said they're fifty and they still haven't
come out to their families, right. So to me, it's
another one for the culture. That's what I've been saying.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
I just got to ask one question. You just mentioned
house party and just made me think about it.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
I said, baby boy, about how the reason.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
I said the house party is my daughter's dance, right,
and when I show them movies with people dancing that
look like us as hip hop, we have to go
back to house party. And I've always wondered why don't
we do cultural movies like that anymore, Like we don't
see those type just do I have to be about
the boys in the hood in that, But like House add.

Speaker 7 (14:11):
The ejects are not green lighting those types of projects.
So we have to come together right in our community
and invest with each other. Every single movie that I've
ever produced under the Megami Media banner, we have investors
that say, I'm gonna put this money up because I
want to see the movies that other people won't green light.

(14:31):
And that's what's making it happen.

Speaker 5 (14:33):
And just think about what's crazy about that? Because House
Party just celebrated thirty five years crazy crazy, and we're
still talking about still doing the dances still, which I love.
And then you got the other side of it, baby boy,
it's celebrating twenty twenty two years. So it's like, if
you're looking for the longevity in your content, it's kind
of best to say, you know, why not why try

(14:55):
to fix what's what's not broken? In terms of that
just feel good Kmar films, the family films, So a
lot of times, you know, the studios are falling the trends,
that's not necessarily what's gonna be talked about in thirty
five years.

Speaker 6 (15:06):
I think the nineties early two thousands was more focused
on black joy.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, you know, I agree, And.

Speaker 6 (15:11):
Then somewhere along the line it just became about let's
oppression in a lot of ways, you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (15:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, sign of the government,
sign of the times, right, sign of where we are.
But I also think, which is what I love about
Trusted and Mega my media, They're not afraid, which is
how we came to fighting to be me. They're not
afraid to take a stance and say this story is
important for the culture. It's not getting done, and we
need to tell it, we need to talk about it,

(15:38):
we need to give support to it. And so here
we are, and it's you know, it's a visual support system.

Speaker 8 (15:46):
I was gonna say, y'all touch so much stuff in
the movie. I literally kept sensing myself, why haven't I
heard of this movie? Why haven't I seen it? Some
of this stuff could go viral, the names involved, And
it was the first question I asked you this morning
when I saw you, like, yo, why I didn't hear
about this before you guys.

Speaker 9 (15:59):
Were coming up here.

Speaker 8 (16:00):
And it's unfortunate because it's really really good, Like the
she Dwinn is so fly and it's just so fabulous.
You're like, oh, okay, she was getting money with the
with the Jesus the g aginsts.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
Don't you love at least when I watch it what
I love?

Speaker 5 (16:13):
Have you seen it yet, Shrmy, No, you see it
all other gay gangsters. I know, I know what I
love is watching you know, I love how brilliantly we
we went through the timeline with the fashion. If you
notice Mama Sen's hair changed from a certain bob to
highlights to platinum blond.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
Platinum blon were now killing it, but.

Speaker 5 (16:34):
Your platinum blond were now till like mid nineties, late nineties, right,
So even the timeline and the dress, you know Duin's hairstyles,
the blowout.

Speaker 8 (16:41):
The leather wrap around top that you had on with
the cut. When Dwyn called you from jail, yeah, I
was like, oh, mom is getting money now? They sitting
there like this is like gangster fashion right now. It
was like drug lord fashion.

Speaker 5 (16:52):
Yes, if you don't know the nineties, you kind of
got to go back and research that. But if you
really look at the nineties, that story, like you're saying,
the story is still with so much that's different stories
besides just what's happening?

Speaker 8 (17:03):
What did you guys decide to omit from the movie?
Because you even mentioned names directly, like but.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
One name, Oh, who is is?

Speaker 4 (17:13):
Is?

Speaker 8 (17:13):
Who is Zaire? Because okay, so the background, you gotta
given background for people.

Speaker 5 (17:19):
Yeah, so so Zaire was one of Dwynn's life loves
that that happened to be an upcoming rapper in the nineties,
really popular, but was gay and a Muslim and so
at the time, of course, you know, he wasn't out,
but they were madly in love and so you know,
in the story, it portrays that that situation and the

(17:40):
hardship of not just them being gay and lovers. But
how does this work and the fact that it didn't
then or or it doesn't now, we don't know. But
once again, just you know, we're talking about freedom. How
many of of of people are fighting their sexuality because
of their religious beliefs or their family you know, they
they're upbringing their family background. So that's one person in it.

(18:01):
I mean a lot of names were changed. There's a
couple of situations was.

Speaker 8 (18:09):
I was like, wait, what who is it? Because y'all,
y'all directly say other people's names. And I'm like, that
was done a purpose, but I get, I understand.

Speaker 5 (18:15):
And there's also that the whole reality start thing that
sent him, that sent her back to prison. That's the
name change. Okay, so you know you have to you
have to go fight the easter eggs as they call
him in cinema, the truth of the stories. But yeah,
there's a lot. There's a lot that we're hoping to
do a series because there's so much. I mean, let
me just say this. The apple doesn't fall.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Far from the tree.

Speaker 5 (18:34):
We had an hour and a half to tell the story.
But listen, Dwinn, she gets it from somewhere and that
Mama sin, that Mama sin.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
You know, there's a reason why she wants to say it.

Speaker 5 (18:44):
No, you keep the money she was taking them first,
and them diamonds and the clothes and the move to
l A.

Speaker 4 (18:50):
There's a lot going on, you know, y'all mentioned support.

Speaker 6 (18:53):
Support is important because you can make these films, but
if nobody supports them, it won't make sense for you
to do them, and it won't make sense for studios
to buy them.

Speaker 4 (19:01):
So how important is supporting?

Speaker 7 (19:02):
Absolutely, we need the eyeballs on these projects. And so
you know, dwayn Curry is currently streaming on beet Plus
and we need everybody to go watch it.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
We you know, Shameless plugged.

Speaker 9 (19:14):
Last night.

Speaker 7 (19:14):
AJ and I were in Times Square and we saw
the billboard come up right, and we were so excited.
I mean, it was just like, Okay, this is real.
People are getting eyeballs on it. You know, we had
a premiere last week, people started talking about it. But
to Lawren's point, we need more people talking about it.

Speaker 5 (19:32):
And you know, I gotta say, even with these cultural, iconic,
legendary projects, from my experience, it takes time. You know,
for these stories that are not mainstream, it takes time.
You know, House Party was a small independent when it
first came out. Baby Boy didn't do it was a
sony picture, but it didn't really do great in the theater.
And so now everybody's like, whoa, these are iconic classics.

(19:54):
But you know, once again, you just have to talk
it up and market and you know, thank you guys
for having us because we you have to tell more
of the community. You got to watch, tune in, spread
the word, you know, watch, so we get more of
them done.

Speaker 6 (20:05):
Have you ever turned down a film because it wasn't
good for business because you want to create art, right,
but it's still a business.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
You ever say yourself like that might be a little tough.

Speaker 7 (20:14):
Yeah, truly, I definitely think about distribution before I ever
shoot anything, you know, and so it's it's always keep
in mind independently is my money? So that means you
are really thinking this through in terms of can I
get this money back?

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Where can we go? Who's going to support it?

Speaker 7 (20:32):
And doesn't have longevity because when you own your films
and perpetuity, like right now BT owns the rights to
Duane Curry, Well, five years from now, you can start
licensing that product to another platform, and so you have
to think, you know, ahead, ahead of the game going
Okay in ten years, who will still want to see
this project?

Speaker 5 (20:52):
And that's why she says it's important to own it
because once the contract is up with a network, you
go someplace in do what you want with it.

Speaker 8 (21:01):
Well, have you ever seen the meme Aja of there's
a video of you in your garden as a baby
boy's mom, and everybody's like, now that we're older, we
understand why her having his garden and having that blunt
in the garden was so important?

Speaker 9 (21:13):
Saw that mean? Before?

Speaker 5 (21:14):
Lord, let me tell you something, every type somebody posts it. Yes,
I get it, sit to me, okay thousand times.

Speaker 8 (21:19):
So when you see that, I mean you probably understood
that then because you were at you know what I mean,
you were in it. You had to channel the character.
But like when you see that and you see like,
because my generation is doing it, people younger than me
are reposting it like that type of impact, Like, what's
your response to that?

Speaker 9 (21:33):
Are you?

Speaker 5 (21:34):
And listen? When I shot the film, I didn't know.
I didn't get it. So I feel like everybody.

Speaker 9 (21:39):
Else you did know, we believed you so bad.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Well, I exactly I was what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (21:44):
Now that I'm older, I understand that stance, you know,
in terms of just wanting the piece and finding your
own place, especially as women, you know, we're so busy
doing and doing and doing that. I now understand the
importance of yeah, but where's the piece? Is it in
your garden? Is it just with a glass of want?
Is a kicking it with your girls? So I understand,
and the fact that it's become such an iconic moment.

(22:06):
You never can predict that you know at least I can't.
I never I never can predict what's going to be iconic.
And I don't pick projects even thinking that I picked
projects because I know that my divine assignment is to
do projects where there's a message, you know, And I
always think, if I do this. It just took me
up to think about it. If I do this project,
can I change one life? Can I talk to one

(22:29):
person and maybe shift their perspective? If the answer is yes,
that's why I do it. So that's why you don't
see me a lot. Honestly, in film, it's got to
mean something. I can't just do the hot the hot
project or the hot script. If I can't find a
reason for me to give a message, then it's not mine.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
What makes you want to do a film?

Speaker 6 (22:46):
Because you know, when I watch Baby Boy now, I
got a whole different perspective of it than I did
twenty years ago. So what made you want to do
that film twenty years ago? What was the message in
it for you?

Speaker 5 (22:55):
The message was, you know, single moms are not necessarily
the downfall, and to give single moms hope in once again,
like I said, that prepared me for fighting to be me.
You know, single moms, especially in the hood, are learning,
growing up and learning with their kids that you know,
I wanted to give them permission to fail and to

(23:17):
keep moving and that love always wins. Even Mama Sin said,
not knowing that she was confirming what I knew from
the experience of Baby Boy. When I was researching with
Mama Sin and just making her go deep about why
certain things that I knew were gonna be depicted in
this film, she finally said, tears streaming, she said, you know,
fear can lead, but love has to win. And so

(23:38):
that's what made me go okay, because as black women
in these situations, a lot of times we're leading and
living in fear. And so if the film can depict
step out the fear and do what you know you
have to do, whether it's putting your son out because
it's time for him to learn how to be a
man on his own and you can't do it, or
whether it's you know, sending your drug addict gay son
away in the nineties because you know he at the

(24:00):
time doesn't know who he she is. Then sometimes love
is doing the hard thing, and so if God's choosing
me to do it on film, I gotta do it.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
That's how I felt to watch it.

Speaker 6 (24:10):
When you watch Baby Boy now, it's like at first,
when you first see it, you think this is a
movie about this young man, but it's really about the
women and the women in his life and how he
has to eventually break the cycle I think of single motherhood.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah way, and let me tell you now that it's
years later.

Speaker 5 (24:27):
One of the things my dear love and friend John Singleton,
when Sony told him that they wanted a PG rating,
it was it was it was shot to be are
because there was a lot of the women, the sexuality
and all that. Sony said they wanted PG and pushed
the film with Tyrese and Snoop because they were the hot,

(24:48):
the hot talents at MTV at the time. That wasn't
the story though, So they actually gave John millions of
dollars to reshoot some of the film to focus on them.
A lot of the chase scenes at the end, you
know Snoop coming out of jail, he goes on the
foremost of the time In the original script, and it
was about me and being in the relationship Taraji and Tyrese,
But the studio was like, that's not the story. What's
funny now is what you just said all these years later,

(25:09):
It is exactly the story in that deep.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
Yeah, because the family you ended up with ving Raams, so.

Speaker 6 (25:14):
That that's that's a full family now. Yeah, you know
Tyrese and Saraji ended up together, so that's a full family.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
Now, only brother got left. That was Tyre's first baby, Mama.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, nobody.

Speaker 6 (25:28):
You know.

Speaker 7 (25:28):
I want to just give Aj a shout out because
I was thinking about as you were talking. They don't
know your your presence on set. When Aj comes on set,
everybody is going to leave fulfilled. You're going to get
schooled and you don't even know that you're getting school.
You're going to get some inspiration and you don't even
realize that it's coming people. You You change so many

(25:49):
lives when you're on set.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
You always do.

Speaker 5 (25:53):
I hope so because I know now that when I
go on set, I'm not there to boost my celebrity.
You know I'm not there. I mean, honestly, I've been
doing this since I was twenty, so you know, the
Red Carpets, I get it, but you already know you know,
life is more than that, At least for me, it
is and to be able to travel and live in
other countries is way more than that. So for me,

(26:13):
when I go on set, I know it's a divine
assignment to just show people at this age and stage
that your life can be full and it doesn't have
to be about chasing the next project. Like even now
when I'm doing interviews in red carpets for this, So,
what's your next project? And I said, Collie Joeneralists is
still asking that, like after twenty thirty years, and I say,
you know what, I don't freaking know. And I'm okay
with that. I'm okay with that. I'm producing, you know,

(26:35):
I'm looking for projects, we're looking for scripts. So we
don't know yet. But I mean I couldn't say that
with confidence twenty years ago because that just wasn't the
thing to do. But now the freedom I live with,
the freedom is amazing. So I'm just trying to, you know,
be an example on set, and I know that's why
I'm there.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
I gotta ask you attended and you graduated Spelman, Yeah,
in Atlanta. Now you're also a member of Delta Sigma
Theta have been for years now. You heard this, Well,
yesterday morning when we were talking about the young man
that lost his life.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
He so glad you're bringing us out, go ahead.

Speaker 4 (27:06):
And wanted you to break that down.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
We were talking about is hazing should fraternities this already
should be Should they still be doing hazing at this point?

Speaker 5 (27:15):
Okay, how much time we got because yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. So let's start with the fact that I
pledged at seventeen, one of the youngest undergraduate pledges at
Spelman at the time, and then through my stay at Spelman,
I became vice president of the chapter, which then gives
me Dina pledges as a new when the new line

(27:37):
comes in and Dina probates. The difference between those is
Dino pledges is you bring the new pledges in and
see them through the process. Dina Probates means you carry
them through the end of the process because it's a process.
And so having those two positions, I can comfortably say
that hazing is a personal thing. It's not an organization thing.

(27:58):
When I say that, meaning if you've been hazed before
and you want to interject that on a new pledge,
that's a personal thing. My pledge period was no walking
the park. It was not and so one of the
reasons I wanted to become DNA Pledges is to say
that's not necessary. And again we're talking about undergraduate pledging.
So when you are twenty five and twenty six and

(28:20):
you're no longer even in the school and you're still
coming back to be part of the pledge period, that's
also a personal thing like what are you missing and
why are you coming back to inflict possibly deadly fatal force.
If you're in the institution and you're a member of
the chapter, nine times out of ten you're being raised
in the way that the chapter is being raised. And

(28:40):
so nowadays hazing's not allowed. So again I'm still going
to there's something personal, a personal vendetta that somebody's exercising
in that. The other side of it is, as Dina Pledges,
I'm in control, and that's just it. I'm in control
of not only who's around the pledges within the chapter,
but also the visit members of the organization that come back.

(29:02):
So it's my say who gets to be around the
pledges period. So that job only goes to we were
talking about this, that job only goes to a strong
spirit and authoritative spirit to make sure that the pledges
stay safe.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
So were there sorrows coming back around when I was
seeing pledgies. Absolutely? Was I the ones saying no, we're
not doing that, No you can't be there. And you
know who they are. See, that's the other thing.

Speaker 5 (29:23):
A lot of these a lot of these hazers, you
know who they are or you know the potential they have,
so they're not strangers to your organization or to your chapter.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
You have to stand up and say that's gonna be
an now.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
When you look at tradition, right, because you know a
lot of people that have been through the process might
say I've been paddled before.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah. A lot of people say I might been whatever before. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
And usually those things don't kill you, don't hurt you.
But right in situations, it can happen.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yes, So what do you say in that situation in
terms of when you when you have those things going
like paddle.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
Right, that that's something that a lot of sororities and
fraternities say, Yes, that has happened before.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
Yes, you can get hit with a paddle and die.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yes.

Speaker 5 (30:02):
And so so here's the open honesty. So I've been paddled.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Usually when the sentry club, the lady called one and
says she was at the centry.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
I did, I did.

Speaker 5 (30:10):
I made the central You were young, So are you
allowed to talk about it? Not beyond me saying I mean, I'm.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
Part of this.

Speaker 8 (30:18):
Yeah, I was gonna say, because you normally, I don't
know how much you could talk about. But I have
I have friends that have been younger on the line. Yeah,
and they got a little bit worse because they were younger.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (30:28):
I don't know if your experience leaning toward that either too,
because you were younger, like they were making examples.

Speaker 5 (30:33):
I don't know if that was the case. I mean,
I do believe sometimes that is the case. I don't
necessarily think that was the case with my line. And
when I pledged, it was a lot of suspended chapters.
It was a lot of you know, not having lines
for years, so you know, but once again, we were
talking about different time. We're talking about early you know,
late eighties, early nineties, so it's a whole different time.
But what I say is once and you're typically blindfolded,

(30:57):
so you don't know who it is, you don't know
what's happening, right, So to me, once I became a
member of the chapter and started seeing how that works.
There's things that can replace that.

Speaker 8 (31:06):
You know.

Speaker 5 (31:07):
Uh, that's that's that's tradition that doesn't need to stay.
And that's what I feel, you know, there's traditions that
don't need to stay. I mean when I was needing
pledges and a lot of my pledges are gonna say.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
I had them exercising.

Speaker 5 (31:18):
I mean that was punishment enough, right, you don't know
your founders more mild and they're like, oh man, really,
it's like, you know, there's different forms of teaching and
being authoritative without it being physical abuse.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
Yeah, I just feel like if it's college, it should
be something more cerebral.

Speaker 5 (31:33):
Well I'm just I mean, there's just it doesn't have
to be physical abuse period.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
And that's just my stance.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
But you know, sometimes people will say that the graduate
people that's that's in the fraternity and sorority are not
looked at the same as the people that actually quote
unquote pledged.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Grad chapter correct. Well, that's true.

Speaker 5 (31:50):
And then we also some organizations in the D nine
also have honorary members. Now, what I say as having
pledged is what's most important to me is the union
and the camaraderie of me having had line sisters some
of my best friends to this day, as separate as
our lives have gone, kids no kids, teacher, I'm in Hollywood,
we're still connected because we helped each other through a

(32:13):
trying process as we were teenagers. You're not getting that
and graduate right, and you're definitely not going through that
when you're in and when you're an honorary. So I
think we have the value and undergrad we have to
value the truth of the process and know that it
doesn't have to be physically abusive, especially when it can
be fatal.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Now also talking about the importance of sororities and fraternities,
because was like, I also do a blood.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
Of crypt I heard you.

Speaker 7 (32:38):
I asked that too earlier when we started talking and
I said, hey, tell me, what is the biggest benefit
now at your age, I said, because I didn't pledge
because I didn't like seeing what some of my friends
online were going through.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yes, I would give.

Speaker 8 (32:51):
It to me, I said, tell me, I feel like
insteadic you give aka, but internally you give dota.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
That's what I think we can change the esthetic.

Speaker 8 (33:00):
No, no, no, because deltas like you know what I mean, period.
But I do think there's a look I know what
you mean period? I do, But can you talk about
that from undergrad and and graduate, Like, what's the importance
undergrad and then graduate being able to fit?

Speaker 5 (33:15):
Yeah, I don't think. I don't think it changes. I
think it matures.

Speaker 9 (33:20):
I don't.

Speaker 5 (33:20):
I don't think the benefit changes in undergrad. You know,
when you're studying, when you're looking to graduate and find
a job, you know, you've got generations of women that
have gone that are with you, that have gone before you,
that are going to be a help that.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
You won't normally have.

Speaker 5 (33:35):
You've got sororiety members that are in corporations that that
may be able to get your resume in a different
position and faster than if you weren't a member. And
remember i'll speak for mine. You know, there's a certain
g PA that is required to pledge, and so you've
got a certain intellect. Going back to the collegiate thing,
you've got a certain intellect to even qualify.

Speaker 9 (33:55):
Y'all don't play about education.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
We don't, and so our foundation, Our foundation is service
and education.

Speaker 8 (34:00):
So for Chinese that they want you bad enough, they'll
figure it out. But delta is their number one thing.
They don't play about the.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
Day and I'm gonna tell you, even in the graduate level,
it's even strict with being being a you having a
graduate degree, at this point, I probably wouldn't have made
line outside of undergrad because I don't have the the
the graduate level education that's required.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
So that's part of it.

Speaker 5 (34:33):
And so what happens is the organization is building a
platform and a funnel of education like mind, like minded,
like spirited women. So now you've got all these women
who are successful in their own right helping each other worldwide.
So they're worldwide organizations. I can travel, whether it's Australia, Africa,
and I'm meeting the sorrow who's saying, hey, what are

(34:54):
you trying to do?

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Hey, what are you trying to do?

Speaker 5 (34:55):
Well, let's connect Or I know a sorrow who's or
who's So I don't know where I would be, whether
it's Hollywood or or just in my life if I
didn't have Saaras to call on. And now it's bigger
than Delta for me, it's now de nine because as
a as a Hollywood personality, it's more than just Delta.
I've got friends and colleagues that are Aka and Zeta

(35:16):
and and so now it's even bigger because now we
have more of a D nine sorority going than just
Delta or just Aka or just Zeta or just Sigmun Gammero.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
So it's it's really a like mind to like spirit.

Speaker 6 (35:28):
It from the beginning is they're a film y'all would
want to make about the D nine.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
That's that's confirmation, your confirmation.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
We just thought we were just because of this.

Speaker 5 (35:36):
We were talking about it because I was saying, n Tresa,
I've seen where TV shows and movies have tried to
touch on it, but they rarely use true Greeks to consult,
and so it's always been a problem for me to
have pledged and obviously passionate about it, but but them
not getting the intricate details right. Not that we tell
the secrets of the organization, but there's still things that

(35:57):
could help people better understand why. The fact that you're
even asking that means that the stories that have been
told have not been accurate enough.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Not only that it's.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Bigger than in other communities or in other cities than
others Like I'm from New York, so fraternities and sororities
we didn't see as much, but I had roommates from
in down South Mississippi and Atlanta, so it was everything
for them and the legacy my dad. When you have
those roommates and they're telling you about it and what
it does, it hypes you up to be like, damn,

(36:26):
I think I want to do that, which put me
onto it because I never heard anything about it. But
they would always say, you know, when I graduate, my
my my brother's gonna help me get this job. My
fraternity brother is gonna help me in this lane. He's
gonna guide me when it comes to this. And I
was like, that's things come.

Speaker 6 (36:39):
I feel like that's what people should cinema.

Speaker 8 (36:44):
Explain to people who haven't been on HBCU campus and
actually went to the school, because you know that while
you're there, but see it, yeah, and you feel it,
like the Greek impact. That's why, like when Kamala was
getting all that flag for like going and speaking to
Greek organizations over whatever. I'm like, if people understood the
power of the Divine Nine and what they can do
when they unified, they would get it. But for people

(37:06):
who've never been on the STCU campus, you don't feel
the power in the culture that Divine Nine brings, and
I think it is because we're not seeing it in
cinema maybe consistently in the right way.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
We're looking for investors.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
Yeah for sure for that lady to or yeah period.

Speaker 8 (37:22):
Right, but wait, is that why Judge matthis is one
of the he's like the produce. He's an ep on
the Dwiny because he is do you know him through
the He's different, he's.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
A so.

Speaker 7 (37:36):
So Judge actually took in both the Tenisa Welch story
and the dwyn Carry story to be Et because b
Et was doing the American Gangsters series and so both
of those projects they had episodics which I think it
was like maybe forty five minutes. And so those were
the two projects that BT said, all right, let's let's
make this a full biopic. But Judge matthis was the

(37:59):
one that took them and he had relationships with both
of them, and then they introduced Judge to me and
then that's how we.

Speaker 8 (38:05):
I thought, because he's an alpha, and I thought y'all
might have known each other just like you know.

Speaker 5 (38:09):
It was it helped make a deeper connection, got you know,
But I just I just want to ask something about
the Greek thing. You know, after spending time in Africa.
Another thing that I actually took a break because I
was so I was so busy in undergrad with Delta.
I took a break because I just I was burnout.
What made me want to come back to the organization
here is because we don't have as Americans, we don't

(38:31):
have the sense of village that we had on the continent.
So families live in compounds, you know, families work together,
families grow together. As Americans, we don't have that, and
so I feel like that's another reason why a lot
of us pledged is to have that camaraderie in terms
of as we move through life here, our family separate,

(38:52):
you know, as we get adults and we marry, we separate.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
In Africa, the new wife comes, the husband comes, the
kids come, and then we stay together.

Speaker 5 (38:59):
So because we don't have that experience, I think that's
what makes a lot of us pledge. But I think
that's what the Greek organizations based here in America have
to remember.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
That we're creating villages. Is it's not about killing people.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
It's crazy you said that when I went to years ago.
Years ago, I went to Johannesburg to do some parties
and do some shows. And the person that I went there,
I went to visit him and.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
The way that he lived.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
He bought the property next door to his house and
then brought the property next door to their house and
they all live like in a big compound. And I
just thought it was amazing. That's why my daughter still
lives in my house now at twenty three.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
I just like that.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
I have the fact that you have that community. And
I don't know what we got to the point where
it's like you turned to on the one you gotta
get to fuck out my house.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
I well, we were taught that we were talking.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
I like the fact that I can see my daughter
every day and it is what it is. She has
a boyfriend, that's fine. I love the fact that everybody's
in the same house, same community. We cook together, we
play games together, we do this, we do that. There's
no other feeling. But it's also a safety for myself.
I know where everybody is. I was going to ask
one thing that Louis V said, which is our program
director from Atlanta. He said, the hardest thing about the

(40:05):
Divine Nine is people don't pay their dues and.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Sim because that a lot of times, y'all.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
Don't have the power that you need because you don't
have the money and funding.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Is that true?

Speaker 5 (40:13):
I think it's an individual thing for organization, but I
know that, you know, I also feel like dues paying
has got to be more appealing in terms of what
the organization is going to do, you know, for me,
because I'm a soul that's into service, I'm traveling the
world in service. I mean, I work for orphanages in

(40:35):
Ghana and Senegal and I'm still doing what I was
trained to do as a delta. But to be in
a chapter in an organization, I have to be attracted
to what that chapter is going to do. And if
I'm paying dues, I need to know what's my money
being put towards. And I think that's where a lot
of organizations that in D nine organizations have to elevate
in terms of what are they really doing with the

(40:55):
financial obligation and so I you know, there's always room
to grow.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
So we'll see.

Speaker 4 (41:00):
Mh.

Speaker 8 (41:01):
Well, the last question for you, what what's your what
would you rate your most impactful culturally impactful role of
all your roles?

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Oh my goodness, you.

Speaker 5 (41:13):
Know, honestly, I've seen where you know, House Party has
done its thing and continues to do its thing. You know,
I can't deny that. You know, people are still running
up to me in Times Square at the airport with
you everything.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
You Yes, A lot of that has to do with
the fact you have not.

Speaker 5 (41:32):
She broke it down right out here before office had
had suit a head. I was like, yes, And then
of course Baby Boy, you know it's it has hits,
it's plunged. And you see how to me, every project,
and I can't speak for every actress, but I know
the way God moves with me, every project pushes me
into the next one. So as you heard me say,

(41:54):
Baby Boy helped prepare me for for fighting to be me.
This is my first installment of taking a dance anything LGBTQ,
and so that's a whole nother culture and community for me.
So let's I mean, I'm sure this project is going
to do something in that community, in that space, but
as an African American culture, that's part of our culture.
So I just think that for people to have seen

(42:15):
me so much in Baby Boy, and so many people
have grown up with me. You were saying that, right,
have grown up with me in the culture I think
when I step on screen, it's just part of it anyway,
and I take that to my advantage. Yeah, I know,
like I said, I know when I step on screen
in a role like this, I know people are going.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
To pay attention, and so I take that seriously. What
do you think?

Speaker 8 (42:36):
No, I just you did a great job as a
Dwin's mom and you haven't met Hern's mom.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Oh like the mama said.

Speaker 9 (42:43):
Oh no, no, no, no, she's crazier than how you were on screen.

Speaker 8 (42:47):
Yes, did you put a gun?

Speaker 1 (42:51):
I pull a gun.

Speaker 9 (42:51):
Let's just say I pull a early on in the movie.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
I pull a gun.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
Cigarette I do, I pull a gun. Look you, Sai,
I go straight into Mama' saying straight into her.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:01):
Yeah, she's a she's a she's a she's a colorful
person and.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
So and so.

Speaker 5 (43:09):
Even that, you know, I was a little nervous because
there's a there's a risk as an actress. And I
talked to Trusts about this and the director when we're filming.
There's a risk as an actress that people think, Okay,
where where is all this coming from? In AJ's portrayal,
that's who she is, that's really who she is. So
I mean, when you look at the characters in the
story that are real people, you get to see, okay, this,

(43:31):
this whole story is really colorful. I'll just say that
you're gonna ask something now, I was.

Speaker 4 (43:36):
Gonna say, what's the story that you that you want
to tell? TRESSA.

Speaker 7 (43:39):
Ultimately, I think I want a faith based or faith
based adjacent project that will appeal to the masses and
get stories told that people wouldn't ordinarily listen to because
they hear faith based and then.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
They run what's faith based adjacent based?

Speaker 7 (44:00):
A Jason is, for example, I'm getting ready to shoot
a movie that is a crime drama slash faith based
where it's a it's a it's a story about crime
and activity that's going on. But then there's this devout
Christian mother that has to make a decision where she's like,
you know what, I believe in the Lord. However, you
just mess with my child and we get ready to

(44:21):
have a problem.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
So if you tell.

Speaker 7 (44:24):
Stories like that where people it's real life, you know,
because people think that being a Christian means I'm perfect,
That's not what that means. And so I want to
tell a story that will relate to the masses where
they can see oh wow, like I can. I can
have faith but still be human. I'm not perfect. Doesn't
mean I have to do everything right. So I want
to tell a story like that, and I want to
do it in a big way with an excellent cast.

(44:47):
And AJ is gonna be my EP. Yes, Charlemagne's gonna
invest Lauren's gonna be in the movie.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
Yes, what you're doing? Yeah, what's gonna be your role?

Speaker 4 (44:58):
Everything?

Speaker 2 (44:59):
I can act, I can invest a you can figure out.

Speaker 8 (45:00):
The soundtrack and the sound But you know what, even
though we're using this as an example, that is what
I was going to say that I'm going to do that,
and oh, I know, but you do that in real life,
Like I don't think people understand how lit it is.
Like even with me, like a first time pitching a show,
I got on the phone with her and she was like, okay,

(45:22):
so yeah, that's that's done.

Speaker 9 (45:23):
What else you want to do? But I was like,
I had pitched to so many.

Speaker 8 (45:27):
Networks directly, and I talked to her and she was
like and I was like, this is crazy because it's
like it's another black woman.

Speaker 9 (45:32):
So she gets it, but.

Speaker 8 (45:33):
You do, You've empowered so many people through that, and
they're making real money. Like, yeah, that's another thing because
when you independently do stuff, you don't see her return.
But like so many country ways, so many people are
making money off of the projects you take to these
networks as well.

Speaker 7 (45:45):
Like that is just the vessel. And so what I
like to do is go in the room. We figure
out how we can work together, because that's the only
way we're gonna make it is if we collaborate. Everybody's
out here trying to be cutthroat. Me, me, me, that's
not how to win that. You can't do it that way.

Speaker 5 (46:02):
Right, And they're expecting us to be cutthroat because they
know we can't win that way.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
So we have to change it.

Speaker 5 (46:07):
And they're and they're telling us a lot and loud
that they're expecting us to act a certain way.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
And so it's up to us to change the narrative.

Speaker 8 (46:15):
So when she called, y'all answer the phone, because she's
going for the call, y'all, trust yeah what you just said, listen,
And it don't take.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
Long with her.

Speaker 6 (46:22):
And what's this role overpaying you for next?

Speaker 5 (46:26):
You know, I think it's and this is interesting. After
baby boy, I was offered the mama role, the mama
role fifty seven, the mom mo role sixty five, and
I was and I turned a lot of it down
because I was using baby Boy as critical acclaim as
an actress to do more action. That's really what I
wanted to do, and so that didn't really happen. Not,

(46:49):
I don't think because of me. It's just that that genre.
Nobody was looking for a black action star.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
At the time. And so.

Speaker 5 (46:57):
Now I realize that there is what's the word, there's uh,
adoration what you say, yeah, appetite, Yeah, appetite, adoration, respect
for what I bring to these roles. And so now
I'm looking at story. I'm looking for for for stories

(47:17):
that can can can talk about our culture, whether it's
the mama role or whether it's the teacher something. But
I'm just I'm looking more for scripts where there's parts
of our culture that aren't being displayed on screen and
not so much. Now if I can wear hot pants
and carry a gun, then I'm good with that too.
But but you know, I mean, I've always wanted to

(47:39):
do flojo story.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah, and and so.

Speaker 5 (47:45):
Yeah, I can't remember we have to go back to
that because John Singleton and I were going to We're
trying to do it right after baby Boy, and then
you know, it just his his focus shifted and we
just didn't get it done. But again, not even just
the biopic of the athlete, but just the life of
an athlete at that time and what it took to
be so great and to still be a woman and
to be so courageous in her fashion. It's like what

(48:07):
we know, you know, we see Serena doing it, we
see other women doing it, but Flow Joe started it.
And so I like those kind of stories of let's
let's know who we where we come from.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
That's the other side.

Speaker 5 (48:17):
I like going back into our history so that people
don't think it's just happening. You know, we are we are,
we got a bad history behind us, and I want
to tell those stories too.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
Yeah, it was I think Tiffany had I feel.

Speaker 8 (48:28):
Like she well she was supposed to play about Flow Joe.

Speaker 10 (48:34):
I don't know what happened else because I'm supposed to
do it, or me and Tifty or me and Tiffany.

Speaker 5 (48:41):
I mean again, it's collaboration. So I mean, I don't know,
but that's what I'm saying. I mean, I want to
get that story done. She was very instrumental flow Jo.
I mean was very instrumental when I was little in
my work ethic, you know, and just you know, taking
care of my body and so you know, my my
physical existence now is a large result of her. And

(49:01):
so oh for sure, you know, Gail Divers there would
attract greats then and so now because I ran track
in high school, I pay attention to like, you know,
sign your richardson and and uh, there's the stars now
than yeah, yeah, Shakari. So so you know what I
see is it doesn't change. The work ethic doesn't change.

(49:22):
The generations do. But there's a mind space and a
work ethic that doesn't change, and that needs to be
seen and taught more than just seeing them at the Olympics.
So I'm looking for stories like that too.

Speaker 6 (49:32):
Question what like, would you ever do a story about
polygamy but being being a woman who has who.

Speaker 7 (49:39):
Are?

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Yeah? How is that amazing? Amazing?

Speaker 4 (49:45):
But thunder Neil he the guy, No, but he.

Speaker 5 (49:48):
You know, listen, you can because he's a whole different reason.
Let me let me say this, since we're bringing it up,
my my space in it honestly is because since I've
been supposed to different cultures and different religious and spirit
practices around the world. My thing is, I haven't I

(50:09):
haven't found a lot of men in America who who
are really appealing to me spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally. So
my thing is, I've got the athlete that I hang
out with. I've got the spirit that I pray with,
you know, I've got the person that's adventures that I
travel with. So it's more lifestyle than it is the

(50:30):
sexual connection. For me, it's it's more like I'm not
in a relationship, so I have more than one man
I spend time with.

Speaker 9 (50:36):
So whatever you don't get over here, you can get
here here.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (50:39):
Now my soul is actually monogamous, Okay, But because I
can't find that, I don't stop.

Speaker 8 (50:46):
Did you decide to Dibbo Dabo in polygamy after that breakup?
You mentioned it took you to Africa before that, before.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
That, years ago. It was before that.

Speaker 5 (50:55):
Wow, it was way before that, and so and so
me having a relationship after that was me trying I'm
not gonna again, and a large part of me was bored,
you know, intellectually, I was bored again.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
I want to travel the world.

Speaker 5 (51:08):
I wasn't finding a lot of African American men who
are building their lives to do that. I even say
now when I meet men, I say, you know, I
carry five currencies on any given day.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
How many currencies do you have?

Speaker 4 (51:20):
God?

Speaker 1 (51:21):
And that's not a flex.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
But it's intimidating.

Speaker 5 (51:25):
Oh well, see here we go with ax go anywhere. Yeah,
but I mean think about in the pandemic, when the
American passport couldn't get us out of here. I got
to leave you because I got I got another passport,
I got other currencies. Even without the passport. I wasn't
even a dual citizen until twenty twenty two. In twenty

(51:46):
twenty I went to three different countries because I had cash.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
I was prepared. I tell you, I got the email,
so I had.

Speaker 5 (51:52):
Cash in the currency. So I mean, again, this is
just my life, right. It's not like I'm trying to
say I don't want an American man. I'm just saying
my international life, my global options take me into different cultures.

Speaker 4 (52:05):
And it would be cool if that man had the same.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Just on the other side, if he had a woman
for this, a woman for that, woman for that, and
you for traveling.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
As long as he's okay with me doing the same thing,
we're gonna have fun.

Speaker 4 (52:15):
See that's a story. Yeah, yeah, that's a story because
I feel like there's so much.

Speaker 6 (52:19):
Things that we're not going to be taught because especially
what's going on in this country as far as you know,
the book banning and.

Speaker 4 (52:26):
All types of stuff.

Speaker 6 (52:26):
But I feel like those type of things we need
to see how we're going to get exposed other culture.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (52:32):
It's so interesting because you know, when I start talking
about it, the men got offended and all of a sudden,
I was the queen of running trains choo choo whatever, right,
And then the women were empowered because a lot of
women were saying, you know, I want I wanted to
explore that, but I've been afraid to or I can't
believe you're talking about it publicly. And I would say
even by in the background of it. It's not just

(52:53):
a sexual experience, right, that's what that's what us as
Americans think.

Speaker 9 (52:57):
That's the first thing I thought of it. Yeah, it's not.

Speaker 5 (52:58):
Yeah, it's not just a set actual experience. It's it's
like I can be I can be not even sexually active.
But but I'm still getting full from my spiritual partnership,
my adventure partnership, in my travel, my fitness partnership. You know,
the guy I pray with me don't want to hike,
you see what I'm saying. And the guy that wants

(53:19):
to hike and pray may not want to travel or can't.
It doesn't mean I stopped my life. So Neo got
a lot of flat uh not well not a lot.

Speaker 8 (53:27):
But like Neo has kids, right, and his one of
his kids mom came out about the way that I
guess he's talking about his lifestyle so openly because of
their kids. And then they started a whole conversation about like,
how do you explain this to your kids? Do you
bring the people because there's multiple partners around the kids
and like all of that.

Speaker 9 (53:44):
I know you have a son.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
I don't.

Speaker 8 (53:45):
Oh I don't have the kids. Oh, Google said you did. Really, yes,
they gave me one sign and everything.

Speaker 4 (53:53):
Has one son.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
Who is that?

Speaker 10 (53:55):
Somebody about to come out because I'm I I finally
get Instagram might never seen a post a kid, but
I'm only.

Speaker 8 (54:07):
I thought you were a celebrity that kept your kid
out in the style. No, I mean this don't apply
to you then, But how do you feel about that conversation,
because I'm sure you've had that in a conversation with
your family members in general.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
Well, I think this.

Speaker 5 (54:18):
You know, if you live in open and honest life,
then there's nothing ever to hide. And so for me,
I can't speak because I don't have kids, but I
feel like there's a respectful way if that's a lifestyle.
I feel the same way about, you know, a gay
parent thing with a kid. You know, if if two
gay men adopt want to raise a kid, or two
gay women are raising a family, there's a way that

(54:39):
that family is raised and trained to understand. And so
even when that kid is going to school with heterosexual
other parents orving sleepovers, and there's a different way that
they're being raised and taught what that lifestyle is like.
So I don't know. I don't know much about Neo's thing.
I'm not wild with mine.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
I'm not.

Speaker 5 (54:58):
It's not something that I promote because it's not about
out that. It's about me making sure that I'm full
and what that means as.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
A global woman.

Speaker 4 (55:07):
Global woman.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Again, she is intimidating.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
Cannot figure that's the of the movie Global Global Woman.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
I wanted delaware, I want to do that is not
Here's a question. Here's a question real quick for you too.

Speaker 5 (55:28):
So I know, I know you have women, But how
do you feel about that woman perspective?

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Would you allow it? Would you allow it a lot?

Speaker 4 (55:36):
I don't know what. How can you stop a woman
from doing what you want to do?

Speaker 5 (55:39):
But how do you feel you would you be?

Speaker 4 (55:43):
I wouldn't, I mean I would, I wouldn't personally. Can
you tell me why I'm too insecure?

Speaker 11 (55:48):
Okay, that's fair woman, Woman's very proud of you.

Speaker 8 (56:00):
Else for the same part of part of it is
probably for what NB said, but you wouldn't just say
that out loud.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
Mostly, I guess we would.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
Have twenty three I've been married for twenty eight.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
My woman for twenty six years.

Speaker 6 (56:13):
But I guess we would have to have the conversation,
like because you said you have all of these different
guys for different things, right, So what is it that
I'm not fulfilling that?

Speaker 4 (56:21):
I think that conversation has to happen first to see
what it is.

Speaker 5 (56:25):
See I love that, But if it's something that you
can't fulfill or you're not interested, in Do you feel
like she's supposed to acquiesce and compromise or are there
concessions there's that that compromise concession my devotion or do
you feel like there's concessions that can be made so
that you're both.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
Happy and tough?

Speaker 8 (56:44):
Man, that's tough I do because I think if presented,
if the other way, presented the other way, if your
wives came to you and was like, hey, y'all, I
think it would be fun for us to try puligueing
me for like six months, what would y'all say now?

Speaker 4 (57:00):
Because I'm not missing nothing, like I'm not that.

Speaker 5 (57:02):
It's different term relationship, what you wanted you want hike right?

Speaker 1 (57:08):
No, I mean like if.

Speaker 8 (57:11):
Said I'm okay with you having hypothetically, I'm okay with
us having three other wives.

Speaker 4 (57:17):
It's I'm happy for what I have. I wouldn't want that.
I wouldn't want like when Neil has to deal with
I would want to deal with. And let's be clear,
maybe a girlfriend.

Speaker 3 (57:29):
Don't don't.

Speaker 5 (57:37):
Girlfriend. I brought it up right, I want the boy
I want the girlfriend. So so here's what's inter saying.
If you're like a boyfriend, you're cool with that no,
he already said no.

Speaker 9 (57:47):
But that's what i'maying.

Speaker 8 (57:48):
That's the that's what I was trying to get into,
that that standard of like I think when Neo does it,
and people will have things to say, but it's like, oh,
shoot Neo. But when people hear you say it, it's like,
what did you say? They called you train something. Other guys,
yeah that I was Queen of the Train. Yeah, it's
like it's such a different way.

Speaker 9 (58:12):
Yeah, don't standard be crazy.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
I stuck in combats.

Speaker 5 (58:16):
Oh, listen to the Queen of the trades talking.

Speaker 7 (58:18):
So I have a movie with Neo and I present that.
Everybody's like, hey, I watch what's the name of that movie?
And I say, it's nothing like that. That sound it's
called the Sound of Christmas. The lead in a Christmas
movie like that. But when people realize it, you know,
just because they're talking about Neo now, they're like, yeah,
we know Neo is in your movie.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
What's the name? And I was like, it's not like that.

Speaker 5 (58:42):
What I was gonna say is the difference with them
is you all have been in long term relationships.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
This Mountain valleys. Mountain valleys.

Speaker 5 (58:48):
No relationship is perfect course, but you know, For me,
I think it's also individual because I started my career
so young that trying to find that kind of relationship
in Hollywood. You know, I wanted it, I couldn't find it.
You know, at that time, everybody that could have been
a potential partner, we were all trying to get our
foot in the door. And so whether it's athlete, producer, director, talent,

(59:12):
it wasn't happening for me like that. But I still
wanted my life. So it's not so much I want
to make sure it's clear even for the people listen.
It's like, it's not like I'm just saying I want
more than one man. That's why I said my heart
and my soul is monogamous. But if I can't have that,
then what do I do?

Speaker 7 (59:28):
That's fair like until you get it. Yeah, because we
found a couple of potentials for you, but then we
had to boot them out.

Speaker 8 (59:33):
Is it tough because you're aj like you you are,
they see you and it's like, oh shoot, I watched
Nacci movie credits and things behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
You know what, I'll tell you.

Speaker 5 (59:43):
It helps dating internationally because a lot of the international
men don't know or they don't really care because they're
they're of a certain financial status themselves, a certain social
status themselves, and so I'm like, listen, we gotta travel, boot,
we got to travel. And so it's not important to

(01:00:03):
their culture, you know. And so you know, they acknowledge
it and they respect it. But we're not connecting on
that that level. We're connecting more on spiritual level, on
what are we doing for the country, which is where
I'm at in my own self.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Appreciate joining us.

Speaker 4 (01:00:25):
And do not take Laura with you. She's single, she
can't find somebody.

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
Lawren's looking at me with.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
The cock jewel. Honey, thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:00:34):
Oh yeah, don't settle. That's my final statement. Whoever it is,
don't settle. Be a woman with global options.

Speaker 6 (01:00:41):
It's crazy how she acting like she don't got options though,
you know, don't Valentine. They three different guys than her flowers, Charlomae,
the three different guys in on Valentine.

Speaker 9 (01:00:57):
That is not true.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
It's the same guy from three different floors.

Speaker 8 (01:01:00):
No same floor is three different flowers. You think all
all these guys are the one to the same floor.

Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
Maybe it was the one closest to it.

Speaker 9 (01:01:08):
He's lying.

Speaker 4 (01:01:13):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Wake that ass up in the morning the Breakfast Club

Speaker 9 (01:01:21):
H