I’ve heard that multiple times.
You see, I did very well onGirlfriends.
I was also hesitant about playing a mother.
‘black-ish’ stars Yara Shahidi, Marcus Scribner, Jenifer Lewis, Austin Gross, Laurence Fishburne, Marsai Martin, Tracee Ellis Ross, Anthony Anderson, and Miles Brown.Craig Sjodin/ABC
I was not one in real life.
I still am not one.
But I fell in love with the script.
We got to see a Black family that was thriving and not just surviving.
And I was drawn to this loving relationship between a couple.
I had rarely seen that on sitcoms there wasn’t just constant eye-rolling.
And Rainbow was a woman who was more than just one thing: She was not just a wife.
She was not just a mother.
She was also a doctor.
She had a real point of view.
I was so tired that I fell asleep outside the audition.
But I walked in that room and look at me now.
After eight seasons, we’re now saying a beautiful goodbye.
I say “beautiful” becauseGirlfriends, which also went eight seasons, did not have a proper goodbye.
(We ended during the writers' strike, without knowing we were ending.
We never even had a wrap party.)
I really loved dancing with my onscreen husband,Anthony Anderson.
And I grew as well.
I don’t take it lightly, the cultural value and importance of our show.
They’re people of all ethnicities, cultures, traditions and they see themselves in the Johnsons.
That, to me, is when entertainment translates into changing culture, changing hearts and minds.
It’s been such an honor to do that for eight years.
