Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club Morning, Everybody's DJ Envy Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne
Speaker 2: the guy.
Speaker 3: We are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest
Speaker 3: in the bill.
Speaker 2: Indeed always quiz get the money when she's here, Ladies
Speaker 2: and gentlemen, Tika something welcome, Thank you morning, Tka.
Speaker 1: How are you feel?
Speaker 4: I love your show one and I'm happy to be back.
Speaker 4: I'm good.
Speaker 1: How are you blessed? Black and holly food. I didn't
Speaker 1: know your real name was Euphemia.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's Euphemia. It's a Greek goddess. She was a
Speaker 5: martyr and my dad named me that.
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, So Latika latique is where you get tika from?
Speaker 5: Yes, you femia latik. My grandma somehow figured out teak.
Speaker 5: It's like a tiki bird, a black teaky bird in Florida.
Speaker 5: So you fema latik someter but sumter. But in school,
Speaker 5: I would be like, they'd be like, oh for me,
Speaker 5: I'd be like, just Tika.
Speaker 1: Would you learn what you fema? You fema?
Speaker 4: Met you fhemia femia?
Speaker 5: Well I looked it up because I was like, what
Speaker 5: is that? And oh and I met some like Greek
Speaker 5: people and they were like, Faia, that's Greek. And I
Speaker 5: was like, oh, okay, cool, and I looked it up
Speaker 5: and I was like, oh, my dad kind of you know,
Speaker 5: thought of me as this beautiful human being. He saw
Speaker 5: the future confidence nothing because I thought it was I
Speaker 5: thought it was a terrible name and it was too
Speaker 5: big for me, and I'm like, I don't know what
Speaker 5: this is. You know, you're in Queens and you're like
Speaker 5: and the teacher's like uphamia u canuba, Like You're like,
Speaker 5: oh God, just call me Tika. So it did nothing
Speaker 5: until now, until like my older age.
Speaker 3: It all worked out. And how did you get into acting?
Speaker 3: Come from queens? Like what made what was the acting bug?
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, it's crazy because you don't see anybody.
Speaker 5: I mean, my sisters actually were dancers, like when they
Speaker 5: danced in videos back in the day and like kid
Speaker 5: in Play like MC light all that stuff. So I
Speaker 5: like saw pictures, like I stole pictures from them and
Speaker 5: took them to school and was like she's eating this person,
Speaker 5: you know, or but so I saw it from Afar,
Speaker 5: but I didn't know that I can actually do it. Honestly,
Speaker 5: I used to love watching cartoons and things like that.
Speaker 5: I only knew I could do it when I went
Speaker 5: to Long Island and I heard of this woman named
Speaker 5: Mariah Carey who's from Huntington, and I was like, Oh,
Speaker 5: that's interesting. And so I started going on the L
Speaker 5: I R R. Long Island Railroad to New York and
Speaker 5: taking classes. But I didn't know that I can do it.
Speaker 5: I just saw the TV and I was like, this
Speaker 5: is a job, like you know, you don't know it
Speaker 5: until you can see somebody, yeah, or you see somebody
Speaker 5: else who's actually doing it.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: And your parents believe back then, because I mean they
Speaker 3: had to take you, right.
Speaker 5: My parents, No, my mom didn't know what the hell
Speaker 5: I was doing was going to because I used to
Speaker 5: work at a movie theater. So I had my own
Speaker 5: money to do it and take classes. But like she
Speaker 5: trusted me. I was a very trusting child because my
Speaker 5: siblings made all the mistakes.
Speaker 4: And she was like, okay, exactly.
Speaker 5: And so I would go to New York and on
Speaker 5: the weekends take classes and and and it wasn't until
Speaker 5: I moved to New York to go to Marymount Manhattan College.
Speaker 5: I couldn't afford it. It was too expensive. I don't
Speaker 5: know why I chose a private college. And I told
Speaker 5: my mom that I was leaving and I'm going to
Speaker 5: try acting, and she was like, what is First of all,
Speaker 5: where's your four to one? Like, you know, I grew
Speaker 5: up in that kind of environment. My mom was a
Speaker 5: corrections officer at Rikers, So you know, she's like, what's
Speaker 5: the plan because we don't know anybody who acts, who's
Speaker 5: making any money.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was gonna Actually, when do you feel like
Speaker 4: you like your breakout moment? When do you feel like
Speaker 4: you actually made it?
Speaker 5: I feel like there are many different breakout moments for
Speaker 5: different people, right. And I remember quitting my job in
Speaker 5: New York. I worked at a private members club and
Speaker 5: I was just done, Like I was done with people
Speaker 5: being inconsiderate and entitled and talking to me sideways. I
Speaker 5: literally walked out like just I didn't tell anybody. I
Speaker 5: just left and I'm like crying down the street New
Speaker 5: York moment, and the ladies like are you okay?
Speaker 6: I'm home?
Speaker 1: Stop.
Speaker 4: It was a white lady, must look that bad.
Speaker 1: Something's wrong with.
Speaker 5: Lady.
Speaker 4: She was like are you okay?
Speaker 5: And I was like okay, you know, and you know,
Speaker 5: I auditioned for this show called One Life to Live
Speaker 5: at the time, and you know, my ex at the
Speaker 5: time was like, look, how about you go for your dream.
Speaker 5: This is the first time I've ever felt like I've
Speaker 5: had like a fall somebody to fall back on. And
Speaker 5: he I was like, go for my dream. He's like, yeah,
Speaker 5: I'll take care of everything.
Speaker 4: You go for your dream.
Speaker 5: But that only lasted a week because then I.
Speaker 1: Can take care of you for one week.
Speaker 4: No, it only lasted a week because I've booked.
Speaker 6: A job for seven days. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I booked One Life to Live and after
Speaker 5: that I never had to like waitress or do any
Speaker 5: of those things ever.
Speaker 4: Again.
Speaker 1: I love that you worked at a movie theater, you know,
Speaker 1: because you know, when think back on your life, you
Speaker 1: look at all of these different moments that kind of
Speaker 1: gave you signs. Did that give you a sign back then?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was the closest thing I had to like
Speaker 5: what I wanted my reality to be. And so, yeah,
Speaker 5: I worked at a movie theater for a while. It
Speaker 5: was United Artists, it's not and it's no longer around.
Speaker 5: But I would get my mom some free movies. I'd
Speaker 5: give her a free candy and popcorn and all that stuff.
Speaker 5: So yeah, it was one of those things where I
Speaker 5: was that was the closest I ever got to what
Speaker 5: I wanted to be.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: You played Michelle Obama a few years ago.
Speaker 4: I did, Well, how was that?
Speaker 1: Did you get to pick her brain?
Speaker 6: And all?
Speaker 4: I didn't.
Speaker 5: I didn't we got the okay to do it because
Speaker 5: you know, we definitely didn't want to step on anybody's toes.
Speaker 5: But it was just from the point of view of
Speaker 5: you know, before she became Michelle, you know, like their
Speaker 5: first date. And so it was something that I produced
Speaker 5: and we took to sun Dance and we sold it
Speaker 5: to Mirrimax at the time, and you know, it worked
Speaker 5: out and my friend Richard Tanny wrote script and I
Speaker 5: got to work with my friend Parker Sawyers.
Speaker 4: So it was it was.
Speaker 5: Really fun to do and and I feel that that project,
Speaker 5: like it was very close to my heart.
Speaker 1: Didn't come out before after becoming her.
Speaker 4: Book, way after before.
Speaker 1: Before, before before before you didn't have nothing to work on.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, he had, he had wrote his books already,
Speaker 5: but she also her brother wrote a book, so I
Speaker 5: got to like understand the inside of who she was
Speaker 5: before she became the Michelle Obama, you know, And so
Speaker 5: that was more fun for me because I wasn't trying
Speaker 5: to replicate who she is now. I had to kind
Speaker 5: of get an idea of who she was before that, right,
Speaker 5: and she was his boss. So the their first date
Speaker 5: was definitely like you know it was. It was walking
Speaker 5: the line.
Speaker 1: You get canceled with that to day.
Speaker 2: Your person got your boss, though, can't your boss you
Speaker 2: out here in the workplace?
Speaker 3: Oh, human resources?
Speaker 1: It was a double standing. Maybe it was different when
Speaker 1: it's a woman and the guy.
Speaker 5: I just feel like, where do you meet your significant
Speaker 5: another nowadays? Like nobody goes to bars.
Speaker 2: Nowadays. It's the toughest thing, Like you can't. I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna say you're not allowed to because you don't watch
Speaker 2: the human resource video that they make you watch every week.
Speaker 2: You got somebody and.
Speaker 4: I met my man in the bar. I did, yes, yeah,
Speaker 4: two years ago.
Speaker 5: I met guys in the bars. But I'm just saying
Speaker 5: that's when you used to go out, you know. But yeah,
Speaker 5: most of it was at work. So for me to
Speaker 5: now tell us.
Speaker 3: About the sonic, the hedgehogging, and it.
Speaker 4: Was that dirt installment because you're not.
Speaker 3: It's well, it is a person, but it's not a person.
Speaker 3: It's animation.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I mean it's it's incredible what they do
Speaker 5: and how they make them look. The first one was
Speaker 5: just like a golf tennis ball. I was like connecting
Speaker 5: with the second Sonic two, it was these huge three
Speaker 5: D cutouts of like me talking us talking to Sonic
Speaker 5: and Tails and all that stuff. And then the third
Speaker 5: one was like these huge puppeteers who actually had like
Speaker 5: talking to us as their voice as each Wress and
Speaker 5: Keanu and whoever else, And so yeah, it grow, it
Speaker 5: grew as the budget grew.
Speaker 4: On the same room or is it like is it individually? No,
Speaker 4: they're in the same room. Okay, they're in the same room.
Speaker 5: Not not not the voiceover part, Like they do their
Speaker 5: part separately, like Ben Schwartz who does Sonic and all
Speaker 5: that stuff, they do it in a booth. But for
Speaker 5: us to make it real, they bring these like puppeteers
Speaker 5: and like we're like, I love you Sonic or Knuckles
Speaker 5: is like I don't understand you know.
Speaker 4: That kind of thing.
Speaker 5: And so yeah, we get to like act across from
Speaker 5: real actors.
Speaker 1: Do you like it?
Speaker 2: I love it weird, like you're talking to a muppet
Speaker 2: and I know one time you're talking to a tennis ball.
Speaker 5: I know, but it's like using your imagination, right, Like
Speaker 5: the closest thing to creativity is play. So I mean
Speaker 5: that's what you'd get to I got to do it,
Speaker 5: and I feel like I'm the coolest mom ever have
Speaker 5: daughter who's eight, is like she saw like she saw
Speaker 5: it and she's like, thank you so much, mom, And
Speaker 5: then all her friends were like, your sonic's mom. Yes,
Speaker 5: I feel like I have different street Crid. She's eight
Speaker 5: years old playing not at all with or without you?
Speaker 4: Without you?
Speaker 2: When they first booked you for that, did you what
Speaker 2: made you say I want to do this because it's
Speaker 2: totally different than what you've done before.
Speaker 3: What made you want to do that?
Speaker 5: Well, honestly, they asked me to come read at like
Speaker 5: a huge paramount table reading all the executives. Everybody was there,
Speaker 5: and I was like, do y'all y'all want me to
Speaker 5: come read with you guys? That's awesome, And so then
Speaker 5: they offered me the job. I wanted to do it
Speaker 5: because I wanted to do something that my daughter can
Speaker 5: actually watch.
Speaker 4: I feel like everything I do is. It's like she
Speaker 4: can't really watch it. So how is it working with
Speaker 4: Jim Carrey? Oh, doctor, yes, which nobody else could play
Speaker 4: that role. And he plays two roles in this.
Speaker 5: He plays his own grandfather and then the grandson, and
Speaker 5: so he's in First of all, I grew up watching
Speaker 5: him on in Living Color. Yeah. Same, And so to
Speaker 5: see somebody who you look up to for so long
Speaker 5: the first one, I was like, oh my god, Jim
Speaker 5: Carrey and he's like, all right, let's let's talk about
Speaker 5: the script and like all the things and what do
Speaker 5: you think about this? And help like write this joke?
Speaker 5: And I was like, what's me? No, I can't help
Speaker 5: with anything.
Speaker 4: You write that, you know.
Speaker 5: But it was really cool that he kind of embraced
Speaker 5: us and he's just super normal. Now it's like, oh
Speaker 5: that's Jim, you know. Yeah, it was awesome. It was awesome,
Speaker 5: a dream come true.
Speaker 1: I wonder when you have you know yourself and then
Speaker 1: you have stars of that magnitude like Keanu and Jim,
Speaker 1: do they need to be seen clearly?
Speaker 5: Not?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: Do y'all need to be seen?
Speaker 4: What do you mean?
Speaker 6: And what like?
Speaker 1: As far as like being on the screen, like it's
Speaker 1: your voices, but it's.
Speaker 5: Not oh them, yeah, I mean you see Jim on
Speaker 5: the screen, you see what he does. I think with
Speaker 5: Keanu and Idris, you know their voices, so you don't
Speaker 5: have to. People are excited that it's Keanu and Idris,
Speaker 5: you know. And but also you know, the characters that
Speaker 5: they're playing are super iconic, so it's like they you
Speaker 5: know it, it's great that we have them, we love them.
Speaker 5: But also like the characters are the gamers are like,
Speaker 5: we're down for the ride.
Speaker 1: But do you tell people? Is you like if somebody
Speaker 1: like I love that character, you'd be like, you know,
Speaker 1: that's me.
Speaker 4: But you see me.
Speaker 6: I'm not. No, I'm not a cartoon.
Speaker 1: I have never seen it because you was talking like
Speaker 1: you were the voice actors.
Speaker 5: I know I'm talking to like the characters on screen,
Speaker 5: like Sonic and Tails.
Speaker 4: And Knuckles because he the only one that's not really
Speaker 4: not real. He was I'm real who so yeah, and.
Speaker 3: Knuckles he knew Sonic wasn't real.
Speaker 1: I know Sonic and Knuckles not.
Speaker 4: Oh, you just thought the whole movie, the whole thing
Speaker 4: was No.
Speaker 5: No, it's live action, like there you know, James Marson
Speaker 5: and me and you know other people are real.
Speaker 4: Jim Carrey is real.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so be just confused.
Speaker 1: I never got it. I never got into the sonic thing.
Speaker 1: Actually what caught me with the trailer for Knuckle one time,
Speaker 1: but that was on TV.
Speaker 4: Yeah that was a series. Yeah that was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I talked earlier that your mom
Speaker 3: just allowed you to go right, Yeah, that was your
Speaker 3: your son and daughter daughter. Because your daughter get older,
Speaker 3: would you let her just go and say go ahead?
Speaker 4: These days? I mean it's hard. I do. Like we
Speaker 4: went like camping one and she's like, I just want
Speaker 4: to go. We did. We went camping.
Speaker 5: Queens, but we went to like auto camp.
Speaker 4: It was like a glamping Yes, it's like in a community.
Speaker 4: She's like, I want to walk over. She's very independent.
Speaker 5: I think it's really important to allow your child to
Speaker 5: have some access to independence because I feel like or
Speaker 5: you can be kind of clobbering them and like, you know,
Speaker 5: I feel like I used to when I was in
Speaker 5: Queen's I would go down the block until the lights
Speaker 5: start and it was like Tica come home, and I
Speaker 5: just felt like, I that's how you learn, that's how
Speaker 5: you learn how to fight for yourself. I remember getting
Speaker 5: jumped by my two friends.
Speaker 6: That day.
Speaker 4: They're like, te could come over here. I'm like, what.
Speaker 1: You got hit with? The come outside? You're not gonna
Speaker 1: jump you coming.
Speaker 6: Going to somebody's house.
Speaker 4: The girls are like, y'all gonna fight? What What did
Speaker 4: you do?
Speaker 5: I didn't do I am I was a very sweet child.
Speaker 5: I did not do anything. I think they just wanted to.
Speaker 5: I don't know why they wanted to fight me.
Speaker 6: She got jump.
Speaker 5: Let me tell you my adrenaline when they told me
Speaker 5: the girl. I wish I could say her day because
Speaker 5: I remember. That's how impacted. I remember everybody's name. And
Speaker 5: I was like, I'm gonna fight her. And she was
Speaker 5: big in my big.
Speaker 1: Like big back of like like.
Speaker 5: Like Diesel big back, and I was like my adrenaline
Speaker 5: shot to my heart.
Speaker 4: And I remember taking her hand.
Speaker 5: There was a thorn bush, swinging her throwing her in
Speaker 5: the thorn bush, and she being like, I don't want
Speaker 5: to fight you. I was like what, Like it was
Speaker 5: a weird It was like I was in a dream
Speaker 5: and I don't know where the power came from.
Speaker 4: I'm like, wasn't an angel because it was not me.
Speaker 4: It couldn't have.
Speaker 5: Been me, yeah, and I walked away alive to jump. Well,
Speaker 5: they were all around me, so it was like it
Speaker 5: was a setup. They didn't they didn't jump me one
Speaker 5: on one, but the other my friends were around me.
Speaker 4: And I was like, I don't understand that.
Speaker 1: Smart you took the biggest one out first. So once
Speaker 1: they see everybody stories.
Speaker 5: She asked me the other day, she asked me the
Speaker 5: day She's like, she did ask the other day, mom,
Speaker 5: have you ever been drunk?
Speaker 4: And I was like, what was she watching? I want
Speaker 4: to ask all the questions. I'm just open with my child.
Speaker 5: I really am, and not in a way where it's
Speaker 5: like inappropriate, but like I was drinking a beer at
Speaker 5: home one night and we were talking. She's like, have
Speaker 5: you ever been drunk? And I was like, my husband's like, yes,
Speaker 5: she has, and he tells her the store and she's like, wow,
Speaker 5: we want to know. I've been drunk many times. You
Speaker 5: don't want to know that was my past life.
Speaker 1: It's funny though, because you talk about how you came up,
Speaker 1: but it's like, yo, we can't do that with our
Speaker 1: kids nowadays. I don't feel comfortable to letting my kids
Speaker 1: just go out.
Speaker 5: And I mean, you know that lady who got arrested
Speaker 5: for letting her ten year old walk.
Speaker 4: He was walking to the store. Yeah he's ten.
Speaker 3: And that was in the South too. Well, he walked nothing,
Speaker 3: he walked.
Speaker 5: He walked to the store, and they came to arrest
Speaker 5: her to say he was in Somebody called the cops
Speaker 5: he was in danger. And you know most states have
Speaker 5: that law. There's like only four that don't, Like, I.
Speaker 4: Didn't even know that that.
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, it's like a child endangerment or something like that.
Speaker 5: But like I'm like, you can't even let your child
Speaker 5: walk to a store, which is crazy.
Speaker 1: So many times.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, an Astra credit, Yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 7: And you worked with Tyler Party on a few projects.
Speaker 7: I did, and I noticed that, you know a lot
Speaker 7: of actors that work with him say that that was
Speaker 7: the first time that they ever got paid what they
Speaker 7: were worth.
Speaker 4: Was that the same for you?
Speaker 5: I I'm lucky in this industry. Like for the jobs
Speaker 5: that I have had, I've been paid very well and
Speaker 5: he has continued the process for me. And so I
Speaker 5: feel super grateful because even now, like I brought a
Speaker 5: I was trying to get a project made for five
Speaker 5: years and I had it with different production companies and
Speaker 5: I co wrote something with a friend of mine who's
Speaker 5: a writer on Pea Valley, and I brought it to
Speaker 5: him and within days he calls me. He's like, I'll
Speaker 5: direct it. This is the first time he's ever directed
Speaker 5: something that he didn't write. And he's like, you you
Speaker 5: produce it for like, you really go out and produce it,
Speaker 5: which I love. He's like, so, I'm co writing, producing,
Speaker 5: and starring in a film that Amazon sisters in Italy
Speaker 5: and Amazon bought it and so we're finishing it in
Speaker 5: Italy in April. So and he said yes in June July.
Speaker 5: We started in September.
Speaker 4: Congratulations.
Speaker 1: Kyla is a great dude, man. I don't think he
Speaker 1: really gets the flowers with a credit that he deserves.
Speaker 5: I think he gets it, and he gets it from
Speaker 5: the people that matter to him.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: I think you know, there's obviously a group of people
Speaker 5: who don't like what he does, but you don't have
Speaker 5: to watch it.
Speaker 1: You said something very important, you said, the people that
Speaker 1: matter to him. If more of us can embrace that,
Speaker 1: like just caring about the opinions of people that actually
Speaker 1: matter to us and don't care about the pinions of
Speaker 1: the people who don't mad at us.
Speaker 4: That means it, that's it.
Speaker 5: My word this year was like, do not chase my words.
Speaker 5: I'm not going to chase after anything that is not
Speaker 5: for me, or nor am I going to chase people
Speaker 5: that I'm like begging you to come see me, because
Speaker 5: there are so many people who see me and love
Speaker 5: what I do and follow what I do and say
Speaker 5: it every day, you know, when I'm in the airport
Speaker 5: or whatever, and I'm like, oh my god, So just
Speaker 5: go after.
Speaker 4: The people who are going after you. That's it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, you're not gonna get everybody, and you're not
Speaker 5: gonna always get the you know, the Oscar people.
Speaker 4: Who deem that important.
Speaker 5: Do you know remember the time at the oscars where
Speaker 5: they went on the street to everyday people and they're.
Speaker 4: Like, do you know this movie? Do you know this movie?
Speaker 5: They're like, no, nope, nope, no, most people don't know
Speaker 5: those movies.
Speaker 4: You know, not that they don't matter, but the masses go.
Speaker 5: And look at other A lot of things that YouTubers do,
Speaker 5: other people do, and so you know, not.
Speaker 4: That they can't live in the same world. But that's
Speaker 4: not all that matters.
Speaker 1: That's why I don't get mad when I'm watching the
Speaker 1: Oscars and like, let's say Angela Bassett doesn't win for
Speaker 1: or the Black Panther two. I didn't see the other movies,
Speaker 1: so I don't know she got right right.
Speaker 4: You can't.
Speaker 5: You can't have this voice of like, well they deserve
Speaker 5: It's like, well did you see everything else too?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 5: Although she does. I mean, I think What's Love got
Speaker 5: to do what it got rob But.
Speaker 4: I didn't. I don't even know the other movies that.
Speaker 1: Were there neither.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just said the same thing that said she
Speaker 2: got around for that one.
Speaker 1: That was too much. She did too much of a.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 7: So speaking of going after people will go for you,
Speaker 7: I met You're a man, yes, her husband on the
Speaker 7: set of the Have and Have Not?
Speaker 4: Who approached who I honestly I did.
Speaker 5: Shot, which I usually do in my life anyway, but
Speaker 5: he was just making me laugh and it was a
Speaker 5: long day, and I honestly I said I will not
Speaker 5: date any more actors. Like I was like, no more,
Speaker 5: I'm done, I'm finished. And then I gave him my
Speaker 5: number and I was like call me, Like if you
Speaker 5: guys go out and he didn't. And he's like, no,
Speaker 5: there's no way, you're not married, and I was like, no,
Speaker 5: there is a way, and so yeah, we went out
Speaker 5: one night and then that was history.
Speaker 1: Was he really making you laugh? And you just thought
Speaker 1: he was cute?
Speaker 4: So I thought he was cute.
Speaker 5: I thought he was cute, and then I was like,
Speaker 5: you know what, No, That's when I was like, I'm
Speaker 5: not doing this, and.
Speaker 4: Then he really did. He's he's really funny.
Speaker 5: Like dry humor, and I love to laugh, and so
Speaker 5: that would that's actually what really did attract me.
Speaker 1: Why do you say you're not doing this though, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I've dated.
Speaker 4: I'm a quiet dater and I love that about my life.
Speaker 5: I keep things very close to the chest and I've
Speaker 5: dated enough people in our industry where I'm like, I'm good.
Speaker 4: You know Drake.
Speaker 5: No, no, no, no, no, No.
Speaker 4: I didn't date Drake.
Speaker 5: But I hosted a show when I first came out
Speaker 5: called Best Friend's Date, and he was on it.
Speaker 4: He was like the.
Speaker 5: Celebrity guy on it, and I called him Aubrey during
Speaker 5: that time.
Speaker 4: So that's probably why, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Drake, No, I did not.
Speaker 2: Who it pops up yes, and then you look on
Speaker 2: the screen it says right here, it's like she allegedly
Speaker 2: dated Dr No.
Speaker 4: No, alleged he was the most impled. That's why just
Speaker 4: start trouble.
Speaker 1: Yeah, was it insulting when he said, uh, you're not
Speaker 1: married or you know what, you're not married.
Speaker 5: No, it was like it was a thing of like
Speaker 5: nobody like, you know, nobody asked.
Speaker 4: You yet, like how could you be single?
Speaker 7: It was that there's no way, there's no way you're
Speaker 7: singing and the way, you.
Speaker 4: Know, I'm just having fun. But yeah, yeah, but I
Speaker 4: was single.
Speaker 7: The previous actors that you had dated were you working
Speaker 7: with them? Is this was Nick the first person that
Speaker 7: you were working with that you actually dated.
Speaker 1: No, Okay, this is why this is why you said
Speaker 1: that that would makes sense. That makes sense.
Speaker 3: That makes sense.
Speaker 4: Now the other people want sat Pete that like, okay,
Speaker 4: Seka and Nick over there doing something like my gosh, dude,
Speaker 4: you know during you know you're in your dressing.
Speaker 5: Rooms, not anything crazy, Z But he had my makeup on. Well,
Speaker 5: Tyler has like a strict like you don't mess up
Speaker 5: my stuff over here, right, because if y'all don't get along,
Speaker 5: my show must go on, and so he went downstairs
Speaker 5: to go on set and his nose was brown and
Speaker 5: Tyler is like, what black girl, you been kissing?
Speaker 4: Like He's like he knows, he literally knows. And I
Speaker 4: was like, oh my god. Then he came he called me.
Speaker 4: He's like, what are you doing? What's happened? And I
Speaker 4: was like, oh, you know, I don't know, we don't know.
Speaker 4: It's just hanging out. Person ain't got no black face sings.
Speaker 4: Was going on, what you're doing? It's crazy with Shade,
Speaker 4: It's crazy.
Speaker 5: When I when I got pregnant, nobody knew that I
Speaker 5: was pregnant. I get a phone call, Tyler calls me,
Speaker 5: are you pregnant? I was not even showing nothing. I
Speaker 5: just found out like like literally like I was probably
Speaker 5: two months pregnant or month. So that was something early.
Speaker 5: He called me, He's like, are you pregnant? Something in
Speaker 5: my spirit is saying that.
Speaker 1: Jesus.
Speaker 5: I was like, and my mom didn't even know. Nobody
Speaker 5: knew except me and Nick. It's crazy. So I did
Speaker 5: confirm it. That was with Tiffany, Yeah, yeah, yeah, So
Speaker 5: who was that with? No, I don't my timelines are yeah, right,
Speaker 5: you have a child, You're like, you know it's then sick.
Speaker 4: I don't know it was.
Speaker 7: It was in the beginning though, So yeah, you know
Speaker 7: doctor Lumar.
Speaker 5: I just.
Speaker 4: First of all, Nick loves you.
Speaker 5: He brought your bought your book, and Doctor Umer he
Speaker 5: I don't think he knows.
Speaker 4: I know Doctor Umer. I love doctor I think. Look,
Speaker 4: I understand empowerment to our community. It's not like I
Speaker 4: haven't come from I have a black mom, a black.
Speaker 5: Dad, I have black siblings, I have a black child.
Speaker 4: Like I have a lot of blackness in my life.
Speaker 5: I give back. I'm creating things for black people. So
Speaker 5: I'm like, I don't know what he wants me to
Speaker 5: do and also.
Speaker 4: What he wants me.
Speaker 7: To do, so I'll get to his school, Like what.
Speaker 4: Do you want tell me? Is that is it coming
Speaker 4: out of your money or that white man's money. It's
Speaker 4: all green. You know.
Speaker 1: One of the first time you heard of doctor Lumar
Speaker 1: video and you was like, what the You gotta feel
Speaker 1: a way when.
Speaker 5: You first heart you're so interested in I am so
Speaker 5: interested when I hear people are like.
Speaker 4: Black people need to keep it black.
Speaker 5: You know, It's like I'm always interested because I understand.
Speaker 4: I understand like a communal sense. I understand. I've dated
Speaker 4: many black men, and I get it. It's like it's
Speaker 4: it's it's a great thing.
Speaker 5: But I feel like one I know, he would say,
Speaker 5: I'm like, people can't people fall in love with who
Speaker 5: they fall in love with. But also the percentage of
Speaker 5: black women to black men, they there's way more of us.
Speaker 5: There's not one for and there people black. Most black
Speaker 5: men are married to black women and so. But also
Speaker 5: there's a lot of single black women who are the
Speaker 5: numbers don't match.
Speaker 4: It's just like there's not enough of y'all. Well where
Speaker 4: else are they supposed to go to? Who else? So
Speaker 4: like figure that out?
Speaker 2: So what do you what do you tell a father
Speaker 2: of four black daughters that.
Speaker 3: Possibly might be dating a white boy? What what would you
Speaker 3: tell that father? Look to the right.
Speaker 6: Private school?
Speaker 4: They go to all white schools.
Speaker 2: Private school would what would you tell that black man?
Speaker 5: I mean, I would say, look, the first thing I
Speaker 5: did ask Nick, I'm like, have you dated anybody other
Speaker 5: than black people?
Speaker 4: Because I'm not your fetish you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like you got its? He does, and so he does.
Speaker 5: I would just I mean, you know, if this person
Speaker 5: is a good person, just first of all, start there
Speaker 5: is he kind?
Speaker 4: Is he?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 4: Have him over, get to know him. Don't push it
Speaker 4: away like it's.
Speaker 5: Not going to happen, because they probably will be the
Speaker 5: daughter will rebel.
Speaker 4: Rebel like bring it in.
Speaker 6: To your house.
Speaker 5: But when you push it away, that's when it's gonna happen.
Speaker 4: Don't put Just bring it in and allow your kids
Speaker 4: to talk to you.
Speaker 5: You know, he she sees the amazing black man you
Speaker 5: are doesn't mean that she doesn't value that. It's just
Speaker 5: you like who you like at the moment, and it's
Speaker 5: moments in times.
Speaker 1: So I wonder if those other brothers you were dealing
Speaker 1: with stepped up the did they, because it seemed like
Speaker 1: Nick from the beginning knew, like yeah, yeah, he knew.
Speaker 1: When you're make it statements like I can't believe you're
Speaker 1: not married, that's already on your mind.
Speaker 4: Oh my god. Yeah, I mean I think people are.
Speaker 4: I mean, you you are where you are in life.
Speaker 4: You're either ready for more or you're not.
Speaker 5: And I used to say, I say to women all
Speaker 5: the time, if you don't know where you stand, you
Speaker 5: stand nowhere at all? You know, with somebody, And so
Speaker 5: I knew and you're either afraid to ask the question,
Speaker 5: or you're like, where are we if you don't if
Speaker 5: you're asking that, you don't you know where you are?
Speaker 4: Nowhere? Right?
Speaker 5: And so you know, and and some people are ready,
Speaker 5: and then some people are not. And I was ready
Speaker 5: when I met Nick, and so and so was he.
Speaker 5: They weren't ready.
Speaker 4: And that's okay, though, that's okay.
Speaker 7: Because Nick got you. Nick proposed to you with a
Speaker 7: peloton bike. How true is that bike?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 5: No, no you no he he actually he proposed when
Speaker 5: I had the baby, because we already did all the
Speaker 5: things like we had the people always think like it
Speaker 5: took us a while to get married, because that was
Speaker 5: my choice. People are like, he ain't married, and see
Speaker 5: that white man, you know. I'm like, that's not even it.
Speaker 4: It's me.
Speaker 5: We got together, I got pregnant, we bought a house,
Speaker 5: like there was so many things happening.
Speaker 4: I was like, slow down, I like it.
Speaker 7: I was those men who weren't right too much, too much.
Speaker 5: And then we he proposed on Christmas, Like around Christmas,
Speaker 5: he put the the ring under my daughter and told
Speaker 5: me to pick her up, and he had a note
Speaker 5: and he was down and I.
Speaker 4: Was like, are you sure? Like he was like I'm
Speaker 4: a lot. He's like I am positive. I was like, okay, cool,
Speaker 4: So where did the Peloton bike come in?
Speaker 1: At?
Speaker 4: He just bought me a Peloton bike?
Speaker 6: Okay?
Speaker 4: He say like he proposed with a.
Speaker 5: Bike, scavenger hunts during Christmas and like he pied stuff
Speaker 5: and put you know, he does all. He's thoughtful and
Speaker 5: where I'm like, what do you want for Christmas?
Speaker 4: You know he's very thoughtful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got a very black name.
Speaker 4: If it's to James, it's Euphemia something. No, it's his.
Speaker 5: His name is Nicholas Muscarellascrella tka Muscarella. You want to
Speaker 5: do fea Sumter Muscarella.
Speaker 4: I have the longest name.
Speaker 5: It doesn't even fit on like most of my when
Speaker 5: I travel, they're like the name doesn't fit definitely.
Speaker 3: Not on tests.
Speaker 2: When you were a kid, what did your family think
Speaker 2: when they first met him? And what did they think
Speaker 2: because they're from Queens, I know family back then, parents
Speaker 2: back then were little racist.
Speaker 5: No, my mom my, mom my, you know, my dad
Speaker 5: passed away when I was thirteen, unfortunately, and my mom
Speaker 5: remarried a white guy actually, and so I when she
Speaker 5: first brought him.
Speaker 4: I never saw like. I was like, what the hell
Speaker 4: is this?
Speaker 3: What you said?
Speaker 4: I was scared. I didn't I didn't know.
Speaker 5: I was around black people all the time, and I
Speaker 5: was like, who is this? Like what I didn't understand.
Speaker 5: He's like, you want to go get ice C. I'm like,
Speaker 5: you're scaring me. I didn't know.
Speaker 4: So my mom was fine with it.
Speaker 5: My mom got a divorce and she went back and
Speaker 5: she married a black man who's amazing and they're in
Speaker 5: a great relationship.
Speaker 1: I said, doctor Lamar frown and smiled.
Speaker 4: So your mama dated what it's like?
Speaker 5: No, doctor Ymar. She went back, so she was fine
Speaker 5: with it. We were fine with it. I mean it's nobody,
Speaker 5: you know. I think everybody was like, you know what,
Speaker 5: you know, what is this? And is he serious? And
Speaker 5: what does he want? And all that stuff.
Speaker 4: But yeah, they were. They were definitely supportive.
Speaker 1: This might be a stupid question, but is there anything
Speaker 1: you learned on mixed that you bring into your your
Speaker 1: life now?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 5: I try not to bring any baggage that I've had
Speaker 5: onto my daughter because her her experience is going to
Speaker 5: be so different than mine in a lot of different ways,
Speaker 5: like I'll I'll be.
Speaker 4: We homeschool our daughter now.
Speaker 5: We took her out of private school, and she we
Speaker 5: read more than ever, We do more math than ever.
Speaker 5: But we've been reading these civil rights you know. Actually
Speaker 5: Nick reads them to her and she's like, I love history, mom,
Speaker 5: And she's like, how could somebody not let people sit
Speaker 5: where they want to sit? And one day she came
Speaker 5: home when she was in school, she's like, Mom, you
Speaker 5: know Martin Luther King junior. Right. I was like, yeah,
Speaker 5: She's like you know them, you know. She's like that
Speaker 5: man who shot him looked like dad.
Speaker 3: Damn right, damn.
Speaker 4: I was like, well.
Speaker 6: He looks like dad. Well, you know.
Speaker 5: I was like, people were crazy. I was like, and yeah,
Speaker 5: I mean that's what happened. And we talked to our
Speaker 5: child how we want to give her. For me, I remember,
Speaker 5: you know, you grew up like you know, kids aren't
Speaker 5: meant to talk or just sit there and be quiet.
Speaker 5: But I think for me, what I struggled with was
Speaker 5: not understanding my own emotions as I got older, not
Speaker 5: being able to communicate with a guy and tell them
Speaker 5: what I actually want, because I'm like, what do I feel?
Speaker 5: What do I feel? And I want my daughter to
Speaker 5: be able to express herself. And so I don't think
Speaker 5: she talks back to me. She just asked a lot
Speaker 5: of questions and she's like, well, I need to understand
Speaker 5: why this is the way it is, or all the things.
Speaker 5: And so I'm giving her the tools to be able
Speaker 5: to speak up for herself. And you want, you say
Speaker 5: you want your kid to have a voice, then you
Speaker 5: got to give him a voice to have. And so
Speaker 5: that's how I feel with my daughter. So we talk
Speaker 5: about a lot.
Speaker 1: I love were just having that conversation earlier about emotions,
Speaker 1: because you know, they love to say women are more
Speaker 1: emotional than men, which I don't believe. And I believe
Speaker 1: if you are a man that doesn't know how to,
Speaker 1: you know, probably express your emotions, there's work you can
Speaker 1: go do on yourself.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, for sure. And that's what I mean.
Speaker 5: I started Adventures of Curiosity Code, which is a kid's
Speaker 5: podcast that maybe your hells is your You're not your twelve,
Speaker 5: he's twelve, but it's about emotional intelligence and it's about
Speaker 5: we created all these stories for kids because Ella used
Speaker 5: to be like, tell us, just tell me a story,
Speaker 5: tell me a story. And that now she's like, can
Speaker 5: you put on my podcast while she's in the bath,
Speaker 5: And but it's these stories that like help kids.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yes, yes she is and she you know,
Speaker 4: it's these stories that for kids that.
Speaker 5: Help them with understanding social emotional intelligence.
Speaker 4: And so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely make sure she got a children's book
Speaker 1: coming out too, called I Got It from My Mama.
Speaker 3: I got it, I got it from Mama.
Speaker 4: I got it from my mama.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: It comes out next year around Mom's Day Mother's Day,
Speaker 5: and you can pre order it now. But it's really
Speaker 5: about the idea of like old school parenting mixed with
Speaker 5: new school parenting and when gentle parenting is not so gentle.
Speaker 5: And so it's this idea of like this little girl
Speaker 5: being like I.
Speaker 4: Got this from my mama.
Speaker 5: I got this, and it shows all these things like
Speaker 5: I love how she does her hair and I try,
Speaker 5: and she sprays this perfume and then I've sprayed my dream,
Speaker 5: all these things she's gotten from her mom. Her mom
Speaker 5: one day snaps at her and she goes to school
Speaker 5: and she ends up snapping at somebody like her mom,
Speaker 5: and her mom is basically like, where'd you get that?
Speaker 5: From and she's like, I got it from you, mama.
Speaker 5: And so it's the idea of mirroring what we see
Speaker 5: and it's okay as long as you repair it. And
Speaker 5: so the mom basically takes responsibility and apologizes to her
Speaker 5: child for snapping. And I think for me, like even
Speaker 5: to this day, my mom did something to my daughter
Speaker 5: and she's.
Speaker 4: Like, I ain't apologize it, and I'm like, Mom, it's okay.
Speaker 5: It doesn't take anything from you to just apologize, like,
Speaker 5: because you're teaching your children behavior, you know what I mean,
Speaker 5: Like when you're all, I'm not apologizing, You're a kid.
Speaker 5: They're growing up up thinking they don't need to. You're
Speaker 5: it's a cycle of you know, kao to break yes.
Speaker 5: And so for me it's me it's it's the understanding
Speaker 5: of newness and and what that means in parenting.
Speaker 4: And so it's called I got it from my mama.
Speaker 1: So I was like, what's the greatest piece of advice
Speaker 1: you got from yourma?
Speaker 5: Oh man, I don't know if I got the advice,
Speaker 5: but I saw the advice. And my mom is super resilient,
Speaker 5: and I see I saw her struggle a lot, and
Speaker 5: she never gave up she knew she had my mouths
Speaker 5: to feed, and she knew that she had to work
Speaker 5: really hard. And so for me, I feel like the
Speaker 5: biggest thing a kid could have is resilience, because if
Speaker 5: you have that, I feel like you really can You're
Speaker 5: not so easy to give up on everything.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: And I think nowadays even for my own daughter, teaching
Speaker 5: her like girl, no, you're gonna do this. You we
Speaker 5: made her stand piano when she didn't want to do it,
Speaker 5: and now she's like, she goes downstairs by herself and
Speaker 5: she just plays a piano and all that stuff, and
Speaker 5: I'm like, no, you gotta follow through. And so for me,
Speaker 5: it's never given up, Like my mom never gave up
Speaker 5: on us, and she never gave up on herself.
Speaker 1: I saw you posted this on Instagram once and I
Speaker 1: thought it was good. You said, would you speak to
Speaker 1: your best friend the way you speak to you to yourself?
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5: I feel like and I'm I'm guilty of this, like
Speaker 5: the way we were so hard on ourselves nowadays, and
Speaker 5: especially like the hustle culture and like you know, Jess
Speaker 5: is doing this and Envy's doing that, and you're you
Speaker 5: have all these podcasts.
Speaker 4: Like you're doing.
Speaker 5: We look at all these people and thinking I'm not
Speaker 5: doing enough, or I'm not enough or I'm not smart
Speaker 5: enough to do what they do, or it's like do
Speaker 5: what you do and speak to yourself. You I would
Speaker 5: never just if we were best friends, I wouldn't be like,
Speaker 5: you know, I wouldn't be mean to you, right, Or
Speaker 5: if you were talking about yourself crazy, I'd be like,
Speaker 5: are you crazy?
Speaker 4: You're you're You're amazing.
Speaker 5: And then we go home and we're like beating ourselves
Speaker 5: up daily and it's like you're just you're literally whipping
Speaker 5: your own self, yeah, you know, into a frenzy. And
Speaker 5: so I just feel like, talk to yourself how you
Speaker 5: would talk to your best friend.
Speaker 1: I got a home gun Nay. So she was like
Speaker 1: if she heard me talking crazy about myself, she'd be like,
Speaker 1: don't talk to my friend like that.
Speaker 4: That's right, that's right. I agree with Rachel. Rachel and doctor.
Speaker 1: UMARNI start doing some research, Like what you mean you agree.
Speaker 4: With doctor be like, I'd love to have a conversation
Speaker 4: with him.
Speaker 7: The first question, so you read black doing a silver rights.
Speaker 4: Oh, doctor Mark gonna come after me and you want
Speaker 4: more kids?
Speaker 5: I don't know if I don't know if that's in
Speaker 5: the cards for me. I'm older now, and we'll see
Speaker 5: what happens. My daughter wants, she wants either a dog
Speaker 5: or a She does want a sister, but we'll see.
Speaker 4: I do, I do.
Speaker 2: We'll check out Sonic the Hedgehog three in theaters on
Speaker 2: the twentieth of this month.
Speaker 3: And thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: So much pleasure.
Speaker 4: I love you, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Y'all.
Speaker 4: You guys do a great job.
Speaker 1: You gotta come be together one day. I think you
Speaker 1: have doctor That would be amazing fireworks.
Speaker 6: Actually, him and.
Speaker 5: Doctor Umar might be best friend Nick can He somehow
Speaker 5: becomes best friends with.
Speaker 4: People you would never think he eats. Wait.
Speaker 5: Wait, we were at a club in Atlanta one time,
Speaker 5: this before we were together, and he's sitting there, you know,
Speaker 5: he has his drink. Is full of black people, not
Speaker 5: one was probably one other white, and it was his
Speaker 5: friend who came.
Speaker 4: And he's comfy and I'm like, hey, you're you're good.
Speaker 5: He's like, yeah, what what what? And I'm like, oh, no,
Speaker 5: he is comfortable. It doesn't matter who you are. He's
Speaker 5: very comfortable. So Doctor Umar, you me and him for lunch.
Speaker 4: Please used to have.
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Nick, don't have questions after this interview. Does
Speaker 1: I got it from my mama or your mama was
Speaker 1: the white guy that she look the white guy for
Speaker 1: a black guy. And you want to meet doctor Wilmot.
Speaker 6: What's going on?
Speaker 4: Crazy?
Speaker 1: Took us something.
Speaker 3: It's the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 4: Good morning.
Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club