During the Circle of Sisters event held by WBLS, WLIB and Hot 97 this past weekend
, I had the chance to sit down with one of my favorite actresses. Paula Jai Parker is stepping back into the spotlight with the TV One reality show “Hollywood Divas” after taking a break of sorts for five years. When I talked to the lovely actress, we chatted about the 20th anniversary of Friday, which was her first film, why she decided to do reality TV, what she learned about herself while doing it, and feeling blackballed by the industry.
What She Thinks About Friday All These Years Later:
You know that movie was 20 years ago!? They just had the 20-year anniversary of Friday in LA at the Los Angeles Film Festival. So it bugs me out! That was my first movie and that’s the one that everyone always remembers. That’s the one. It was one of the funnest experiences I ever had on a film. Nia [Long] is my girl, so it was like working with your girlfriends. I had the same kind of fun on Hustle & Flow, but with this one, it was different because it was like a block party. The whole shooting took place on the street basically. We’d shut down the street and party for real. It would be so many rappers there, and just because they were all together they would just start rhyming! So it was just unforgettable. It was a great experience. For it to have been my first film, I was very lucky. I expected them all to be like that…and they’re not.
Why She Decided To Do “Hollywood Divas”:
Reality TV kind of chose me, I didn’t choose reality TV. I had a baby and I was out of the game for five years and during that time, Hollywood forgot about me. My manager and my agent, they both dropped me. Hollywood has no empathy for pregnancy. If you get pregnant, it’s like you’re sick. It’s like you have a disease, unless you get pregnant by Will Smith. And I didn’t marry Will Smith, Jada did, and that’s my girl! But I couldn’t really find work. I wanted to use reality TV as a platform to diversify my talents. I’m a director. Because I couldn’t find work, I started directing a lot more and I realized I’m good at it. So, when I had this opportunity to do this show, I took it and ran. I brought my girls–they asked me who I wanted and I suggested some people, and they chose everybody I would have wanted. They were my first choices. And we got to create our own project. So it’s really given us all a platform to become producers. My husband is the writer of our project so it’s gotten him in the game.
READ MORE: MadameNoire.com
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Picture Courtesy of WENN and Madame Noire
Video Courtesy of TV One and Madame Noire
Paula Jai Parker Speaks on “Friday” and “Hollywood Divas” was originally published on wzakcleveland.com
