The Breakfast Club - Best Of Full Interview: Jasmine Guy Talks Relationship With Tupac, Jada Pinkett Smith, Freaknik, Hollywood + More

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

Best of 2024 - Recorded March 2024 - Jasmine Guy Talks Relationship With Tupac, Jada Pinkett Smith, Freaknik, Hollywood. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. And we got a special guest in the building. The legendary Jasmine Guy. Welcome back.

Good morning. How you feeling? I feel great. I loved doing your show the last time. And I got a lot of positive feedback. People love you. Yeah. Come on.

It was a different kind of interview though than they're used to. My daddy was like, you were a little too comfortable. You act like they were at your house. That was that champagne, right? Yes, that cheap ass champagne, whatever that was. I didn't even like it. I was drinking it But my father said that you would put more in when I was looking at Kadeem That's what he said

Whenever you looked at Kadeem before more in there, so I'm I'm thinking I'm just I probably had four glasses of that. It's time I woke up. That cold dust. I see Smolanti, whatever that was. It's like, but I drank it anyway at 7 o'clock in the morning. How embarrassing is that? No, it got you to talking. And Kadeem was just sitting back there, just laughing. No, it was good because you ask questions that people don't usually ask. We get the same questions over and over especially about a different world and I

Just like that it went into other areas absolutely of my life and my career and his too because Anybody can look at any interviews we've done and get those answers. It's the same answer. Mm-hmm You know what I mean? So can we talk about something else? Yeah, that's right. Or can we bring it to another element that hasn't been explored with us?

And you've done so much more since then. Absolutely. Like right now, you won your first Emmy this year. Yes. Congratulations. How does that feel? She went for the Chronicles of Jessica Woo. That's right. That was a trip. this year. Yes. Congratulations. How does that feel? She went for the Chronicles of Jessica. Woo. Yes. Yeah.

That was a trip. So I was going to Mexico to hang out with my girlfriends and I land and I get all these checks from people saying congratulations on your Emmy nomination. And I really thought people were messing with me. I didn't even call them back. I saw whatever. I didn't even call them back. I said whatever. I wasn't even. And then when I realized I really had been nominated, I thought it was for the show

Harlem. Chronicles of Jessica Wu I had done too. It was before COVID. It was a long time ago and I only worked on it for a day. It was a very interesting project to me because the production company was a couple, a small black production company. The superhero in the piece had autism, but her powers, whatever put her on the spectrum made her a superhero. Their daughter had an autistic child. Anyway so I said well I'll do it because I know after this they're gonna need distribution and who knew?

Wow. That's what you know what I'm saying? My love for them and what I know about, you know, pitching ideas. You're going to need a name. I know. I've heard it all. And I said, well, I'll be your name. This is going to be good. And it was a short series, like a webisode series. The other Oscar nomination I got was also from an independent black company and it was my nephew Emmett and I played Emmett Till's aunt on the night that he was taken from their home. And I was like, oh shit, I do not want to go to Mississippi. I'm telling you we stay right down the street from where he got abducted. Man. And Mississippi still got that same energy. Thank you.

Yeah, nothing to change. I was going to say I felt ghosts. Yeah. You know, and I did it. And they got nominated for an Oscar. When the director called me, he was a graduate student from NYU Film School. His mentors were Spike Lee and Casey Lemons, right?

Beautiful brother and the crew and everybody. I had a great artistic experience. But when he told me we got nominated for an Oscar, I thought he was messing with me. That says a lot though, like about how I guess black actors and actresses are conditioned in Hollywood that when they get told that they're even nominated, they don't believe it.

It's a joke. Well, when you ignored long enough, you get the message. I got the message. If you're not nominating a different world, Debbie Allen, Susan Phelps, our wardrobe department, any other actor on that show, I stopped focusing on y'all giving me my props. I know who gives me my props. And I told the actors, I said, we just gotta be good.

You know, forget all these accolades or whatever. They obviously, do you know how many times they said to me, even on, I think I did Dennis Miller, remember Dennis Miller had a talk show, he started with, so how does it feel being between number one and three? And I was stunned because I just sat down, you know, you come out all cute and what,

and I was like, he said that wasn't a good lead in question. I said, no, it wasn't. You're talking about Cosby and Cheers? Everybody said we were number two because we came between them. Okay. And that was the first question. That was the message.

That was the message that we got as actors, as, you know, performers. And we never got our props for, not know, performers, and we never got our props for not just the acting, but it was Debbie Allen, Susan Phelps, me, three black women in charge of that show. You know what I mean? We could have been on the cover of Essence, and I just knew who really saw us

and who really understood us. Why didn't the network fight for that? Same white motherfuckers. Go ahead, I just want to make sure you can forget your spot. It's the same world. Just look. Okay, so Carsey Warner, our producers, also produced a show with Whoopi Goldberg called Baghdad Cafe, Grace Under Fire, and The Rosanne Show. And The Cosby show, right?

So we're one of five. They never asked us to do anything. They asked Roseanne Barr to sing the national anthem in which she grabbed her crotch, because she can't sing. But we got five singers on our show. That's crazy. You could have had Dawn, me, Cree, you know, never.

When we got offered things that would have, I don't know, I just got things, we got things on our own and I never felt a part of that network. Then when I saw what happened with Friends, I was like, yo. That would have helped us. It would have helped us with work. After the show, it would have given us some props, you know, that we could have used for future projects.

I pitched a lot, I had my own production company after Different World. All of my projects were rejected, but then I started to see them. That was weird. Oh wow. Oh so they were stealing your ideas. Which ones? Yeah I had a TV idea about a young woman that inherited a sweatshop in the garment district

from her gay friend that died of AIDS and But she still saw him as a ghost. I had even talked to RuPaul about being my ghost, you know They was just everything was a reason not to do it, but then I would see a white girl do it Then I had this idea about um, I was the name of that spy show? It was a French movie, independent movie, La Femme Nikita. Oh yeah. Okay, so I thought this would be fierce with Robin Givens. So I wrote up a treatment for a pilot version of it. No Robin Givens, but a white American girl doing it.

So I was like, well I know my ideas are valid, No Robin Givens, but a white American girl doing it. So I was like, well, I know my ideas are valid, but I just started divorcing myself, like a bad relationship. Stop asking for what you know you're not gonna get. I didn't have a parking space like Don Johnson after Miami Vice. You know?

You was the star of the number two show on the network, one of the biggest shows on television, EP. You was a producer on it too, right? No. Okay, okay, oh, I thought you produced on it. No. But even still, a star of that show can't have a parking spot?

I had a parking spot, but he had a production deal is what I'm saying. After he did Miami Vice, he had a production deal. And I don't know, I just thought that we were ready and well equipped to move on into other areas. I definitely wanted to be a producer because I had met so many people on a different world. And I wanted to bring this writer with this directed you know and the

ideas that I had were not being done. The Dorothy Dandridge story I pitched that for years. I had to educate first who's Dorothy Dandridge. I told them it wasn't condescending and I didn't want to say the black Marilyn Monroe because that's all they understand is a black version of what we already know. That's right. So I don't use that term when I'm pitching and the movie got done. It just got done without me and after while, I said okay, I understand. You know what I mean?

It's like a bad relationship. After a while, you gotta understand, okay, I ain't what you want. Let's just, this is. And this is, and so is all of this, and other things I'm sure, is what leads up to uncensored jasmine guy like Yeah, you know what I feel like I did uncensored because I did intimate portrait on lifetime

I did unsung but they were in different decades of my life. I mean intimate portrait must have been in my 40s and then 50s and now I'm in my 60s, and I said I may have a different perspective on my truth. Same things happen, but I feel differently about them, I have a different perspective, and I'm not, I'm trying not to be so precious about my private life, because I really do this when get like, you know, that's that's mine.

I feel like I do enough with my work for the public. That is my gift to the audience. That is my way of communicating. You don't need to know who I'm sleeping with. Their business don't need to be in the street. You're from that era though. Like that era was you didn't really see your favorite celebrity, favorite actress, favorite actor

and when you did, everybody went bat shit crazy because you never did. Like our favorite celebrities growing up as kids, we didn't know who they dated. We didn't know where they went to eat. We didn't know where they lived. We didn't know any of that and that was part of the mystique

of them being a superstar. Real celebrity. But it's also private. I don't feel like, I didn't understand why celebrities would say private things when nobody even asked you. That cold duck? That's right.

That's some cocaine? No. Go see Charlamagne, he'll make you talk. I'm like, why you, did nobody ask you that? Yeah. Nowadays it's crazy. I mean, nowadays I, and so with the, oh and I also got an Instagram.

I mean, I've had an account, but my makeup artist said when he went on my social media that it was vintage. Not the V word. That I had not posted. I said I don't know what to post. I don't know what's interesting because work

fulfills so many parts of me. If I'm not working, I really don't have nothing to say. What I did today, I colored, I did crossword puzzles. People are into that. They're into your life outside of just acting. They're into what does Jasmine Guy do? What does she enjoy? What does she like?

Because we know who you are on different worlds. But what I'm like off camera is boring. But people wanna see that. They wanna understand it. They wanna see what your life's like. If you just sit outside and you knit all day, what are you knitting? Why?

And to be honest with you. What calms you down? Because maybe what calms you down will help calm me down. Maybe something that you do can help guide me through my life. So people are into what people do. And now we need some boring shit because like everybody is wiling out here. So I'm interested in what you be knitting.

I want to see that. I'm working on my next afghan. No, but it's kind of like that. I like calm. I love my friends. My favorite thing in the world is when my friends come by my apartment. I live in Midtown in Atlanta, so I'm accessible because in New York, I used to have an apartment on 78th Street between Columbus and Central Park. Everybody come through there.

If you lived in Queens, if you lived in Jersey, you gonna come by my, and I love that. And so that's one of my favorite things is having my people over. And I've been cooking till I've been watching HGTV. See people like to see what does Jasmine Guy cook. What's your favorite meal? Well I'm trying to make the perfect chicken wing for me. Okay. You don't know how to make chicken wings yet? HGTV. People like to see what does Jasmine Guy cook. What's your favorite meal? Right.

Well, I'm trying to make the perfect chicken wing for me. Okay. You don't know how to make chicken wings yet? No, I make them every week. But for me, other people eat them and they're okay, but I want a certain consistency. I think I can't get a deep fryer because of my apartment. I can't have it on the on the patio So I've tried all different kinds. They're good and I've done the marinating and everything

Also, I've learned meatballs. I got a good meatball. Let people like and turkey beef pork It's a this veal and pork. Hmm Make you some turkey It's veal and pork. Oh, you pork. Jesus Christ. Sorry. She didn't say she was cooking for you. She said sorry. I'll make you some turkey, no, chorizo sport too. I'll make you some. But I gave a cheesecake.

So I'm using my mother's cheesecake recipe and I'm just doing them over and over until I get it. The way you love it. My daddy is my guinea pig. He has to try my food and give me notes. Tell me if it's dry. Tell me, you know. And my friend Jamala loves my cheesecakes. So I made one for the house, gave it to her.

And I was like, you know. Let me know how it is or whatever. She gave her mother one piece and she ate the rest of it. That was good. Oh yeah, that must be good. She's had three whole cheeks, can you imagine? She probably a little too, ain't she? Yeah, she a little bitty thing.

I'm like, okay Jamala, let me tell you what's in this. So she wrote a book about her daughter. It's a children's book called Mommy, I Think I Have Diabetes. She found out her daughter has diabetes, but it was from her daughter. This was a true story. She made a children's book.

And I said, your second book is gonna be Mommy, I Think You Got Diabetes. You keep eating whole cheesecakes. That's right. Slow your roll. I'm glad you like them and whatnot, but you know, you can't be eating a whole one. I gotta ask, you know, you mentioned earlier that, you know, when you do these interviews, people ask the same questions about a different world. Are you tired of talking about a different world since you had, I mean that was 30 years ago.

But then I see you on it. 37. 37, wow. But then I see you on the HBCU tours going from school to school. I see you having those conversations. Are you just done with talking about that part of your life? I'm not done with that part of my life

because people are exploring, they're asking me the same thing. What's your favorite episode? They want me to see the wedding show. That wasn't my favorite episode. That's your favorite episode? They want me to see the wedding show. That wasn't my favorite episode. That's your favorite episode. I love when the kids ask questions.

So we go to these schools, we have a moderator. This past, when we did Spelman, Morehouse, and Clark, we had seven of us. I love that too. Usually it's no more than four of us. And when the kids get to ask the questions, I love that too. Usually it's no more than four of us and When the kids get to ask the questions Their questions are different

They're not asking those same things. I mean really you could do your research and know the answer already but the kids are like when you were 19 like when you were 19, blah, blah, blah, when you first left home, what did you think about your character? I mean, especially them Spelman girls. First of all, they acted like we were rock stars. Cause y'all are. Definitely are.

They were just off the chain when we came out. Then one girl said Miss Chanel, oh Miss Chanel, I want to thank you For being a presence for dark-skinned girls. Mm-hmm Miss Jasmine, thank you for showing me confidence mmm, and miss Cree Thank you for showing me confidence. And Miss Cree, thank you for being the oddball.

That was her. There you go, thank you, Jessi. She was saying, I see you, and you help me see me. And you don't know you're doing all that when you just playing your role, you know? But I know Debbie knew, I knew Debbie knew what she was doing when she hired Cree and Chanel that second season.

It was very deliberate. I was just talking about Chanel in it. I was, yeah. What were you saying? Because I was just talking about Chanel in here. I was, yeah. What were you saying? She was beautiful. Because I was saying. Beautiful, right? We had a whole conversation about

who was the most beautiful on a different world and you know, we turned into that. I was like, man, Kimberly Reese was the one. She was the one. You think there should be another show or maybe they should relaunch it? And the reason is, last time I told you, the reason I went to time I told you,

the reason I went to college in HBCU in Hampton was because I seen a different world and I wanted that experience coming from Queens, right? I was like, I want that. I don't know if people see that anymore, if they see what a college looks like and the experience and not just, you know, the partying but real life, real situations

and everything going on I think that's missing it is not there and I thought when we did um you know because when I did a different world we were coming off school days mm-hmm and it was you know months in between the project so it it felt like we were part of a wave. I didn't know that it crested and was over because Fox started with Rock That and Show, Sinbad Show, even, you know, before Martin. And once they got launched, they dropped those black shows. Same with CW.

You saw what happened with the game. But I thought we were part of a new, I don't know, a new entertainment phase for black people. It wasn't renaissance. But it was over. After Cosby left, they just snatched everybody off. They couldn't wait to get our time slot. Yeah, I've had a lot of conversations about that. I feel like after the 90s, it was intentional,

it was intentional and strategic by Hollywood to change the image of black people. I really feel that way. I think so too, Charlamagne. It went from great scripted shows where people had jobs and careers to reality television. Where they don't have to pay nobody until you make it big or whatever.

And now, even with Harlem, and I love that show and I love doing it. And I don't understand the streaming thing. Amazon had us for 10, 10 episodes of first season, eight the second season, this season six. So what you're doing. I don't know. We have to do 22 episodes a season. What you're doing is you can't give anybody long enough work, right?

So the writers on a series, they're giving up four or five months. They're getting paid. But now six, that's two months. What? Yeah. I don't know. But now, six, that's two months worth. I don't know. And I don't know why they're doing it with Harlem because people like that show. You know what I mean?

And it shows Harlem in a beautiful way. It's vibrant and alive and it's not gray and boarded up. Like the Harlem's's like in you know It ain't Cooley High and cornbread early me Harlem. It's a celebration. Mm-hmm So I don't know why they're not committing. I find it selfish that you don't give a show enough legs to succeed and Let Tracy Oliver do what she do. That's right.

I had so much influence, you know, Jermaine Dupree was here yesterday. Oh really? And on the, they did a Freaknik documentary. Oh! Have you ever been to Freaknik? No, I was in LA during that time, but I've heard about it.

They said- Shutting down I-20. That's right. There were a lot of babies made during that. I'm sure. They said that actually Different World made Freaknik even bigger. I guess y'all had an episode where the girls talked about

going to Freaknik and not telling their parents. Oh yeah, the younger crew, like Jada and them. Yep, and they said that amplified it a thousand percent. Oh my God. Because so many people were watching Different World and was like, we're going down to Freaknik. That's amazing. So you're causing people to get pregnant.

Uh-uh. Ha ha ha. How the daddy's paying child support. Question, Miss Guy, do you find a sense of vindication in this award at this stage of your career? No, you know what I felt? I was really surprised at how happy I was when I got it. I really felt like I won that award for a different world

in Atlanta. And I say Atlanta because when I got to New York, I had been trained. I had been poured into, you know, with my dance schools, my teachers, the performing arts school I went to, my church, you know. And then, I also knew that, even though I was glad that the show won,

you know, Jessica, I just felt like it was for a different world. It's for what nobody, you know, got back then. You dedicated your award to a different one. That's the reason why, just because you felt like. Yeah, I was like, this is ours. I love that. Because I know what made that show good.

And I know we didn't get our props. That's right. From white people. No, that's right. I mean, no, we won't play for black people. I have 60 image awards, two Soul Train awards. Because they know what that does, it gives you power in the Hollywood system. We not giving them that.

That's so disrespectful to me. It's not like a person I could cuss out. It's just a cloud of white people. I know, like, white Hollywood. Because if that show, well just look what they do with Friends and what they did with Living Single. Just look at the publicity, how much money they made. They were at the Golden Globes, they got movies. We are no less talented. And the writing was awesome on a different world because they're doing deep subjects and they have to keep us funny.

Because the network wanted us funny. They said, well, if we're gonna do this AIDS show, how are we gonna make it funny? Well, maybe Whitney's gonna lose her virginity during, what is the B line? That's gonna not make it so heavy, you know? They have to do that for everything, the riot show. They have to still mix in the humor,

and I think we did that well in that Susan Fales Hill. I'm so proud of Lena Waithe and Issa Rae to see them as showrunners and starring and this and that. I'm like, oh, they're fierce. And I hope they get their props. But I wonder how do you think this recognition of the award contributes to the broader conversation about diversity and representation in Hollywood,

especially for OG veteran actresses like yourself, who've made significant contributions over the decades? Okay, so what? Like what does this do? Like the award has to do something, being that Jasmine Guy can still be so good at this stage in her career that she's still getting awarded. Yes, it does feel validating.

And I even said when I accepted the award, thank you for keeping me in this community, because the creative community is my world. Whether it's in New York or LA or Atlanta, you know, that are my people. And you know, with the pandemic and then six, seven months on strike, I'm like, I need to work. I need to be with my people. You know, I need other creatives. I need stories at lunchtime. And that goes for everybody. That goes for hair, makeup, wardrobe. Everybody is expressing themselves. And there's a

spiritual connection to that. So I did feel that way. But it has been good to see my peers, like Regina King, Victoria Mahoney, Sally Richardson, the girls that I was acting with doing, like directing and killing it like that. And Tasha Smith directed the last episode I did of Harlem. Love her.

Killed it! That's the force of nature. Yeah. Force of nature! Loud as all get up. Just loud, ain't she? That's my girl though. Yeah.

Yeah. Yup. Yup. Gotta be loud sometimes. We needed it. It was a very long day. It was a long shooting day and her energy was always yeah and what I was so impressed with was her technical acumen. She really knew

her cameras. She really knew what she wanted. She had to map out a 10 page scene which is very long for you know anything for movie or TV scene and I don't know she just did a beautiful job it was the only episode I've done on that show where I saw other people because all my episodes are with Grace Byers she She's my daughter. Well I'm her mother I should say. She's and everybody was there at this event so I got to see Bevy Smith was there, Whoopi was there. I don't know it was exciting. I was kind of fanned out too yeah. I seen a clip that was released from your Uncensored and it talks about being a mixed child.

Was that very difficult in the industry going at that time where you're going up for auditions and people are saying, well, she's not white, or then, well, maybe she's not black enough. Was that difficult? Well, I always defined myself as black, but I didn't get roles because I was too light sometimes. Or I got, like, my first, after I left Alvin Ailey,

I did musical theater, Broadway and whatnot. And then I started taking acting classes and going out for auditions. And I played three hoes before I got Woodley. I'm just saying. I asked my agent, I was like, is this normal? He said you played three hoes? Yes, I played a prostitute on the equalizer,

I played a hoe on loving, which was a soap opera back then, and then on my third one I said, okay, is this, and I was nailing them, whatever it is about. Nailing them hoes. I got that shit before I got back to my apartment. I was like, okay, but am I going to play other things? What do you tap into to be able to really play a hoe? Now what did she say? The way they write it, they usually write, I usually do sarcasm well.

Okay. And they're usually snarky. You know, now the other activities, I mean on the equalizer, I was the hoe that they bought for the guy that just came out of prison. Oh my god this scene was nasty and I'm like surprise and I come out and I'm supposed to do him because he's just been in prison and then in the scene he starts coughing and I say you catch something nasty where you been? And he grabs me by the hair and slams me into his knee.

You bringing up his trauma, you tricking him. I got a little too snarky. But the thing was, I didn't know that that should have been blocked. I didn't, it was one of my first acting jobs So because I'm a dancer I was able to go, you know Slam myself down. All you have to do is you know and make it look like he was just and then Fall and I did it over and over and the director was like, are you okay?

It was like it wasn't till after that I talked to some of my actor friends and director was like, are you okay? It was like, it wasn't until after that I talked to some of my actor friends and they were like, nobody blocked you? Nobody. I said no, it was just like a, you know, a dance move or whatever, but yeah. Then when I auditioned for Whitley, first of all, they didn't even have her name yet, it was Sydney slash Whitney, a black southern belle. I'm like, things that make you go, hmm, a black southern belle. Y'all know what I'm saying. Anyway, she was hitting on her professor for an A

in the scene. You're like, here's another whole row. Yeah. Yeah, in college. Thank you like, here's another horror. Yeah. Yeah. In college. Thank you. We're ruffles. But when I got on the set, now she's a virgin

and she doesn't know what's going on in the world. It's just interesting because you play things based on who they tell you you're supposed to be. And then as actors, we often do backstories and make up something that got us to this point so we have something to lean on. But yeah, I was thinking,

wow, I guess I'm just gonna be, it wasn't that I was playing a hoe or a prostitute, it was just that I wanted to play all kinds of characters. I've always wanted that. I've got to ask a question. This is a personal question. When you started off dancing as a child, did you know what direction you wanted to go into? So I got two girls that dance, right?

Oh. And I travel all over the country, dance with these little babies, and I mean, they are amazing. One won first prize overall. What? Seven-year-old over a thousand girls, first prize. But. What? Yes, they get busy.

They take it serious. Six days a week, four hours a day, gymnastics, flipping, back flip, dancing. Wow. Yes, it's a lot. But I've learned to love it, like really enjoy it. But as a dad I always think like, well what's next after dance?

Like what do you do as a dance like when you get To high school and college like what happens from that? Did you know what you wanted to do going into alvin aly and okay? So when I was a little kid I thought I Just kept asking for more classes like once a week Saturday turned into three turned into five You know and when I saw alvin aly and I saw revelations like once a week Saturday, turned into three, turned into five, you know? And when I saw Alvin Ailey and I saw Revelations, I realized that I could do this as a job.

I didn't realize that you could dance as a job. Other than be a dance teacher, that's all I was seeing. And I told my daddy, I said, I think I have my calling. I wanna dance with Alvin Ailey. So from 12 to 17, that was the projectory. Kind of on the level where you are with your girls because I danced every day after that. I went to perform in Arts High School.

I joined the Latin Ballet. I went to North Carolina School of the Arts over the summer because I knew that I was not technically proficient enough to get into the Ailey Company. Mm-hmm. But I was also performing. What's up, y'all? This is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on

with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right. A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm gonna toss it over to the host of Historical Records,

Nimny, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey, y'all, Nimmini here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop. Flash slam, another one gone. Bash bam, another one gone.

The cracker, the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history, like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it.

And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat And I am a before-roader He was Claudette Goldman Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records because in order to make history

you have to make some noise Listen to Historical Records on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I played Anita in West Side Story, and I was young, I was like 13, and I could already act, and I could sing,

but it was that, because you know, you can't fake dance, you can't be the dancer you can't be. I mean, it's an athletic, you know. So that's when I knew. Do they want to do it as a profession? They don't know right now. One is seven, one is ten, and they just enjoy it and they want more.

And it's not just ballet, it's not just open for mad, it's just everything. It's jazz, it's tab, now they just started getting into hip hop. But for me, it's like, I enjoy it because I know where they are, right? I know they're not gonna wanna go to their friend's house. I know they're not gonna wanna go to the mall because they enjoy it so much. School's over at 2.40, from three to seven, they dancing.

Seven, they come home, do homework, they're tired. And I enjoy it because I like watching them. Like, I'm the, there's not too many dads out there for some reason, but I'm the one that's, I know the routine and I'm spinning with them because if they enjoy it, I enjoy it. But it's, I feel like more people, more kids should get into it because it's a great art.

Yeah. It's a great art. And it gave me my foundation for everything. Discipline, being on time. Confidence. Even when I got a different world, I remember one of our scripties, she came up to me and she said, are you a dancer?

And I was just standing there. And I was like, yeah, like, what gave me away? Oscar? I was always on time. I was always there waiting for everybody else. I did not understand the way they did it. And all the breaks they take, I'm like, what are we breaking for? We ain't done nothing. Dancers are the mules of the business. If the actors are coming out every now and then, like when I did Fame,

we were in rehearsal or performing all day, 10 hours. Actors going to trailers and coming back. When we did School Days, you couldn't be in that movie if you couldn't dance, sing, and act, first of all, but that meant we all came from theater. We shot, we filmed, I mean we recorded the song I Want To Be Alone Tonight after we filmed that day and then they said okay now you're going to the studio and we went and we learned the song and did it and then we learned the choreography and performed it. Damn. But that's how we do. Especially in New York and especially in theater.

All my dancing friends can sing and act. All my acting friends can dance and sing. We had to be triple threats to continue to work. You think them divas from Dreamgirls, Loretta Devine, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Jennifer Lewis, you built for it, you know? So when we go out there, we're not even asked to work at our full potential.

You know what I mean? Your babies are gonna be like that too, in whatever they do, because that kind of training is like an athlete. I wanna talk about another training you probably got. Cause you know, you carry yourself with a certain sense of regalness, right? And when you look at Debbie Allen,

when you look at Felicia Rashad, they have that same regal energy. What did those two teach you? Oh my gosh, everything. I mean, Debbie was ahead of me. So every time people told me, well, you're mostly a dancer. We don't know about your acting.

Or you're a comic actress. We don't know about you doing drama. In my mind, I go, Debbie did. I just let them tell me what they thought I couldn't do. And it wasn't just that I knew I could. She's already done it. She just did it. She had two lines in the fame movie.

When you see her next, she's directing, choreographing the show. She's producing. You can't let other people tell you what you can do. You don't know. And the other mantra I always had, especially like when people were, certain choreographers,

you know, it's not a nice world, the dance world. So they're reading me or cussing me out, whatever, and I would say, you don't know you're not God All I in my mind so I wouldn't cry Cuz I was like don't you know, don't you stand up here and let him make you cry Cuz he's saying, you know, you think you're something you'll never be anything and I was like, you don't know you're not God Are you gonna proclaim my destiny? That's right.

You know, so you have to be able to talk to yourself and Debbie is the same way, Felicia's the same way. They have a sense of self. Because Debbie told me about how they rejected her at North Carolina School of the Arts because she didn't have a body for dance. Because she got a booty and whatever. And she said, and I took this booty

all the way to Broadway, darling. You know, okay, you don't want me in your school? Well, I'm gonna go to Howard. And then I'm gonna be on Broadway. And then, and then, and then. You can't let other people tell you what you are and what you're not yeah and I refuse that I refuse that on just a general level like there were little dancers in my class that were

great dancers but a little chunky or whatever and I heard how the teachers talked to them. You know, destroying them. How dare you? How dare you take your responsibility and do that to her? You don't know what she's gonna be. And you only gonna go with skinny, tall people? I just don't like that. If you're gonna teach kids an art form, don't add your bitter two cents to it

Because you didn't with your fat ass That's a not that's not politically correct. The political correct term is big back. No, it's not don't Do women say that or is that a male to a show them a whole? Discovered that same big yeah I'm not saying big bad. Big bad sounds better than fat ass. It sounds like a dude term. Yeah, a dude right there. Now they're really going to think I'm gay.

I'm like, oh that baby got big bad. It's not going to sound right coming from us. That's not a rumor I heard that you were gay. I didn't hear that before. Where did that start? It just comes up every now and then if they don't see me with a man, like when I was at an Oscar party at Georgia's, and I was dancing with Debbie. And all the famed dancers were there.

Like, you know, she keeps all her people. They got me, you know, photos of me and Debbie. And they talking about me in the hair salon. I knew it. I think they together. And Norm calls me. He loved it. I said, well, I'm single. I don't like that. He's like, yeah, that's some funny. I said, funny for you? Because you're like, yeah, I'm with Debbie and she's with Jasmine. Then it came up when I was at Ailey's. You know, I don't know what it is. I don't care, but it's just, I don't want to have to undo it. Yeah.

And then I, you know, in New York, it was, I got hit on and stuff and I was like, okay, but what made you think that I like girls? Because it wasn't bothering me. You know, I was just developing into my womanhood. It was by some studs. You got hit on by some studs. For what? Maybe it's the Timbaland you said.

Yeah, it was studs. I didn't have Timbalands then. I was at Cafe Waa and it was funk night and I would go there by myself sometimes. You can't always have somebody come with you know, so some sometimes I think it's cuz I'm alone and then I Had a you know, my best friend at Ailey's we were walking through the park and unbeknownst to us we were walking in the wooded gay area

would a gay area we were in a certain area or whatever. Because I don't know. And then when I got back to the school, they were like, you know, they're saying that you and so and so are. I was like, I don't even have a boyfriend. How can I have a girlfriend? Okay. Like, I can't even work, you know. Right. It doesn't bother me, but when I was younger it did because I was still developing.

And they was pulling up on you. I was developing as a young woman. Yeah. Yeah. Would you ever do a memoir? I mean, I mean, we know you got the uncensored coming out this weekend, but would you ever do a memoir? I would need, I would need some help, you know.

I would just need some help. I can't write it myself, by myself. Oh yeah, most people get help with their memoir. Cause I loved reading Jada Pinkett's book, Worthy, because like Envy was saying earlier, and you were saying it was such a privacy in the 90s so to get those stories from that era when she talks about you and Pac and just y'all friendship,

just that friendship of Black Hollywood, it's just like, man. I was like privileged enough to hang with them because they're so much younger than me, you know? And it was just easy. You know, her birthday party and we went to the Dragonfly, which was funk night that night. Oh, he was in that seat.

I like me some funk, obviously. I'm like, it's funk night at a Dragonfly. But, and you know, accepting of me, because, so I think, oh oh this Jada 50. I don't know let me look it up. Well I'm 62 so when I'm on the show I'm 25, 26, 27, they 18, 19. It's 52. Cree, yeah.

So now it's not a big deal but back then I wasn't hanging out with no, you know, I remember I went to a restaurant with Cree and as we were walking to the restaurant she said, do they card? I said card. I mean I had never been carded because 18, you know. I said how old are you? She said I just turned 18. I said what the hell am I doing hanging out with 18 year old?

Are you kidding me? Kadeem too. I saw them as kids. I liked grown ass men when I was young, 30, 32. So that was you know, it's like 18. Yeah. But now that they have embraced me, I appreciate it. Right. Because they kept me current and kept me interested because they. Jada and Cree are out the box thinkers, you know, they bring creative ideas to the table that I never

would have thought of. And I love that. And of course, you know, Cree keeps me laughing. What about Pac? Pac and I would like that too. He always had ideas. I felt so unaccomplished, you know, because he would say something and then do it. I would tell him an idea and not write it and not finish it or it's still like on my shelf. Mostly I wanted him to know that I felt he was a great actor. And I heard the murmurings of, oh, he's just being himself or whatever. They're just riding on his fame as a rapper. I said, everybody that raps ain't acting on there.

There were a lot of rappers that had movies. That man can act. I mean, his performances were after chain. And I just wanted him to know that and not listen to that. One time in Newsweek, they used to have little blurbs like Star of the Week or Celebrity of the Week, just a little blurb. And they said, and surprisingly, handsome rapper. I said, what the fuck is so surprising?

How insulting. He was fine as shit. It was. I didn't mean. He was fine as shit. Sorry girl, yes. Why is that surprising? He's supposed to be ugly,

cause he's a rapper. I found it racist. Then when I got to, when I won one of my image awards and I go to the press tent, there were two little white girls there and all they did was ask me about what I felt about Tupac getting an image award. Now meanwhile I have my award. It's my sixth one. And I'm not even prepared to, you know, how they like to bring up dirt when you had a bread carpet. And I was thinking, what are y'all doing here?

This is the end. This is our party, you know, and you're crashing our party and asking me to tell some dirt about somebody else here. So I wasn't in the most receiving way. They kept asking me if I thought he deserved an image award and I said, well, I don't know what the controversy is. Well, you know, because of Dolores Tucker and this, that, and other, and I didn't know. And I said, well, can you tell me which songs you're referring to?

At the time, I had only heard Dear Mama, Brenda Had a Baby, and Keep Your Head Up. I honestly didn't know what the controversy was about because these are all uplifting, female. Yeah. And she said, well, I don't know which song, I haven't heard the CD. I said, well, why don't you do your homework? And then come to me and asked me.

I was so mad. And in the back of the house, there were two brothers like this. They were from Jet and Ebony. Because I'm like, how dare you come to our party, insult our guest, and don't even know what the hell you talking about. But I'm supposed to know? They were on the radio, those three songs.

And they come in like they, well we deserve that, we deserve to be here. Oh my God, I was so glad. So the next day I was in the LA Times. I have my award up like this and my nostrils flared. And I don't know what they said but my publicist called me and she was like, you know, there are white actresses that don't get hired because their breasts are too big.

I was like, first of all, I don't have to run everything by you for me to speak. You know, if you wanted to be by my side, you should have been by there. But what was she going to do? Interrupt me? You disrespecting us, you disrespecting me. And they, and Nefanie saw that article and heard that I stood up for him. And she never forgot that. And I think that's part of why she was cool with him

staying with me. After you got shot. Yeah. Cause she didn't, based on what they knew about me and seeing me on the show, she didn't realize that I was like that. You know what I mean? And they are very much soldiers in that.

One of her friends said, oh, you a soldier now. And I was like, I'm sorry, are we at war? I didn't know what she meant by it. Were you afraid during that time? Like when you took Pac in after he got shot, did you feel like, what if they come looking for him and I'm here? Yeah, there were times because of the regularity

of my going in and out of my apartment. I felt like it would be easy if I had been on the radar for anybody to, you know, follow me or come up. And so there was that. And I didn't live in a secured building like a doorman building. And I was scared of the like I had never seen a real bullet wound just you know on TV like NYPD blue and when I played a badass in this movie but I was concerned about that you know actually caring for the wounds and

making sure he was gonna be okay so. So you had to nurse him back into being good. Yeah, he should have been in the hospital for at least two or three more days on antibiotics. I remember he just walked out. He signed himself out. So you had to help him out and help him eat and help him get himself back together. When he left Bellevue, he went to his girlfriends and he realized it was equally accessible. He just felt like a sitting duck in the hospital. But everybody knew he was at his girlfriends.

Nobody knew that we were friends. So him coming to my apartment was more like the diary of Anne Frank. Gotcha. I just put food under the bookcase. But yeah, it was on the down low. I didn't know what kind of publicity might have come from that, but it wasn't anything I was interested in publicizing, so I just shut the family down. I was like, did you tell anybody where you spent? Those you knew, you know, because I didn't do that

for that reason, it was a personal reason. That's right. And that was one of those moments where, you know, y'all don't get that. And they respected it all these years until the documentary. They've been wanting to I guess thank me but their love and I'm part of that family now has been enough. I don't need public. Thanks for what I did on a personal level

so interesting the documentary The documentary said, okay, Jasmine, you can talk about that part of it now. Because I really thought, well, just, you know, I'll go to my grave with certain things. Not because I'm ashamed, but I don't like the exploitation factor of things that you do in your personal life for your kids

or for people you love or whatever. What's your story? I mean, it's in the doc, Jada talked about it in her book. Yeah. This is all y'all story. She called me and tell me what is in the book. This is all I said, I didn't talk about this, I didn't talk about that.

And I really was calling her more for support because when I wrote a Fanny's book, I didn't know all the other stuff you have to do for a book. The preface, the book tours, you know, and I just wanted to make sure she was, and there was a kind of loneliness to her story to me. To a Fanny? No, Jada.

Jada, oh, okay, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, I can see that. There's a loneliness like the bigger and richer and you get more isolated. There's more things you can't do and you always have to, I don't know. So I just didn't want her to feel that loneliness. She could talk to me about whatever,

because that was some, it was a lot of personal information. Yeah. Like her age is way past mine. That's what I mean about the younger ones. They showed me that I don't have to be that old school about my privacy. That's good.

So you didn't say, you know, when Tupac stayed with you two bucks stay with you you saw that little piece like you ain't gonna Go in it like that. I didn't tell nobody Yeah, I've been when my family saw the Documentary my best friend said what I told two people and they both lived in New York Cuz why tell somebody? That can't get to me? Because I was worried that anything could happen. You know?

And those two of my friends that lived in New York, that was it. So all my other friends, I just, because two weeks isn't a long period for me not to call you. And I wasn't missed yet, you know? Maybe had it been a month. Right. Yeah. So now when that documentary came out, a lot of my friends were like,

Whoa, that's what you said for that two weeks. When did this happen? Where were you staying? How come I didn't know? Did his girlfriend at the time have a problem with that? I mean, cause that's Pac. I don't know. And Jay is my guy. have a problem with that? I mean, because that's Pac and Jay is my guy. So I, you know. I have no idea, child.

I wasn't doing anything. I don't care at all. He's 21. You know what I mean? I'm not like, your girlfriend gonna... And it was dire. It was, I mean, he was in trouble. Yeah.

And he was still open. Like, it wasn't healed yet, you know. So I wasn't thinking about that. They got back together, I think. They got back together. Yeah, I'm sure you talk about this on Uncensored, and this is my last question. Like, when was the last time you spoke to him?

Tupac? Ooh. Like before he died. Do you remember the last conversation y'all had? Or last time you saw him? I was visiting a Feinian stone mountain when they had a house there. And he came through.

Now this is after he had been in prison for 11 months. Okay. So I hadn't seen him for a while. Yeah, so I saw him at the house. That was the last time. You remember the conversation or you don't, that's personal? It was just like, hey, you know, and he was just like,

I'm strong now because he was, you know, infirmed. So he wanted me to see his, you know, little prison pushup muscles. You know what I mean? Knuckles were all black from doing it on, you know, he wanted, I was like, yeah, you look good. And then he went out with his friends and, you know, I hung out with the Feining. The thing that really hurt my feelings about him getting shot like that, when he was with me, I thought I was

shot like that. When he was with me I thought I was helping him go to the next part of his life. Like grow above. I was like you gonna get you gonna go to prison and then get shot again? And I knew that second shooting wasn't, the wounds he had the first time were in his appendages, not in his lungs. I was so disappointed. Yeah. You lived in them. And he told me he was gonna, he wasn't gonna make it past 25. I always thought he was just talking shit all the time. That's legend.

Put that in the book. I was like, nigga, I'm not writing a book about you. Stop telling me that! I'm never telling anybody anything about this experience. You need to, you know, blend in the bathtub, like you need to put this in the book. What am I, you're fucking, now I'm your chronicleer. Yeah. And he kept telling me he was like 21 and I really didn't understand that world. He knew I wasn't from it. I thought it was ridiculous for him to say he wasn't going to live past 25. I treated him like I treated my little cousins that make these statements about life.

Yeah. So that hurt. I can't wait people to hear your story. You lived a life, Miss Guy. Y'all gotta watch it on Censored this Sunday. March 24th, 109 Central TV One. They're gonna make me, I'm gonna take my lashes off cause I'm going to the airport.

No, they're going. I'm gonna put them on eBay. They still on cause going with lashes airport. No leave them here. I'm gonna put them on eBay. Are they still on? If you take them off I'm gonna put them on eBay. No. I got, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. Always a pleasure when you come, Ms. Guy. We love you so much. Thank you for having me back. You are a cultural icon. We appreciate you so much.

We value you. Just thank you always. Thank you. It's Jasmine Guy. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning.