Gabourey Sidibe and Kelly Ripa Stumble Over Afros, Normal Hair, and Being Americanized

Yesterday, Gabourey Sidibe stopped by “Live with Kelly!” to talk about her role on Showtime’s “The Big C” and there was an interesting exchange between Gaby and the host, Kelly Ripa.

Overall, the interview went really well. Gaby showed off her fun personality which completely conflicted with reports about her having a mean, diva-like attitude—especially considering she entered the set doing the running man.

Later into the interview, Kelly asked about the upcoming season of “The Big C” and mentioned that Gabourey’s character Andrea will be returning to her roots after a trip to Africa. Kelly says she loves African-inspired clothing and wonders if Gabourey feels the same, to which she responded, not so much. She told her:

“I’m actually African, I’m Senegalese, and so I’m over it.” She also added that she she hasn’t worn “stuff like that” since she was like 11.

“I’m very Americanized and I hated the afro.”

Kelly tried to follow up that statement with a question on how long it took Gabourey to kill the afro her character had to wear and change her hairstyle, but it just turned into a jumbled how long-afro-normal-hair-regular-get back to-mess once she realized her use of the words normal and regular probably didn’t come out right. (good catch Kelly)

Gabourey said it only took about 10 hours from the time she landed back home from Puerto Rico where they were shooting to have the fake afro removed and the silky weave she was wearing sewed in, and she seemed quite proud of it. Overall, the convo wasn’t a big deal, but I thought her disassociation with dashikis and the “African style” of dress and hair Kelly is fond of was sort of interesting in a way.

Check out her segment from the show here. What do you think about the interview?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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