For the past few weeks, photos of “House of Payne” star, Keshia Knight Pulliam in a swimsuit, perfecting her diving skills surfaced on the web. As opposed to celebrating and cheering on the former Cosby Show star as she geared up to participate in ABC’s upcoming reality competition, Splash, many rushed to criticize the appearance of the child star turned Hollywood beauty’s body. During a recent interview with Wendy Williams, Keisha dished on her initial reaction to the photos and why her participation in the competition is so important for Black girls. Take a peek below at what she had to say.
On the “unflattering” photos:
“I know what pictures you’re talking about and as a woman, no matter what, even if you don’t look like that, I was mortified for a moment. You know when you just fall out in your closet and I’m like ‘Ughhhhh.’ But, I realized that I could either be defeated by it or inspired by it. At the end of the day, I’m not the first woman or the last woman to have a picture that’s unflattering taken of them.”
“I wasn’t there, so I’m not going to say, but I believe they may have done something a little extra to them [the photos]. I had that moment, women, you know how we do, straight nude, out of the shower I looked in the mirror. I posed and was like ‘Yeah, I don’t look like that. I’m good.’
On her new show, Splash:
“You know, it’s really crazy. The opportunity was presented to me and of course, my team at first was like, ‘Oh, absolutely not.’ But I was like, you know, I really love swimming. Then, I did my research; I’m such a Google-girl. I looked and I realized that there were absolutely no African-American women who had competed or medaled in diving in the Olympics or on any high level. So I have my non-profit and it’s all about girls and inspiration and dream big, think big, accomplish big. And I was like you know what, this is the perfect opportunity to inspire others. At the end of the day, what I’ve learned from working with girls is that they don’t know to dream it or strive to be it if they don’t know it exists.”
Way to go Rudy!
Turn the page to watch Keshia’s full interview. What do you think of the manner in which some people reacted to her photos?
