Tracee Ellis Ross has truly paved her own way. So much so, that it’s sometimes easy to forget that she’s the daughter of iconic singer Diana Ross. During a recent Q&A with the New York Times, the “black-ish” actress opened up about life in the Ross household, why she refuses to adapt to Hollywood and her signature ‘fro. Check out some highlights from her interview below.
On how and why “black-ish” scenes are scheduled around her hair:
“I play a doctor, so my hair has to be back when I’m in scrubs. I wouldn’t be at the hospital with my natural big hair out, so I usually have a bun. They try to schedule a lot of those scenes in the same day, so we don’t have to go from having my hair out to having it in. You can’t go from a bun to out and expect to look gorgeous.”
On her reference for natural hair growing up:
“For me, it was my mom, first and foremost. She is always saying to me, ‘The bigger the better.’”
On how women respond to her natural hair:
“Women are asked to put forward, to a certain extent, a mask. And for black women, that has taken on greater significance, because the standard of beauty has not necessarily had the space for different definitions of beauty. I’m trying to find my own version of what makes me feel beautiful.”
On growing up close to Hollywood and why she doesn’t try to adapt:
“I don’t know. I just really strongly promote pushing against this culture of perfection. I mean, I’m sorry, for me, Spanx don’t feel good. I’ve tried one of those waist-trainer things on — that hurt like the bejesus. I could barely get it closed, and I bought the size bigger than they said I should buy. I mean, this [expletive] hurt. I couldn’t wear it for longer than 10 minutes. People are sleeping in them!”
On being raised by Diana Ross:
“Well, my mom was very glamorous, but that was her work world. Our home was filled with beautiful things. My mom had beautiful clothes; my mom is elegant; my mom is glamorous. But my mom is also really real, and I grew up with a mother who had babies crawling on her head and spitting up on her when she was wearing gorgeous, expensive things, and it was never an issue.”
Read Tracee’s full interview here.
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