Not often do we get to see celebrities grow, mature, and blossom right before our eyes. But, some celebs became stars at a young age and we’ve been able to watch them become even bigger successes. Here are 14 black childhood stars then and now!

In part two of our interview with the very delightful Cherie Johnson, the actress and film producer talks about her experience on Punky Brewster, why she played a character with the same exact name on that show, and clears up the rumors about her Playboy ambitions.

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• Where You Been Cherie Johnson?
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• What’s Black Enough For You?

Here at Madame Noire, we often wonder about the stars of our childhood days like Brenda Jenkins’ boyfriend on 227 or Laura Winslow from Family Matters. What happens to them after the spotlight fades? Can they work a normal job after that? How do they support themselves? Oh, the questions! In any case, in our new series “Where You Been” we track down some of our favorite stars of back in the day to see what’s up with them.

In this installment, we interview Punky Brewster’s sidekick Cherie Johnson, who also played Laura Winslow’s BFF on Family Matters. Surprisingly, Johnson is still working in Hollywood albeit behind the scenes as a producer. Watch and hear how she took the experience of a real life cheating boyfriend and made it into a movie in part one of our interview.

More on Madame Noire!

• What’s Black Enough For You?
• Grieving Over a Girlfriend: 7 Ways to Move on After a Break-up…Between Friends
• Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind the Making of “Poetic Justice”
• Am I The Problem? Finding Accountability Within
• Don’t Look Back: Are You Spending Too Much Time Obsessing Over Your Past?
• Where Are They Now? 10 Black Actresses Who Should Have Blown Up Big…
• What About Ciara? Knicks Star Amar’e Stoudemire Proposes To Mother of His Children