Source: WENN

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?

Source: BBB News

Source: tvspielfilm.de

Set in 1950′s segregated Alabama, Polly was the all black remake of the original Pollyanna. With the Cosby connection and Debbie Allen directing, people were anxious to see it. You know the story, you’ve watched the VHS over and over again but we bet you don’t know these behind the scenes secrets.

s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

They are celebrating over at HBCU Spelman College. Former Cosby kid Keshia Knight Pulliam hosted a major fundraiser at SAKS in Atlanta, reports The Young Black & Fabulous, and raised $1 million for her alma mater. The money will benefit Spelman students who aren’t able to graduate due to financial hardship. 

While African Americans give to charity more than whites, HBCUs are suffering in part because alumni do not give gifts to their schools. “One of the toughest problems HBCUs face is getting alumni to give back,” reports NewsOne. “Several studies report alumni giving at HBCUs to be in the single digits.” 

Marybeth Gasman and  Sibby Anderson-Thompkinseven penned a book, Fundraising from Black-College Alumni: Successful Strategies for Supporting Alma Mater, about how HBCUs can get black alumni to give back. The two theorize that HBCUs can’t use the traditional fundraising methods of other universities. They need to think out of the box when approaching alumni during fundraising efforts. According to the article, “Graduates often cite being treated poorly by a rude employee in the bursar’s office or some other administrative office as one of the main reasons they don’t give back.”

Empower magazine reports that some HBCUs, like Tennessee State University, has an average alumni giving rate of three percent. The national average is 20 percent. (A few like Alabama A&M has a rate of 50 percent.)

“African Americans prefer to give to concrete causes, want to be thanked and need to understand where their donations are going,” Gasman tells the magazine.

There have been some major gifts, such as Bill and Camille Cosby’s $20 million donation to Spelman back in 1987, which was and still is the largest gift to the  institution. But in order for financially-strapped HBCUs to survive, its successful alumni must give back.

Pulliam, who also starred in Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, graduated with a B.A. in sociology and a concentration in film in 2001.

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!

Look at your beautiful people!

All decked out, faces beat (in the good way) and hair just whipped! I love it! Especially since we don’t get to see a lot of young, talented black actors and actresses on the cover of mainstream magazines anymore (I’m just saying…). Picked as the “Fearless Class of 2011″ and looked at as the sexiest talent on TV, actors like Keisha Knight Pulliam, Hosea Sanchez (The Game), luscious Lance Gross, Tatyana Ali, Annie Ilonzeh (of the now defunct reboot of Charlie’s Angels), Coby Bell (The Game), Joyful Drake (Let’s Stay Together) and Christian Keyes (Let’s Stay Together) all gathered together looking pretty classy and cool for the cover. This issue also happens to mark the small magazine’s second anniversary. Loving the fashion and the fierce-ness they are giving me, but I’m also very impressed with the magazine’s recognition of these individuals’ talents. Kudos to you Fearless!

Be sure to check out behind-the-scenes video below from the shoot. Happy anniversary Fearless!

Are you loving the cover? Which young Hollywood star would you like to see get some more recognition like this?

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