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Condola is not a common name. But thanks to “Insecure,” it’s one that’s being uttered quite a bit these days.
If you’ve watched this season, you know that Issa’s business associate and Lawrence’s now-ex girlfriend bears the name. And when people aren’t calling her “Condolences,” in jest, it’s being used a lot.
Earlier this month, Issa shared that the name was inspired by Condola Rashad, actress, musician and the daughter to both Phylicia and Ahmad Rashad.
“Prentice was sharing a story about how when he was younger and he was kind of dating with intention, it was all about how to find his Claire Huxtable, because, you know, he’s old as f–k. So it was just like, ‘Oh, I’m trying to find my Claire Huxtable; that’s what I’m looking for in a woman.’ And so we started thinking about Lawrence as he starts to date with intention…and who would he be looking for?” Rae continued. “So I think the natural thought process was, ‘Phylicia Rashad, someone his age…he’d would be looking for his ‘Condola Rashad.’”
During a recent interview with ESSENCE , the real Condola shared how she felt about being the inspiration for this character.
“I was really moved by that. I thought that was so cool. I kind of had a fangirl geek-out moment.
Condola shared the significance of the name in her family.
“It’s my paternal grandmother’s name.” Condonla, who currently stars on the show “Billions” said that as a child she went by her middle name Phylea. She didn’t embrace her first name until she was a college student and realized that she would be interested in following in her mother’s career footsteps. “As a professional artist, I knew that [my middle name] was going to be very close to Phylicia; it was gon’ be a little too confusing. So I said now is the perfect time.”
I just so happened to stumble upon this vintage interview clip of her mother and herself, in which she was called Phylea. You can tell already that she had no problem being in front of the camera.
