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While recently speaking with Madame Noire, multi-hyphenate Christina Milan shared details with us on how her life as a working mom has made her current pregnancy particularly more busy than the ones of her daughter and son. Later, she also discussed how the pregnancy was a major factor as she took on the role of Collette Jones — formerly played by the late Naya Rivera — in Starz’s ‘Step Up: High Water.’ According to the actress (who was around three weeks from her scheduled due date at the time of our interview), the role has been one of her most challenging to date.
Madame Noire: Your excitement about welcoming the new baby is infectious — how’s this pregnancy treated you in comparison to your others?
Christina Milian: This pregnancy I’ve been busy for sure. I’ve been shooting a series, I was in a movie — I’ve also got a one-year-old now and my eleven-year-old who’s been having to do Zoom for school during the pandemic. It’s been a lot with work and at home but it’s been an awesome challenge so it’s been a lot of fun too.
This pregnancy right now — the new baby is so active. They’re the most active that I’ve ever experienced out of any of the babies so working, filming, and doing the stuff that I’m doing right now while having a baby going ‘Boom, boom, boom, bump bump’ is actually a lot of fun because I feel a connection and it lets me know what to expect hopefully.
I feel like this baby knows all the stuff that I’m doing right now. This is going to be the ultimate like ‘Okay, no lazy kids because when you were in there I was keeping you busy [laughs].'”
Relatedly, how was it acting in Starz’s Step Up: High Water during your pregnancy? How’d it go taking on the role of Collette?
Well first off, it was probably one of the hardest roles I’ve ever played in my life. Not only because of my pregnancy but also because we had to condense filming 10 episodes into two months. Also, just the role itself — it’s a roller-coaster role. They really played up the drama and everything in this series for Starz, including the dance. I set myself up to really give my all and I’m happy that I did. I’m excited about it — the show is going to be so good! I don’t know if it’s just because I’m biased since I’m on it now, but it’s better than I even imagined from scripts one to ten. Just reading them and being like ‘What?! This happened next? What?! What?!!’ Like I would watch the show before and — it’s just really that good. The acting is great, the other actors were great, and the dancers too. I’m in awe of what I was able to accomplish, what they wrote, and what they created. I wanted to give my very best. I had a lot of fun doing it, it was really awesome.
