*She has a sexy young lover but is battling breast cancer and trying to keep her son strong through it all. That’s the story line for Jada, played by the incredible Yolonda Ross in Lena Waithe’s Showtime series, “The Chi.”
The actress also rocked out as Whitney Houston’s alleged lover, Robyn Crawford, in the Lifetime movie “Whitney.”
Ross sits down for an exclusive conversation with Radio and TV personality Jazmyn Summers, and EUR Spotlight, to talk about the challenges of that role.
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“I love this season as an actor. It’s something to really sink your teeth in. How many times do you see Black women going through this (dealing with cancer)? You see the pain and the vulnerability. Black women being tired of being strong all the time. Its just real talk. I appreciate being able to bring these women to life, ” she tells EURweb Spotlight.
Her relationship with her son Emmett, played by Jacob Latimore, is a central part of the story line.
“I know so many single Black women with these relationships with their sons. He’s trying to take care of her. She’s trying to take care of him. They sometimes seem like sister and brother, sometimes husband and wife and sometimes mother and son. They are everything to each other.”
Yolonda tells Spotlight she met a lot of sisters who were fighting cancer or were survivors to prepare.
“They are there for each other but how we get treated. The disparities are for real. The difference between what we get vs what white women get is for real.”
And she says hair is a big issue: “They don’t have hair for Black women in the hospital boutiques and you are fragile and vulnerable.” However, Ross admits there are some emerging companies now that focus on Black women’s hair, but “not enough.”
Yolonda Ross shares more about “The Chi” and spills a little tea on the upcoming episodes. Check it out by watching the video, up top.
Interview/article by Jazmyn Summers. Follow her @jaztalk1 on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. And subscribe to her YouTube channel. Video editing by www.patrickhousefilms.com
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