*Tyler Perry’s Sistas spinoff Zatima starring Devale Ellis and Crystal Renee Hayslett begins streaming tonight (10/06/22) on BET Plus.
Devale and Crystal chat with iHeartRadio personality and EURWeb Spotlight host Jazmyn Summers, on their sizzling hot chemistry, their real love lives, working with Tyler and more
HOW REAL IS THAT SIZZLING HOT ON-SCREEN CHEMISTRY BETWEEN YOU?
Devale: I would say it’s real because we’re really friends. We talk on the phone probably three or four times a day. She’s my youngest son’s godmother. It’s easy to go to work and build something that’s already there. I legitimately love Crystal as a person.. So what you see is real because we love what we do and we love each other.
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YOU’RE BOTH GORGEOUS AND THERE ARE SOME STEAMY LOVE SCENES. HOW DO YOU STOP THAT CHEMISTRY FROM BECOMING REAL?
Devale: It’s called discipline. There are beautiful women everywhere. I haven’t had a costar yet that’s not beautiful. But I love being married and I love monogamy. So it’s easy for me.
IN THE EPISODES STREAMING NOW FATIMA’S BEST FRIEND BELINDA TRYS TO GET AT ZAC AND FATIMA PULLS A GUN AND SHOOTS AT HER. WASSUP WITH THAT?
Crystal: Belinda is stirring things up in the household for sure. And she’s trying me and my man, and I don’t like it So I do pull a gun out of my purse and shoot it at her and I say if I wanted to kill her she’d be dead. That was a warning shot. But stay tune to see what happens next.
ZAC SEEMS TO HAVE A WHOLE LOTTA FEMALES COMING OUT FROM THE PAST INCLUDING A STRIPPER THAT SAYS SHE IS HIS BABY MAMA.
Crystal: It’s crazy because Atlanta is so small, like in real life too Zac has a long list . We’re still trying to figure that number out. How many, Zac?
Devale: Five. That’s the number. The fifth.
FANS LOVE THE BOND BETWEEN ZAC AND FATIMA BUT YOU, DEVALE, ARE AN INSPIRATION IN REAL LIFE AND YOU’VE WRITTEN A BOOK ABOUT YOUR MARRIAGE. TELL US ABOUT IT.
Devale: the name of the book is We Over Me: The counterintuitive Approach to Getting the Relationship You Want with the One You Love. Its a collection of trials and tribulations we’ve gone through since being 18 years old up until now. We’ve been together 20 years. It’s saying how we created the love that we wanted. We learned that having empathy and looking to serve each other is the only way you can find the relationship you want. So it really tears down all of the societal norms they try to create about being the ideal couple. Because we don’t feel we are the ideal couple. We feel like we’re perfect in our imperfections.
CRYSTAL ARE YOU BOOED UP OR SINGLE?
Crystal: Free and single here to mingle.
IS IT CHALLENGING DATING NOW THAT YOU’RE A STAR? HOW DO YOU SEPARATE THE CLOUT CHASERS FROM THE REAL ONES?
Crystal: You know what, I have to thank God for my level of discernment. It may take me a minute to listen to it, but when I have that feeling, I can kind of tell when people are around for the wrong reasons. And you have to get rid of them very quick, especially with everything that I have going on. I, I don’t have the energy and space to allow that to come in. But it is hard. It’s very hard.
Devale: I am her level of discernment.
SO DEVALE IS LIKE YOUR BIG BROTHER CHECKING OUT YOUR POSSIBLE BOYFRIENDS? DOES HE HAVE TO APPROVE THEM?
Devale: That’s who I am for Crystal, her brother and her father When she’s dating, we are dating. She is just a great person and her heart is so huge. I told her I don’t need you coming to the studio pissed off because somebody just messed up. They messing up the bag now. Okay. So we gonna go into this date together. I meet her guys that she’s dating and I’m in there like mm-hmm yes or no. I wanna know because if they disrupt her peace then they disrupt our peace.
HOW IS WORKING WITH TYLER?
Devale: You don’t get too many opportunities in life to work opposite a creative genius who is also a fiscal genius. Cause the man is a billionaire, right?. But he’s also just worth a billion dollars to sit here and see how his mind works. And when I tell you, watching him work is brilliant. He sits back on the monitor. There’s four different screens going. He’s editing while he’s filming. He knows every single detail, costume, set deck. He knows everything. And on top of that, he’s managing and writing. That’s why he’s a multi-billionaire.
CRYSTAL, YOU WENT FROM BEING A STYLIST FOR TYLER TO GETTING A SMALL PART ON SISTAS AND THEN YOU JUST BLEW UP HOW HAS THIS CHANGED YOUR LIVES?
Crystal: Oh my goodness. Tyler changed my life when I started working at the studio and being a part of that art was already life-changing. But when I started working for him personally, my life completely changed. Styling is such an intimate job and being around someone as brilliant as Tyler, as Deval spoke, I’m telling you the conversations that I’ve heard, the tables that I sat at with him, watching him day to day, how he handles business, how he treats people, how he takes care of people, has all rubbed off on me. And I’m super grateful to have had those years of really being able to study under him and learn so much so that now that I’m in this position, I’m able to handle it with Grace., I’m able to know what to do with it and how to honor it.
CAN YOU GO OUT AND EAT IN PEACE?
Crystal: Not anymore. It’s to the point where I do order in a lot. When I do go out some people are really respectful. They allow you to enjoy your time with your friends and family and not really bother you. But then there’s other people that’ll come right to the table while you be trying to eat and they ready to fight if you don’t give them that attention, And I’m not perfect all the time. I’m not ready to take a picture every time. But the one thing I will say is we’re nothing without our fans. So I’m always gonna make the time to do that. But a lot of times in my mind I’m like, Ooh, I look crazy right now. So now you have to even be mindful of how you walk outta that house.
Devale: To be honest though, it is different between men and women. There is a different beauty standard that women are supposed to be all the time, which is kind of not fair. Like, I get to go out with my flip flops on and my sweats and take pictures and no one will say anything. But if Crystal is out and she’s not picture perfect, you’ll see comments like, ‘Oh, why she look like that?’ , Hey, she went to do laundry. Like what you expected her to have glam doing laundry. One thing I will say about Crystal is it doesn’t matter who it is, if they’re a fan, Crystal will take a picture.. You know how many times Crystal has FaceTimed me and been like, Hey, there’s a fan here. Said they love us. That’s how who she is. She has a big heart
I’M SURE YOU’RE RECOGNIZED ALMOST EVERYWHERE NOW. HOW IS THAT?
it’s different when you have that international craze because Tyler Perry’s an international superstar. When you’re on his show, I’ll give you a quick story. We went to Aruba. We’re in Aruba, we’re driving around THE small island, Aruba., We get out and people start running. Oh my God, its Zac. Its Zac.
People crowd around and take pictures of me and my kids. It was a little scary. But I’m of the people, I love the people. The fact that they’re that excited about me, I feel like that’s a gift from God. So I take it in stride. I took pictures with everybody and I tell people all the time, If you see me out in the streets, say, wassup.
You can catch the full conversation and hear more about the show, their love and dating in the video at the top.
Interview/article by Jazmyn Summers. Follow her @jaztalk1 on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. And please don’t forget to subscribe to Jazmyn Summers’ YouTube.
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