*Wayne Brady, the multi-hyphenated talent and game show host, is opening up his personal life for a new reality show, “Wayne Brady: The Family Remix!“
The series dives into the details behind his blended family, including his ex-wife and business partner Mandie Taketa, their 20-year-old daughter Maile Brady, and Taketa’s partner Jason Fordham – who also happens to be Wayne’s former dancer.
EUR talked with Brady and his family about his decision to open his life to reality TV cameras following his recent revelation that he is Pansexual, his fears about the Black community’s reaction, and more.
Brady and Taketa serve as executive producers on the project.
“It’s quite simple. Folks have seen our family for a while. We got so much love during the pandemic that we got a couple of scripted offers to turn our family story into a sitcom,” said Brady when asked about doing reality television. “And we had three different scripts. And those scripts never were as real, as funny, as poignant, and as us. So we finally said, ‘you know what, let’s show folks the real.’ Mandie, our production company, and I saw an opportunity to bring faces to the screen in a family like this that you ordinarily don’t see. We wanted to share our life and bring a little diversity to the reality space that didn’t feel like we’d seen it before.”
Taketa shared they had concerns about public exposure.
“We’re scared, but in a very natural way because we don’t know how people will react,” she said. “But we felt it was really important for people who look like us to have these conversations transparently because that’s healing. So we did that for ourselves.”
Maile echoed these sentiments, highlighting the challenge of bringing private family matters into a public forum.
“It’s super scary. I was raised not to argue in front of other people. So bringing that to a space where we have to work things out with people-watching is bizarre. It was vulnerable and counterintuitive to a lot of families of color who are taught to hold themselves in public spaces.”
Brady opened up about facing fears regarding the potential impact on his career and family.
“The fear comes from being Black and identifying as anything other than mainstream. We have a lot of people who are homophobic and not accepting of anything different. Just like Black people still face bigotry. There’s fear because it affects the bottom line of any person in the arts. At a certain point, you have to step out on trust.”
Brady said there were a range of reactions from the Black community, “there are so many people showing love, and then there are people who say super ignorant things. At first, I got mad, but you can’t fix ignorance. If you choose to be ignorant, I can’t fix you. Sharing our story is enough. Those who want to understand will.”
Fordham, a relatively new addition to the family, shared his initial thoughts too.
“I was hoping the scripted stuff would work out because then someone could just play me, and I wouldn’t have to be on camera. But as Wayne said, no one better represents our voices than we do. Sharing it was about leaning into the solution. This is one way a family can work, and celebrating and extending that was a joy.”
“Wayne Brady: The Family Remix” premieres July 24 at 10 p.m. ET on Freeform and the next day on Hulu.
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Jill Munroe is a Los Angeles-bred entertainment journalist, producer, and host. You can follow her on all social media @StilettoJill or check out JillMunroe.com.
