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‘I feel joy and pride’: Tracee Ellis Ross on success, self-acceptance and her superstar mother

Whether it’s sharing a platfom with Oprah or sending herself up on Instagram, the actor and activist always keeps it real “She’s not surviving too well. I’ve just had to have a conversation with her and told her, ‘I’m soooo sorry.’” Tracee Ellis Ross is sitting across from me, via a screen, lamenting the dire state of her shrub. “I talk to my plants all the time,” she chuckles. This warm, full-throated sound, something of a trademark, will pepper much of our conversation. Ellis Ross’s hair is slicked into a dancer’s bun, her signature bright lips, which pop against the white of her blouse and deep green walls, mimic the hue of the fuchsia peonies blooming on her side table. “Flowers are magical to me,” she says. “I always have to have them in the house.” She has just returned home to sunny LA after a stint in Vancouver, shooting an indie film. Most people became familiar with Ellis Ross as Dr Rainbow “Bow” Johnson, the matriarch in Black-ish, the multi-award-winning sitcom about an upper-class Black family trying to retain their cultural identity while navigating white spaces. Famed for deftly weaving laughter between nuanced conversations around everything from the use of the N-word to police brutality against Black people in America, Black-ish is widely celebrated as a cultural touchstone. It has featured cameos from Michelle Obama and Zendaya, and ended its run in April. While Ellis Ross admits to shedding tears “a lot”, she’s not solemn about Black-ish wrapping. Rather, she says, “I feel so much joy and pride. You know, it’s the second eight-year-long show that I’ve been a part of and to be able to say a proper goodbye and let something end with the value and the reverence that it deserves felt really special”. Continue reading...

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