Tracie Ellis Talks About Her Mom, and a funny story about Michael Jackson

[milven]

Tracie has a natural flair for comedy. A script does not have to be written for her in order for her to be funny. She told some interesting stories on JIMMY KIMMEL. The audience seemed to love her and they were disappointed when Jimmy said that they ran out of time for the all too short interview.



By Jason Hughes on November 20, 2014
Despite her mother attempting to keep things normal, she recalls trips to the White House and getting painted by Andy Warhol

Tracee Ellis Ross is a burgeoning television star thanks to the success of ABC's “black-ish,” but the world of stardom is nothing new for her. During her appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Wednesday night, Ross talked about growing up as the daughter of Diana Ross.

While her mother tried to keep things normal by minimizing the impact of her career from her kids, there were elements of Tracee Ellis Ross‘ childhood that could not be considered normal by any means. The children of stars, they're definitely not like us.

“All those kinds of things that were really important to her about creating the reality of our life,” she said about her mother's attempts at fostering a sense of normalcy. “But I also was painted by Andy Warhol, I've been to the White House numerous times.”

She even shared her mother's friendship with Michael Jackson, sharing a story of the time she tried to get him to back her side in an argument with one of her friends. When she asked him what he said during the scat portion of “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,'” Jackson replied, “I don't know. What do you think I'm saying?”


http://www.thewrap.com/black-ish-sta...-normal-video/

[no_place_like_motown]

Great interview but too short!

The Michael Jackson story was hilarious. I always thought that Michael copied that "mamakomamasa, etc..." from Manu DiBango's "Soul Makossa" which was a huge hit in 1973. Have a listen:

[milven]

I always thought that he borrowed it from Manu too, but I like Tracy's interpretation more

[midnightman]

Lol well MJ could've been joking for all we know haha.

[sansradio]

Brilliant! Every time I see Tracee, I love her more and more. She came to my former job some years back; she kinda gave me goo-goo eyes; I melted and made a complete ass of myself! LOL!!!!

[marybrewster]

I saw this clip earlier today and was completly charmed.

[theboyfromxtown]

I was charmed too. Here's another interview and Tracee tells a real funny story about 30 minutes in.

[Bokiluis]

Tracee is so endearing. "Black-ish" is as good as "Girlfriends" and it's great that she had 3 successful series [[though she left the BET series after a single season...but it was renewed before she resigned to do a series with ABC). She and Anthony Anderson are quite funny.

[vgalindo]

Love Tracee. She is so talented. She gives the best interviews. I love to hear her talk.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Tracee is cool! Thanks for sharing the video, milven.

[jobeterob]

Tracee Ellis Ross finds parallels between 'black-ish' and her life

November 30, 2014 12:00 pm • BRUCE R. MILLER bmiller@siouxcityjournal.com

LOS ANGELES | Before she was cast in “black-ish,” Tracee Ellis Ross was more than familiar with the concept.

Growing up with a white father [[businessman Robert Ellis Silberstein) and a black mother [[superstar Diana Ross), she knew she was different but “it wasn’t a negative thing. It was really an extraordinary experience, mostly because it made me very comfortable with difference. My immediate impulse with people was to look for what was the same and not what was different.”



In the new ABC comedy, Ross and Anthony Anderson play parents who want to give their children a bit of the black experience. Unfortunately, their children have become part of a difficult culture.

“Whenever you give your kids a lot, something is always lost,” says Executive Producer Larry Wilmore. “We have so many people from so many different groups, immigrant groups and different ethnic identities who can relate to this where their kids assimilate and something is lost in their own culture.”

Ross says her parents were very open-minded and “had a very positive experience with both cultures.”

As a result, that openness “created a connection with people instead of a distance.”

The disconnect? That came from the her mother’s celebrity. “For me, she was a mother first. She surpasses all of that superstar icon thing as a mother. But as I got older, I did see that side and I realized, ‘Holy, moly, you must do something important.’”

Although she works in the same business as Grammy-winning singer, Ross says she has been able to have an independent career. Roles in “Girlfriends” and “Reed Between the Lines” helped her establish a separate identity.

“Black-ish,” she says, is just a natural progression in her career. “The kids are fantastic and I kind of naturally lean into that mother role anyway. I’m a very mothering person – I have younger brothers.”

She also has a way with one-liners that help her meet Anderson head-on.

“One of the things that drew me to this role is the fact that the comedy between the couple does not come from them hating each other, which is so often what happens on television,” Ross says. “This is a couple that actually loves, respects and appreciates each other even when they’re being crazy, annoying or nuts.”

While Anderson’s headstrong dad wants to bring culture into the home, he knows his wife isn’t as driven. Like Ross, the wife – named Rainbow – is of mixed heritage. That resonated.

“As a mixed girl, you’re constantly asked, ‘Are you black? Are you white?’ And I was always, like, ‘Why do I have to be either?’

“It’s a conversation that everyone is already having,” the 42-year-old Ross says. “I identify as a black woman but it’s really fun for me to, for the first time, play a mixed person on television.”

Additionally, she says, the series features three generations in one households. “You get to see these issues run through all these different people and how it affects the way you raise and family and the way you live in the world.”

[stephanie]

I really think the reason the Ross children didnt get mixed up into weird things like drugs and all of that was they had their grandmother there with them. Im not saying the nanny didnt help to raise them but as all of the fans know after a concert Diana was there. Her children are confident and dont act like some siblings in show business they seem to be real. Also they seem to identify well with those who are not on their level whether it be economic or in terms of education. I constantly hear Tracy say they were lucky for the kind of education they got. Ross did a good job raising her children and Tracy and the rest of the siblings are a testament to that. IMO Tracee will always be associated with Girlfriends but it looks like she is on the way to becoming associated with a lot more. I didnt care for Reid Between the Lines the script sucked but Tracee and Malcolm Jamal Warner did the best they could.

[marv2]

I really think the reason the Ross children didnt get mixed up into weird things like drugs and all of that was they had their grandmother there with them. Im not saying the nanny didnt help to raise them but as all of the fans know after a concert Diana was there. Her children are confident and dont act like some siblings in show business they seem to be real. Also they seem to identify well with those who are not on their level whether it be economic or in terms of education. I constantly hear Tracy say they were lucky for the kind of education they got. Ross did a good job raising her children and Tracy and the rest of the siblings are a testament to that. IMO Tracee will always be associated with Girlfriends but it looks like she is on the way to becoming associated with a lot more. I didnt care for Reid Between the Lines the script sucked but Tracee and Malcolm Jamal Warner did the best they could.

Wait! waaaaiiittt!!! Steph! Not so fast! Diane's boys are very familiar with drugs and other vices. We've known this for sometime but unless you have pictures you dare not mention something like that here! LOL! Well here are some pictures.......


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...e-Simpson.html

[Lulu]

Wait! waaaaiiittt!!! Steph! Not so fast! Diane's boys are very familiar with drugs and other vices. We've known this for sometime but unless you have pictures you dare not mention something like that here! LOL! Well here are some pictures.......



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...e-Simpson.html

Once again, DETROITLIVES313 butts his nasty nose in a thread where he doesn't belong...

[jobeterob]

[supremester]

Not too many folks under 80 consider pot a "drug" any more than they do alcohol, but what "other vices" are they very familiar with? They seem to all be doing well enough with these vices as all are healthy, happy, self supporting and not on food stamps, welfare or incarcerated. Not bad for 5 kids with a show biz mama.

Wait! waaaaiiittt!!! Steph! Not so fast! Diane's boys are very familiar with drugs and other vices. We've known this for sometime but unless you have pictures you dare not mention something like that here! LOL! Well here are some pictures.......


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...e-Simpson.html

[marv2]

Not too many folks under 80 consider pot a "drug" any more than they do alcohol, but what "other vices" are they very familiar with? They seem to all be doing well enough with these vices as all are healthy, happy, self supporting and not on food stamps, welfare or incarcerated. Not bad for 5 kids with a show biz mama.

It is illegal here in New York.

[honest man]

It is illegal here in New York.

BIG DEAL,tHE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND NEW YORK, SO WHAT.

[milven]

It is illegal here in New York.

A couple of points to make Marv. You told Supremester that DIana's children were "familiar with drugs and other devices. He asked you what the other devices were, and you avoided the question and said pot is illegal in NY. So what are the other devices?

The pictures that you so graciously provided - for the second time- were taken in CT on private property. There is a fine in CT of $ 150 for a small possession of pot in public. No criminal charges. I pay more than that for a parking offense in NYC and don't feel that my mother is to blame for the way she brought me up.

And lastly, this was a topic that I started to express what a stunning personality, and charming humor Tracey has. But with your negative obsession of Diana Ross, you had to invade it, bring it off topic and turn the whole thread negative.

But that is you.........................just being you...................it must be a burden.....

[Lulu]

A couple of points to make Marv. You told Supremester that DIana's children were "familiar with drugs and other devices. He asked you what the other devices were, and you avoided the question and said pot is illegal in NY. So what are the other devices?

The pictures that you so graciously provided - for the second time- were taken in CT on private property. There is a fine in CT of $ 150 for a small possession of pot in public. No criminal charges. I pay more than that for a parking offense in NYC and don't feel that my mother is to blame for the way she brought me up.

And lastly, this was a topic that I started to express what a stunning personality, and charming humor Tracey has. But with your negative obsession of Diana Ross, you had to invade it, bring it off topic and turn the whole thread negative.

But that is you.........................just being you...................it must be a burden.....

Like I said in an earlier post, all that we can do is continue to pray for him. Self-loathing and failure are hard things to accept and "going away gracefully" just doesn't seem to be an option.

On another note and not to incite a war but I don't suspect Turkessa or the Ballard-Chapman girls are exactly "upstanding citizens". I've seen both exhibit questionable behavior that would certainly raise an eyebrow over some kids smoking weed at home. Christ, I'd rather see Evan passing the pipe and shopping with his wife than going down the same path as so many children of celebrities.

[supremester]

So what? they weren't in New York. Was it legal for your gal to be snorting coke with Richard pryor and Martha at Motown 25, or topless with Sammy Davis JR? Oral sex was illegal in many states until just a few years ago.... what's your point? And what are these other vices?

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2...mas-stylewatch

It is illegal here in New York.

[jobeterob]

His point is SHE'S the greatest star, she is by far and he is jealous and not able to get over it.

[supremester]

http://news.instyle.com/2014/11/24/d...tus-2014-amas/

His point is SHE'S the greatest star, she is by far and he is jealous and not able to get over it.

[milven]

.... And what are these other vices?

Sadly, Marv won't be back to this thread to answer even though he has been asked three times to clarify or back up what he said. But that is what he does. He comes into a thread, bombards it with negativity, and insults about Ross and/or her family and then leaves. Of course, by then the thread is off topic and negative as we try to find out what the hell he meant by saying what he said. The thread is ruined. Ralph comes and deletes the thread, but does not delete Marv, the original instigator who started the off topic negativity, even though Ralph's July 31st proclamation stated that he would PERMANENTLY ban the instigator.

Here is my proposal: Since I can't and won't ban any threads relating to all of the fine and talented women who are, or once were, part of the Supremes, I can play a little hard ball with anyone who creates a problem. Even the slightest. I will immediately delete the thread and PERMANENTLY ban the instigator.

I encourage everyone not to bash Mary Wilson to retaliate against Marv. Mary is not bashing Diana and her children. It would be great if Ralph would read this entire thread from the beginning and then, hopefully, he will see where and by whom the negativity and insults start. And then enforce his proclamation and PERMANENTLY delete the trouble maker.

I’ve said my piece and expressed my opinion. But with the kind of luck I have, Ralph will think I am the troublemaker and delete me.

Back on topic, I think Tracey has a stunning personality and great and natural gift for humor

[supremester]

You're 100% right. My reply wasn't to bash Mary, I don't care if she snorts or drinks coke and, truthfully, I've done a few lines back in the day - including one New years eve with a diva often mentioned on this board but shall remain nameless because her most ardent fan here is such a positive light. I mentioned Mary solely to show Marv what's good for the goose, but it's so stooopid of me because there is no reasoning with him. Really, he just can't help himself - like the little boy with the milk in My Life As A Dog [[although I'm not certain M2 puts in much effort either.)

[Lulu]

They sure do look like trouble to me...

[milven]

Thanks Supremester. I understand. Marv makes us want to bash Mary even though I have nothing against her and when she was a Supreme, she was my favorite.

Sadly, I don't think this Tracey thread can be guided back to topic. But hopefully, Ralph will read this entire thread and keep his word and ban the Ross Family Basher.

[supremester]

And sadly, MY Flo was a hot mess emotionally while she was alive and a mother, so I imagine the girls didn't have much healthy guidance in their formative years.
Mary was having severe career issues, was in a horribly abusive marriage - not conducive to providing the best launch for kids either and like Flo, through no fault of her own. I feel so bad for victims of abuse and why they stay. If I had been Mary, through connections in show biz/casinos, I'd have had Pedro made to see the light, or maybe see no light, but he wouldn't be hitting me again.
Miss Ross is a remarkable woman, it doesn't surprise me that she's a remarkable mother. Also, Bob silberstein was very hands on and is a very kind, intelligent man. From all accounts, they were ideal co-parents.
I'm discussing with my girls now how I could have done a better job - and didn't really expect the number of items to be in their reply - and they turned out great!

[supremester]

Well, Tracee is, IMHO, a very bright, deep woman. Her acting on Blackish really grounds some of the horrid standard sitcom schtick their writers saddle them with. I didn't care for Girlfriends, but it certainly has endured and Tracee has developed quite a loyal following. Good for her!

[stephanie]

Well to give Marv credit he DID provide a link! Now back to Tracee when I used to read in Randys books how she was a tattle tale and all of this I really thought she was going to grow up to be a mean diva! She is totally opposite of what I thought. Supremester I was not a huge fan of Girlfriends I mean it was not a bad show it lasted quite a while but I have always thought Tracee could do something bigger than that. Chudney doesnt seem to want the limelight the way Rhonda and Tracee do. I dont think Rhonda is as driven as Tracee I could be wrong. Rhonda sings and sells real estate so I guess she is not really in the business [[show business that is) 100 percent.

[Lulu]

Well to give Marv credit he DID provide a link! Now back to Tracee when I used to read in Randys books how she was a tattle tale and all of this I really thought she was going to grow up to be a mean diva! She is totally opposite of what I thought. Supremester I was not a huge fan of Girlfriends I mean it was not a bad show it lasted quite a while but I have always thought Tracee could do something bigger than that. Chudney doesnt seem to want the limelight the way Rhonda and Tracee do. I dont think Rhonda is as driven as Tracee I could be wrong. Rhonda sings and sells real estate so I guess she is not really in the business [[show business that is) 100 percent.

That link was nothing new. He ambushed the wedding thread with it this summer to once again put the Ross family on blast.

Rhonda has a lot going on besides her Real Estate Business. She performs quite regularly and let's not forget, she has a toddler on her hands!

[smark21]

[QUOTE=milven;261804]A couple of points to make Marv. You told Supremester that DIana's children were "familiar with drugs and other devices. He asked you what the other devices were, and you avoided the question and said pot is illegal in NY. So what are the other devices?

Pacemakers and hearing aids?

[milven]

Pacemakers and hearing aids?

Oh That's not so bad. I thought maybe eyeglasses and false teeth.

[Lulu]

Oh That's not so bad. I thought maybe eyeglasses and false teeth.

Evan and Ashlee tend to fly on private jets. Do those count as "devices"?

[smark21]

For a device to be legit it has to be FDA approved.

[Lulu]

For a device to be legit it has to be FDA approved.

Well I guess Dom Perignon is covered.