InstagramThe 45-year-old also talks about his divorce from wife Dr. Raina ‘Rainbow’ Edwards-Barris during his appearance on T.I.’s podcast, saying how the divorce process is just ‘part of life.’
- May 2, 2020
AceShowbiz – Kenya Barris is aware of criticism towards his new Netflix series “#BlackAF“. During his recent appearance on T.I.‘s podcast “expediTIously”, the 45-year-old addressed the backlash which stemmed from most people thinking that the cast of the show is too light-skinned despite the title.
“This is based on my family. She’s playing a version of my wife whose bi-racial. My wife is bi-racial, she’s playing a version of that character,” he said during the interview. “My kids, what Rashida and I could produce, looks like those kids, who are amazing. And so I feel like, you know I think the sometimes we just need to, like I talked about like informing ourselves more.”
“I think everyone’s experience and opinion in terms of, you know colorism are real, and I understand that. But if you just dug a little bit under the surface, you would understand that this is based upon, biographical, this was based on my family, and I was trying to duplicate a version of what my family was,” he went on saying. “I think that would have calmed a lot of the natives, you know what I’m saying but at the same time, it’s important that it didn’t, cause’ it speaks to the ideas that there is so much colorsm in the world, and it shows important this is to people so I take the good with bad. The ignorance I have a little bit of a problem with. But I take opinions good with the bad, because if you listen to any of them you gotta listen to all of them.”
He also talked about his ongoing divorce process with his wife Dr. Raina “Rainbow” Edwards-Barris, saying that “it is part of life.” Kenya shared, “If you look at sitcoms and our stories, we’re supposed to be okay. But 52% of marriages don’t work. And the notion of understanding–We didn’t know about therapy or really understand it. We didn’t know about really having the church or other married friends that would have given us the skeleton to make it in another sort of way.”
Kenya also talked about how his divorce was announced on his birthday. “Somehow, some f***ed up way, it got announced on my birthday I didn’t file on my birthday but it got announced on my birthday. I don’t know that people care about me getting divorced. I’m not anybody, especially at that point. And all of a sudden it’s in the papers as I’m getting off the plane coming from Atlanta,” he explained.
“I have my wife calling me. I have my daughter who’s a sophomore at USC calling me. I have my daughter, who’s a senior in high school, calling me because her friends are talking about it,” he said. “I’m just not used to…it’s a different world than I ever expected and I’m trying to experience it with the audience in real time. This is all happening to me as it’s happening on air.”
Source: Television - aceshowbiz.com
