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Teri J. Vaughn talks hollywood, her divorce, and her new marriage in an interview with Essence.com

Here’s a few key points of the interview.

ON HOLLYWOOD:

Essence.com: What would be a start in the right direction to give Black actresses a fair playing ground in Hollywood?

T.V.: A start is anyone who takes the time to watch this documentary that’s a start. Again, our voice is the most important and powerful thing we have. Not only a voice to talk about what’s wrong, but who we are as Black women. The images that are portrayed of us are so limited and don’t show the breadth of who we are. It’s disheartening for me to think that my nieces when they watch television they receive such a narrow view of a Black woman and a view of a woman that I don’t necessarily want them to see or whom they never see in their home. They don’t see Miss New York; they see their mother who has a Masters and is a social worker and they see their aunt who is a producer and an actress so why can’t they turn on the television and see more Black women like them on TV?

Essence.com: So what exactly do you want from the Hollywood powers that be?

T.V.: All we’re asking is that Hollywood gives us a voice for all of our voices. Yes, we do have hoochies and I’m not denying that they are a part of our culture, but just like White women who might have images of trailer trash, supermodels and business execs, at least we get to see all of those images. Give us an opportunity to show all of who we are not just the small part that they feel safe and comfortable in showing. Many of the execs are white males but they don’t know our voice. I don’t expect them to know our voice, so they should listen and allow us to tell you. But don’t tell us that a particular image of us is not true because you aren’t familiar with that particular image and why would you be you’re not a Black woman. Hire more of us to put our stories out there to offer Hollywood a different view and teach them who we are. One way to combat it. We’re not saying they are bad and evil that’s not what we’re saying at all. We’re saying just listen to us. Let us entertain you with all of our isms.

ON ELOPING

Essence.com: Congrats! Here you are trying to pull the okey-doke on the public. What made you decide to go to Vegas?

T.V.: Actually, it was actually his idea. Maybe two days before we started talking about it he was like, ‘So you still want to get married?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ But really I was keeping it all low-key because after my first marriage failed I wasn’t ever thinking about doing it again. So he says, ‘You want to go this weekend?’ and I’m like, ‘Are you serious?’ and the next day cameand he was he booked a hotel room and we jumped in the car and drove to Vegas. I started to calling people on the road and four of his friends and two of mine met us there. The whole picture of planning your wedding is really for everyone else and not the couple because you have to be considerate of everyone else’s feelings. I recommend eloping because it’s so genuine and really is just about the couple.

ON HER FIRST MARRIAGE

Essence.com: Yet that failed marriage didn’t discourage you from taking the leap again?

T.V.: Trust me, I said I was never going to get married again because I had never tried or worked so hard for anything that didn’t pan out. I kept asking myself, What else could I have done? My thought was, If I couldn’t make this marriage work by doing all of this for [seven] years then I just can’t be married. With Karon, it’s different because I don’t have a picture. We’re just know following our hearts and being led by God. Before I got in this business and got married the first time, I remember being care-free and allowing myself to go wherever God was leading me. I was open but then I started trying to create this picture and that’s when everything went wrong. Now, I’m back at that place—following my heart—and not concerned about what people are going to say about it or about me. and the support and love and your friends of your family I’m not creating the picture.

Read the entire interview at Essence.com

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