Gabrielle Union is gearing up for the premiere of her new BET comedy “Being Mary Jane,” and she says there’s a little bit of Mary Jane in all of us.
“Nobody wants to admit to being Mary Jane but there are quite a few of them. I recognize her in my friends, myself and family,” the Hollywood starlet said of her new character, a successful news anchor with a failing resume in the love department.
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In a recent interview with ESSENCE.com, Union said she’s convince that the idea of “having it all” is a myth and more women are like Mary Jane than we think.
“When we look at our friends, they do all that as well and then they might add a kid or a husband to that and it’s like, how the hell are you doing it all? I’m convinced the idea of having it all is a myth. You can have a lot and be happy in some areas of your life, but for everything to be working on full cylinders and to be 100 percent, I’ve given up on that. I make the attempt to string together some perfect moments and just let myself off the hook that I’m not going to hit it out of the park everyday. In Being Mary Jane you see her trying to have it all and failing, whether it be with her friends, her romantic relationships, at her job or with her family. When one thing is going well, one thing is springing a leak.”
The actress when to to say there are multiple reasons why her new character can’t get it together.
“There are a number of reasons why she can’t get it right. I think that she’s entitled and when you’ve been head of the household and you’re super career woman, I think it’s hard to turn it off and share your life with someone when you’ve been dictating life on your own terms. Also, just in general it’s hard for people to live up to her father and the life she achieved on her own. A lot of men like to feel like they’re taking care of you or they’re your hero and she doesn’t really need that. Also, you kind of get set in your ways especially the older that we get, we acquire all of these standards and prerequisites that haven’t worked for us but we aren’t really willing to let them go. For me and my friends it’s like that’s not my type and I don’t like this. I remember watching Dr. Phil and he was like, ‘Well your type hasn’t worked yet, so you need a new type.’ It’s one of those things. [Mary Jane] is stuck to dating one type of guy and that hasn’t worked out for her but she’s hesitant to open up the field or try something new.”
In conclusion, Union said fans will love her new show because Mary Jane is really normal.
“It’s all those little things that we made sure to add to the character. I’ve played plenty of characters that were career women but very rarely have we gone that extra mile to make her normal. You only see those characters at work when they’re trying to be perfect, you don’t see them on the toilet and it’s like, ‘Do my favorite characters ever poo?’ I love watching Law & Order and we’ve never seen Anita [played by actress S. Epatha Merkerson] take a dump, ever. We don’t see her dancing to her favorite song or drinking wine and just chilling.”
“Being Mary Jane” debuts on Tuesday, July 2 at 10:30pm. Do you plan to tune in?
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