THROWBACK PICS: MAIA CAMPBELL IN KING MAG; ACTRESS DISHED ON SUGE, SHAQ & JAY-Z.

This girl! Here I was thinking she'd only become crazy a couple of years ago, but low and behold I find this excerpt from her 2002 King magazine interview which proves, at least to me, she'd been a bit off for a while now. For her to be such a beautiful girl, the craziness she once embraced wasn't a good look at all. However, that was then, these days, from my understanding, Maia has pulled herself together since the death of her mother, best-selling author Bebe Moore Campbell. Moore Campbell died at the age of 56 on November 27, 2006 from complications related to brain cancer...just one day after Maia's 30th birthday.

It's no secret that Maia, who scored the biggest role of her career as 'Tiffany Warren' on UPN's In the House, privately battled drug abuse. Soon as the hit sitcom was canceled, rumors of Maia's drug abuse and erratic behavior around Hollywood began to swarm around the Internet and beyond. In the July 2004 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine, Maia candidly admitted to abusing drugs while vehemently denying rumors that she's a certified nut job. 'I am not a psycho. There's a rumor going around that I'm a psycho,' Maia told the magazine. The actress's rapid decline into drugs and whispers of the beauty being bi-polar is what some believed was the catalyst that strained her relationship with her mother. And some speculate Bebe's last novel, 72 Hour Hold, was loosely based on her relationship with her daughter. Whatever the case may be, Maia says she was able to make peace with her mother before she passed away. And I know from from personal experience (I lost my father to bone cancer in 2005) that a moment like that is a truly welcoming comfort as well as one of the most precious privileges God can ever bestow upon you. I thank Him everyday for allowing me that honor. Trust.

Let's hope and pray for the best for her.

Click on the pic below to read what Maia had to say about Jay-Z, Shaq and Suge Knight. And don't forget to check out Maia's throwback photo shoot in King magazine as well as how she's keeping herself busy after the jump!

Some say Maia has gotten herself together and has become stronger since her mother's untimely death. Maia says she now finds happiness from the love she feels for her family, true friends, her profound belief in God and everything else that makes life worth living, bless her heart. It's true what they say: Loosing a loved one can have one of two effects on a person. Either you'll fall by the wayside something terrible OR you'll get your dusty ass up, brush yourself off and get back on the right track in order to move on with your life.

These days Maia is busy taking care of her young daughter, Elizabeth Elisha Gutierrez (who is named after Maia's mother) and operating her production company, MCC which is a multi-tasked business that provides today's film and television culture with quality entertainment.