JILL MARIE JONES ON THE REAL REASON SHE LEFT 'GIRLFRIENDS', HER RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE CAST & IF SHE'LL RETURN.

After nearly two years, former Girlfriends star, Jill Marie Jones is finally clearing up some of the rumors regarding her sudden departure as Toni Childs Garrett on the number one Africa-American show. And what she says just may surprise you. I know it surprised the hell out of me. Jones spoke exclusively and candidly to Essence.com and dished revealed the real reason she decided to leave the show, her relationships today with her former co-stars and Girlfriends creator, Mara Brock Akil, and the snide and jive-ass comments Tracee Ellis Ross' made in an magazine article after Jones left the show. The Dallas Darling also lets us in on what she's doing now and IF she plans on returning to Girlfriends in the near future...which I hope she does, because Lord knows they need her desperately right about now. But then again, seeing as how this is the show's last season...and with the writers on strike, unfortunately, we may never see Toni Childs Garrett grace the small scene again.

Essence.com: And let me tell you, Toni Childs is sorely missed.
Jill Marie Jones: It was so much fun playing Toni Childs. I don�t walk that walk in my daily life. I like to think that I'm a pretty nice person, but to be able to play the diva and say some of the things those types of characters say was a lot of fun.

Essence.com: Do you miss being a part of Girlfriends?
J.M.J: I do miss Girlfriends. I don't know if people know this, but Girlfriends was only my third audition. I booked my first audition for City Guys, a Saturday morning show. My second audition I didn't book and then Girlfriends was my third, so you have to understand that I still very green to this industry and there was the whole film world that I didn't know. So when I left Girlfriends after six years, there was just so much I wanted to know and do. I've just been having a ball having opportunities to do movies. It's just been great.

Essence.com: Nothing wrong with spreading your wings, which brings me to your departure from Girlfriends. Tracee Ellis Ross said in an interview that the reason you didn't return was because the cast did not receive the huge raise they were expecting. Is that true?

BLOGGER'S NOTE: Tracee actually told Vibe Vixen magazine (Fall 2006 issue): "In order for the show to come back, the cast was not going to get the huge raises we dreamed of. So when the calls went out about the new contracts, Jill gave a quick 'no.' It was her decision. Clearly, we all wanted to come back to Girlfriends as we know it. However, like anything, the show is bigger than one person. The show is called Girlfriends, not Jill and Friends." Bitter, Tracee?

CONTINUE READING MORE EXCERPTS FROM JILL'S INTERVIEW BY CLICKING 'READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP!' ON THE BOTTOM LEFT.

J.M.J: First of all, let me tell you why I left. I left because I wanted to do movies. My contract was up after my sixth season and people forget that just like the network can choose whether or not to renew your contract, I can also choose and evaluate whether or not I want to come back. My actor's chair that has Girlfriends and my name on it, you know the director's chair? Well, on the very last day of my sixth season, I told them to grab my chair and put it in my car for me. Then we had to negotiate a contract that doesn't happen until they decide that your show is going to be picked up. You end the show in like February and then they don't decide if they are going to pick you up because the upfronts until May. So why would I take my chair if I thought I was coming back? Believe you me, I would tell you. I've never made a decision based on money. I was on the show for six years and I think that's a good run. There's so much more I want to do in my career and so much more I want to know and learn, but my departure definitely had nothing to do with money.

Essence.com: So were you aware that this was the explanation given for your departure?
J.M.J: Someone sent that article to me a long time ago when it first came out, and you know, I love Tracee, I love Golden, I love Persia, I love Reggie. I really do feel like I was in the University of Girlfriends. I learned so much from them. I mean, where I started on Girlfriends and where I ended up is like night and day and that's because of the great cast I had to learn from. It's difficult when something has been set up for six years and then something changes. I didn't get upset about the comment. It's all good.

Essence.com: That's great to hear. I think most folks speculate that you all had beef because you never responded. But that's not the case is it?
J.M.J: Well, no one asked me a question. I don't believe in adding grease to fire. If I were doing an interview about something I'm working on and someone wanted to ask me something, I have no problem answering it. But for me to make a statement or a rebuttal, to me it's just silly.

Essence.com: Well, the second part of Tracee's quote expressed her sadness that after six years of working together you didn't share your decision to leave with the cast. Is that true?
J.M.J: I'll be completely honest: I just didn't really. I wish I had a better answer or could tell you that I even thought about it. Maybe it was a lapse of judgment, maybe I should have called� I didn't really think about it. When my call came in to say, "We're going to pick up Girlfriends for another season, does Jill want to come back?" My management and I were like, "Thank you, but no thank you." So maybe I should have made phone calls, but I didn't really think about it. When the cast first came back for their seventh season, I sent them all, individually, every single person of Girlfriends a big bouquet of flowers. I didn't leave Girlfriends because I was upset or wanted more money. It really wasn't that deep. It's so disappointing that because I wanted to dream bigger or experience something new, it received all this hoopla and drama around it. I really just wanted to do movies. It really was just that simple.

Essence.com: Do you still keep in touch with the cast?
J.M.J: I've talked to them individually at different times. I have so much love for all of them. But are we hanging out and having some wine and cheese on a Saturday night? No. Do I think of them as friends? Absolutely. In a way, I think of them as extended family, like cousins. I've talked to them individually throughout this, but I don't talk to them on a regular basis. I wish them all well and I still watch the show.

Essence.com: Would you ever return to the show?
J.M.J.: You know anything is possible; it just has to make sense in terms of the direction I'm going in my own career.

Essence.com: Thank you for setting the record straight because people always want to pit Black women against one another.
J.M.J.: Yeah we do that and it's disappointing, especially when it's Black women, and I don't like that. I just had lunch with Mara [Brock Akil, the show's creator]; we met for a coffee like a month and a half ago. When I say we're all good over here, we're good.

BLOGGER'S NOTE: Akil has also had to deal with the sudden departure of Jones, who played real estate agent Toni before deciding to exit the show following last season over reported contract issues. At the end of last season, Toni had a falling out with best friend Joan, played by Tracee Ellis Ross. Jones’s departure, and her refusal to come back for a farewell appearance, has forced Akil to get creative with the storylines. "I would love for her to come back, but Jill doesn't want to return,” says Akil. “I don't know 100% why she made this decision. She didn't tell me. All she said when we talked was that she felt it was time for her to move on. The door is not closed. We've asked her to come back and have offered different ways for her to return. But I completely wish her well. There's no drama involved."

Essence.com: Well how does it feel to be immortalized in Kanye West's song The Glory from his album Graduation when he says "House on the hill two doors from Tracee Ross and I'm asking about her girlfriends yea the dark skined one"?
J.M.J.: (Laughs) Really? That's really cool. I wasn't aware that he references me, I actually have that album and I'll have to listen to it again.

As for Jones movie career, she's been busy breathing life into new diverse characters on the big screen with the same fervor and diva-next-door appeal in three new flicks. In the straight-to-DVD indie dramedy Redrum, she plays a meek housewife turned blood-thirsty serial killer; in Major Movie Star she gets tough and dirty with Jessica Simpson as a single mom who joins the army for a promise of a better future; and in The Comeback she plays a school teacher who mentors a young female student who has joined the town's football team.

READ JILL'S FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE