When Jasmine Guy's daughter Imani, 8, questioned her mother about the name of a rock group called Guns N' Roses, she gave her an introspective answer. 'I told her that the name meant that life can be hard sometimes and lovely sometimes,' recalls Guy, now 43-year-old. Realizing that life can be more difficult for some people, Guy, who played pampered-princess Whitley Gilbert on the series
A Different World (1987-1993), has supported several organizations. Among then is A Place Called Home, a community safe house that each year helps about 2,000 at-risk youth in South Central Los Angeles. Some of the other issues that the actress feels strongly about are education, violence in the community and unemployment. How do her views affect her parenting style? 'I'm more conservative,' says Guy, who grew up in Atlanta and attended public schools. 'Not Republican [conservative]. I'm more aware of what I let Imani watch on television. I also pay more attention to lyrics.'
She and her husband Terrence Duckette have been married for nine years. Guy, who is also an author, points out hat Imani, like herself, has many interests, including gymnastics, tennis and piano. 'I find that I like to do many different things. The way that I handle that is I take two things and focus on those two. I see some mothers who are on their BlackBerry, telling the kids what to do, and typing something on their computer with their toes. I can't do that.'
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Celebrity mom Karyn Parsons says she does not miss playing the self-indulgent diva Hilary Banks on
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It could be that she's too busy juggling play dates in the park for daughter Lana, 4, and son Nico, 10 months, to reminisce about her narcissistic television character. In addition to parenting, these days, Parsons is thinking about education. In fact, while she was filming
The Fresh Prince, her mother would call her with Black history stories. She felt that some of the stories would be well-suited for a children's book and began working on a compilation. In 2003 Parsons married Alexander Rockwell and started a family. 'I was thinking about my own responsibilities as a parent that were coming up, and teaching my daughter about her heritage.' So, in 2004 Parsons started
Sweet Blackberry, a production company based in New York, where she and her family live. She's written and produced two animated films that are available on DVD.
She says that the stories are meant to be a fun way to teach children about their history, 'especially about Black Americans who we don't hear about so much. If young people get interested early, it's something that will stay with them for a lifetime.'
CONTINUE READING MORE OF EBONY MAGAZINE'S 'CELEBRITY MOMMIES ON A MISSION' WITH ACTRESS SHERYL LEE RALPH AFTER THE JUMP!
Education is just one of the many issues that parents have to be concerned about. Another is HIV/AIDS education, a subject that some parents find too serious to discuss with their children. Not actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who is the mother to daughter Coco, 13, and son, Etienne, 16, and who established a foundation devoted to HIV/AIDS awareness. One of the things that Ralph hopes to pass along to her children is an awareness of the issues around them. Ralph is married to Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes and commutes between Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Perhaps following in his mother's footsteps, Ralph's son, Etienne, has sponsored an orphan child in South Africa through World Vision International. Ralph recounts how her daughter Coco, who may yet be a young diva-in-training, chastised a young man for verbally disrespecting her. She and her girlfriends staged an intervention to let the boy know that his language was unacceptable. 'I was like, 'You go, girl! Mommy doesn't have to pick up the phone. You handle your business!'
Even with her hectic schedule, Ralph stays active at her children's school and tries to lead them by example. 'I try to be the best possible person that I can be,' she says. 'I try not to cuss out anybody. I believe that if you want to see change, even in your own family, you have got to be the change that you want to see.'
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Actress Jasmine Guy's pending divorce from her husband Terrence Duckett could become ugly. If the rumors are true, Duckett, who was married to Guy for nearly ten years, could care less about the dissolution of their marriage. But there's one thing or shall I say one person, he refuses to give up without a fight; and that person happens to be the couple's 9-year-old daughter, Imani Guy Duckett. Responding to his estranged wife's April 3 divorce petition, Terrence Duckett has filed court documents requesting joint custody of Imani. In her original court filing, which cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split, Guy requested primary legal and physical custody. The onetime A Different World star also asked for spousal support and included a list of assets she wanted officially classified as hers, including her production company and the copyright to her 2005 book Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary, as well as artwork, furniture and jewelry. She and Duckett tied the knot Aug. 22, 1998.
