Phylicia Rashad on life after ‘The Cosby Show’ – ‘I’m just getting started!’
She played one of America’s favorite working mothers, Clair Huxtable, on the hit series The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992, and in real life, Phylicia Rashad was also devoted to her children. When youngest daughter Condola Rashad, now 31, left for college and Phylicia returned home, “there was silence and then I lost my temper for about five minutes,” she exclusively revealed to Closer Weekly. “Thank goodness I made an effort to keep myself together, because I really am a good mom.” Over time, she learned to embrace her new life. “I’m used to making sure that the needs of my two children [including son William Bowles III, 44] are met. I enjoyed it, but I found all this free time for myself. That’s so different!”
Lately, Phylicia’s been venturing into a variety of new roles — including spy agent instructor Jean-Claude Van Damme in the recent Amazon series Jean-Claude Van Johnson and a wily matriarch in Fox’s Empire — and she will make her New York stage directorial debut with the comedy Our Lady of 121st Street, which runs off-Broadway from May 1 to June 10. Now Phylicia, 69, opens up to Closer about the second act. her delightful threesome, her family (including Tony Award-nominated sister Debbie Allen, 68) and how, despite three divorces, she feels “surrounded by love” . Scroll down to read our Q&A with Phylicia!
You’ve been really busy showing new sides of yourself in your latest shows!
You see Jean-Claude Van Damme and I in ways you’ve never seen us before [in Jean-Claude Van Johnson]. Never since Get Smart has there been such silly fun! And this summer I’m doing the play Head of Passes in LA, then flying to Chicago to film Empire. It’s a lot! That’s also a blessing.
You’ve taken on many different roles since The Cosby Show, but do fans still call you Clair Huxtable?
Some people do, so it’s interesting that people now call me the Diana DuBois of [Empire]! The truth is, if I had never worked before The Cosby Show, I could say I worked and worked well, so all of this is good for me.
Do you feel like you broke the glass ceiling playing a professional mother in the ’80s?
I was very surprised by that. That’s a nice bonus. Most importantly, it helps women laugh at things that would normally make them angry – especially teenage behavior.
When my youngest Condola left for CalArts, I was in Boston and her dad [ex-husband Ahmad Rashad] called to say his heart was a little broken and he wanted to give her everything he had. It’s in the bag. It wasn’t until I got home that this happened to me.
It was even more difficult during my son’s early years when I joined The Wiz choir. At age seven, he could say, “Mom, you need more energy for this part,” and he was right! Then when I joined the choir and was an understudy in Dreamgirls, it was the hardest time – I saw him in the morning and when he was sleeping in bed. But we have to eat. When I moved on to my first TV series, _One Life to Live _, I was able to enjoy evenings at home and Saturdays at the park with him.
