'Love Thy Neighbor' Cast Gush Over Tyler Perry

Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are a match made in heaven and their latest venture proves that true! Last week Perry’s “The Haves and The Have Nots” premiered on OWN with a unprecedented 1.77 million viewers, making the new scripted-series the network’s highest rated debut! #TeamBeautiful caught up with the casts from both of Tyler Perry’s new shows and they revealed how he starts his day, what makes him an amazing part of Black entertainment and why that OWN money is blessed!

HelloBeautiful: How did you prepare to play the role of a mother who is so devoted to her wayward daughter?

Crystal R. Fox (“The Haves & The Have Nots”):

You know what it was for me? I had an audition for two roles on this particular show and I wanted Hanna because she reminded me of my grandmother. My grandmother lived in North Carolina and worked at the mill– aunts, uncles and everybody, worked at the mill. But they came home and they were wonderful family people.

My sense of family which has been distant from my real life has been something that has been lasting for me because of those people. And, so, their angst to me, was always about the care of their family, not for themselves, not just a reward about random stuff. They worked hard as I don’t know what, and the main thing they were worried about was their family. And so my character is really in love with the relationship I have with my son because I raised them both as a single parent, this one [Tika Sumpter’s character] went, left, but there is always unconditional love, hoping that she’ll be back. But my son grew up to be this man that I always wanted him to be. I definitely want to make sure that I portray someone that has a spiritual background, but I am not holier than thou; very very human, very very fallible. The truth is always what she’s aiming for because of the hard things she has gone through in life, and I think, and I believe, that over and over, Mr. Perry will explore, “what made her go to God?”

HB: How do you feel about the way Tyler Perry portrays Black women?

Oh my goodness. Well, I feel like he was so excited about this character. When he would look at me and tell me, “Crystal, wait till you read the things that she says.” I don’t know who he’s loving through these words, but he is loving somebody that has touched his life. And what I’m gratified by is that they move me, and if I deliver it, he’s moved back. So, I don’t know who he is paying homage to. But it is a love for women and how we talk and how we feel and if there was something that didn’t work and if I ask him about it, he looked at me one time and there was something I couldn’t say, he said, “you cant say it can you?” I said, “no!” He said, “Change it! Change it. Fill it with what you would do.” He allows for that. And I honor and respect that, and I keep waiting, and if its off, he’ll let me know. But he’s let me keep 99.9%. That other little percent is only cause he says, “you said you wanted to do this.”

HB: Do you take some of your personal life and put it in your character? Or do you just kind of make it up?

Tika Sumpter (“The Haves & The Have Nots”):

Of course I pull from my own life. But my real mother and I have an amazing relationship. She’s my best friend. But I have seen relationships that are rocky, like the one Candace and her mother has, played by Crystal Fox. So, I kind of take it from everybody. I take it from people I’ve seen in the industry, and I just observe and then also, Tyler has helped me with people who have been in his life and stories he’s told me. I love playing this character because its somebody who I’ve never played before, so it’s fun for people to be able to hate me and love me at the same time.

HB: How did it feel working with Tyler Perry?

Renee Lawless (“The Haves & The Have Nots”):

I’ve seen every single one of his movies. “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” is one of my favorite movies of all time. It got me through horrible relationship break ups. And I always wanted to work with him and I never could have dreamed in a million years that I would be on a TV show. Let me say, he is one of the hardest working, most incredible human beings I have ever met in my life. He is very respectful of everyone. The way receives you is very respectful, he is very kind, by no means pretentious or condescending and on the set, the same way.

He’s very business but he can laugh and have a good time. Everyday I’ve pinched myself. But I’ve worked a lot of jobs, and no one has ever started the day in prayer, he’s never pushed that off on anyone, that’s just what he does. And someone’s who’s a Christian like myself that meant a lot to me. And I knew, “well, my day starts off right everyday, I better bring it.” And it made you want to bring your A game, because he didn’t demand…you just wanted. He demanded it, but he never said, “I demand you!” you wanted to bring that game. He came in and he commanded. So, working with him is magnificent.

HB: What is your favorite thing about working with Tyler Perry?

John Schneider (“The Haves & The Have Nots”):

It’s so hard to say. It’s like, “what’s your favorite ride at Disney world?” Everything about working with Tyler Perry is a delight and it’s a challenge. It’s like jumping out of an airplane and crocheting a parachute on the way down. It will either make you better or it will spit you out.

HB: How do you portray a character like Hattie without borrowing from Madea?

Patrice Lovely (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

Because I never watched any of Tyler’s anything before I started to work for him. I never watched even a movie from Tyler. I think that’s why he liked it, because Hatty is totally different from Madea. And he allows me to just play and create. He gives me a script and I just let it flow, keep his dialogue, whatever fits Hattie, and I just play. I have a good time doing that.

HB: What do you love most about Tyler Perry?

Patrice Lovely (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

Now, what I love most about Tyler especially when it comes to his product is that he is such a departure from the normal of what they portray black people like on TV. You know, now a days you see the fighting, the name calling and Tyler gives a very different representation.

HB: How do you feel about the way that you’re representing black women on television?

Patrice Lovely (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

Tyler has the utmost respect for women. You know? Even as a woman, I’m playing a different character. He has respect for Hattie, and how Hattie is seen to the public. When I’m around him, I seriously feel like I’m one of the queens from Egypt, he treats me like that.

HB: Have you met Oprah yet? What is the first thing you said to her?

Patrice Lovely (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

I didn’t say anything to her. She said to me, “I love you! I love your character!” When we were doing “A Madea Christmas” she came to the Fox Theatre to see the show and she came back stage during intermission and she said, “I absolutely loved it.” Next thing I know, there was “Love Thy Neighbor,” and I was the star of the show. She said, “Oh, I already know you! I love you.” And I said, “Girl, I love you too. And I love that blessed check!”

HB: So obviously you have been working with Tyler Perry for a long time, how has he grown?

Patrice Lovely (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

Not too too long, not long enough. My credit score hadn’t gotten up that high. But yeah, I’ve been working with him for awhile, about 7 years now. Most definitely, the growth is there. As he has grown, I have grown as well. What he has learned, is passed on. He is a very giving person, someone that has enabled me to go and exercise my gifts, and higher heights that I didn’t even anticipate doing on my own. So, he has accelerated my career. For all the days I may not have gotten in the past, I’ve regained by being affiliated with him.

HB: Within the Black community specifically, there’s a lot of criticism against Tyler Perry and everything that he does. Do you think that Black people are right for criticizing Tyler Perry in the way that he portrays black people on television?

Palmer Williams, Jr. (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

Absolutely not. I mean. Everybody has one. As politically correct as I can say it, the issue is, when have we had this type of entertainment for ourselves? When have we had anything that we can be proud to go to the movie theatres and see? When have we had anything that we can call our home, as a community? When can we say anything, as far as our heritage is concerned, that we can actually lay claim too. So this is one thing that we can actually say we were a part of the growth of and the beginning of it and the continuation of it. We don’t have anything. The last thing we have now are black barbershops, beauty salons, and a church, and we’re trying to lose all of those! So we got one thing we can cling on to, and that’s our art. We are very gifted people and we’re even willing to give that away.

So when you have your own, you should try to support him, not be a crab in the barrel and pull him down. But support him even more so, because who’s to say you’re not going to be the next person? Who’s to say that you’re not going to need to support the same community that you come from? Art imitates life, life imitates art. He is a Black man and he is talking about the Black life. Well, it just so happens that it’s not just about race, it transcends. He is a Black man that happens to be talking about the human race, so it’s not even a Black story, it’s a universal story, he just happens to be Black.

Just like our president, he’s not fighting for all the Black causes, he’s fighting for everybody’s causes. But not only does he happen to be Black, he happens to be good, same as with Tyler Perry. That president swagger, you cant mess with that!

HB: There’s a lot of reality shows that have been popping up over the last couple of years, and some would even say that it has kind of taken away the art of true acting, and as an actor, how do you feel about that? Do you feel the lack of sitcoms or the lack of TV?

Palmer Williams, Jr. (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

Well, scripted shows are few and far between, and I think that’s why this particular show is going to be that much more successful, because now you can take something that a lot of work has been put into, from the page to the stage.

We’re able to bring it to the people that have loved and adored Tyler Perry as well as Oprah Winfrey and now give them something they’ve been wanting for a while. We’ve been stereotypically portrayed, especially our Black queens of how we always fight, we throw drinks on each other, we can’t get along, and that’s the furthest from the truth. A lot of people are actually starting to imitate that, and we don’t want that for our young princesses. We don’t want them growing up thinking the only way you can resolve something is through a fight. So it’s time for us to get something that’s a little bit more positive and that’s going to show our young daughters and our young sisters that there is an alternative to the cackling and fighting and stuff like that. We’re not all like that, its time for some Cosby shows.

HB: What has been the most rewarding thing for you to be working with Tyler Perry?

Palmer Williams, Jr. (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

That’s a great question.The most rewarding thing for me and working on the show is not only working with Tyler, but working in association with Oprah, because both of their brands, I’m so aligned to. They have such a positive, beautiful way of inspiring people. And I have been watching Oprah for I don’t know how long, and I love Tyler, I worked with Tyler prior to this. So for me, it’s just rewarding to know that they trusted me enough to have me become a part of their brand which is so amazing and so inspirational, and you aspire to one day be in that caliber of people that inspires the masses.

Do you feel Tyler’s able to capture the essence of what is to be a Latina? Do you feel that he is able to capture that in you? Or does he make it stereotypical?

Zulay Henao (“Love Thy Neighbor”):

I feel like Tyler(because I worked with him before)he knows who I am, and I feel like he wrote me in perfectly. My character is a humanitarian–she loves people. She is kind. I’ll tell you the honest to God truth, I did not read a script until I got on set. That’s how much I trust him. He’s like, “Just come, this is what we’re going to do, these are the scripts.” And I trusted him and it worked and it was beautiful.

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