Niecy Nash graces the September cover of Essence magazine and the
very funny and very-very hard working actress knows a lot about
clawing her way to the comedy world in Hollywood.
All puns intended Nash talks about starring in The Claws (TNT) in her
very first her first-ever Essence cover! The Emmy-nominated actress
knows how to get to the meat of the subject, always using humor telling
the truth the whole truth-and- nothing-but- the-truth and in the September
issue she chats about filming sex scenes in her 40s, how comedy helped
mend her broken family after her brother’s murder and turning audition
waiting rooms into makeshift daycares.
“The key words for Desna (Nash’s character) are mother and badass.”
says Claws showrunner Eliot Lawrence. “She doesn’t take any sh--
…We were so incredibly lucky to get Niecy. She’s one of the finest
actresses working and had everything we needed: the sex appeal, the
humor, the depth and the strength.”
In Claws Nash gets to let loose and show her sexy. “I’ve been in this
business for more than 20 years,” adds Nash. “How did you all wait until
I was on the south side of 40 to be like, ‘Can you get on camera and roll
around in the bed with these men?”
A dedicated mother who was determined to make her mark in the
entertainment world she defied her naysayers. “I was the only one
dragging kids in there, but three words that I started to live by in that
time was ‘no matter what,’” adds Nash.

Her determination to take the lemons of life and turn them into sparkling
lemonade is one of the many character strengths and life absolutely
threw her some dangerous and painful fast balls. On the surface her life,
now looks like a modern fairytale and to those who share that view,
Nash is quick to step back and review. Says Nash,
“If you look at my track record: She saw her mother get shot. She buried
her only brother. She went through a horrible divorce. She lost her
church. Then to look at [my life now], in many ways that does feel like a
Cinderella story”

“For a long time the industry was polite, but they were like, ‘Dear, you
have a lane. You do broad comedy. Stay over there.’ I had to be a lady-
in-waiting and bide my time until they started to recognize. My first time
doing dramatic work garnered me back-to- back Emmy nominations.”

A Stuning Beauty in Blue/ September Cover Photo Credit/ Sophy
Holland (@sophyholland). Emmy-nominated Niecy Nash tells it like it
is in Hollywood for Black women in their 40’s!
September Cover Photo Credit/ Sophy Holland (@sophyholland).
Emmy-nominated Niecy Nash tells it like it is in Hollywood for Black
women in their 40s!

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — so the old saying goes and for iconic actress and singer, Vanessa Williams she shares that fact with interview with her daughter, Lion Babe’s Jillian Hervey proving that fierceness runs in the family but more to the point that true beauty is found inside and that beauty is timeless.

In Essence’s January 2017 cover story, Vanessa + Jillian, the stunning duo chat with Essence about being in the business, the sacredness of family and loving the skin you’re in.

In the upcoming “Daytime Divas” which is based on Star Jones’ book Satan’s Sisters she shared her insight into the former talk show host. “She’s no joke. She’s smart, she’s connected, she’s witty. She’s dynamic. She gets things done. There are a lot of parallels with Star’s life,” says Williams.

Williams herself came into the industry with her share of early scandal with nude photos of her with another woman almost stopping a career before it began. She makes it clear that she understands pain and the power of overcoming obstacles.

“You have to go through the fire,” says Williams. “Avoiding the pain is why most people never resolve it. You have to dig deep, sit in it and ugly-cry. Pretending it’s not there and keeping busy are a way of avoiding it…”

Essence’s January 2017 cover story, Vanessa + Jillian, just hit stands today.