Raven-Symoné Breaks Down Her Queer Journey, That's So Raven, Cheetah Girls & More

Cheetah Girls that's,

there's so many secrets to that movie

that no one will ever know.

It's hilarious.

[electronic beeping]

Hey, what's up?

I'm Raven-Symone and I am here to take a look back

at the things that shaped me and shaped my career.

This is Becoming Raven-Symone.

All right, let's do this.

[upbeat music]

[Raven-Symone laughing]

Yes sir.

And then I was a lesbian and then it was like.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

Foreshadowing.

So this was That's What Little Girls Are Made Of.

This was my first album,

I was the youngest person to sign with MCA Records

at the time, it was a hip hop album.

There were some songs in there that I sang

but I wasn't really that good of a singer.

Missy Elliott wrote this

and a couple other songs on the album.

This was on the set of the music video where, yes,

I got out of a private jet

and yes, I drove my own Jeep

in the streets of New York and I was five.

Just sang, catch up.

It was the longest shoot of my life.

I remember being on set at three o'clock in the morning

but I enjoyed it at the same time.

We brought in the visuals of Mary J Blige,

of Madonna, of Michael Jackson,

of all of the really cool people back then.

My favorite though was this like squirt gun that I had.

I got to like squirt water at the camera.

I don't think I got to bring that home,

which is unfair for a five year old.

I was five.

Just listening to one of those songs.

There was a song called, oh boy

I think you're a cool boy when you smile at me that way.

I feel so special, so special.

It makes me wanna know your name.

I wanna know your name.

And I'm like, no I don't.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

Oh honey.

Hi Monique.

Just moved here.

Cool, where do you go to school?

Middleton High.

Me too.

I start Monday.

Kim Possible.

This was fun.

I enjoy doing Kim Possible.

Tahj Mowry is a friend of mine,

Christy Carlson Romano

and everybody else that was a part of it.

We were a part of something special.

I will toot my own horn

and say I was a part of Disney Channel years

where the theme songs were epic.

Where the catchphrases really caught on.

No offense to the new generation.

I don't watch your version of the shows

but my generation of channels was my,

you know what I mean?

Call me, beat me.

I mean that was my ringtone.

I know it's yours too, I know it is.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

Because of working on Kim Possible

and other cartoons and characters

that I tried to be a part of,

I went to art school and I got my AA because of it,

because I always was intrigued on composition

and it started there for sure.

I mean I was drawing all the time

but animation really caught my eye.

Onto the next one, onto the next one.

And here we are.

2003, That's So Raven.

What did the baker say to the test tube?

You're getting an F.

[audience laughing]

We had the time of our lives that first season

and then the time of our career until the end of that show.

We had so many personal goals met,

so many career goals met,

friendships that will last forever,

enemies that will last forever.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

[electronic beeping]

A good show has both.

I was the first Black female

to have a show named after her on television.

Youngest on television.

So yeah.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

At this point I was more aware of my queerness.

However, I was in a relationship with a guy

who I would tell on a regular basis,

if we get married,

you know I gotta have a girlfriend, right?

[Raven-Symone laughing]

Literally, I was like, this is not,

it's not gonna just be us right?

'Cause I need, so anyway.

Yes, I was aware.

My friends were aware,

my parents were not.

And I knew but I didn't know, but I knew.

But it wasn't like concrete.

My queerness was never an issue

because one, I didn't put it out in public.

And everybody in the industry,

yeah, everybody,

even if you're straight,

you know what's up.

So it's like, it's okay.

But I am aware that during this period of time

in our country, it wasn't about your truth.

It was about how you can make others happy

and live the life that someone else wants you to live

so that society can go on the way they want it to go.

The Cheetah Girls, Cheetah Sisters.

[upbeat music]

♪ We're Cheetah Girls, Cheetah sisters ♪

There's so many secrets to that movie

that no one will ever know.

It's hilarious.

Anyhoo, this was a great experience

because I felt what it was like

to be a part of something,

in a group formation and not have to lead.

But I had never worked with an all girl cast before.

I love you Adrian.

I love you so much.

I just realized that I'm not good at drama.

I'm not a fan of doing dramatic work.

I like acting crazy on television and that's what I do,

I don't mind it.

Me and anybody else, just hold down the funny.

Anyway, loved the music,

loved performing with them.

That's what made me confident

in who I was at the time,

even though I was still dating the same guy,

everyone knew what was up.

Again you have really powerful young women

in a position on a movie,

how many lobsters you about to put in the pot?

You know what I mean?

We're good though, I love you Adrian.

Moving on.

The one and only.

The moment I said I'm done.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

Time to go on retirement.

This was Sister Act on Broadway.

This was, as if like I really could have retired

for the rest of my life after this.

It felt like a great cherry on top of my career.

Auntie Whoop's always been the best

and encouraging and kind of a psychic.

Every time I talked to her, she's like,

No you're gonna do this watch.

I'm like, what?

She knew I was gonna marry Miranda.

She knew I was gonna be on another show.

She's like, really, she's auntie honey.

She's real auntie.

But, always encouraged.

Someone and I'm not gonna name who,

I think I have my suspicions

but someone told the press

that my girlfriend was with me at the time,

outed me before I outed me.

Which didn't get all over the place

'cause it was just then Broadway News,

it wasn't like major but I do remember that.

And me and Az were like, oh no, no.

Naomi, my dog took care of me that time.

So I just said, after this, I'm done.

And then I went to retire

and I had the best gay life ever.

Bye.

Oh you guys, can I tell you what happened?

[Raven-Symone laughing]

AzMarie and I were hungry

and we went up the street to Louisiana Fried Chicken,

got up in there, it was good.

It can be salty sometimes but it was good.

And I was watching YouTube.

She went in

and just tweeted it.

I was just like, you know what?

I'm just gonna, see what happens.

And I walked into the fried chicken spot

didn't say anything,

got my chicken, ate it.

Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.

Oh no it happened.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

Like wasn't expecting it at all.

But like just the smell of fried chicken made this happen.

I'm just letting you guys know.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

Yeah, I can get married and I did,

yay government, so proud of you.

I'd been in a relationship with Az already

and this, I was retired.

I wasn't working.

You could not find me other than on my Instagram.

So I was like, I'm not coming back.

Like I don't have to worry about it

'cause I wasn't expecting to come back to the industry

'cause I was retired.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

See how long that lasts.

But yeah, so I have definitely encountered many a comment

and conversations with people within the LGBTQ+ community

that thanked me and I can't accept their love.

I have to share that with a man named Demond Green

who was on Sister Act with me.

I remember he sat me down once

and he was like you're gonna have to come out.

And I was like, no I'm not.

He's like, you're going to do it.

I'm like, no, no, watch me.

No, no, no.

And he really sat me down and told me,

he was one of those people who watched me grow up

and there's not enough role models.

And I'm like, I didn't have any role models either.

Like who did I have to look up to?

No offense Ellen back then,

that didn't go so well for her.

And so all of those moments just did not lead up to

a safe environment for me to come out.

And he goes, yeah, but you're that for other people.

And I'm like, why I gotta be the martyr?

Like that's not fair.

I didn't like having that conversation with him.

And then I smelled fried chicken

and I came out and I was like, okay fine.

And speaking to all of these people now

that had watched me grow up

and I say thank you but you should thank Demond

because he gave me the courage to do it

on top of any other things.

But he really did.

He set me down and told me that

if I'm going to be in the position I'm in

with the name that I have,

there's certain things that I'm gonna have to do

that I don't wanna do.

I'm like, since I was born, what are you talking about?

This has been my whole life.

Like I didn't always wanna go on tour

I just did it 'cause I was told to.

I'm still kind of weirded out by it now

when people look at me in that sense.

'Cause I'm like, I'm happy that you got someone.

I never got that.

Like where's mine?

Yeah, I'm jealous of you guys.

You're welcome.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

I'm happy that I'm there for you.

But actually I've turned that on its head now

and I look at the generation that said I helped them

and I go well you're helping me

be more true to myself now.

And that means to me that you can be

inspired by any age group, right?

I can be inspired by a a seven year old

who's living their best life in a tutu.

I'm like, yes, I'm gonna be in a tutu today.

I like having those conversations with them

and I make sure I share my story in that world

so that they know that it wasn't easy

and that I needed someone like they needed someone.

The View.

What a show.

During that,

the start of it,

the mask of like I didn't say anything that I said.

I'm back to the person that you knew from before.

Nobody knows what's going on with me.

Like living in my own secret bubble

but knowing that other people know.

Whoopi Goldberg is one of the most amazing people

that I've ever met in my life.

She is a golden crane as well.

Best shoe collection and best house you'll ever have.

Best guest room bed ever.

Like invests in her guests.

Whoopi Goldberg is amazing.

She's the reason I did it.

Would I do it again?

No, I wouldn't do that again.

Did I learn massive lessons

that it is a skill to be on live television

and voice your opinions?

Yes.

I apologized multiple times

for the things that came out of my mouth

and I still am learning from them.

But I did grow up.

One of the reasons I really wanted to do it

because I felt a lot of people in my position,

growing up in front of the world,

normally people take routes of oversexualization

and look how big my boobies are,

I don't got big boobs,

but it's just overtly that way

and I wanted to show my adultness through my brain.

Which I was like, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.

I wanna be a kid again.

I enjoyed it though.

[Director] Do you think that you would've felt comfortable

going on a politically oriented show

like that had you not already come out?

First of all,

they told me this wasn't gonna be politically oriented

when they revamped it.

So catfished one.

Two me coming out wasn't a part of that.

Again, like I said, when I started that show

I pretended like I didn't even say anything.

[Director] Right.

Like it wasn't a part of my identity.

I went right back to that other person.

I'm used to hiding.

I'm used to hiding myself.

So it was easy to hide in plain view.

Boop.

Wow Black-ish you guys Black-ish.

It was fun to be able to just be normal

but know that that was a part of my character description

and not have to put on.

A little scared because my grandma was watching

and I was told that if I ever came out

it would kill my grandma.

But I didn't care anymore

about other people's thought processes

and it was a good show.

It was good to be able to do that.

I'm proud of it

Raven's Home.

If you got the best roommate in Chicago,

lemme hear you say woo woo.

I heard Miley Cyrus went to 103 episodes

and I wasn't having it.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

I needed to give my title back

for most episodes on Disney Channel.

No, I'm just playing.

Was I?

I was talking to Disney Channel about coming back

and they were like, Well what do you wanna do?

I said, I wanna direct, I wanna produce it.

I don't really wanna be

in front of the camera that much anymore.

You know what I mean?

Like I'm retired.

They said sure, we'd love to teach you.

So I was able to start at the beginning of a show

and learn about how the set is brought together

and how to hire the right people

and seeing what the writers were like

and really be a part of casting

and really give my opinion.

And people were listening and I was like, this is awesome.

This is super freaking cool.

So the passion that I have for this show

is something akin to like a child.

I think Disney wanted her to be queer in the beginning

and I just didn't feel comfortable doing that.

They were like, Do you want Raven to be gay?

I said, Why?

Because you are.

I said bad, bad reason.

That's a bad reason.

No, Raven Baxter never exhibited

any type of sexual identity situation in the priors.

I'm not being myself on this show,

I'm being a character.

Raven Baxter's not gay.

No matter what the first four seasons looked like

with me and Chelsea sleeping in the same room

and us raising a family together.

Okay, that's not the case.

We are friends.

Who sleep in the same room.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

It's so funny

because we're working on sixth season now

and I'm talking to the EPs and they're like,

and you're gonna start dating?

I'm like, she don't need to date either.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

She's just gonna be nothing.

This is what I love about my career is that,

grandparents, their kids,

the grandkids and some of them grandkids got kids,

they're watching Raven's Home because of Cosby, Cooper,

That's So Raven and Raven's Home.

And it truly is a family sitcom

because even though the topics could be geared towards kids

Anneliese, myself really worked hard

in order to create adult characters

that adult parents could be like,

ugh, I wish I could be that carefree with my kids.

That's fun.

Aspirational type of characters.

And it brings me utter joy

to walk down the street and a woman

82, I remember when you were two years old,

I was watching, I was like, thank you ma'am.

And then the kid is like Raven!

And then I have to turn into like this bubbly person

so that they recognize me there too.

I was told a long time ago,

every day in your life is a page in your book

and you wanna make sure that whoever reads the book later on

you're not embarrassed by anything.

And that's cool, that all those different age brackets

can read through my book.

I got a couple volumes

and I'm only 36 years old so that's really cool.

Next.

My wife!

I was hosting a karaoke night over

on Santa Monica Boulevard in Gayville and she was there.

I was like, oh hi, I'm shy.

And then we exchanged numbers.

We talked for a while.

They call her Biggie,

so she sent me pictures of like Biggie Smalls.

I was like, I'm sorry, what?

And we had a lot in common

even though she was never in the industry,

in front of the camera,

she's been in the industry

behind the scenes her whole entire life as well.

Since she was like three.

She was always involved in Hollywood.

So a lot of stories similar, a lot of conversations.

Total lesbians though.

Like second night,

you wanna move to New York with me?

I'm about to go to The View.

And she did.

I loved lockdown.

I loved it so much because it was the first time

in my entire life where I didn't have to worry about my job

but I didn't have to go to a job

and I was able to care about myself

and like what I wanted,

my sexuality marinated in itself

and started to change a little bit more.

And she was there.

My bugle, she's always there.

It feels so good to be able to know you have someone

there for you, but you can still go out into the world.

Meaning like, when we first got married

it's like I'm going to the store, I'm coming.

I'm gonna go brush my teeth, I'll be there with you.

I'm gonna go work, I'm coming, both of us.

And now it's like I'll go to the store,

I'll be back, all right, see you later.

[Raven-Symone laughing]

And like, but you know that when you come home

you've got someone there

'cause living in single person life forever,

it's like am I ever gonna be with someone?

And that mantra kind of sits in your system

until you get married,

you have to click over to the new one.

And I think after these first two years

that we had where our single brained mind of,

is that person still gonna be there when I get back?

Or well yeah 'cause we only have one car

and I'm not about to walk

but at the same time, you know what I mean?

Like marriage to a female, it's fun.

It's like it's really cool.

So much better than when I was dating guys.

[upbeat music]

Thank you for spending time with me today.

This has been wonderful

and it's been Becoming Raven-Symone.