Jalen Hurts is peeling back the curtain on his personal life. In a new cover story for Essence, the Eagles quarterback — who agreed to a record-breaking five-year, $255 million contract extension with the team Monday — spoke about girlfriend Bryonna “Bry” Burrows following their public appearance together at the NFC Championship game in January. … Read more
The vivacious chef Carla Hall hit our radar as a contestant on “Top Chef” and later as a co-host of “The Chew” but she lived many lives before television, including accountant, model and owner of a catering business – where she was always on edge about paying her bills. “I would scrape together all this … Read more
During her early days in stand-up, Sherri Shepherd followed tough acts like Sheryl Underwood and JB Smoove. One act she didn’t expect to follow: the cops. “I wasn’t paying my bills,” she told me on this week’s episode of “Renaissance Man.” “I was in a religion that was like, I felt the end of the … Read more
My guests’ journey began in elementary school — and has resulted in a marriage that has produced four sons, a family YouTube channel, a podcast called “Dead Ass with K&D” and the best-selling relationship book “We Over Me: The Counterintuitive Approach to Getting Everything You Want From Your Relationship.” How did Devale and Khadeen Ellis … Read more
Broadway star Billy Porter has won a Tony, a Grammy, an Emmy and also has the distinction of bringing the tuxedo dress to the red carpet. At the 2019 Oscars, Porter changed the fashion conversation, attending in a velvet tuxedo gown by designer Christian Siriano. He called the “antebellum tuxedo gown” his biggest style moment. … Read more
Hosea Chanchez‘s introduction to Los Angeles was a series of unfortunate events. At 17, he dropped out of school and drove across the country with his cousin in his Mitsubishi Eclipse, expecting to stay with a family member and pursue his dream of being a working actor. His housing plans fell through, but his relative … Read more
When comedian-turned-actress Mo’Nique was growing up in Baltimore, her friend’s mother made a prophetic comment. “She said to me, ‘When you grow up, either you’re going to get your ass whipped a lot, [or] you’re going to make a lot of money with your mouth,’” Mo’Nique told me on this week’s “Renaissance Man.” It was … Read more
The rapper Papoose knows a thing about grit. Growing up in Bed-Stuy, he dreamed of being a hip-hop star. He was making great music, selling CDs out of his trunk and winning battles on the street, but he had no connections in the industry. What he did have was persistence and nerve. “But the DJ … Read more
Jalen Hurts isn’t just breaking the hearts of 49ers fans. The 24-year-old Eagles quarterback has the internet buzzing after he appeared to debut his girlfriend after defeating the Niners in the NFC Championship game on Sunday. Hurts is dating Bryonna “Bry” Burrows, according to multiple reports, which say the pair met while at Alabama — … Read more
A sports media saga took an unexpected turn on Tuesday. Jalen Rose lashed out at media personalities who make hay trolling the Dallas Cowboys, following their playoff loss to the 49ers. Many people who saw the tweets believed they were directed at Rose’s ESPN colleague, Stephen A. Smith. “So glad I didn’t make a career … Read more
Tabitha Brown is a vegan chef and an Emmy-nominated social media personality with more than 4 million followers on both TikTok and Instagram. She also has partnerships with Target. In other words, she’s killing it. An aspiring actress, she took an unorthodox route to fame: by going viral in her car. In December 2017, she … Read more
Jermaine Dupri’s father was a record executive, so he was raised around hip-hop, going to shows while in his single digits. But he started his own career as a 12-year-old dancer with Whodini, the group behind “Freaks Come Out at Night.” “[I was] just thinking I was going to open up for a show that … Read more
Hear me out this week Jets fans, you’ll want to hear what Jared Goff has to say. The Detroit Lions quarterback and my good friend opened up on “Renaissance Man” about one of the most major career changes he’s gone through — being traded from the Los Angeles Rams to play in Motown. It was … Read more
LeToya Luckett is an original member of Destiny’s Child and a proud product of Houston. And though she will rattle off a list of her favorite spots (the Breakfast Klub, Turkey Leg Hut and Burns Original BBQ), she didn’t have the typical Houston upbringing. “My friends were out in the mall, at the movies, and … Read more
Trailblazing female rapper MC Lyte has some sage advice: “I would never suggest to a female MC to do what I did,” she told me on this week’s “Renaissance Man.” As a young girl dreaming of becoming a recording artist, she went with a guy friend to Staten Island because the label First Priority Music, … Read more
Jalen Brunson is an out and proud Belieber. The new Knicks point guard revealed that his pregame routine includes listening to at least one Justin Bieber song — a tradition that dates back to his playing days at Villanova. “I wasn’t always a Bieber fan,” the 26-year-old said in an interview with the Knicks digital … Read more
Brooklyn native Omar Epps attended La Guardia, aka the “Fame” high school for performing arts, and grew up writing poetry, rapping and acting. But he had a chip on his shoulder. In middle school, he lost out on the lead role in a production of “Grease.” “That bothered me the rest of junior high school. … Read more
When Earthquake — government name: Nathaniel Stroman — was starting as a stand-up comedian, he had trouble getting booked. So he vented to his mother, who dished out some sage advice. “She said, ‘What did I tell you? Never get mad at a man that won’t let you ride his bike. You either get your … Read more
Marlanna Evans grew up in a small North Carolina town with a population of about 2,000 people. “Everybody knows everybody,” she told me on “Renaissance Man” of Snow Hill, North Carolina. “Two-parent home. I was one of five kids, a whole bunch of cousins running around barefooted, you know, going in the woods and fishing. … Read more
Early in Kim Coles’ career, she was given advice from the founder of Comic Strip Live, the New York City comedy club where Eddie Murphy became a star. He told her she needed to do one of two things: “‘[He said] you either need to lose 40 pounds and become like a babe and that … Read more