Tracee Ellis Ross Confirms What We Suspected All Along About Her On Set Behavior
Tracee Ellis Ross may be the daughter of the legendary singer Diana Ross, but she's paved her own path and made a name for herself in the television industry. The actor is most well-known for her role as Rainbow Johnson in "Black-ish," which premiered in 2014, per IMDb. It's safe to say that Ross has loved being a part of the show and the star fills her Instagram feed with photos of the series cast — something fans love to see.
Ross has starred alongside Anthony Anderson during her time on the show, but the Season 8 premiere features another special guest: former first lady Michelle Obama. "It was wonderful," Ellis Ross told WSJ Magazine of filming with her pal. "She and I are friends. It was a phone call I made. We got to do really important subject matter that's mixed in with fun, so it's receivable."
The addition of a big name like Michelle Obama is a great way to start the last season of the ABC hit. In May 2021, "Black-ish" creator Kenya Barris announced that the show's eighth season would be the final. "To ALL the people in the world I love, honor, respect and care for it is both exciting and bittersweet to share that black-ish has been RENEWED by ABC for it's EIGHTH... and FINAL SEASON," Barris wrote on Instagram, adding that he was grateful to be able to decide when his show would come to an end. Now, Ross is feeling all the feels.
Tracee Ellis Ross couldn't stop crying the last week on set
It's no secret that emotions were high filming the show's last season, and Tracee Ellis Ross knows the feeling all too well. In an interview with WSJ Magazine, that actor confessed that her final week of filming was filled with lots of emotions and plenty of tears. Ross said that she walked into filming with "the prayer to have an open heart" and savored each moment on set because she knew time was so precious. She added that she wanted to be "present for all of the feelings that were moving through."
But being present with one's feelings can cause a wave of emotions, or, for Ross, tears. "To the point that, at any given moment, tears would start to shed," she said of her experience. One of her co-stars and on-screen husband, Anthony Anderson, witnessed many tears. "Anthony [Anderson] towards the end was like, 'Seriously? Are you crying again?'" Ross explained. "Yeah, I'm crying, dude, I'm crying, get over it Mr. Crankypants who's pretending you're not having feelings but you are.'"
Ahead of the Season 8 premiere, the actor took to Instagram to share a touching post to honor Anderson, saying that it's been a "delight" to "stretch and grow" with him. "Most importantly, we've never let each other fall," she added. "You are the absolute best TV husband a gal could ever ask for, Pherny." Ugh, grab the tissues!