Tthis week Tamron Hall‘s new self-titled syndicated talk show debuts on stations around the country (check local listings).
But of course, getting here has been somewhat tumultuous for Hall. Remember, she had it going on to the max with daily hosting gigs on both NBC and MSNBC … so she thought. Then NBC pulled the rug from under her and she was basically demoted to make room for Megyn Kelly so she bounced. Well, we all know how that worked out for Kelly.
Hey, it’s all good, though because like they say, when one door closes, another opens. Hall found love, got married to music manager Steve Greener, and now she’s a new mom to an adorable baby boy named Moses.
So, see it all worked out in her personal life and her public/business life. As we said she’s now in charge of her very own talk show.
Interestingly, since it affects her personally, Hall is set to bring to the subject of interracial dating and marriage to the forefront. However, she doesn’t just want to talk about it only from the Black perspective. That’s because women from other races who date outside their race deal with backlash as well.
”I have a colleague who’s Asian and she said every time she goes out with a white man somebody believes she’s a gold digger,” Hall said on a conference call to reporters. “I’ve had a couple of people tell me my son is white and I am black. What does that mean? Barack Obama was our first Black president. His mother is white. Somehow my son is white, but he has a Black mother? So, I’m willing to talk about those things in very real terms.”
We know what some of you are thinking. How/why did she end up marrying a white man? Hall, 48, is just as surprised as you. That was never her plan.
“I never imagined my husband would be white. I grew up in Texas in a predominately Black neighborhood. I’ve dated almost exclusively men of color, Black men. He just so happened to be the person I fell in love with.”
Did she fear backlash for hitching up with someone outside of her race?
”There was a worry in the sense of I didn’t want him ridiculed or hurt and I didn’t want anyone feeling badly about themselves. As I pointed out, our president is a product of an interracial relationship. It’s labels that were trying to break down on the show and that we can bring in conversations that are really happening.”
Hall added this:
”In no way did marrying my husband mean that Black men had failed me. I was raised by an unapologetic Black man who served in this country’s army for 30 years. That’s who I am. That’s the fiber of who I am.”
Being in an interracial relationship has its challenges, of course, but Hall is ready to deal with it and all it entails. TheYBF notes that she was asked if she had to get over any hurdles in her own mind about marrying a white man?
Her response:
”Of, course I did. I don’t know if hurdles are the right thing, but I did take things into consideration. This is the person who I love and who loves me and who roots for me. My husband used to be the executive producer of the ‘Bernie Mac Show’ and won a Peabody Award for it. One of the most powerful images of a strong black father figure in TV. He said to me ‘Be yourself.” He gave me great advice along the way. I had to think about personal – well not consequences because I’m a grown woman. It wasn’t really that. We all love somebody and you don’t want anything you do to hurt them.”
PHOTO: Tamron Hall Show
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