Whoopi Goldberg's daughter opens up about spending early childhood on welfare
Whoopi Goldberg's daughter talks about her reality TV series, 'According to Alex' on Centric....
Whoopi Goldberg’s daughter and her best friend are starring in their own reality TV series, According to Alex, on BET’s Centric.
According to Alex follows the life of Goldberg’s daughter, Alex Martin Dean (42), along with her husband, Bernard, and three kids — Amara, Jerzey and Mason.
On the series, Dean partners up with her long-time best friend Leisa, daughter of actor Lee Weaver, to lay out a blueprint of what’s next in their professional lives, but unexpected news of her eldest daughter’s move back home puts a temporary hold on Alex’s plans.
“I think that there was a space open for what we’re doing,” Martin Dean told theGrio.com while discussing the six episode mini-season of According to Alex. “I watch all the Housewives, but I think there’s been this whole rush of violence … black women hate each other … let me stab you in the back and smile in your face.”
“That’s not true, that’s not black women, that’s not black families,” Weaver added. “A lot of black folks have a lot of love and support.”
Matin Dean and Weaver both recalled growing up with famous parents and the obstacles of being in the spotlight at a young age.
Martin Dean opened up her family struggling financially until she was about 10 years old when Goldberg starred in her one-woman Broadway show and later landed her first major film role in 1985’s The Color Purple.
“I know what it’s like with the food stamps, because my mom has her [Welfare] cards framed. Seriously… I remember that. I remember we had the one room space and we slept in the bed together. I remember when we wanted to travel we would drive across the country in broke down bugs. We didn’t have the money to go to movies. I found friends, I walked down the street, I climbed trees, I did camping.”
Martin Dean says she looks back on her early childhood as the foundation of the woman she is today.
You can catch According to Alex on Centric Saturdays at 8/7c.
Follow theGrio.com’s Entertainment Editor Chris Witherspoon on Twitter @WitherspoonC.
