Raven Symone's touching Debbie Allen tribute

Raven-Symone may have the Cosby Show to thank for the start of her career — and her unforgettable role as Olivia Kendall — but she also credits Debbie Allen with truly defining her success.

TheGrio Staff

Dec 14, 2014

Raven-Symone may have the Cosby Show to thank for the start of her career — and her unforgettable role as Olivia Kendall — but she also credits Debbie Allen with truly defining her success.

Raven thanked her mentor and expressed her love and appreciation in an episode of AOL’s 10-part series “My Hero.”

“Ms. Debbie is my hero, because she always gives,” she said in the video clip. “And to be able to express to Ms. Debbie what she does for me and my life, and what she does for me mentally when I go into the warzone that is Hollywood is really special…. If I didn’t have Ms. Debbie in my life, I’d probably be trying to figure out, like, what could I do next.”

Allen responded with a similarly heartwarming statement: “Raven, she is like one of my kids. I’m somewhere between her other mom and her aunt … because there is a trust there and you can’t manufacture that, you can’t make that.”