NEED TO KNOW
Tracee Ellis Ross is crediting her superstar mom, Diana Ross, for setting an example of what it means to be an independent woman.
“I come from a lot of abundance, but all of the abundance that I enjoy is mine, that I’ve built,” the Black-ish actress, 52, tells SELF in the magazine’s July cover story. “And building my own life has made me very aware of what my mother built on her own and what it took for her to do that.”
Tracee says that her mom, now 81, didn’t build the wealth or career she has “because of a man.”
“The example she set for me [was] that I didn’t need a man to build the life I wanted,” she continues. “It wasn’t, ‘Look at me,’ it was, ‘This is me.’ And that informed something very important for me foundationally.”
Tracee opens up in the interview about wearing her wedding dress to the Emmys.
“I wore my wedding dress to the first Emmys that I was nominated,” she recalls. “It was Ralph Lauren couture.”
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Tracee was nominated for her first Emmy in 2016 in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category for her work on Black-ish. In the following years, she received four additional nominations for the ABC sitcom, which ran for eight seasons between 2014 and 2022.
“And I remember thinking, ‘Oh, I’m marrying my life,” the Pattern Beauty founder notes.
Though she has never been married, Tracee says she’s “not interested” in becoming the poster child for “singledom, because I am looking to meet a partner.”
“What I don’t mind is being a power child for living your life on your own terms, for not waiting for partnership to find joy and happiness, for curating and cultivating one’s own sense of self,” she explains.
Tracee also says she’s not looking for someone to come in and then have “some sweep-me-off-my-feet [moment].”
“I like where my feet are. I’ve worked hard to get them underneath me,” she affirms. “I want a partner that’s not going to sweep me off my feet, but is going to link arms with me.”
Tracee also clarified a statement she recently made on Michelle Obama’s IMO podcast.
During the April 16 episode, the Girlfriends alum explained why she prefers to date younger men by saying, “A lot of men my age are steeped in a toxic masculinity and have been raised in a culture where there is a particular way that a relationship looks.”
Flanigan/Getty
Speaking to SELF, Tracee specified that she didn’t mean men are toxic.
“I said they were steeped in toxic masculinity because so am I,” she says. “The same way that we are steeped in a culture of white supremacy. I know the generosity of how I express things. I also know that if I do things wrong, I’m happy to admit it.”
