Club Shay Shay - Tacarra Williams Part 1

Summary

Club Shay Shay - Tacarra Williams (Part 1)

Published: August 12, 2026
Host: Shannon Sharpe
Guest: Tacarra Williams

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Episode Overview

In this engaging and wide-ranging conversation, NFL legend Shannon Sharpe sits down with bold stand-up comedian, actress, and motivational speaker Tacarra Williams. The two candidly explore Tacarra’s life, career in comedy, motherhood, family history, parenting challenges, generational differences, social media’s impact, relationship standards, and the realities of growing up in the Bronx. Delivered with humor and honesty, Tacarra’s stories provide both laughter and insight into the everyday truths of modern life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening & Name Clarification

• Rick Ross on Career Women (00:00)
  • Shannon highlights Rick Ross’ statement suggesting that women with wealthy partners should quit their jobs.
  • Tacarra’s response: “Keep your job, sis. They gonna like you more when you got something to do. Don't listen to Rick Ross. Cause all them girls he said to marry, they had career jobs and they quit him. He got with them and then he left them, too. So you stay.” (00:03)
• Name Pronunciation and Identity (01:24)
  • Tacarra corrects the widespread mispronunciation of her name, discussing how people reshape identity through casual habits.
  • Tacarra: “Sometimes you just fall into. You know... It turns into a conversation. It's not. It's Takarah.” (01:34)

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2. Comedy Beginnings & Early Hustle

• Getting Paid in Chicken Wings and Drinks (04:45)
  • Tacarra reveals most comedians start out performing for food, drinks, and the occasional bit of gas money.
  • Shannon jokes about the need for “rent, not wings”.
• Finding Her Comedy Style (05:18)
  • Inspired by a tough breakup, Tacarra discovered her style by reflecting real life, pain, and healing on stage.
  • Quote: “I went on stage, I had like a really bad breakup… They said, you should be on stage. Your improv is impeccable.” (05:28)

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3. Parenting & Generational Shifts

• Raising Gen Z (06:17)
  • Tacarra and Shannon bond over the complexities of parenting in a new era with bolder, less fearful children.
  • Quote: “They not scared no more.” (06:59)
• Entitlement and Upbringing (08:25)
  • Tacarra, growing up in the South Bronx projects, discusses how well-intentioned efforts to shield children can lead to entitlement.
  • “We created the most entitled generation... Maybe you should have heard a gunshot or two. Maybe you'd appreciate what I do.” (08:44)
• Letting Life Teach Hard Lessons (09:47)
  • Tacarra’s therapist: “You are his enabler... You gotta let life whoop him.”
  • Tacarra: "I've been sitting back for, like, the past year, letting life whoopin' life whooping him." (10:03)

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4. Family Stories & Childhood Survival

• Big Family Dynamics (17:08)
  • As the third oldest of eight (and a twin), Tacarra describes sibling rivalries over food, class clown tactics and survival strategies to avoid bullying or punishments.
  • “I think you automatically become, you look for something else to push out because you just don't want to be... I didn't want to get bullied." (18:29)
• Poverty and Loyalty (18:36)
  • Anecdotes about wearing donated clothes, sometimes from bullies, and developing humor as armor.
• Musical Roots (19:13)
  • Tacarra’s father was a blues musician, her mother a singer; but money was scarce with eight kids.
  • “Not for eight kids.” (19:53)

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5. Parental Love & Differences in Parenting

• Affection vs. Hardship (21:06)
  • Despite poverty, Tacarra felt loved—especially by her father, highlighting their close-knit family bond.
  • Stories about family outings, jealous neighbors, and playful but poignant lessons from her father.
    • “He would spitefully take us outside... Hey, you could play with us, but you gotta go get your father.” (23:45)
• Shifting Parenting Styles (24:25)
  • Both guests discuss the impossibility of parenting each child the same way, and adapting approaches out of necessity and for each child’s temperament.
  • “You're a different parent to every child. And that's exhausting.” (24:57)
• Reflecting on ‘Old School’ Discipline (25:33)
  • Both agree that some old methods were actually abusive by today’s standards; times, rules, and awareness of mental health have changed.

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6. Teenage Years & Early Motherhood

• First pregnancies and Family Reactions (29:15)
  • Tacarra and her twin sister were both pregnant as teens—prompting layered reactions from parents and grandparents.
  • “I was the one in the family where everybody felt like, you gonna be the one. So when I got pregnant, it was more disappointment on my end.” (33:41)
• Determination to Defy Stereotypes (35:14)
  • Her grandfather’s stern but motivating message: “Do not become a statistic… Once you get sucked in here (the projects), you ain’t gonna get out.” (35:34)
  • Despite setbacks, Tacarra attended a school with a childcare program, graduated, and worked to avoid perpetuating generational cycles.

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7. Generational Realities, Alcohol & Social Pressure

• Alcohol, Smoking & Straight Paths (47:27)
  • Tacarra waited until 21 for her first drink, bucking the trend among peers. Shannon never drank or smoked until his 50s.
• Parent-Child Transparency (50:57)
  • Tacarra doesn’t want to know everything about her daughter’s young-adult choices.
  • “Keep it to yourself. You keep it away from me this long. I'm good.” (50:59)

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8. Being a Grandmother & Modern Family Roles

• Grandparenting Boundaries (51:38)
  • Tacarra humorously sets boundaries with her grandchild: “I’m not gonna watch that bald headed ass kid.” (51:43)
  • She loves her grandson but on her own terms—rebuffing guilt trips from adult children.
• Affection for 'Grandma' (53:00)
  • “Just Grandma. Just Grandma. I like grandma. It's perfect for me.” (53:15)

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9. Social Media & Public Persona

• DMs and Social Media Intrusion (57:16 - 59:45)
  • Tacarra jokes about men sending inappropriate DMs, deals with social media’s invasiveness, and reflects on how followers feel entitled to her personal life.
  • “I got an album of them [inappropriate photos]. Every time somebody send me one, I go on my album and I send them one back.” (59:21)
• Social Media and Relationships (63:26)
  • Transparently posting relationships/breakups creates unrealistic expectations and opens the door to external opinions, leading to unnecessary judgment.

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10. Unrealistic Standards & Practicality in Relationships

• Chasing ‘The Same 10%’ (91:40)
  • Too many women seek the same small pool of high-earning men while overlooking quality men with average means.
  • “There are some really good men out there who get passed by because all the women are searching for the same man. We all trying to get the same 10% of men.” (91:40)
• Tacarra’s Own Values (94:13)
  • She celebrates being practical, choosing a Lexus over a luxury car, saving money, and valuing gratitude in relationships over luxury goods.
  • “I have anxiety of not having money again. So I over save. I overstack money. Because when I leave this earth, I gotta leave my kids something.” (95:13)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Parenting:

  • “You are a different parent to every single one of them.” (24:46, Takara Williams)
  • “Everything is conditional.” (11:35, Shannon Sharpe)

• On Generational Shifts:

  • “They not scared no more.” (06:59, Takara Williams)
  • “We created the most entitled generation… Maybe you should have heard a gunshot or two.” (08:44, Takara Williams)

• On Social Media:

  • “Social media has created this space for everybody to feel like we need to hear what y' all got to say.” (63:57, Takara Williams)
  • “I wish they would take [social media] away. Somebody says social media is a source of income. For me, I'm like, it is, but it's not the income, Right? Just give us YouTube. Everything else need to go.” (74:13, Takara Williams)

• On Relationship Standards:

  • “There's nothing wrong with an average man… Women… are searching for the same 10% of men.” (90:45, Takara Williams)
  • “You want to be seen so bad... we don't realize this till we in our 40s and 50s as women.” (92:31, Takara Williams)

• On Gratitude and Practicality:

  • “Appreciation, gratitude. They happily married.” (97:16, Takara Williams, on a couple appreciating a simple Steve Madden bag)
  • “Your assets shouldn't be on your ass.” (96:00, John Hope Bryant, cited by Shannon Sharpe)

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Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:00 – Rick Ross’ comments, Tacarra’s take on career women
• 01:24 – Name identity, correcting “Takara” vs. “Takarah”
• 04:45 – Comedy beginnings, getting “paid” in food
• 05:18 – First time on stage, comedic healing
• 06:40 – Parenting Gen Z, “They not scared no more”
• 08:25 – Entitlement in current kids vs. growing up in the projects
• 09:47 – Letting kids learn hard life lessons
• 17:08 – Big family, sibling dynamics, being the class clown
• 21:06 – Family outings, affection, feeling loved despite poverty
• 24:25 – Raising kids differently, shifting approaches
• 29:15 – Teenage pregnancy, family reactions, determination
• 35:14 – Grandfather’s advice: “Do not become a statistic”
• 47:27 – Waiting until 21 for a first drink
• 51:38 – Becoming a grandmother, setting boundaries
• 57:16 – Social media, DMs, and personal boundaries
• 63:26 – Impact of social media on relationships
• 91:40 – Discussing “good men” and dating market realities
• 94:13 – Practical choices over showy lifestyle

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Tone and Dynamic

• The tone is humorous, direct, and honest, shaped by Tacarra’s Bronx roots and comedic style.
• Shannon and Tacarra trade stories with warmth, playful teasing, and the comfort of shared experience.
• Tacarra is fearless in discussing personal missteps, generational differences, and the pressures faced by parents and women in the social media age.

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Closing Thoughts

This first part of the Tacarra Williams episode is a mix of laughter, real talk, and hard-earned wisdom about parenting, resilience, and authenticity. Whether unpacking her rise in comedy, the lessons of poverty, or the pitfalls of chasing other people’s standards, Tacarra’s voice is fierce and relatable—a reminder to “keep your job, keep your sense, and keep your heart practical and grateful.”

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To Continue:
For more on Tacarra’s journey and further discussion, tune in to Part 2 of the episode on your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you see where Rick Ross said career women should quit their jobs if they date a wealthy man?

[Takara Williams]

Keep your job, sis. They gonna like you more when you got something to do. Don't listen to Rick Ross. Cause all them girls he said to marry, they had career jobs and they quit him. He got with them and then he left them, too. So you stay. All my life been grinding all my life Sacrifice, hustle, paid the price, wanna slice, got to roll a dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life all my life been grinding all my life Sacrifice, hustle, PA want a slice, got to roll a dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life

[Shannon Sharpe]

we would first like to thank Double Barrel and the Whiskey Shop for having us today's episode of Club Shay Shay. If you're in Beverly Hills, come by for a drink in this elegant lounge. Now onto today's episode. Hello. Welcome to another episode of Club Shay Shay. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor of Club Shay Shay. Stopping by for conversation and a drink today. She's fearless and unapologetically honest. She's one of the most beloved voices on comedy today. A bold standup comedian, a club favorite that turned touring headliner, crowd lover from coast to coast. She's a talented actress, television personality, a host, a model, motivational speaker, a writer, and a mom. And she's from the Boogie Down Bronx. And she is Takara Williams.

[Takara Williams]

Hey,

[Shannon Sharpe]

so let's go ahead and put this out there.

[Takara Williams]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What it is? Takara.

[Takara Williams]

It's Takara, not Takara.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, but for the most part, people call you Takara. And even you introduce yourself, they done got you calling yourself by the name that your mom didn't give you.

[Takara Williams]

You know, sometimes you just fall into. You know. Cause then it turns into a conversation. It's not. It's Takarah.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Oh, okay. And then they gonna call me Takara again anyway.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Cause, you know, they go, her name is Takara. I'm like, well, I'm telling you what she told me. So I'm just going by what people told what she told me her name is.

[Takara Williams]

Right. I appreciate it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, thank you very much. Okay. Thank you for stopping by. I know you're busy taking time out of your schedule today and to come by and Club Shay Shay. So we greatly appreciate it.

[Takara Williams]

I'm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, you are?

[Takara Williams]

I am.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wait till you tell that joke. What you talking about?

[Takara Williams]

That's what I thought you was gonna ask me. I said, oh, he gonna Warm you up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We gonna warm you up first.

[Takara Williams]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you know what? Everybody that comes by, we. I don't know if it's a little early for you.

[Takara Williams]

No, I'm okay. We got this in the house. Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Have you tried it before?

[Takara Williams]

We have.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It' do all comedians drink or do you get or something that acquired because you're performing late at night? You might do two shows. One's at 8, the other's at 10:30.

[Takara Williams]

You know what I think most comedians started off drinking. Cause that's how when you first start

[Shannon Sharpe]

comedy, that's how on August 21st. What's your plan?

[Takara Williams]

I want the vengeance.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No one does action movies. You got a problem on the ship like Jason Statham.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Well, you'll need all the help you can get.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mutiny rated R Aug. 21.

[Commercial/Announcer]

They don't realize smart people use smartphones, huh? Seeing through BS they thought was gonna slide.

[Takara Williams]

Download text now cause it cuts out clownery. You can literally activate it from your couch nationwide 5G with the same towers the other companies use. Pay what you want or not at all. You're in control.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Show these ridiculous carriers we ain't paying

[Shannon Sharpe]

for stupid because we're way too smart to pay dumb. We shuttin them down.

[Takara Williams]

Free app based talking Text via the TextNow app. Requires WI fi or data connection data plan sold separately.

[Commercial/Announcer]

5G where available with the Discover Cash back card. It's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases. Activate and earn 5% cash back at different categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases. That's 5% cash back at different places each quarter. Like grocery stores, on gas and at restaurants. It pays to Discover terms apply. See discover.com 5 for details. I love my phone but not my carrier.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What do I do?

[Takara Williams]

Well, there are 250 reasons to join T Mobile.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Like what?

[Takara Williams]

You can keep your phone and your number and T mobile helps pay it off up to $800 per line. So I wouldn't have to buy a new phone? Yep. Plus your plan price stays the same for 5 years on experience plans. Nice. Find your reason@t mobile.com

[Commercial/Announcer]

via virtual prepaid guard card typically takes 15 days after rebate submission price guarantee on talk text

[Takara Williams]

and 5G data exclusions like taxes and fees apply.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Amazon Pharmacy presents painful thoughts it's been

[Takara Williams]

a long bumpy road dealing with yet another bladder infection and driving to the pharmacy to pick up meds. I went over a pothole and a little pee came out. So now I get to stand in line with pee pee pants.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Next time, skip the pain and get fast free delivery with Amazon Pharmacy Healthcare just got less painful.

[Takara Williams]

You get paid.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

They pay you in chicken wings and in drinks.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They really? Cause everybody say that. They really do that?

[Takara Williams]

Yes, absolutely. They will ask you, hey, we got a slot. It's a seven minute slot. We can't pay you, but we can make sure that you eat and drink for the night and you get there and it's just food and drinks for the night. So.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, no, I need rent.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, but that's hard when you new in comedy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

Like when you. Like now, of course, you know, I want the drinks and the food and the money.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

But in the beginning, it's drinks, it's food, and sometimes they throw you a little $20 gas money.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How did you determine the style of comedy that you were gonna do?

[Takara Williams]

Ooh, I determined the style of comedy that I wanted to do based on the first time I went on stage.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

I went on stage, I had like a really bad breakup. And, you know, most women, we go through breakups, we're like, oh, I wanna find myself. I always wanted to do this and you stopped me. And I went and did. And I had never acted in my life, Shannon. And they said, you ain't got the part, but you should be doing standup.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Really?

[Takara Williams]

Yes, because the part was supposed to be a serious part, but I made it funny. And they said, you should be on stage. Your improv is impeccable. You should be doing standup. And I went on stage the same night and I talked about the difference between how men break up versus how women break up. And I didn't realize how healing it was not just for the people watching for me. And I also felt seen and heard. And the people who I was talking to came up to me after and said, I just got out of a bad breakup. Girl, thank you for talking about that. I needed that. And I was like, oh, this is helping.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

And that was it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And that started it. Now you do a lot of mom comedy because you have a daughter and so you're able to bounce. So how influential is like, because it's different. Times are different now from when you were growing up her age. Yeah, obviously when I was her age, things are a lot different. And you look at her now and you like, she can teach you things. These Gen Z. Yeah, they're on another level.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. Help us. If you listen to help, help, please. And that's one of the reasons why I talk about it, because sometimes I would have experiences with my daughter, and I'm like, it can't just be me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

I can't be the only one who's willing to go to jail today. It can't be me Googling jail time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because you know what it is, Takara?

[Takara Williams]

They not scared no more.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Shannon.

[Shannon Sharpe]

See, you took the word. They don't fear. Boy, we were afraid of our grandparents. We were afraid of our parents. We were afraid of Ms. Such and Such in the neighborhood. You couldn't be disrespectful back in the day when.

[Takara Williams]

Cause I'm the third oldest of eight kids, and I'm a twin.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. And a lot of back in the day, when my mom said something I didn't like, I would go in my room and still whisper my response.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

With the door closed.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

And talk. And I would talk. Mess. Now they say it to your face. I'd be in my room. Like, I heard you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

You raggedy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You say something? No, ma'. Am.

[Takara Williams]

Yes, now. And I don't like you. And I don't. And I'm like, oh, you not scared? Oh, I got to put a little fear in you, huh? Oh, I see what's happening today.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Let me put you in the headlock. Right quickly.

[Takara Williams]

But the comedy content comes from just feeling like, am I the only mom?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

And then I do, you know, some bits about it, and I get so much feedback from parents that are like, me, too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

It's not just your daughter. It's my daughter. And they're edgier. And they not scared. Not just of us. Of anybody.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Anybody. Nope. Nope. And I think that's the biggest, I think, because I think that's why a lot of, you know, and people, when they look at celebs and entertainers, they're wondering, are their kids just as bad as our kids? Because they have everything. They have nice homes, nice cars. They get to go X, Y, and Z. But do they talk back?

[Takara Williams]

Are they worse?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Disrespectful? Are they unappreciative?

[Takara Williams]

They're worse.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They are.

[Takara Williams]

They're worse. They're worse because a lot of us grew up in times where, like, I grew up in the South Bronx in the projects, and, you know, we lived on the first floor, so we wasn't allowed to stand up next to the window because it was always gunfire.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

So I told myself, when I become of a certain age and I have kids, I'm gonna make sure that they don't experience what I did.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

And then somewhere along the way, and I'm not the only parent that was in a space like that. There was a disconnect. And we created the most entitled generation of kids that has come, and we thought we were doing something good. And I'm like, well, damn, maybe you should have saw crackhead. Mm. You know, maybe you should have heard a gunshot or two. Maybe you'd appreciate what I do, but. Because, you know, again, I don't know what a disconnect was, but now you just got this generation of kids, and they're like, I don't need you for nothing. You could have been around more. You were never there. I don't need you for nothing. But could you co sign no for me over here? This car? Could you help me for this apartment? And I'm like, I'm not co signing for no apartment. You don't even make up your bed.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know what it is, though? I think the thing is, is that our generation, what we've done, because we've made it. Like, I don't want my kids to suffer. I don't want them to endure. And that's a part of it.

[Takara Williams]

Yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And when they have to suffer or they have to endure, they don't understand it because we've always been there to bail them out. And it helped us develop who we are. But we like. I don't want my kids to go through what I went through. I don't want my kids to suffer.

[Takara Williams]

Listen, Shannon, my therapist told me when my son. My son, 25. And she said. She said, you are his enabler. It's the reason why you're going through stuff with him. Cause you enable everything that he does. You keep. Every time he about to hit the floor, you throw a pillow and you save him. She said, you gotta let life whoop him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mm.

[Takara Williams]

And I've been sitting back for, like, the past year, letting life whoopin' life whooping him. Oh, I be sitting in the back like, you ain't gonna fight back. Swing. Do something. Geez. You ain't gonna pinch nobody. You just gonna sit there. But I have to. I have to let him. Because I did so much. And I think as parents, we get caught up in this again. I don't want my kid through this. That we do everything, and then they don't do anything. And then this generation here, they have such a hard time with rejection. They quit so fast. If they try by themself and it don't work, they already calling you. I tried to get a job, and it didn't work. How many jobs did you try to get one, go try 10 first before you call me. Yeah, they don't like rejection.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They don't. Yeah, they don't. And that's our fault. Because the first time things didn't go their way, we made sure that we put a situation in there. And I don't mind helping them. And the thing that I've told my kids, I said, look, I wanna be the last option. I wanna be your first choice.

[Takara Williams]

Thank you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I said, because, look, I've given you everything from the private schools to college. You didn't have anything. You had no debt when you came out. Come on now, let's go.

[Takara Williams]

Did you exhaust all options before you called me?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. Yes. And then I. Hey, if we can't. If you can't figure it out after you, you know, you spend some time, then I'm here. That's what I'm here for. Yeah, but don't just. Hey. Well, did you go? Look, no. Could you.

[Takara Williams]

But you know what else? They don't like when it's conditional. No, I'mma help you, but it's gonna be on these terms. Why can't you just help me? Because you don't do the right thing when I just help you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

I'm gonna help you with your rent, but you need to be in school. I'm gonna help you take care of college, but you need to be staying this GPA above. Yes, but that's conditional. It's gonna be conditional. Cause it's my money.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Everything is conditional.

[Takara Williams]

Thank you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You think your job gonna pay you if you gonna come to work?

[Takara Williams]

Thank you. Thank you. I just had this conversation with my son. He said, you only wanna help me when it's conditional. I said, baby, everything conditional. The job you got is conditional.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You show up to work, the girlfriend

[Takara Williams]

you got is condition.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. Yes. So their conditions on everything.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So your mom, your daughter taught you a new word. She's taught you. You the birthday. What that mean?

[Takara Williams]

You the what?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You the birthday.

[Takara Williams]

You the birthday. Oh, it's like you. You the star.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. You the birthday. You the star. You the M period. That's how she talked.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

If I told her I was doing this, she said, you doing what? I said I'm doing. Not the Shannon, not the Shaw. Okay, sis, who the birthday? You the birthday. Okay. Little Shannon, little sharp little stuff. Little pot. Okay. That's how she talk.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow, she is really New Yorker.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, we knew. Yeah, 21. She go to college in New York. And she's. She's like my best friend, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Really?

[Takara Williams]

But, man, four or five years ago, I was gonna go to jail.

[Shannon Sharpe]

See, Let me ask you a question. Would your mama have ever. Would you have ever called your mom your best friend?

[Takara Williams]

Uh, I wish I could have. I wish I could have. But, you know. You know, she went off to college in New York, and of course, I live here in la, and life changed for her. And that's when she started appreciating more

[Shannon Sharpe]

of what I do.

[Takara Williams]

She called me one day. Me and her dad, we give her, like, you know, a monthly allowance. We pay for college. And she called me one day, and I said, we're not giving you no more than that. And then she said, bread costs $6. I said, yeah, yeah, bread is $6. I said, yes, Casey. Milk is $5. I'm like, you all right? Yeah. I didn't know food cost this much. I said, Cause you ain't never had to buy it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

But now that you out there in the world, this is part of your life. You got to buy bread and milk. And she's like, I'm not going to eat. Then you need to figure it out.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

And now she appreciates what I've done more. Now she's more like, I appreciate you. I love you. Thank you. I didn't know. I didn't know life was like this.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They get a better appreciation when they have to do all the things that you did for the first 18, 20, 21 years that you had to do that they never thought about. Now all of a sudden, they have to do it on their own. They have a greater appreciation. Oh, you know what, Dad? I didn't realize how hard you had it. I didn't realize how easy you made it.

[Takara Williams]

You know what's my favorite? So we just floating on a rock paying bills.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

That's my daughter. So we just floating on a rock, paying for apples that come from trees. This ain't fair. And I said, baby, it's just life. Like, everybody feels this way. We just. You gotta put one foot in front of the other every single day.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And, you know, hey, find things that you're gonna. Because you're gonna have to work for a considerable long time. I mean, you're 21 now. The retirement age is 65. They talking about bumping that up to 70.

[Takara Williams]

Really? Ew.

[Shannon Sharpe]

There ain't gonna be no Medicaid or Medicare, so I'm gonna start pulling mine out right now. Yeah, I done paid into it today.

[Takara Williams]

Right now

[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

Yes, I think I did, but not around my parents. I think I did a lot of who you. And then I learned, you know, again, I grew up in the South Bronx in the projects. I started going outside. Outside the projects.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

I started going into, you know, I went to school in Uptown in the Bronx, and then I went to another school in Manhattan. So I had to get on the train.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

And once I got on the train and I started maneuvering around, I was like, oh, there's more to life than the Bronx. And this behavior that I'm expressing that I learned from the hood, this ain't gonna pass out here.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Takara Williams]

And I wind up, I slowly started to shift. Now, granted, there's a time between I be like, hey, what up? What y' all doing? But then most of the time when

[Shannon Sharpe]

you riding, when you're in that environment.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know, you talk to, you assimilate. Yeah, but when I'm outside, people gonna be.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, I got some sense. But yeah, back in the day. Oh no, I wasn't doing that in front of my mom.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

She'll pop me so fast.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what type of kid were you in school? Were you a. Because you said that when you went for this audition, for one thing, they said you need to be stand up. Were you a class clown? Did you try to make other people laugh? Did you get in trouble because you were smart mouthed?

[Takara Williams]

You know, I think being the third oldest of eight kids, you automatically are a smart mouth. You already on just like survival mode and you don't even realize you're on survival mode. Cause you're just trying to get your parents attention.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

You know, your siblings is doing stuff, the whole house in trouble.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

You know my brother, I remember my brother ate five ice creams out the cabinet. This is my older brother and my mom only bought eight. Cause it's eight kids, he bought five. And she came in there with a belt and said, who ate the ice cream? Now we don't wanna snitch on him cause he the oldest and he gonna beat us up. So now you gotta decide. You wanna get a beating from mommy or a beating from Sean. You gotta make a decision. Cause either we gonna tell on him or nobody tells and we all get in trouble. Nobody told, nobody told.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I would have said anything, but I don't.

[Takara Williams]

No, no. Cause he was big.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I ain't gonna lie. I told, I was telling. I didn't tell.

[Takara Williams]

We didn't tell because then there'd be another time I did something and I ain't wanna get in trouble.

[Shannon Sharpe]

See, that's the best part about being the youngest.

[Takara Williams]

So I think growing up in that dynamic with so many kids and my parents, you always, you are like automatically the class clown. You're automatically jonesing on each other. That's why mommy don't. This, that's why mommy, you know, that's why your mom is like our mom. So we always. So of course you took that to school. And then we were poor, which made it even. I had to come with jokes because we were poor.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

I didn't mean to be the funniest. I think it was just a default to not get bullied.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, okay. Yes, yes, yes.

[Takara Williams]

And we got bullied. We didn't have clothes. People used to donate clothes to us. They used to knock on our door and give Us clothes. And we used to go through the clothes and I'd be like, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine. And then I look at the tag and it say the bully name in the inside. I'm like, I couldn't wear this shirt to school. She finna tear my ass up if I go to school in this shirt. But we wore it anyway because that's all we had. So it was just. I think you automatically become, you know, you become. You look for something else to push out because you just don't want to be. I didn't want to get bullied. So yeah, I used to come with the jokes, but I used to sing. That's how I thought I was. I thought I was going to be singing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, so you're going to be a singer?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay. Cause you know they got a lot of rappers that come from the Bronx. So you gonna be next one in the line.

[Takara Williams]

I was good. I used to win competitions. My dad is a bl.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh really?

[Takara Williams]

Yes. He used to be in a. Well, he. Til his dad died. It was him. It was a dad, a father son duo. And the name of the band was called Delta Blues Band. And they toured the world. Tokyo, Australia. I mean Australia. They went everywhere touring. So I thought that I would do music. Cause my dad did music and my mom's a singer.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Takara Williams]

So I mean. And it was. It's not as fascinating as it sounds because my dad was also an alcoholic. I love you, dad. And I know you've been sober for a long time. I appreciate you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause I was gonna say you say you were poor. But he toured. He got little Brad then.

[Takara Williams]

Not for eight kids.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Not enough for eight. Eight children. That's what y' all did with y' all, tag eight of us?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, you know, he said it was a blues guy, so, you know, the blues be down.

[Takara Williams]

You just said all the time. That's what y' all did. Just sad. So, you know, I always thought I was gonna sing. And no, I just. I just fell in. I used to win competition. I used to do really good. And then one day I just fell into stand up. And I just been in love ever since the oldest.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So how old is the oldest and next in line? So you got eight, so.

[Takara Williams]

Oh, Lord. I don't know. It's so many of us, really.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I' so how much older is the older brother?

[Takara Williams]

Older brother and sister. I wanna say my older brother is 40, my older sister is 46, my older brother's 45. Then I'm 42. And then everybody else falls in line, right? Wanna 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37. Yeah. Yeah. Mama was in them streets with my

[Shannon Sharpe]

dad, so it was so. I could imagine. Cause you guys, they cooking big pots. Y' all eating a big pot of rice. Y' all eat a big pot of beans. And it wasn't.

[Takara Williams]

That's it. And that's the two right there. No meat. We couldn't afford it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow. Mm. But you had each other.

[Takara Williams]

Ew. I'd rather the meet. You know what I'm saying? I don't need that little sister. I got one of them already. I don't need two.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But did your parents show you affection? Did you know you were loved, or did you feel loved?

[Takara Williams]

I did feel loved. I'm a daddy's girl.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

Oh, I'm a daddy's girl. Heavy. I don't play with my father. I love my mom, too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

But I think when you have so many children, we automatically shift to one parent, you know? But, yeah, we felt loved. We felt. You know, we didn't get to play in the project until we were in our teenage years. Wow. My parents used to take us. We had this green van called Suzy Q. And it was like two different tones of green. And there was only two sets of seats in there, and that was the passenger and the driver.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Takara Williams]

So everybody else on the floor on a mattress with a string along the. Along the back. So you would hold on. And they. Every weekend, they would take us when my dad was home. They would take us out to projects. We went to Central Park. We used to feed the ducks. My mom used to cook food. We didn't start going outside in the project until we were teenagers. But, yeah, we got a lot of love, a lot of affection. People were jealous of us. No, we didn't have money. No, we didn't dress nice. But we had our dad, right? And, baby, the women, oh, they used to be on my dad. Such a good father. Just taking care of your children. And you're so great. And my mama used to whoop ass. You ever seen your parent do something to scare you a little bit? Some woman was talking to my dad one day. My mom came outside, and her daughter got disrespectful. And I don't even know the full extent of it, but I don't know where she got a yellow Lil Tykes bat from and went and went to work on this woman.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I know your mama hit that woman upside her head.

[Takara Williams]

That woman came back in that house that whole house was clean. I learned how to cook.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, you saw it outside. I wasn't part of it.

[Takara Williams]

I scared. I was no part of it. I wasn't fried. I didn't even know who taught me how to fry chicken. But it's fried. The rice is made. I'm terrified of that lady. But we got a lot of love growing up. People used to. We just had a dad. It was like, but I got the best Jordans on. And my dad would tell us. We would go home and say, we want new sneakers. And he was like, we going to the Salvation Army. That's what we gonna do. Well, we want new clothes. Well, you know, such and such has bought us new clothes. But all of our friends laugh at us. And they do this. And he's like, they don't got no dad.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mm.

[Takara Williams]

And he used to spitefully take us outside. And there was this big park where they took all the play stuff out.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

And we used to play kickball, Right? Guys in the family against the women in the family. And the kids used to come along all around the sides and play, hang around the gate. Can we play with y'? All? Can we play with y'? All? And my dad would say, ain't that the girl that used to bully you? And I said, yeah, she be bullying me at school. Watch this. Hey, you could play with us, but you gotta go get your father. And she would look like, damn, Pops

[Shannon Sharpe]

had jokes back then too, huh?

[Takara Williams]

And he would be like, see? Now sit your behind down till it's your turn. I'm like, oh, look at her. She's sad. And she would walk away just defeated. And I was like, damn, my dad crazy as hell. Why would he say that?

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you. Like, I'm all for it, though.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. But even now that I'm older, I'm like, oh, he was defending us, but he's also showing us she don't have her father.

[Shannon Sharpe]

There's more to. There's more to life than material things. Having parents, having people that love you. Do you work right here?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. I'm a kid. I'm a kid. At the time, I'm getting bullied. I want the new mountain gear coat and the parasuko jeans and the coogee top, like I want. So, yeah, we got a lot of love.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How close are you that you rear your kids like your mom dad reared you. Ooh.

[Takara Williams]

Ooh. Okay, so. Because it's all, you know, I don't know how many kids you have.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I have three.

[Takara Williams]

You have three kids, right? I have three. Right. 25, 21, 12. What I've learned is you are a different parent to every single one of them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You gotta be.

[Takara Williams]

And that people don't understand how difficult parenting is, especially with multiple children, because you're a different parent to every child. And that's exhausting. Especially if they're all together.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

At the same time, you gotta be a different dad.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And they see it and they say you showing favoritism.

[Takara Williams]

Yes. So I think I tried to rear my son that way.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

And I learned from how he is now not to do that with my daughter. So the way I started with him isn't. The way I started with her isn't the way I'm starting with. It's similar to the way I'm starting with my little one. My son is very different from my daughter, who's also very different from the youngest. I started, but then I think I was too hard at first.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

And then I softened up and then I got too soft.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

So I tried that. But then times are also different.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Very.

[Takara Williams]

So you can't even give. And then a lot of times we realize the way our parents used to treat that was abuse.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You going to jail.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They calling cps.

[Takara Williams]

You weren't supposed to do that to me, lady. I told my mother, when I said, I'm calling cps, she said, here, get to the phone. I said, oh, you serious? Oh, I don't even know how to use the phone. I was just joking, mommy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You do. But you have to learn how to treat the kid because some you can ride. Like my oldest daughter, I can be the toughest on her. But the other two, if I'm like that with them, they cry.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. In a corner. But her, yeah, that's cause she the oldest.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ooh, boy.

[Takara Williams]

That's cause she. She's the experimental one. I know that sounds crazy and no kid wants to hear that, but it's unfortunate. Your first child is your experiment child.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

I'm just, you know, that's like when you had your first daughter, you was like, we can't do this. And she's not supposed to lay like that. And what if she falls? And what if she this and you can't give her too much milk. And now the second one, you be like, man, she'll be fine. Give her that milk. If she falls, she'll be fine.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

She'll roll. She'll be okay. So it's hard to parent all your kids, but you just. You just learn. I tried that stuff my parents did, and I was like, that's abuse. You're not supposed to do that. I got a knot on my head.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I think back then, times were different. I mean, now, maybe that's what we need right now.

[Takara Williams]

Well, no, we can't even do it right now because mental health is so crazy that some people don't know when to stop.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You're right.

[Takara Williams]

You discipline your kid. My mom would pop me once and be like, well, I told you, I'm sorry.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But that was. But see, that was enough. You would get the picture. You pop these kids, now, they gonna blow up. Like, oh, boy, you better go sit down somewhere.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Why?

[Shannon Sharpe]

My grandma. My grandpa. Grandmother would always say, boy, don't make me hurt you. You right? I don't wanna get hurt. So, you know what? Let me get on. Let me get out here. Hey, Spank, come on, let's play kickball. Let's do something in the yard.

[Takara Williams]

It's different now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It is, it is.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because, you know, even in school teachers. I don't know if you was still in that in the era where the teacher could paddle you.

[Takara Williams]

No, I was not in that. I would've got paddled to death if I was.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He's like, yeah, I came up in that era.

[Takara Williams]

If I was in that era, I would've got. My mama would've had to come to school and fight somebody. They'd be like, I know, she. She don't listen, but you can't paddle her that much. So, no, I wasn't in that error.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you. You said your daughter tried to sneak out the house. Have you ever tried to sneak out the house?

[Takara Williams]

I never snuck out the house. I just went outside.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You just.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. Okay, so let me say this. Jesus Christ. Okay, so we lived on the first floor.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

But there was also a time in our family dynamic where my mom and dad was going through a divorce and they just kind of didn't care what was going on.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, so that was your advantage, so you took advantage of a situation.

[Takara Williams]

I tried, and then I had. I got pregnant. Stupid. And then I had a baby, and I was like, ooh, I wanna stay in the house. I wanna go back outside. Let me just stay in a safe in. There ain't no boys out here. Let me just stay in the house where I'm supposed to be. So I never snuck outside. We just. Once my parents started going through their divorce, it was like free reign to do whatever we wanted to do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Do you think that happened because your parents were so structured on you? Is that when you got outside, you really Got outside.

[Takara Williams]

I never really got outside.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But once you did. But I'm still. No, but see, like you said when your parents were going. Because when they were united, there wasn't none of that going on. But once you got outside and you got a chance to like, yeah, I've

[Takara Williams]

got a free out here. I kinda. Yeah, the street lights is on and look at me, I'm still outside.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right? Right.

[Takara Williams]

Oh, nobody coming to get me. Cause it was the street lights come on type of household. When the street lights come on, you better be in that house.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

And one day I was just sitting there and the street lights came on and I was like, so what happens now?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

I never been outside past the streetlights without my mom. Wow. And it's just grown up stuff. People smoking weed. Ooh, they got music playing. Ooh, I like it outside. I wanna be outside. Pregnant.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Stupid. You got outside, you get pregnant. Who do you tell first, your mom or your dad?

[Takara Williams]

Oh, I told my mom. Cause let me tell you why. My twin sister was pregnant too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Y' all got pregnant at the same time.

[Takara Williams]

She got pregnant before me. So everybody in my house is having sex. I was like, I wanna have sex too. Everybody having sex. I'm 16. I'm like the last one, Even my little sister. I'm like, y' all have sex too. Wait a minute, what I doing wrong? And I tried it and bam.

[Shannon Sharpe]

One shot, one kill.

[Takara Williams]

Yep. 25.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You like?

[Takara Williams]

Uh, I'm staying in the house.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She's like, ah, I should have just.

[Takara Williams]

I should have stayed in the house. I should have went out the door and climbed my behind back in the window and stayed in the house.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So your daughter tried to sneak out. So how did you catch her? How did you know she was planning the great escape?

[Takara Williams]

The crazy thing is that I don't necessarily know if she was trying to sneak out. Cause she know it's a ring camera, you know, I see in the front and in the back, right. So when I called her, I'm like, well, where you at? She's like, oh, I'm in the house. I'm like, no, you're not. You checking my location? No, the camera went off. Honey, I see you get in the car. Wow. Oh, wow. You saw me. Cause I was trying to sneak out. I said, you're not sneaking. You just went outside at this point. Cause I see you, I see, I see everything that you're doing. And then she got upset because the party that she snuck to was trash. So you snuck outside for nothing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you don't Know that. You just know there's a party going on and you trying to get at it.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, she went there. Cause I didn't even see the video of her sneaking out. I saw the one of her coming back in, and it was like 30 minutes later.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Takara Williams]

I'm like, well, where did you go to a party? I'm like, why you come back in the house so fast? It was boring. You wasted your sneak out. You wasted your sneak out.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you know, when you try to do something, Cara, you throw caution to the wind. It don't even matter.

[Takara Williams]

That's true. That's very true.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It don't even matter, man. I know I shouldn't be doing this. I know my mom and dad. I know my grandma, my grandparents gonna be upset, but I just got to be.

[Takara Williams]

We just took the risk back in the day. You be like, I know my mama's sitting at the door waiting for me to come in. I'm gonna stay out a little bit longer. I know she know I left, right? I know she waiting at that door for me to come in. I might as well stay a little bit. I might as well stay till the sun come up, right? Cause it's gonna be the same. I'm gonna get the same punishment, regardless.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you think. Say, you know what? That's what I get. Trying to be sneaky doing something I ain't got no business. And here I am. I done got pregnant. All I had to do. All I had to do was just.

[Takara Williams]

Did I ever think that to myself? No, I didn't think that. Cause my twin sister was pregnant. I was like, look at us dummies. Just look at us.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So how close are the kids? Like, a couple of months apart?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, maybe five months. Four or five months apart? Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So she goes. I said, like, I'm outside. Blah, blah, blah.

[Takara Williams]

She had a whole boyfriend. She had a whole boyfriend. They was together, okay? Everybody knew. She came and told my mom she pregnant. And then, you know, four months later, maybe five months later, I came and I told my mom. I said, hey, girl. She like, what? Oh, crazy thing. What? Cause I didn't know I was pregnant for, like, four months. I had no idea.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You started in the show, huh? You started the show.

[Takara Williams]

I just. My cousin looked at me and said, are you pregnant? I was like, no. She's like, yes, you are. I was like, no, I'm not. She said, you had sex. I'm like, one time. She's like, I think you're pregnant. I was like, you can't be pregnant one time. And I was stupid, and I was dumb. I was just dumb. Just out there making up rules. And she said, I think you need to go take a pregnancy test. And I went and took the pregnancy test and it said positive. I said, oh, this lady finna kill me. Oh my goodness. And I went and I told my mom, but I didn't know that. When I told my mom, my older sister had just told my mom that she was pregnant.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I saw, hold on.

[Takara Williams]

Y' all got a house full of, uh huh. And my twin. So one of my nephews was born in August. Then my son is born in January. Then my nephew's born in February.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So how many you got? It's eight. You got eight brothers and sisters in the family? How many are women?

[Takara Williams]

Five.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And three of the five were pregnant damn near at the same time.

[Takara Williams]

And my mother said, I thought she was gonna be so mad at me. She said, y' all trying to kill me. And I said, so what you gonna do? She's like, I mean, what you want me to do? What you gonna do? Y' all wanna have babies and y' all wanna be grown. Be grown. Mm. She helped us when she could. But she didn't sit on at least me. She didn't sit on me and tell me, you know, you need to do this and I'm gonna help you with this. She just kinda left me like, you figure it out. And I'm like, me, what about these other two? And she's like, no. Cause I was the one in the family where everybody felt like, you gonna be the one.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. See, I was gonna say, yeah, you

[Takara Williams]

gonna be the one. I was, I'm very heavy on my grandparents, you know, rest in peace to my grandparents. I loved my grandparents, always at their house, always hanging out. My grandmother would call me and be like, I wanna go do some stuff. And I'm like, I'm on my way, grandma. So I grew up as, you know, very close to my grandparents, very close to my parents. In school, I used to cry if I couldn't go to school. My parents would be like, y' all stay at home today. I wanna go to school, I wanna go see my friends. So in my household, everybody was like, and I'm the only light skinned one. Which, you know, created a whole nother issue in the household. So everybody always felt like, I'm gonna be the one to make it. So when I got pregnant, it was more disappointment on my end. Cause it was like, geez, not you, right? And once I saw the disappointment in my parents face and in my grandparents face. I didn't understand it at the time. Cause I'm like, but these hoes raging through.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But they didn't have the expectations for them that they had for you.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, I didn't see, I didn't notice it until I said I was pregnant. And then my grandparents stopped talking to me too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, they cut me off too. Cause I was 16, you know, I'm still in high school. And then I graduated, I finished high school. And when I finished high school, that's when they started talking to me again.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause they thought you was gonna quit. They thought you was gonna drop out.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause sometimes it's hard. It's hard. You know, I know Being pregnant at that age and trying to go on to school, I mean, it happens.

[Takara Williams]

They'll tell you. You used to see me in the projects leaving at 6 o' clock in the morning. And I found, my mom found a school for me that had a program for infants. And I used to have my son on the front of my shirt in the carrier. And it's New York, it's freezing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

I used to have my book bag on my back and I used to be going straight to the bus or the train. I went to school, dropped him off in the morning, did my school during the day, picked him up, you know, after school, dropped him off to my parents or his grandma. And then I went to work. Wow. Cause when I had him and my grandparents started talking to me again, my grandfather said very specifically to me, do not become a statistic.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mm.

[Takara Williams]

I do not want you in this project having multiple babies by multiple people in here, waiting for your mom to die so you can get her apartment so you can live on section A or you can live in a rent, you know, in a project apartment. You gonna get sucked into this life. And once you get sucked in here, you ain't gonna get out.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

And I. That was enough for me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. Even to this day, with my pursuit in comedy, I still keep that in my head. Do not become a statistic. Do not get sucked in on August 21st.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What's your plan?

[Takara Williams]

I want vengeance.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No one does action movies. You got a problem on the ship like Jason Statham?

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[Shannon Sharpe]

Mutiny. Rated R. August 21st.

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[Takara Williams]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Takara Williams]

This is Ashley from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast Ben. I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah, it's pretty wild.

[Takara Williams]

They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

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Limitations, terms and conditions apply.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How was when you told the father?

[Takara Williams]

Oh, God, I hate him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So was he 16? Probably older. You like, older guy?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, he was.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I already he older.

[Takara Williams]

He was older, but not by much. I mean, I was 16. He was probably 18.

[Shannon Sharpe]

18.

[Takara Williams]

And he got deported when my son was 2, so I haven't seen him since my son was 2.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He got supported to where?

[Takara Williams]

Honduras.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You ain't trying to bring him back?

[Takara Williams]

Ew. No, no.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So has he met his father?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, so, okay.

[Takara Williams]

Cause his grandmother used to go back and forth to Honduras and take my son with him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, okay.

[Takara Williams]

And then it got to the point where my son was like, I don't want to go no more. Like, I'm good. Cause when he would go, he still wouldn't see his father.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He didn't see him.

[Takara Williams]

He would be running around doing all this stuff. You know, Honduras is bad. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Takara Williams]

So he would be into the gangs and stuff out there, and the mom would be trying to get him to see him. And I said, at this point, if he don't want to go, he don't have to go.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Why? I'm just trying to figure out, why would you. Because he didn't just start like this. He was like that. He was out there in them streets back then.

[Takara Williams]

Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Listen, y' all better keep this in here, okay? That was my brother's best friend. And my brother always told me, stay away from him. Yes. Stay away from him. Don't talk to him. He ain't no good. But I just liked him. But I never knew he liked me. And I was a tomboy girl. I used to have this long, puffy hair. My mom used to always put it in these black braids, these big old braids. And we had a school dance, and she said, let me put this dress on you and comb your hair down. And very loving basketball moment. And she combed my hair down and did my hair. And he was just like. Ever since he saw me that day, we would ride bikes from the Bronx to Brooklyn. And he would be like, I'm gonna just stay in the back with Takara. Cause she back here by herself. And I don't want to get lost and hurt. And my brother will be like, all right, now. All right. And then my brother went to jail.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That was.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But. But. But, Kara, you gotta understand.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm looking at you now. You always had a body. You was always like that.

[Takara Williams]

I didn't. Let me tell you something. I was this big.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What?

[Takara Williams]

Yes. I was this big. Growing up with some boobs, and I was this big. And then when I had my son, I got a little body, but then I lost it. And then when I had my daughter, I was shaped like spongebob Square. And then when I had my third daughter, I was. At the time, I was married to somebody who was a personal trainer.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

And he helped me. Yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. But I wasn't always this.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I was like, well, damn. Yeah, man. I'm so. So your brother's like. So when your brother found out that you was pregnant from his best friend, what'd he say?

[Takara Williams]

He was in jail. There was nothing he could do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm gonna kill that man.

[Takara Williams]

Maybe if you stayed out, you could've. Now you married him, you could have protected me. I didn't have nobody to cry to. He the only person I could lean on. Maybe if you'd have stayed out. So he was upset.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

I think they stopped talking, too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. My brother was like, why would you talk to my sister? Like, my little sister. Like, out of all the sisters, Takara, like, that's the one you. And he was like, I just. I liked her. And then he got deported, and I ain't seen him since. It's been 22 years.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow. Prom. Did you go to the prom?

[Takara Williams]

No, I never went to prom.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Your daughter went.

[Takara Williams]

My daughter went to prom.

[Shannon Sharpe]

When you see. Obviously, you didn't go, but you saw how it was with back then compared to what it is now. They renting private jets and they renting Rolls Royces.

[Takara Williams]

Absolutely not.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And they got the dresses. I don't know. I can remember.

[Takara Williams]

And you barely passing. Absolutely not.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How the. Where are we going with this? Where is this coming to?

[Takara Williams]

My daughter didn't want that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

She had prom. I asked her what she wanted. She said, I just wanna get a call with my friends and we gonna go to prom. I'm like, what kind of call they got? She's like, I don't know. Maybe a little Corolla 1994. I'm like, oh, okay, that's what you want.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So is that what. So the girls, are they still like. Cause I see now a lot of girls, they taking pictures. They go in as a group. It be about 5, 6, 7, I

[Takara Williams]

think it's a culture thing too. And I think it's like a. I wanna say like a state to state thing, because in California, I didn't see that. In New York, you don't really see that. It's a southern thing. Dallas, you know, Louisiana, Atlanta, they do that stuff. It's a whole.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It's a big deal.

[Takara Williams]

All the family come over.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It's a big deal.

[Takara Williams]

These girls got on dresses with the butt hanging out, the titties hanging out.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What happened to the gown? Since when was. When did the prom become what it's become?

[Takara Williams]

Listen, listen, listen, Shannon. When I went to a junior prom, okay, I wore somebody else dress. They did my hair in the house. My mother put some Vaseline on my face and put some lipstick on my lips. And that was the problem.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

I don't even know where this culture came from. I'm not upset with it because for some people this may be a first generation graduation.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay. Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

In their family. So I understand the celebration, but it's just too much, right? Yeah. It's a culture that's just written Bentleys. I went to rent a car last weekend, I was in Chicago and they said, well, you know, it's prom season. I said, so I can't get the Escalade that I reserved.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

And she was like, no. Cause they rented them all out for prom. For who? For the kids. To do what?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Fireworks for prom. That's too much. Now I understand. She might be the. But fireworks.

[Takara Williams]

Fireworks for prom. I mean, again, I don't.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Private jet.

[Takara Williams]

That's crazy to me. That's crazy. The same kid that's gonna cuss you out tomorrow, Alexander McQueen's Gucci sneakers for prom. No, I'm not doing that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what's the extent you would go to the length you would go to for your kid prom?

[Takara Williams]

For prom. A limo that the parents chipped in on and all the kids.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no, no, no. You. They don't do. So you worry about the other parents. You. You might have to put the whole thing.

[Takara Williams]

So, okay, so I got a 12 year old. What would I do for her prom if she asked me to? I don't. I mean, I would rent her a car, but I'm driving it. Hello?

[Shannon Sharpe]

She don't want you to be there. What about a boy? What about a boy?

[Takara Williams]

She want me to be there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They gonna want you to be there.

[Takara Williams]

Yes, they do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You ain't want your mom to be there.

[Takara Williams]

She gonna be like, my mom's coming. I love her. Girl, get in the car. But I would do a drive. I would probably get her a driver. I don't mind a driver.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

And my send off for my youngest daughter was very simple. It was a few of us around, we took some pictures. My friend is a photographer. She took some pictures of her. We put her in the car, and that was it. She came home from prom and then that's when she snuck back out after the prom.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what time did you give her a curfew? Cousin, you said, what was your curfew? I mean, when you said the street lights. So by the time you really couldn't go out because you 16, you probably, what, sophomore, junior in high school, you pregnant. So now you really can't go out. Cause you got a kid, you got a child.

[Takara Williams]

Well, I didn't have a. Well, once I had a baby, I didn't have a curfew. I was like, the worst happened.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You still could go out.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, the worst happened. What's the worst that could happen? I'm gonna have sex and have a baby. Yeah. Stay in the house. We don't want you to have sex and have a baby. She done had sex and had a baby. Let her do what she want to do then. Like, what else could happen?

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, you gotta stay here and take care of the baby.

[Takara Williams]

I didn't. No. So when I had my son, I was very independent at a young age.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

You know, my grandfather helped me get a little place. I had a little car.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Takara Williams]

I was very independent at a young age. Yeah. So I didn't live back with my parents. I think I moved out when I was 17. Wow. Mm. It was too many people in the house.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Were you ready for that?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. I don't wanna. I don't know if I was ready. I know I had to get ready. I had a kid like this.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You had to grow up a lot faster than you anticipated because now you have a responsibility.

[Takara Williams]

Absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And it ain't just to you. You got.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. I remember I tell people I didn't have my first alcoholic drink TILL I was 21.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you like, damn.

[Takara Williams]

And to most people, that's like. Well, that's when you're supposed to drink. But the people around me been drinking at 14, 15, 12. You look like an 11 drinker.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Stop. I ain't start drinking until I was.

[Takara Williams]

Had a little cognac.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No. 50.

[Takara Williams]

Really? 1:51.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Not until I developed my own cognac. No smoking, no drinking.

[Takara Williams]

Really?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Never had it.

[Takara Williams]

That's in the car. How you feel now? You like I should have been. Did this so many nights. This would have helped. I could have been. Did this.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, I would look. For me, it was about getting out of that situation. And so I didn't think drinking or smoking or hanging out or doing all the other stuff. Definitely didn't think having kids would send me on the path that I needed to get to the last thing I needed. I could barely take care of myself, let alone having another responsibility.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. 51. Geez, I ain't never heard that before.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Your daughter started drinking. Your daughter drinks now.

[Takara Williams]

She just turned 21, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

And for her birthday, I knew I was gonna be working. I think I was in the Bahamas for her birthday, working. So I told her, you know, me and my friends, we flew into New York four days before her birthday. And I called my friend who owns a spot, and I said, hey, my daughter about to turn 21. Can I bring her there? He said, yeah, she's a week shy of her birthday. She can come. And I'm thinking, she gonna turn up with the women.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

You know what I'm saying? I'm like, oh, we finna show her how to party. We get a section. We got a couple bottles. You know, we got some quesadillas. We got a little chicken wing here and there, some fries.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah.

[Takara Williams]

We even got some asparagus. To be on the safe side. That lady came and poured them shots in that glass. And I said, everybody pick up their glass so we can take a shot. Till Casey, turning 21, that. She picked up that glass, took that shot, and said, bow, bow, bow. I'm in the background like, what?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Whoa, whoa.

[Takara Williams]

We got Casey. I said, casey. Yeah. I said, when you start. When you start doing that, she's like, girl, I've been drinking. I didn't drink for the rest of the night. I'm just looking at her like, is she drinking regular drinking or alcoholic level drinking? Like, which one are you at? When I tell you, she took four shots to the head, back to back.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You didn't know you gave birth to the mighty Casey, huh?

[Takara Williams]

I didn't know she was on that type of time, really. And she said, I'm 20. She said, I'm 20. I'm about to be 21. I go to college in New York. What did you think I was doing? I was like, I just thought you was in school. I thought you was getting education. I thought, wow, you drink a lot of liquor, and you got a pina colada, and you got a pina colada with rum in it, and you. Ooh, she said, there's so many things you need to know. I said, keep that to yourself. I don't want to know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You don't want to know nothing.

[Takara Williams]

Absolutely not. No, I want to know nothing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I bought. I thought. Hold on. Whoa, Whoa, whoa. Just 20 minutes ago you said, that's your best friend.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, that was more like 30 minutes ago. I changed my mind.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You don't wanna. So you don't. So you think there are some things that as close as you and your daughter are, she should just keep to herself.

[Takara Williams]

You know what? I don't know if your daughters. Cause you have three daughters.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Two daughters, okay. My oldest is about to be 34.

[Takara Williams]

Okay. I don't know if they've ever had this conversation of you. Dad, what's up, babe? Remember back in the day, I did this, this, and this, that, and the third. When you did that, you never knew I even did that. You'd be like, well, what? I don't want to know now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah.

[Takara Williams]

They'll tell you something that they did that you had no idea that they did. I don't want to know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

Keep it to yourself.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You keep it away from me this long. I'm good.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. I said, have you smoked weed before? Girl, I smoked weed when I was 14. I'm just melting into the VIP section at the club just for.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You're like, I don't even want to

[Takara Williams]

talk because when did you. I never knew you even tried weed. She was like, yeah, everybody was doing it. It was in junior high school. And I didn't do a lot. I just took a little puff and I was like, oh, I don't like this. I said, in junior high. She goes, uh, yeah, who are you? Whose child. Whose child are you? So, no, I don't want to know nothing else that she's done. I look at her a certain way. Don't change it. Just stay where you at with just. Yeah, I don't want to know nothing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Now. Eventually, you know, you're gonna be a grandma.

[Takara Williams]

I am a grandma.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You are a grandma.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

You're older than me.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Every time I think about it, I throw up a little bit.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Why?

[Takara Williams]

Why would you do that? I'm not watching that bald headed ass kid.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah, you.

[Takara Williams]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did your grandparents help you out a lot? What kind of. What kind of grandma are you?

[Takara Williams]

Granny, not my grandparents. That's the kind of. It's Tuesday. I'm drinking bourbon. I'm out here with y', all drinking a little cognac. I'M not watching that baby. No, I do. I get. I get my grandson. I get him often, but when I want to.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

You know, they try to force you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They do try to guilt you. You're not gonna watch him.

[Takara Williams]

You don't.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Takara Williams]

You're not gonna watch your grandson. You're not gonna watch your son. That's your kid. You won.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. You had sex with that one. Yeah, I had sex with you.

[Takara Williams]

I'm not gonna watch him. Cause, you know, I told my son, when he said he was having a baby, I said, you know, I'm at a part where I feel like I'm just starting some things.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

And you can have this kid, and I can be as available as I can, but I still have life over here, and, you know. Ew. Ew, ew, ew, Shannon. Ew.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So how old is he? A year? Two years?

[Takara Williams]

He's six.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Six years old.

[Takara Williams]

Mm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, I know.

[Takara Williams]

I've been in here for a while.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Dang.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You got a six year old grand, cutest little face.

[Takara Williams]

Mm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You like, get him and doll him up. You like? Come on, man.

[Takara Williams]

I sugar that kid up so bad.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what did he call you? Mama, girl, Grandma. Grandma.

[Takara Williams]

I don't like none of the niggas you don't like. I'm very traditional.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

You know, just Grandma. I don't need meemaw or sugar, Mama.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Sugar? Yeah. Yes or sugar.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, just Grandma. Just Grandma. I like grandma.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. Grandma Takara. That.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What do you call grandma?

[Takara Williams]

Grandma Takara. You got money? I'm like, for what? I like money. Grandma Takara can have some money, and I give him some money. Thank you. I love you so much. Put in his pocket. Yeah, I like Grandma. I don't want. It's perfect for me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You or TTU or Grandma.

[Takara Williams]

Mm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mm.

[Takara Williams]

Just Grandma.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hello. Did you used to pay for your son to go on a date?

[Takara Williams]

Yes. Yeah. When he was in high school. Cause he had no job. But I still wanted him to wind it down the girl that he liked. So he was.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, I mean, he must have liked her too much. He didn't want to get no job. See, there you go. What didn't you say. What did you say your therapist told

[Takara Williams]

you in high school?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, but I'm serious now. No, he said you did what to him. She said you did what in Enable.

[Takara Williams]

But I think in high school, for your son, they don't have a job. I want him to focus on school.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They hire kids all the time. What you mean?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, I had to decide between the Grades and the job. So I was like, dang, just focus on the grades. But now. Now I don't. You know, now, of course, he'll ask me for money, and I'm like, for what? I'm taking my girl.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Uh, you said something very interesting earlier.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Takara, you said that the way you raised your son and the way he's the oldest and the way you raised your daughter, they have to be different. So I have to really be two different people for two different. Because I have to. Do I have to be a different person for two different people?

[Commercial/Announcer]

Mm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How did. Was that trial and error? Did you, like, you see the way you talk to him? He could handle certain situations. You talk to her. She couldn't. She could handle certain situations. He couldn't. How did you come about. Come to that conclusion? Like, you know what? These are really, too. I'm the mom. They're my kids, but I cannot raise them the same.

[Takara Williams]

Well, one, because one's a boy and one's a girl.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

And I know we have this gender war thing happening right now, but, you know, I grew up in a time and in a place where that meant something, and it still does.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It does.

[Takara Williams]

You know, women gonna fight me for saying this, but we're not. We're not equal. I know y' all gonna want to kill me for saying that. We're not equal. Biologically, it's. We're not. We can't be. There's no way we can be equal. And when you raise kids, you notice that my son would care less about something that meant the world to my daughter. She had more emotions behind it. She had more feelings behind it. So that toughness that I gave him, I can't give her because she need a little love.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

She need to be reminded that it's okay. She need to be told, hey, this is gonna happen. So, you know, that's why two parent households are so important.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

You know, I know there's a demographic of people who did very well with one parent household, but two parents is so important because what you are to your kids is not what their mom is to them. And I learned that raising my son and my daughter, who are four years apart, that they're very, very different. Similar experiences, if not the exact same experience, but watching them handle them so differently just because she's, you know, I'm feeling a little more about it, or I'm thinking a little more about it, or, you know, we had the same situation, but I was on this side of it, and he was on this side of it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

And that taught me to be more mindful with my 12 year old.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. Cause she's just getting the fruits of all the labor right now. She living life that you think the

[Shannon Sharpe]

older two looking like.

[Takara Williams]

Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. Every time I say I for my 12 year old, my 21 year old, she always go, well, that's nice. She wear. Oh, she in jiu jitsu. Oh, that's cute. She got a little jujitsu now. Okay, somebody got jujitsu money. Oh, where she at? McDonald's. Oh, wow, you got McDonald's money now. Wow, that's nice. That's nice. Where you at? I'm going to pick up Chrissy from school. Why? Cause she said her tummy hurt. Oh, wow. She get picked up from school from her tummy. Somebody left me in the nurse's office the whole day. But why? It's nice to know that she's getting this. That's really nice. But I love my middle daughter so much. Cause she will have that banter. And then she goes, no, seriously, I love that. I love that we taught you how to be a better mom for her. And she's experiencing that.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

So, yeah, I love that. But man, all I get is, oh, that must be nice, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Social media page. Did your son really report your social media?

[Takara Williams]

Yes, yes, absolutely. I think he still reports it to this day.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He get you dinged?

[Takara Williams]

He get me dinged. Because first of all, he don't like the men in the comments. And I was live once and he did not like that. The comments. He was having a hard time. He was like, what is? What is? I was gonna take you out on a date. I wanna. And he's like, my mother.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How you think you got here, bro?

[Takara Williams]

Thank you. But I also. Cause sometimes stuff is. I'm sure you'll post something and the comments will just be excessive.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

And you'll be like, damn, girl, you ain't got no backbone. You just going, damn, you gonna put that on in the comments. You ain't gonna send that in the dm, people. Social media crazy, right? Man, the stuff I get the PE. Stop sending me your penis, please. In the DMs.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They be doing that for real talk.

[Takara Williams]

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. They send them. And I done did a show, it sold out. I did a little meet and greet. I'm thinking somebody tagging me in the meet and greet picture. I'm like, oh, let me see this. It's a pe. They don't even be a good one. Stop sending me Those. Don't nobody want those. No woman has ever seen that type of picture except for my husband. We never did. You know what I like to do? I like to put the Michael Jordan cry face on it and send it to my friends. Look at this. It's sad. Stop sending that to us. We are not interested. We do not want that. I keep them. I keep all the pictures.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Would you date a guy that's lit in your dm?

[Takara Williams]

Would I date a guy that's lit in my dm?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You probably have.

[Takara Williams]

So I'm with somebody right now. He didn't slide in my DMs. He was in my comments.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

My husband was in my comments. Very bold. Very. You're beautiful. I would love to take you out sometime. Let me know so I can, you know. Ba, ba, ba.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'll. Let me slide.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, I'm in the comments back. Oh, excuse me. Okay. And then we went into the DMs together.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

It's like, I'm gonna go in there at 7:59. I'll meet you there at 8:00' clock on the dot in the DMs. But that was because he knew how to. A lot of people in your DMs, they just be creeps. Yeah, it be scary in the DMs. I told you, I keep all them penis pictures.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Why?

[Takara Williams]

I got an album of them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

For what?

[Takara Williams]

Cause every time somebody send me one, I go on my album and I send them one back. They be mad at me. Ooh, girl, they didn't like that. Girl, they be mad. They be like, why would you send me this? Well, I thought that's what we was doing today.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Why would you send me that?

[Takara Williams]

What picture you thought you was gonna get since you got an attitude. I'm gonna send you these other two since you got an attitude. But yeah, social media. Social media are crazy. It's crazy on there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What has social media done to relationships on August 21? What's your plan?

[Takara Williams]

I want the vengeance.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No one does action movies. You got a problem on the ship like Jason Statham, well, you'll need all

[Takara Williams]

the help you can get.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mutiny. Rated R. August 21st.

[Commercial/Announcer]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Takara Williams]

This is Ashley from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast Ben. I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah, it's pretty wild.

[Takara Williams]

They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The milestones are the fun part, but

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the planning is where things get real.

[Takara Williams]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Takara Williams]

Ah, social media to relationships have created unrealistic expectations. I unfortunately had to learn the hard way to stop being so transparent on social media. It's not gonna get me nothing. And a lot of people on social media, they'll ride for you until they disagree with you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Thank you.

[Takara Williams]

To relationships. It's again created unrealistic expectations for relationships. And also just an understanding that what works for your dynamic doesn't work for mine. And that's ok. That doesn't make mine better than yours and it doesn't make yours better than mine.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Takara Williams]

And social media has created this space for everybody to feel like we need to hear what y' all got to say. I don't putting your relationship on a. Out in the open. Some lady put on social media. My husband didn't want me to spend this amount of money at Home Depot, and now he mad cause I did it anyway. What that got to do with us? That's your credit card bill. That ain't got nothing to do with us.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Takara Williams]

And people don't appreciate what's being done. You know, I'm starting to see a lot of videos of women saying, you know, these random people in the street. Are you married?

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Takara Williams]

What would you love to be in a relationship? I haven't been. I was married. I've been divorced for two years now. Well, what would you say ended that relationship? I lost a good man. I should have been more patient. I should have been more kind. I had a good man. But I wasn't appreciating what he was doing for me. Cause I was watching what somebody else's man was doing for them. Like, I got this joke where I say, y' all be some women and men are in great relationships. You don't value it. Cause you're comparing it to somebody else's.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Takara Williams]

And here you are, you got Moneybagg buying Ari a Lambo. And now you sitting there with your husband looking at him all sideways. And he asks you what's wrong? It's just funny. Cause moneybag bought Ari a Lambo. And you ain't never buy me no Lambo. I'm the security guard at the school up the street. Yeah, you better get in this Honda Accord.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

Hybrid.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And keep it moving.

[Takara Williams]

This pilot hybrid. You getting all this gas to the miles and you complaining. So it's social media. Just too many people talking. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And I think the thing is, because you have so Much access, not your car.

[Takara Williams]

Oh, absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We didn't have no social media. If you only knew how good the women look where you were. Now you just pull up, you're like,

[Takara Williams]

damn, they like this in Miami.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn. Like this in Texas. Dallas, Houston.

[Takara Williams]

Ooh, oh, L.A. and there's no filter for it. There's no. You know, I have this big thing where I always say to women, you can be sexy and be fully dressed.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

That's my motto. You can be sexy and be fully dressed. You can have character in your clothes, still be attractive. A man will still look at you and be like, God damn, she's gorgeous. Or she's beautiful, and you don't have to show every single thing. But the amount of attention, like, people seek attention so badly nowadays that I've watched, I be looking at girls, and I be like, girl, your titty out, girl.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And they could be. They be going out, like, in a restaurant. Yeah, they got lace. I mean, stuff that you would only wear in the confines of your home with your man.

[Takara Williams]

There's no filter.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You out there in the streets with

[Takara Williams]

it, and then that's what they associate.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm here for. I'll be saying, I can't believe God,

[Takara Williams]

but they want that attention. And you know what bothers me the most? I don't dress like this for men. I do it for me. If you did it like, you could do it. Let me say this. When women say things like that, like, I don't dress like this for men. I dress like this for me. That's an even bigger problem.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Because why do you want to? That's a question you have to ask yourself. Why do I want to come outside with my butt cheeks hanging out, my boobs hanging out? Why am I all over the Internet doing this and doing this and turning around with a Jesus quote?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. With the smallest shorts on. I just want to let y' all know Psalms 112, verses 7. Just sing Michelangelo Leonardo DiCaprio. And I just want to tell y' all that have a great day. Today's gonna be a blessed day. And, you know, just keep moving and keep striving, and everything's gonna be wonderful. And you guys have a great day. Why won't men respect me? Girl, I forgot what scripture you gave us. I'm looking at titties. Even I be looking. I'm like, girl, I be in the comments. Like, girl, I hear you, but them titties are titty. And, like, why would you. It's the attention. It's the starving go to therapy. I keep telling people, go to therapy. Some of us have so many mental issues that are so serious, and we are using social media as an escape. Somebody will say. I said, why would you post that on social media? I'm just trying to be transparent. Stop. Everybody don't need to.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Everybody don't need to know.

[Takara Williams]

They don't need to care. Because somebody else out there could be going through the same thing. They are in their house.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Minding their business. Why you gotta be the one to tell it to everybody? Because everybody's for you when it's fun.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

But they, like, that's like, if you a girl and you plus size and you out here, plus sizing all the big girls, it's like, yeah, big girls unite. Yeah. Fat girls unite.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Look at us.

[Takara Williams]

And then the moment you lose weight, they mad at you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wasn't that who you lost weight for? You was fine just the way you were. No. Well, I don't want to have

[Takara Williams]

type 2 diabetes is why I chose life over your opinion. But that's what I mean when I say they're for you when it is significant to their life, when it is specific to their life. But the moment you shine or move in a different direction from that, you lose everything. Everybody mad at you. I remember Monique was losing weight. How's she gonna lose weight without us? What? Without you? Man, you be shooting in the jam. You know what I'm saying? Like, what, is people crazy? Shannon, I've learned the hard way to stay in the background. I have somebody who handles my social media content because every time I get on social media, I get in trouble.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause you be saying stuff. You be reckless, huh?

[Takara Williams]

They be needing it sometimes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What you mean they need it?

[Takara Williams]

See, that's the thing. I feel like. I feel like I have a voice, you know? I feel like God, you do. God gave me this voice to do some things.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay?

[Takara Williams]

And I'm always on the flip side of things. I'm very opinionated.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You don't say.

[Takara Williams]

I am. I try not to be biased, but it's always on the flip side of something. It's never nasty to hurt anybody. I try not to be. But social media is so sensitive to everything. You could say something and somebody would be like, you called that girl fat, and that hurt my feelings. I said, but what that got to do with you? I didn't call you fat. Well, you called her fat. She is what you want me to like what, you. You fat, too? So since I'm fat, I can't call somebody else fat?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know what gets me upset is that when people will attack you and then when you strike back. I can't believe you said that. Oh, you can't believe I said that Because I happen to be a public figure that I'm supposed to be devoid of emotion. I'm saying it back because I make money. I'm on television. You feel you can say whatever you want to me, and then I'm supposed to take it. And, you know, they say if I made X amount of dollars, people could say whatever they want. No, they couldn't.

[Takara Williams]

No, they couldn't. You saying that because you ain't never made it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

There it is.

[Takara Williams]

But once you make it, you realize the money don't dehumanize you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. It doesn't absolve me of feelings.

[Takara Williams]

Baby, I be. Some days I got time, Shannon. Some days I got some days. So most of the time, I'm on my phone. I'm on, like, a social media app. I'm on my phone. But every now and then, somebody starts up, I pull out that laptop, I'm like, oh, baby, I got time today. Because you're not gonna just be blatantly disrespectful.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

Say the most. The most heinous things to me, and I'm just supposed to sit back and just take it. Yeah. And that's where that saying comes in of, don't read the comments. Don't read your comments. Don't read your. Have you ever heard that? Don't read. But sometimes we read them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

And most of the time, we be like, oh, this is nice. This is nice. And then you get that one person and you be like, oh, you want to. You want to talk about mothers? I'm not avoidant of conflict. If you start it right. I'm from the Bronx, New York. Like, I'm okay with.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But they jump you. And a lot of these people you don't follow, they jump on your timeline, they jump in your mentions to say something nasty to the.

[Takara Williams]

I never liked you, but you following me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, that's it. If you don't like, it's just like when I do, we do Club Shay Shay. I don't know why you got the bro Skip.

[Takara Williams]

I just saw that. I just saw that, too. Somebody said, I don't know what you got these comedians up here for. You need to stick to sports. You can stick your finger to your phone and scroll. Like, you don't even got to be

[Shannon Sharpe]

on here, but there are enough podcasts that have sports that might have somebody that you Want to see?

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Go there.

[Takara Williams]

Well, you know what it is, Shannon? I think that what we've done is we've given people this space where they feel like they can dictate your career because they feel a sense of entitlement to it, because they feel like they're one little voter. They're one little.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I follow you. I watch.

[Takara Williams]

I'm unfollowing you today. I don't even know. I didn't even know your name was on the birth certificate somewhere.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, exactly.

[Takara Williams]

Unfollow me. Well, you. You don't like this, this and that, and the third one. We're the one who made you. And they feel like because we're the one who voted for you, or we're the one who supported you, you owe us this. And it's really unfortunate when we have to prove to them that we don't.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

And for every one of you that will unfollow me, there's five or six who will follow.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right? And that's what somebody told me to my man. That's why I had to unfollow you. I said, bro, I didn't know you was an airline. You don't have to announce your arrival or departure.

[Takara Williams]

I didn't even know you was following me. How about that?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm sure somebody else would be glad to have you on.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I don't get that. I don't get me. I don't jump on somebody's tie. If I don't like somebody, I don't follow them.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

If I see. If they happen to come up on my mention, somebody reposted something, they said, I scroll past it.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't engage with people that I don't like.

[Takara Williams]

But that's. And I say this as kindly as I can. Some people have real mental health issues. Why are you following somebody that you don't like?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't get it.

[Takara Williams]

Why are you engaging with somebody that you don't like? Why are you creating think pieces on somebody? I have too much time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause they want other people to join in with them.

[Takara Williams]

Oh, and that's what it is, people. This is. I said this to my son. My son wants to be a rapper, right? And he has this idea of, you gotta fake it till you make it. And I said, you gotta like yourself in real life. Because when the Instagram shuts down at night or your phone die or whatever the case is, you gotta like yourself in real life. And some people like the Louisiana, the image that they've created for social media and in real life, you ain't got no money in your bank account. You over here talking about Shannon Sharpe and what he doing and what you think he should have did better. Whole time, you in the negative. You got other things to be worried about. Whole time your kid been absent from school all week, you know, whole time you got your electricity bill on a payment plan. Like, you don't worry about me. You have bigger things to worry about. But then there's this. I get to escape my reality for a second by talking about yours. You gotta. Like, real life exists when the social media app closes and a lot of people don't understand that they live. That's like a woman I know. I ain't seen a real picture of her on social media in four years. You really think you look like this filter? And she got the attitude. You really think you look like. You really think you look like this filter? You forgot what you. Not that you look bad, but you don't love yourself enough to just post yourself.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Be who you are.

[Takara Williams]

Social media. I wish they would take it away. Somebody says social media is your. Is a source of income. For me, I'm like, it is, but it's not the income, Right? Just give us YouTube. Everything else need to go. Yeah, the attention on social media. Yeah. Don't take YouTube.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Don't take YouTube.

[Takara Williams]

You see? I say keep YouTube.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, YouTube. Hey, YouTube.

[Takara Williams]

Keep us a little tube in the U. We need you. But everything else, you know, or monitor it. Like, they'll flag us for something. Yeah, that's. That's so small. But she got a. But she got a whole titties and ass out in her video. Fine. And I got flagged. Cause I said the F word.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What do you think about. I'm having a conversation. I say, man, I say public dating. I said, if you date in public, you gotta break up in public. And then. Because everybody's gonna come, everybody's gonna comment. And then. Because you don't have no choice. Now all of a sudden, you have a choice. We gotta be 12th graders. I unfollow. And then people like. And some people are just. Man, you know what? You see? Takeri don't even follow Shannon anymore. I wonder what's going on with that, bro.

[Takara Williams]

But they got nothing to do. See, so let me say this. Let me say this. So I got. A few Years ago, maybe 20, 22, I got married, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

Very public relationship. And then we got divorced. But I didn't really post that. I got divorced, right? And then we got back together, okay? And this is years later, we got back together, and I posted them on social media. Somebody DMed me and said, why you ain't telling me you, your ex husband, was back together? I said, who the hell are you? Who the hell are you?

[Shannon Sharpe]

How you hold up? First, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Takara Williams]

DM me. Who.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Who told you that we was divorced? And why is it any business of yours that you got back together?

[Takara Williams]

But that's the sense of entitlement that people. Damn. That's why I learned the hard way to keep my space, like. And I said this to somebody. A lot of people agreed on social media. I said, y' all gonna get what I give you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's it.

[Takara Williams]

There's no sense of entitlement of anything over here. Y' all gonna get what I give you. If I wanna tell y', all, if I wanna post a little snippet of us at the Grammys, y' all gonna get a little snippet of us at the Grammys. Are y' all back together? Y' all not back together. Y' all married again. Ain't none of your business. You gonna get what I give you. Cause I learned the hard way that being so transparent on social media is. It doesn't work out in your favor.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Takara Williams]

And if people wanna sit around and create this idea of, you know, Takara and Shannon are following each other, there must be some turmoil going on between them. And it might not be. No, it might not be. Or maybe. But it might. But it's not your business.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I don't. I don't. When did this. When did this happen?

[Takara Williams]

I don't know. If you subscribe to it, you talking about something, and you got a public relationship, you got to have a public breakup. No, you don't. We just go, that breakup don't feel good.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It doesn't. I'm crying, but, you know. But the thing is. When did this happen?

[Takara Williams]

Hey, 16 ice cream sandwiches today. I don't want to talk to y'. All. My hair ain't done. I ain't take a bath. I don't want to talk to y'.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All. Was it always like this? Were we all. Not me, but was people always so invested in other people's lives?

[Takara Williams]

They've always been invested. They didn't have the avenue to move,

[Shannon Sharpe]

so you couldn't see it. Because, look, they followed. I mean, you. You see Michael Jackson and you see everybody following and so forth and so on. So they've always been invested. They just didn't have a vehicle that you can see just how Invested.

[Takara Williams]

They are. I mean, my mama used to have spades nights twice a month, so they could be in anybody business. I'm a kid sitting in the middle of it, so going back in my room. So Ms. Michael and Ms. Michelle, they broke up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Mr. Michael had a baby on Ms. Michelle. That's what mommy said. Because that was the get together was the. Was the gossip. That was the everybody get together talk about what's going on in the neighborhood and talk about what's. You know. That's the barbershop talk.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

You do barbershop talk online now?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, yes.

[Takara Williams]

And the barbershop talk, you'll give a group of women and say, which one would you like to be with? You know, Stacey Dash, the finest. Well, I like Regina Hall. Now, they just put it up online and everybody vote. So everybody has access, but you have to learn to limit the access that you give them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, absolutely.

[Takara Williams]

That's what I had to learn to do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you know what? It. You know what it does? Because once you start giving it to them and it's like a fiend. Yeah, you give a little bit, you try to put it back. They want more and more.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What you got to hide, right?

[Takara Williams]

You know, this is girl online. I'm not gonna say her name, but she went through a very traumatic breakup with her husband, and everybody was gung ho for her. We love you. We want you to get better. You'll get over it. Forget him. He ain't nothing. And then the minute she decided to work it out with him. Oh, they hate her.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mm.

[Takara Williams]

They talking bad about her, making videos, think pieces about her. And she came online and she said, this is my husband. If I decide to work things out with my husband, that's my business. Y' all don't gotta live my life. Y' all don't live here. Y' all don't entertain none of the stuff I entertain. That's my husband.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

And we was in the DMs, and while she was going through her stuff, I would DM her. And I would say, hey, you're giving too much. Because the moment you decide that something is what you wanna do and they disagree, they gonna come hard for you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yep.

[Takara Williams]

And I wish she would've listened. And now she on the Internet, crying all the time. And I said, I told you to stop giving them. They are not worthy of everything.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Nope.

[Takara Williams]

And she was like, well, you in a relationship, and you post. You in a relationship. I said, I might post one video every four months.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

And they still don't know they still be. Are you married? Are you in a relationship? Cause you got somebody I show with.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Like, why you care?

[Takara Williams]

First of all. First of all, y' all be sliding in my DMs, like, y' all don't know what y' all look like. Absolutely not. You knew damn well what you looked like when you came in this dm. You knew damn well you weren't gonna get it. I know you had women slide in your dm, and you look at em and be like, girl, now you know damn well I don't wanna be mean, but you knew damn well I won't go talk to you. So it's just, you gotta give. You have to be comfortable giving people what you want to give them. And don't get too comfortable being so transparent that you feel obligated.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Obligated to give them, to give them. Because the more you give, the more they're gonna want.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And then when you stop, it's a show.

[Takara Williams]

Your life is a show. My life is a show. People tune in, they wanna know. They love the great things that happen that we do that are great, but they love the drama more.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They do.

[Takara Williams]

You could be on top of your A game. Everything's going great for you. One thing happened. You will get more views on something negative than you would on positive.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Absolutely.

[Takara Williams]

Because now they see, oh, he human. He mess up, too. Oh, she human. She mess up, too. Oh, she going through a divorce. Oh, look at her. Look at her. Look at her. And then if I post a picture of my daughter graduating, nothing but me going through something. It's just how life is. That's why I always tell people, you know, we are. We are the show People want to tune in.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you see where Rick Ross said career women should quit their jobs if they date a wealthy man?

[Takara Williams]

I'm gonna get on his nerves, Shannon. Oh, my God. If I was dating a baby, I would. Keep your job, sis. They gonna like you more when you got something to do. Don't listen to Rick Ross. Cause all them girls he said to marry, they had career jobs and they quit him. He got with them and then he left them, too. So you stay. Don't get on that man nerves. Cause if you ain't got no job, what you gonna do all day? Get on his nerves.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

So keep your career. Keep your job. Maybe not work as much, but keep your job.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Would you let your old man retire you and give you an allowance?

[Takara Williams]

I would love for him. Please retire. No, no, no, no, no.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Put no ID over there.

[Takara Williams]

I Like working, though. But I like my job.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

I tour the world, I meet new people, I get opportunities like this. I love my job. And before this, I was a teacher.

[Shannon Sharpe]

School teacher.

[Takara Williams]

You have two degrees in education. What? Yeah, I went to school. Hold up. I did good.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What I'm trying to say. What grades did you teach?

[Takara Williams]

So, first off, I taught preschool.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

And then when I moved to California, I taught inmates in all of Southern California.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Takara Williams]

I taught at the jails.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Lord have mercy.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, I was in the jails, man. Whatever you thinking that it's.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, it's worse.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. They thought about it.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I know.

[Takara Williams]

It happened. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. That's what I'm saying. That's why I wanna know what grades you taught. Cause you definitely don't need to be in no high school with them.

[Takara Williams]

I wouldn't be in high school, first of all. I couldn't deal with the attitudes that I'm fighting somebody kid, first of all. But, yeah, I taught at all the jails in Southern California. But, yeah, I would. I like my job. I. You know, and it's.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause you don't look at his work, do you?

[Takara Williams]

I do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You look at his work.

[Takara Williams]

I do. Touring is work to me. Cause the travel is what's exhausting.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Commercial/Announcer]

That.

[Takara Williams]

Getting on a plane every other day. Getting back on a plane when I get there, I'm happy. I'm excited to be there. But getting there, oh, goodness.

[Shannon Sharpe]

In the airports and they so busy, and sometimes TSA's not working and the line is hour, two hours, it's like.

[Takara Williams]

And then if you pay for the private service, they want what they wanted. When I looked $12,000 for the year, I'm like, for private service? Yeah. Will you come in through this door? We do everything here, and then we take you straight to the plane. And I'm like.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you got it.

[Takara Williams]

Maybe I like that little bougie naked.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Let me look.

[Takara Williams]

Hey, can I get some champagne?

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Do y' all got this on the plane? How do we get him a deal to put this on the plane?

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what we need to get on the plane.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, but the little mini ones.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Could you and I, you know Cheryl under. What happened?

[Takara Williams]

I love her.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She's amazing. I've known you're a 30 plus.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

A man making less than you.

[Takara Williams]

Can I deal with a man making less than me? Yes. You know, we're in that space now. He doesn't make much less, but he makes less.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

There's a demographic of women, and it's a Very small demographic. You know, you have to think of the demographic of men who makes, you know, what is it like 10% of men make over six figures a year, right. Then there's an even smaller percentage that makes, you know, half a million. A million a year. My percentage is even smaller. You know, a woman who makes six figures a year, it's even smaller. So most. I always try to tell women who are in a great place in their life financially, you're going, most likely you're going to entertain somebody who makes less.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

Because demographically you just are. And they get mad when I say this. And I say, well, for the. We come with. Women who make a certain amount of money can come with an attitude. They can come with this perspective on life. They can come with this, I don't need you for nothing. I got money. Most men who make a certain amount of money, they don't want to deal with you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They not. They not gonna.

[Takara Williams]

And then on top of that, are the damn. On top of that,

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm just gonna say. I mean, you talking about. Because I think the thing is, is that a lot of times when guys make that kind of money, they're gonna want you to be available to them when they need you to be available to them. And if you got a regular job, they call you, you at work, what you gonna do? Baby, I'm at work. That's gonna cause a problem.

[Takara Williams]

Well, I don't even think it's so much. It's that too. But then there's also this reality of are you what he wants? Yeah. A lot of women think that them making six figures dismisses so many other aspects of being a woman. And it doesn't.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

Men who make a certain amount of money have access to certain women. And are you the woman that he normally has access to? And if you're not, he don't even see you coming.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

I want a top earning figure man. I want a man that look like this and look like this. But is that man checking for you? And a lot of times they're not checking for you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what I said on Nightcap. Ocho and I, we had a.

[Takara Williams]

They're getting so mad at me, Shannon, they gonna want to fight me card.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They say, well, I want a man that makes six figures. There's only a certain amount of men that makes six figures. But I also need him to be over six foot tall. And I also need him to be well educated and I also want him to be able to work, travel. Now, let's just say there's, there's 4 billion, 4 billion men in the world. Let's just say there are 3 billion of them. That's of the dating age.

[Takara Williams]

He put his card down, it's personal.

[Shannon Sharpe]

There's 3 billion, let's just say there's what, 2, 3. 3 million people that are over 6 foot tall that make 6 figures, that's well educated, that likes to travel. Okay. Of those and you got to put

[Takara Williams]

it down in the bedroom. They want that too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They want that. Now you said that's what you're looking for.

[Takara Williams]

You gotta be fit. They want you fit.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Fit abdomen, you know, woof.

[Takara Williams]

They don't even be fit.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, da da da da.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, they don't even be fit. But I need you to be fit.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. So now all that, that you want, is he looking, does he want you?

[Takara Williams]

And that's all I say to women and they get mad at me if he's not.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what difference what you want if that's not what's looking for you.

[Takara Williams]

Thank you.

[Commercial/Announcer]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

And honestly that hundred dollars back, I'm putting it towards the zipline now.

[Commercial/Announcer]

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[Takara Williams]

Exactly. Best switch I ever made.

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[Shannon Sharpe]

There are 250 reasons.

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[Takara Williams]

This is Ashley from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast Ben I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yeah, it's pretty wild.

[Takara Williams]

They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The milestones are the fun part, but

[Commercial/Announcer]

the planning is where things get real.

[Takara Williams]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Commercial/Announcer]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Commercial/Announcer]

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[Takara Williams]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Takara Williams]

There's nothing wrong with an average man. There's nothing wrong with an average man who makes average money. Women. Again, social media has created this unrealistic expectation of what lifestyles are supposed to be.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

I want my lifestyle to be like this. And I want to be able to travel at least every other month. I want to go on. That's not gonna happen.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Not.

[Takara Williams]

You gotta find a man that want to go with you somewhere.

[Shannon Sharpe]

First of all, thank you.

[Takara Williams]

Second of all, there's nothing I was telling.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And if he worked like that, Kara, he ain't got time.

[Takara Williams]

There's nothing wrong with a man. Like, there's a lifestyle that you can create together that is comfortable, but y' all want these unrealistic lifestyles because you are on social media following the guidelines of what you think things should be. And that's for them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

You have to be able to differentiate what Shannon Sharpe's life looks like based on what he has and who he is.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

I can't say I'm supposed to have that life.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

What? What? There are some really good men out there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

Who get passed by because all the women are searching for the same man. We all trying to get the same 10% of men. And there are men out there who are good men who are gonna treat you good, who are gonna. Who are gonna be nice to you. And even in some cases, some women would rather the. The man who makes six figures and be, you know, and we talk about the high earning six figures. Some women would rather be with that and be women number five than be with a man where they could be number one and you might not get a Chanel bag every six months.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I ain't gonna be. Nobody gonna see me, though.

[Takara Williams]

First of all, is you worth looking at? I try to be. Don't edit that out either. I said. What I said is you worry. You want to be seen so bad. Like, they're so. And it's sad because we don't realize this till we in our 40s and 50s as women.

[Shannon Sharpe]

True.

[Takara Williams]

Damn. I could have had a different lifestyle.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

I sat here and chased men, got ran through by men, had different babies by men. And here I am, 45, looking for that average guy who's going to treat me like a queen. And he might not even want me now. He not even checking for me now. Cause he Done went and found him an average woman who's okay with saying, I make 60,000 a year. You make $50,000 a year. Let's live a modest lifestyle. I will pay all the bills with my money. Let's stack yours.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But what you see on social media, that's modest. You don't see nobody walls.

[Takara Williams]

Y' all be talking crap in them video. Them walls be terrible. Them baseboards, baby.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I mean, you don't see nobody in no Honda. What they sitting on? They driving Urus. They Lambos and Ferraris and this. And I got Lexus. Yeah. I'm like, who?

[Takara Williams]

Wait a minute, I got a Lexus. What is it, 20, 25 Rx350? Somebody said, why you. That's one of the things my husband said about me. He said, you know what I love about you? I said, what? He said, Cause standup is very lucrative.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mm,

[Takara Williams]

I never knew that standup is. It's very lucrative. You can make six figures a month.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What?

[Takara Williams]

Yes, you can. If you got a following and they buying the tickets and the things are working, you can make money and stand up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Takara Williams]

If you are very highly sought after, people want to come see you. Be consistent.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You want an understudy, you want an apprentice or understudy?

[Takara Williams]

I mean, I don't know. Am I going to get some of this? Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause, you know, I've been known to tell a joker, too.

[Takara Williams]

But it can be very, very lucrative. That's why it's one of the main entertainment portions of industry that people jump into.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

You'll see somebody be like, oh, I'm not really acting no more. I'm doing standup now. You can make money off stand up. So what was I saying? I forgot what I was saying.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You said you had Alexis. You had Alexis. 20, 25.

[Takara Williams]

And my dude said, you know what I love about you? And I said what? He said, you're not out here buying an amg. You're not out here buying all these crazy cars. I got a Lexus cause it's reliable.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

I got a Lexus. Cause the maintenance is good. I got a Lexus that. I put me a little regular gas in there. You know what I'm saying? It's easy maintenance. And most importantly, is practical.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Takara Williams]

I'm a very practical person. And every now and then I'll go crazy, but I'm very, very practical. A lot of women, they just. They not practical.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You don't need an Hermes bag a month.

[Takara Williams]

No, I have one, and it's a Lindsey. It's not even A Birkin or a Kelly. It's a Lindsay bag. You know why? Cause I be putting so much stuff in there, Shannon. Oh, my God. I be having shoes in there and everything. I'm not a. I'm very practical. And if I buy one, I think this is my first one. My first Hermes. And it's a Lindsay. I think it's a Clementine Lindsey. And it's not as expensive as the other ones, but it does the job for me. I like it. I'm not that kind of girl. I didn't grow up like that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

But also, I have anxiety of not having money again.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

So I over save.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

I overstack money. Because when I leave this earth, I gotta leave my kids something.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

That's realistic to me. A lot of people are not realistic.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Only my kids did.

[Takara Williams]

I don't even know what to say. Cause he ain't really got no debt like that. I don't know why he would say something like that. But people. That's like a girl telling me, I'm gonna give me an Hermes bag. Girl, you have section eight. You should be having an Hermes bag.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

A $20,000 bag.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

And you paying $400 in rent. No idea. No. Willing to grow and do more with your life. You could spend $20,000 on something else. No, I'm not saying that you should. If you want to get the bag, get the bag. But don't ask me my opinion on it. I'm gonna tell you. That's the stupid. That's stupid to me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

John Hope Bryant had the best quote. He said your assets shouldn't be on your ass.

[Takara Williams]

That's very true. But if you. And then that's also another thing. The maintenance of women nowadays. I need him to buy me a bag. If you gonna take me on a date, you need to get my hair done. And if that's what y' all want, that's fine. But you're not gonna find the type of man that you want if he's paying. If he has to do those things, you're not gonna find that. He not gonna take you serious.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mm. Mm.

[Takara Williams]

He gonna look at you as okay. If I'm spending money like this, you need to be accessible when I need you to be accessible. And when I don't, you better not be.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

That's how it is. And again, it's just unrealistic expectations. This lady on social media the other day for Mother's Day, her husband bought her this Steve Madden bag, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

It's the cutest Video. I'm gonna try to send it to you. He bought her the Steve Madden bag. And he said the caption is, watch this. You see the price tag? This ain't for Ross. This from the Steve Madden store, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

So she looking at it and she's like, oh, my God, I love. I love this bag. And he said, look at the tag. Look at the tag. So the original Steve Madden tag is on it, but she looking for the TJ Maxx or the Ross tag. And she's like, well, where's the tag? He said, that is the tag. She said, this is the tag. He said, yeah, I got that from the Steve Madden store. She was so happy that I dmed them. And I was like, what's your information? Cause the way she acted for that bag, I'm finna buy her another Steve Madison bag. Appreciation.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

And they happily married.

[Shannon Sharpe]

See? See, that's what I'm talking about. That's what I look. That's the number one thing I want.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I want gratitude. I want appreciation.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I want you to be grateful, because I'm not. I'm gonna get you what I sincere. Because I'm only gonna get what I believe you absolutely want that you can appreciate Hermes bag. But just be grateful. I mean, I've given gift card, and it felt like I was like, damn, thank you.

[Takara Williams]

That's what somebody said, thank you. Like that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

My birthday was on Easter, and he asked me what I wanted, and they had this giant coach bag. I don't know if you've seen them. It's some viral bag. The woman in the back. You know what I'm talking about? The giant coin. What is the Kiss Lock bag? And they had a little one, and I got the little one for myself. And I kept saying, I want the big one, but I can't find it. It kept selling out. Selling out. And it's not too expensive. I think it's like 7, $800. But it kept selling out. And he got it for me for my birthday. Mind you, my closet is the size of a bedroom, and I have so many designer bags. But I wanted that coach bag. And he found it for me. And I have been so happy. I can't wait to wear this bag. Like, I'm like, plan a date so I can wear my bag. I appreciate the bag. And one of my friends was like, he bought you a coach bag? I was like, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ooh.

[Takara Williams]

I'm like, what's wrong with that? She's like, he can't. Like, you didn't Want a Louis bag? I said, I have Louis bags. You didn't want a Gucci? I got. I got.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, see, that's what you wanted. That ain't what I wanted.

[Takara Williams]

I wanted this. This is what I asked for.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, that's my hoodie. Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

I want.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Your husband go buy you anybody.

[Takara Williams]

He buy her none.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Exactly.

[Takara Williams]

Cause she don't have one. So I'm excited with the. But it's just. It's living a. Nobody wants to. Nobody wants to be normal.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Takara Williams]

Nobody want to lead practical lives. Everybody wants the most. Insane, crazy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They want that lifestyle. They want the pride. I'm looking at, I'm like, hold on. And I had to, like. I'm like, damn, I must be really bad off. These people getting on private jets and they got all these nice cars and they got these. I was like, well, damn. I know what my overhead is for the. You know, taking care of my mom and my. You know.

[Takara Williams]

You can rent them, right? You know, they got fake planes that's in studios, and it look like you in a plane, but you not. And you can rent that and take pictures and stuff. Like, you in a plane and you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It ain't going nowhere.

[Takara Williams]

Mm. Mm. They caught a couple of people lying like, hey, man, the window is the window outside ain't moving fast

[Shannon Sharpe]

to impress something. To impress people. You don't know.

[Takara Williams]

You don't know. You don't know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You willing to do that? Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Or live beyond your means?

[Shannon Sharpe]

No. Hell no.

[Takara Williams]

I got people right now in my life that live beyond their means. And I try to tell them, oh, we struggling. I said, you financially irresponsible. Yeah, you living beyond your means. If you can't afford something, it's okay to not be able to afford something.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, ain't no. We struggling. You struggle. I'm fine.

[Takara Williams]

Buy the things that you can't afford.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yes.

[Takara Williams]

If you can't afford this, there's options to that. Well, I don't want to buy that because I don't want nobody to see me in that. So you going to buy that and they going to see you homeless. That's crazy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, exactly.

[Takara Williams]

In the street with your bag.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's crazy.

[Takara Williams]

With your sneakers.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's crazy, man.

[Takara Williams]

Listen, I take my. I still shop at Ross for my IBM. I was at Ross the other day. Somebody said, oh, my God, girl, what you doing at Ross? I'm, like, looking for sheets.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Like, I still the same thing. You do it.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah, I'm up in here. They got. This is where they got the good snacks at. Right by the register. I'm in here for the snacks.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So are you saying. So you're not in it, you're happily married. But how bad is the dating scene right now?

[Takara Williams]

Oh, it's terrible. That's why we got back together. That man ran in that street, and I ran in that street. And we came back a couple years later.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ain't nothing out there. Ain't nothing out there for either one of us.

[Takara Williams]

Come on. What you doing? Oh, I don't know. What you doing? Yeah, you wanna go ahead and try this again? Cause I was in the streets the other day. They got STDs out there, they got crack. It's all kinds of stuff out there in the streets. I. I'm good. Dating is. Ooh, dating is bad. When I was single before and I tried dating, it's just bad. The men have these unrealistic expectations for me. Especially if you have a certain status in life. They already think they know you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

And I'm just like. I'm not even like that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Takara Williams]

Well, what you wanna do? I wanna whip some chicken wings.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Let's find out why you wanna go get chicken wings.

[Takara Williams]

Let's find a happy hour. You don't wanna go to the steakhouse? Absolutely not. I don't even like steak like that. You don't wanna get dressed up? No, I don't wanna put no makeup on. I wanna put on some jeans and a pair of nice sneakers and a T shirt. And I'm gonna go get some chicken wings at the happy hour spot. Winter lemon pepper.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Takara Williams]

With occasion. All flats. All flats.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Well done.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They think because what they see on social media, that's who you are.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So they're expecting to meet that person.

[Takara Williams]

Well, I don't even think it's what they say on social media. Cause I don't give that on social media.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I'm saying they create an image of people.

[Takara Williams]

Create an image. Like I'm sure you've met people. And they say, well. Cause Shannon, I know you like and you like. Well, who told you that?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Cause I know you used to. Well, who told you that? Now look at you messed up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Takara Williams]

Cause you out here trying to take me on a date that you can't afford. And we could have just went to Buffalo wild way. I like Cheesecake Factory.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Man, you better not. See, you better stop. Cause them women gonna get you.

[Takara Williams]

I do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause they say you can't take nobody to first. They can't go to Cheesecake Factory.

[Takara Williams]

I like Cheesecake Factory how I like it. Have you had their seafood dinner. I bet you didn't get you a little Cajun pasta, little martini. I like Cheesecake Factory. I go there. We go there now. Upside down pineapple cake. You ain't had no cheesecake unless you had the upside down pineapple cheesecake.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's too much.

[Takara Williams]

I can't eat the whole thing, but ooh, it's the combination. Ooh, ooh.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I mean, two bites, probably like 4, 500 calories.

[Takara Williams]

Yeah. I mean, I ain't gonna eat nothing else that day for the rest of the day, but I'mma hand me my little two bites. Ain't nothing wrong with the Cheesecake Factory. It's nothing wrong with it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listened to part one on. Just simply go back to Club Shay profile and I'll see you there. Now, at McDonald's, everyone can get more of what they want when they want it. When with McVowey, you can choose your wake up call, you can choose your study meal or even your drive thru dinner.

[Takara Williams]

Jump from craving to saving. With McDonald's under $3 menu, including a McChicken for only $2 limited time only. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Honestly, Honestly, Honestly.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No one wants to think about hiv, but there are things that everyone can

[Commercial/Announcer]

do to help prevent it.

[Takara Williams]

Things like prep.

[Shannon Sharpe]

PREP stands for pre exposure prophylaxis, and it means routinely taking prescription medicine before

[Commercial/Announcer]

you're exposed to HIV to help reduce your chances of getting it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Prep can be about 99% effective when taken as prescribed.

[Takara Williams]

It doesn't protect against other STIs, though, so be sure to use condoms and

[Commercial/Announcer]

other healthy sex practices.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ask a healthcare provider about all your

[Commercial/Announcer]

prevention Options and visit findoutaboutprep.com to learn more. Sponsored by Gilead, this episode is brought to you by Bobcat.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They started the compact equipment industry through

[Commercial/Announcer]

grit, determination and a whole lot of

[Shannon Sharpe]

think we can't do that.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Watch us. They set standards, broke records, empowered people to build bigger and higher, to dig deeper, to make the impossible possible. We've all been there with doubters telling

[Shannon Sharpe]

us what we can't do. Who cares what they think?

[Commercial/Announcer]

We don't need their permission or forgiveness.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We just get things done. So go ahead and doubt me, judge me, challenge me.

[Commercial/Announcer]

But when the time comes, watch me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Bobcat Ice Cube's Big three season is heating up and it all comes down to this. The Big three playoffs are coming to Dallas, Texas. The four best teams in the Big three battle it out for a spot in the championship. The action starts with the legendary Big three Celebrity Game. Three games of the most physical, competitive and non stop three on three action. The game played the way you love. Watch live Saturday on CBS at 12pm Eastern, 9am Pacific and catch replays Monday on BET. Presented by iheart A Yay.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Yay. If you're alignment in charge of keeping the lights on, Grainger understands that you go to great lengths and sometimes heights to ensure the power is always flowing. Which is why you can count on Grainger for professional grade products and and next day delivery so you have everything you need to get the job done. Call 1-800-granger clickgranger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.