VIBE caught up with LisaRaye McCoy to chat about her role as Keisha Green, the man eater on Vh1’s Single ladies (which premieres tonight), why she won’t ever get caught up with a dating reality TV show and what she’s looking for in a man.
So, is Single Ladies pretty much along the lines of Sex and the City?
I like to say it’s Sex and the City meets Girlfriends. It’s about three friends that have three different philosophies about sex, dating, men, friendship, love and romance. It’s about how to be friends and how to receive a friendship and I think we all need a little one on one with that. It’s really current, it’s very now, its modern, its hot, sexy and steamy. It’s definitely something we don’t have on TV. Right now. It’s not a black show, it’s not a white show it’s a multiracial show, I’m so excited about doing it.
Talk about your character, you mentioned somewhere else that she’s like a Samantha type.
Yes, she is like a Samantha type. She has her own opinion on how to play men, which is⎯we all have our games we play with men but it think Keisha, which is my character’s name, she goes a little too far. She doesn’t want to relinquish who she is before the other person does and so that means she’s always guarded and has a wall up but I don’t know that she’s even able to receive it because she doesn’t know how to give it. She used to be a video vixen but she’s a poker player now so she makes her own money, and good money. But she’s looking for that significant other that’s going to raise the bar, so it’s funny because she has her relationship on the side, she has her boy toy, she has her Pilates instructor that she sleeps with but that one guy that she really wants⎯the one guy that she tries to reel in, which I say is her Mr. Big ⎯is giving her a run for her money, so I’m vicariously living through Keisha right now, since I don’t have no love life.
Are you similar to your character on the show in real life at all?
I think when you’re hired to perform as an actress you bring to light the words that are on the page and of course you bring a little bit of LisaRaye to the character but to be honest that character was so well written by Stacy A. Littlejohn, which is the show’s writer and executive producer and actually happened to be the writer on my show All of Us, and happens to be one of my best friends. But it’s written so well that she captures exactly who this character is. It’s just that I bring the charm and pizzazz and more of the personality to the character. But I will tell you this: With each character, I bet you when you sit down with your girlfriends, one if not all of ya’ll are gonna be able to identify with these young ladies, you’re gonna say, “Oh my goodness I’ve been there before,” or “I have a girlfriend that’s been there before,” or “I don’t want to go there” [laughs].
Dating is a theme on your reality show so with that, would you have a spin off show where you’re trying to find a date along the lines of The Ultimate Merger?
Absolutely not! I’m not that kind of woman. I don’t date publicly, first of all. I don’t have time nor am I too personable to be having all types of men all on my body. My body is a temple and it ain’t that damn easy. You will never see me in that light at all, which is why I like my reality show now. It’s a grown and sexy show because you will never see me cursing anybody out on my show or fighting with anybody. I’m a mother, I’m a daughter, I’m a woman, I don’t have time for all of that. My show is about a woman’s journey who has been through some things that I feel that builds character and strength in your personality and in your journey toward where you’re going in you life. It’s about how we all struggle, we all survive, we all need support and it’s about moving on that is what my story is all about and it’s real.
What is going on with your love life now, if you don’t mind?
Not a damn thing!
Are you busy or do you just have high standards [Laughs] ?
It’s a little bit of both and some other stuff. I am extremely busy right now but I’m working on me and I don’t think it’s fair for me to bring excess baggage’s to anyone new in my life, so I’m accepting responsibility for things that I’ve done and where I’m going. I’m working with my personal relationship with God and I’m working on that chapter and the things I’ve wanted in a man may not be the same things that I want now, which spiritual is definitely on my list but there’s an expectation for myself and other people’s perspective of who they think they should date. I am a worldly woman, I’m an international woman, I have my own accomplishments, so yes. I’m looking for someone of status. A lot of people say, “Who will she date now, my God she was a first lady, she was married to a president,” but I say to them I’m not looking for someone to fill his shoes, I’m looking to be fulfilled period.