“Black-ish,” creator Kenya Barris filed for divorce from his wife Dr. Rania “Rainbow” Barris after 20 years of marriage.
According to reports, Barris filed the papers in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, August 9, on the same day he turned 45.
Dr. Barris is an anesthesiologist in West Hollywood, California, who graduated from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In 2014 she also filed for divorce, but the couple later patched things up, and the request was removed one year later.
Besides “black-ish,” Barris also created its spinoff “grown-ish as well, plus the prequel “mixed-ish,” which is about the “black-ish” lead character Rainbow Johnson’s childhood.
The California native also co-wrote the 2017 comedy film “Girl’s Trip,” and in 2018 he signed a reported $100 million deal with Netflix to create original series. This was after he ended his working relationship with ABC Studios.
In a previous statement, Barris said the “black-ish” characters played by Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross are loosely based on his own marriage.
In fact, during an interview with Entertainment Weekly, his wife said the near collapse the TV couple faced in the fourth season is pulled from the struggles in her own marriage.
“When you take these real-life situations where life is happening every day, viewers feel like they know this family — because they can say they are this family,” explained Dr. Barris.
Barris also said “black-ish” storylines reflect what he and his wife have gone through during their time together.
“Dre and Bow have never been immune to tough situations, just like marriages in real life, including my own,” he wrote in a statement before the fourth season storyline aired. “We want to shine a light on the challenges a relationship can face and the necessary effort to try and work through them together.”
The couple married in 1999 and have six children together.
