Kim Wayans talked about what she would’ve done differently in her 20s and what advice she would give to her younger self.
It was something she talked about in a YouTube video to promote Lena Waithe‘s new BET show “Twenties.” Kim plays on the series “Boomerang,” also created by Waithe.
“In my 20s, I was 16. So I was a late bloomer. I was still very much a child when I was in my 20s,” said Kim, who was a cast member of the 1990s sketch comedy show “In Living Color,” created by her brother Keenen Ivory Wayans. “I was very much a teenager in so many different ways.”
“Trying to figure out my place in the industry was hard because things are changing now and doors are opening up now,” Kim added. “But when I was coming up and looking for opportunities, they would put you in a box, and there are certain things that are asked of you to do as a Black actress, and it really wasn’t all that thrilling, all that exciting.”
Kim then said it’s wonderful to now see more opportunities for Black actors compared to years past.
Next, Kim, who’s now 58, talked about the advice she would give her 20-something self, and it had to do with trusting her instincts.
“Trust your own voice. When I was young like that, I didn’t really trust my voice,” she stated. “I looked to my brothers, I looked to other people to basically tell me who I was. But deep inside I knew who I was and I knew what I wanted to do.”
“But when you’re young like that, sometimes it’s hard to trust that,” continued Kim. “You mature into trusting yourself and then you tell everybody else to go to hell, I’ma do what I want to do. So I think I would tell myself to trust myself more.”
Based on her words, it doesn’t seem like Kim misses how she used to view herself in her 20s, but she spoke fondly of the physical benefits of being young — like having a youthful body, skin and hair. She also called that time period of her life “fun” and explained why.
“You don’t really have the weight of the world on your shoulders,” Kim explained. “You don’t really understand a lot about the world yet, and in some ways that’s beautiful. Because you have a certain kind of innocence. You have a certain kind of carefreeness and a certain kind of indomitability.”
“Boomerang’s” new season starts on March 11 on BET, and “Twenties” premiered on Wednesday, March 4.
