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Vanessa Williams Reveals Her Iconic Line In ’90s Film ‘Soul Food’ Was Improvised

Can a film or television show be considered iconic if it doesn’t have a scene or line or two in it that fans discuss years after its release?  

During a recent interview with The Blairisms for their “Savage Chat” series, actress Vanessa Williams reflected on her journey in the entertainment industry and her experience filming the 1997 movie “Soul Food.” The star also revealed something pretty interesting about her iconic scene where character Teri confronts her husband Miles, played by actor Michael Beach, for sleeping with her cousin Faith, played by actress Gina Ravera. 

Vanessa Williams. Photo: @vanessawilliamsofficial/Instagram

As fans may remember, during the tense confrontation, which would go on to be one of the most memorable moments of the film, Williams delivered the following lines: “Oh, f-ck the family! I let the family into my house, and you know what happened? The family f-cked my husband.”

During her appearance on the web series, one of the hosts asked the 57-year-old if she knew that her line “was going to be one of the most iconic moments in Black culture, Black movie history, Black history,” to which she replied, “Well, that wasn’t in the script.”

Williams continued, “The great thing again about working with people who are undiscovered and need to have that fire in the belly. When we worked on ‘Soul Food,’ George [Tillman Jr.] was a new director. This was something that he wrote about his family. So, getting a chance to work with George, a young director, and writer, I was like, ‘Let’s try this. Go for that. Let’s do it.’ I loved — and I’m not a mentor — but I loved supporting him and his choices. And I said, ‘Let me go for this.’ And he said, ‘Go ahead.'”

The Blairisms shared the nearly 40-minute interview clip on their Instagram page, where fans showered the actress with compliments in the comments section, including one user who wrote, “Just watched and OMG . . . ‘F-ck the family!’ is such a Pisces ad lib! LOVE ALLLLLL of this! A DREAM interview.”  

Another fan wrote, “Love all the “teachable moments”!! Work harder to be acknowledged in a room!💜💜.”

“She is so Iconic, Legendary, Classy, and A BEAST in this Business!!!” a third wrote. 

Check out the interview with The Blairisms and Vennessa Williams here

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