Becoming a parent has its effect on people, and for “Black Ink Crew: Chicago” star Charmaine Bey, it’s pushed her to leave behind her negative ways for good.
After welcoming her daughter Nola Glenda Bey with her husband Neek Bey, dealing with her mother Glenda Walker’s passing and a global pandemic, Charmaine revealed she has made the conscious decision to no longer fight on reality television.
“Being able to sit inside for a year and really be able to reflect — you know when those cameras turn off, it takes a month or two to get out of that camera mode,” the reality star told MadameNoire in a recent interview. “Imagine a year later. Your priorities definitely shift, and how you want to be represented shifts.”
The 31-year-old continued, “Don’t get me wrong, viewers loved ‘Black Ink’ in the past, but with the environment and if you just read the room right now, I feel that it’s really important for us to come through with some better stories with more layers involved versus going to fighting drama.”
Moving forward, Charmaine says there are certain things she just refuses to tolerate, especially since she’s never considered herself to be “hard” or a fighter before joining the series. “Have I attacked other people? Yes. I’m not trying to play victim here. Most likely, I was attacked first, and I’m defending myself. But what I’m saying is there was a time where you just felt like, if it goes down today, it goes down today!” she explained. “But also me having a young daughter, and I’m going to have more kids in the future. I don’t feel like I need to explain myself, but I just don’t want to think that you have to be the loud, ghetto, ratchet person in the room to get attention. You don’t have to be a fighter if you’re not a fighter, and it’s ok.”
Charmaine is looking forward to new beginnings at VH1 after the network parted ways with Big Fish Entertainment, the former producer of several of its reality shows, including the “Black Ink” franchises.
She also dove deeper into her experience since becoming a mother after welcoming 1-year-old Nola during the start of the pandemic, on March 15, 2020. “I always wonder what it’s like to raise a child outside of a pandemic because I’ve never experienced that. But I imagine that raising one in a pandemic is a lot more stressful…you never know what the next day brings,” she expressed. “We have this virus we’re still learning so much about every day just floating around outside. It’s a very scary situation. It’s been crazy in the sense that I’m probably a little bit more anal. I’m probably nagging a little bit more, telling my husband to make sure he washes his hands, keep things clean — ‘Oh no, don’t give that to her. It touched the floor!’ But overall, it’s been a blessing.”
