On today’s edition of “Tamron Hall,” in a daytime exclusive, the multitalented star DC Young Fly opened up about the tragic loss of his partner, Jacky Oh, and navigating through his grief with their three young children. DC detailed the new projects that are keeping him focused: his new holiday film “Candy Cane Lane,” starring opposite Eddie Murphy, and his new hosting duties on “Celebrity Squares.” More inside and a video clip….
DC Young Fly opens up about processing the loss of his partner Jacky Oh:
“That was the only way that I could have even dealt with the queen of my children. So when that happened, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve been through this before. All right, I know not to act like that.’ Cause phew, I scared myself. I’ve been through so much loss where it’s like emotionally, like I’m numb to death, because I’m used to it since I was 16. So every death is a different reaction. So, with my cousin, I was angry, when my father died, I was at peace. When my best friend died, I was confused. Now when my girl died, I’m shocked and who is this for? See what I’m saying. Okay, now who is this for? Who is this for? Who do I have to talk to? Because this not only affects me, it affects my children. They have went through something that I ain’t even been through. The great part about my children is like, you hear it even through their responses because my second daughter Nala, she would just come out of the blue and be like, ‘What’s wrong, Daddy? You okay? Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay.’ That’s the spirit. So when I leave and I hear my oldest daughter, Nova, she says, ‘Oh, I heard Auntie in there crying. I told her Daddy said, stop crying. We supposed to be strong. We’re gonna be alright.’ I said, ‘That’s the spirit letting me know that they are on their way.’ They’re built for it. It’s gonna be hard but they’re built for it. And these are, like you said, we don’t get to choose. I wouldn’t wish this on nobody, it’s hard every day still to this day. It feels like a dream, feels like she’s gonna walk in but it’s like, you know what? You got to snap into reality and understand saying, you know what? Y’all haven’t seen me go through past trauma. Y’all gotta see me go through this one. So this is different for me because now I gotta live with this y’all. And I’m private like I really don’t want y’all in my business. You know, I’m saying like, I’m just private. Ah, I gotta talk. Ah, I gotta tell somebody. Ah, I got to lend a helping hand when I don’t feel like it.”
DC talks about navigating through his grief:
“Part of the grieving process is still – I don’t know, to this day because I’m still learning, I’m six months in. This is a forever thing. So I may feel differently in two years. I may feel differently in 10, but I’m just thankful that God allowed me to continue. You know what I’m saying. I understand my calling and I understand my purpose. The calling is, you know, I’m put here on this Earth for a higher purpose, which is to entertain the world but also show the world where it’s coming from. You know, it’s coming from the Most High and I’m an example because now you got to see me go through trauma and still continue with my job and I appreciate people like y’all because God brings people to me who need to hear what I got to say.”
DC discusses working with Eddie Murphy in “Candy Cane Lane”:
“Listen, Eddie doesn’t show up unless he’s reading lines. What I’m talking about, literally, not reading lines, if that shot is not on his face, he ain’t there. He’s got a stunt double, I don’t know if I’m supposed to say that but his stunt double looks just like him. I think he told his stunt double, ‘You can’t look like nobody but me for the rest of your life.’” Tamron asks, “On the movie set, you’re on ‘Candy Cane Lane,’ so this is Eddie but if it’s a backshot of Eddie, it’s not Eddie?” DC quips, “I’m not telling you that! Because I don’t want anybody looking at the movie and saying ‘That ain’t his cheeks! That ain’t his cheeks!’ but what I am saying is, I was talking to somebody for 20 minutes and saying how much I’m a fan and he looked at me and said, ‘You know I ain’t Eddie Murphy, right?’ And I was like ‘Why didn’t you say nothing?!’ But I was like, you know what? This is one of those once in a lifetime opportunities and I was like, ‘man, I gotta talk to Eddie.’ And he was like, ‘I wish I would have kept an hour in my back pocket.’ Meaning an hour of material to go on stage. But I’m like, ‘C’mon Eddie, you don’t want to come back? Just thirty minutes? They just love to hear you talk.’ He said, ‘I know but you know I left on a high note, I don’t want to come back.’ But I’m like ‘Eddie, you can sit up there and read a book, we don’t care! Just come back!’ He’s like, ‘I’m thinking about it. But that’s the only thing I regret in my career. I wish I would have kept an hour in my back pocket.’ And from that conversation I said, ‘I’m gonna keep an hour in my back pocket.’”
DC on what’s next in his career:
“Executive [producing]. I just executive produced a movie with T.I. called ‘Da ‘Partments,’ you can get that on ALLBLK coming soon. I just love putting stuff together. Even if it helps you and I don’t make no money, I’m like ‘I’ve seen you prosper from it,’ it’s like, look man I like that! If I could just help us be in a better environment because it’s also, the things that I’m creating is for us, for us to sit down and watch, you know what I’m saying, it’s for our entertainment. There’s going to be a message in there and it’s also going to be entertaining at the same time because we’re tired of seeing all the same stuff that other people think we like. We don’t like that. Too loud, too much fighting, we don’t want to see it, nobody’s educating nobody and how we’re learning. And we keep coming to y’all trying to produce these types of shows and you’re telling us no! So you know what we’re going to do, producing myself.”
(ABC/Jeff Neira)
