Actress Lovie Simone has captured the hearts of millions with her latest coming-of-age series, “Forever” debuting at #1 on Netflix.
While Simone previously starred in “Greenleaf”, “The Craft: Legacy” and “Selah and the Spades”, “Forever” may be considered her breakout role with series creator Mara Brock Akil’s remarkable ability to reimagine Judy Blume’s 1975 novel in such a way that it connects generations, united by a timeless love story.
In “Forever”, Simone plays Keisha Clark, a studious high school junior focused on her goal of attending Howard University. While at a New Year’s Eve party, she reconnects with her childhood crush, Justin Edwards (actor Michael Cooper Jr.).
The pair are immediately smitten with each other but their first date comes to an abrupt end when Justin learns a shocking secret about Keisha’s past. Despite the fact that Justin is one of the most gracious and non-judgemental characters in recent history, Keisha has internalized the need to uphold a perfect image and guard her secrets, which results in her continuously pushing Justin away causing rifts in their relationship. Within the eight-episode first season, “Forever” explores how the Keisha and Justin learn that communication and vulnerability are the keys to a healthy relationship.
In a conversation with Zon D’Amour, actress Lovie Simone gives insight into her experience working with Mara Brock Akil and the lessons she learned from portraying Keisha Clark.
D’Amour Magazine: Firstly, Congratulations on your Gotham Awards Nomination. You previously mentioned that you were attracted to this role because you were more than just a girlfriend as oftentimes women are relegated to side characters in a man’s story. Mara Brock Akil has a history of creating iconic, self-assured characters like Joan Clayton, Mary Jane Paul, and now Keisha Clark. Can you expound upon why this role was important for you?
Lovie Simone: This role was important because I wanted to do it justice for everyone who has a strong connection to the book. It’s about so much more than just being a girlfriend. It’s about awareness of one’s body, awareness of one’s space, and community, as well as knowing and loving yourself, and how that looks like in regards to loving someone else. So it was a very big thing, from a human standpoint, and then from a Black woman standpoint, it made me feel like there was space and a demand for these kinds of stories. There’s a realness to what Judy Blume wrote, and then what Mara’s pen wrote that I feel twenty and thirty years down the road will still be true. So I was very excited about that.
D’Amour Magazine: Keisha wears braids for most of the season, and then she switches to her natural hair. Ironically, as I was watching the show and preparing for our interview, my hair was wrapped up. I had planned to wear a scarf but when I saw Keisha’s afro, I decided to pull my puff out! How involved were you in the hair and costume design for your character? Why was it important for you to wear your natural hair?
Lovie Simone: All of Keisha’s looks were very intentional, from her pink nails to her blue nails when she was sad. Keisha’s style reflected whatever parts of herself she was working through. So the box braids, the blue nails, and the darker outfits, that’s Keisha when she’s more tucked away going through a trauma. When Keisha has the moment with her natural hair, it’s after a lot of the trauma has been lifted, she feels a lot freer, and it’s a lot more fun. She’s a lot less serious towards the end of the season. And there are a variety of hairstyles that she can play with. I think natural hair is not as serious as people make it out to be.
D’Amour Magazine: In my previous interview with Mara Brock Akil she mentioned that your character is experiencing going from invisible to visible while having Justin (actor Michael Cooper Jr.) validate her beauty. What advice do you have for dark-skinned young women who may look up to you and see themselves in Keisha about being confident in their choices?
Lovie Simone: There’s a lot that people can learn from Keisha. It’s nice to see someone like her go through these experiences and maybe not make every right choice, but you can see how she was valid in her feelings with certain decisions. It’s nice to know that people who look like me can say, ‘I did it like this, but if she’s anything like me, maybe next time, I’ll try it like that.’
While it’s easy to tell people what to do, [confidence] is actually a movement. It’s when you can move with grace and inspire people to do so as well. That’s how it was on set with Mara, Xosha (Roquemore, who plays Keisha’s mother, Shelly), and all the other amazing people we worked with. I’m like, ‘Okay, you guys are telling me what to do, and that’s amazing. I’m gonna do that. But I also see how you’re existing. And, it’s like okay, cool. I want to see how that looks on me.’ I think that’s a human thing that we all do.
D’Amour Magazine: Keisha and Justin are both insulated by amazing parents including “Dawn” and “Eric” (Justin’s parent’s played by actors Karen Pittman and Wood Harris) and Keisha’s parents “Shelly” and “Quincy” (actors Xosha Roquemore and Will Catlett) While Quincy, a professional baseball player, is only in a few episodes he gives Keisha invaluable advice in regards to making sure Justin isn’t so obsessed with their relationship to a point where he loses himself and becomes possessive over Keisha. When you regurgitated that advice back to Justin, I was like, ‘Wow’ our parents are really our inner voice, and what they say affects and impacts us. Can you talk about your relationship with your parents in the show?
Lovie Simone: You get to see how much Keisha not only relies on her community but she really listens to her community. She sees where she may be dropping the ball and disappointing someone with her actions. She’s very much still a teenager who knows she’s going to be affected by how her parents feel while also trying to tend to how she feels so you get to see all of these things. The close relationship that I have with Xosha in the show, that’s something people will relate to. I love that people are going to be able to have that as well as see different kinds of families. [For example] Justin’s dad is the home, and then you get to see what it looks like when my dad isn’t in the home but he’s not completely gone. So I love the range in family life as well.”
D’Amour Magazine: Outside of the series being a coming-of-age love story, what do you want audiences to glean from “Forever”?
Lovie Simone: I hope people work around trauma a little bit more gracefully. This introduction to a traumatic experience that a high schooler is going through, I hope people can have a little a lot more grace in regards to like the response and how they talk about it, because these are teenagers going through things for the first time, and you’re seeing the processing of everything that’s happening. You see the thoughts, you see the feelings, you see the messages that’ve been deleted. So just have more grace with these teenagers that are making these really big decisions even if they don’t seem like really big decisions.
D’Amour Magazine: Lastly, I did not expect to cry at the end of the first season when Keisha and Justin end on such amicable terms. There was an invaluable message that sometimes relationships aren’t forever, but they leave a lasting impact on you. I think it’s easy for adults to assume that they’re beyond the age of learning something new when it comes to love and relationships but I think there were so many life lessons and teachable moments throughout the season. Was there anything in particular that you learned playing Keisha?
Lovie Simone: I learned that teenagers have the capacity to have mature relationships. A lot of times, we look at how teens act in relationships and say, ‘This is so over the top, they’re doing the most, and they don’t know what’s best for them. But the teenage version of ourselves is the most selfish version of ourselves that we’ll probably have ever experienced in life. So the fact that you can have that intense energy, live inside of that, and really know yourself and what you want is a beautiful thing. I have a newfound respect for teenage relationships, because even if they are rocky, who’s to say it’s not doing anything for them? [Relationships] are an important part of our development.
Season one of “Forever” is currently streaming on Netflix.