From a startling childhood memory to her thoughts on relationships, she shared it all.
Tracee Ellis Ross grew up surrounded by some of the biggest names in entertainment, but not every encounter left her starstruck. In a wide ranging appearance on the podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, the actress opened up about a specific childhood memory that unsettled her, along with her broader outlook on love and self worth.
Ross recalls the celebrity who unsettled her
As the daughter of Diana Ross, Tracee grew up crossing paths with icons most people only see on screen. One in particular stuck with her for the wrong reasons. She recalled artist Andy Warhol coming to paint her and her sisters when she was a child, and admitted the encounter left her uneasy rather than excited. She pointed to his unmistakable look, the pale skin and shock of white hair, as the likely source of her unease, adding that as a kid she simply did not understand what she was witnessing. Looking back now as an adult, she said she has come to appreciate the satirical, layered way Warhol blended art and celebrity culture, something that went completely over her head at the time.
The moment happened in 1981, when Warhol photographed a young Tracee alongside her mother and sisters, Rhonda and Chudney, at his New York studio. The portraits were originally commissioned as personal keepsakes, but one of the resulting images ended up on the cover of Diana Ross’s 1982 album Silk Electric.
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A far more delightful celebrity encounter
Not every brush with fame left Tracee rattled. She also remembered being genuinely starstruck as a child upon learning her family was staying on the same hotel floor as Lucille Ball. Overcome with excitement, she ran through the hallway repeating a line from I Love Lucy, much to the annoyance of her sisters, who begged her to stop. She admitted she is not sure Ball ever actually heard her, but she did get the chance to meet her idol in person.
Growing up grounded despite the fame
Beyond Warhol and Ball, Tracee has described a childhood that was surprisingly ordinary given her mother’s stardom. Singer Marvin Gaye was reportedly a regular presence around the family home. Still, Tracee has said in past interviews that her mother prioritized a stable home life above all else, making sure to wake her children for school and sit down for family dinners despite an unconventional career. According to Tracee, Diana Ross largely recorded music only after her kids were asleep and rarely traveled for more than a week at a time.
Ross on choosing her own happiness
The podcast conversation also touched on Tracee’s approach to relationships. She reflected on her years playing Joan on the sitcom Girlfriends, a character whose long running storyline centered on the fear of never being chosen by a partner. She said she did not initially realize how much that narrative had shaped her own thinking until after the show wrapped. Since then, she has spoken openly about flipping that script, describing herself as the one doing the choosing rather than waiting to be picked. She added that she considers herself worthy of choosing the right partner when the time comes, and that her happiness is ultimately her own responsibility rather than something to be handed to her by someone else.
