Getty
"We laugh about this now, but Tracee didn't like me for maybe 10 years!"
Anthony Anderson opened up about his relationship with his "Black-ish" co-star Tracee Ellis Ross who admittedly was not his biggest fan for about a decade.
In an interview with Parade, the 51-year-old confessed that before the two were cast as on-screen husband and wife, Anderson did not make the best first impression.
"We laugh about this now, but Tracee didn't like me for maybe 10 years!" he says. "We hosted the Vibe Awards [in 2005]. As we were walking onto the stage there was a loud sound over the speaker, and I said, 'Tracee? Did you fart?' The audience loved it, but what I did not know is how offended Tracee was by that comment."
"I remember I did an episode of her show Reed Between the Lines [in 2011] and all of my scenes were with Tracee," he continued. "And when it came time for my close-up, she would leave the stage like, 'The stage is Anthony's!' I thought Tracee was just showing me the utmost respect as an actor. I was like 'Oh, my God, I've never been treated like this before! I was a guest star on her show, and she was just giving me her set!' Well, looking back on it, she didn't want to be around me!"
ABC
Tracee Ellis Ross Spoke Out Against Doing This on Black-Ish 'From the Beginning'
View StoryAnthony told the publication that Ross didn’t warm up to him until they were halfway into filming the first season of their hit show. Although their relationship had started off a little rocky, Anderson and Ross have an undeniable chemistry on camera which is reflected in all current seasons of "Black-ish".
"But today, there's nothing that I would not do for Tracee," he says. "We work the same, we learn the same, we are there for one another, and we have the ability to work with such fearlessness when we're together, because we know that we will never allow the other to fall."
Amid filming their eighth and final season, Tracee also spoke to the "Wall Street Journal" to reflect on her time on the ABC sitcom and her emotional goodbye to the show.
"I walked into the final week with the prayer to have an open heart so I could really be present for all of the feelings that were moving through," she remembered. "To the point that, at any given moment, tears would start to shed. Anthony towards the end was like, 'Seriously? Are you crying again?' Yeah, I'm crying, dude, I'm crying, get over it Mr. Crankypants who's pretending you're not having feelings but you are."
