While Garcelle Beauvais is clearly a pro in front of the camera, she’s still getting used to having them in her home. “That’s always been my sanctuary,” she tells Jezebel. “And you forget really quickly that they’re there, which is not good.” But it is good for drama.
The newest face on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Beauvais is bearing the weight of being the first woman of color to join the show. “I didn’t want to go in with anybody’s conception of what a black woman should be in Beverly Hills,” she says. “My main concern was showing up as me, not what people wanted me to be, not as what people expected me to be.”
Fans of RHOBH will notice she’s close to castmates Denise Richards, Erica Girardi; she says she and long-time friend Lisa Rinna are figuring out what their relationship looks like now. Outside of Housewives, Beauvais recently filmed Coming 2 America, which she describes as “going to Wakanda, but in a different way,” and launched her late-night podcast Going to Bed with Garcelle this month, featuring conversations with Beauvais and her circle of friends. “We will talk about anything—relationships, sex, how are we going to date in this quarantine time,” she says.
In the video above, Beauvais reflects on her early days in Hollywood, sexuality, and staying authentic on and off-camera.