Actress Regina King Talks: Love (Malcolm Jamal Warner) and Money (Financial Freedom)

Actress Regina King talks to Black Enterprise about her recent tipsy appearance on Watch What Happens Live, being financially savvy and her new boo, Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Peep a few excerpts:

Recently, you confirmed your relationship with actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Has going public invaded your privacy? “There was the one incident where we were on vacation in Mexico with my son on the beach and images surfaced. It’s just jacked up when you have a child and they are exposed to it, but right now I’m going to allow the universe to guide my relationship and let me know where and how to navigate it. There are blogs who make things up like Malcolm is raising my son. He is definitely in my son’s life, but my son’s father (my ex-husband) is great and very present in his life. We co-parent. It’s little things like that I wish I could prevent. We kept it a secret for so long that when you do put your relationship out in the open there’s a fear that somehow someone will try to cheapen it. So again, in the end you just want your personal life to be protected as much as possible.”

Blackenterprise.com: Recently you and your former 227 costar Jackee Harry appeared on the Bravo’s What Happens Live! show to give your opinion on The Real Housewives of Atlanta and folks were shocked to see you cut loose. Who is the real Regina King? (Laughs) “Yes, I think a lot of people think I’m uptight. Regina is a confident woman who loves her family and friends. But if you cross me you might get the Poetic Justice Regina, and if you’re nice you might get the Year of the Dog Regina.”

As an actress, what other personal investments do you make for the long haul? “The Screen Actors Guild has a pension plan that you can put money in, which is equivalent to an employee setting up a 401K with their company. Whenever I get a big check I make some type of investment. I’ve done many of them in small ($65,000 to $120,000) in 24-hour fitness gyms and the amount of return was genius. People are always going to work out. If you’re going to try to invest, it’s important to take your time and find someone you really trust who can help advise you. I’ve been with my business manager for 13 years and he’s great. Try to keep abreast of business opportunities that fall between the lines of conservative and liberal. You don’t want to be too progressive. When the stocks dropped, I lost very little because I didn’t have any money in stocks. Find different types of investments like a storage company. When folks went bankrupt and lost homes they had to find storage for their personals. Sometimes the most practical items and services are the ones worth investing in.”

Read the full interview here.