[Exclusive] Loretta Devine Says Terry McMillan Isn’t Thinking About ‘Waiting To Exhale 2’ Right Now

During the NAACP Image Awards this weekend, theJasmineBRAND caught up with 62-year-old actress, Loretta Devine. During the interview she spoke, briefly, about her upcoming work, success, and her memory of the late  Whitney Houston. Peep some quotes.

On upcoming projects:

“I’m working on a show called “The Client List“ for Lifetime and it comes out in April. It’s the beginning of a new series with Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Cybill Shepherd.”

On her success:

“It’s just like playing piano; the more you practice, the better you get at it, so I hope it continues. Who knows, you know, life is so short.”

On the biggest mistake aspiring actors make:

“Not being prepared when they go in, or expecting too much, or becoming too great in their own mind. Show business is really a fickle business. It’s a build up, for a let down. So you have to love it and you have to work really hard. It looks easy, but… You learn, after a while. Initially, I think it’s hard for people. I think the first time you lose a job or are cut out of a movie it’s devastating, but you learn that it isn’t the end of your life and once you make it out you just keep going. Something like a snowball; if you do good work, people will come.”

What she’ll miss most about Whitney Houston:

“Being around her, being in her presence. I got a chance to talk to her, briefly, when she was out here and a couple months ago. And I just always felt so excited when I was around her. She always made you feel so special. She just bubbled and was a person that gushed with a lot of life and a lot of joy. I’m devastated that she’s gone.”

On continuing the “Waiting to Exhale” sequel, without Whitney:

“When I talked to Terry [McMillan], her mind isn’t on the film right now. She’s trying to get through this particular time. So much is being said by everybody, so we don’t know what’s going to happen with it. We hope it happens but there’s no way to know. Gregory Hines was also in the original and he’s gone so…”

On who inspires her style:

“A lot of the people that inspire me, nobody knows. My sisters, my mom. I want to make them proud. And I’m in a peer group of people that came out of New York, that are very talented, that are working actresses.”

On what she wants her legacy to be:

“I have no idea… that I was honest and good… I don’t know.

Peep the footage:

[youtube width=”590″ height=”415″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl5DC8roGCY&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

-@Kami2Kute