When Meagan Good first came onto acting scene, she was just a toddler starring in television commercials.
Since then, the California girl has blossomed into not only a beautiful head turner, but also a phenomenal actress who has graced the screen in dozens of movies, including the star-studded film based off Steve Harvey’s novel Think Like A Man.
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Not only is she gearing up to break records as NBC’s first African American lead in her up and coming TV movie Notorious, but the actress is also basking in her newlywed glow after marrying the man she considers to be her soulmate, Devon Franklin.
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With the DVD release of Think Like A Man nearing, GlobalGrind touched base with the insightful and sweet Meagan Good, who had some tips of her own for relationship longevity.
Check out the exclusive interview below and be sure to get your dose of Meagan as Mya when Think Like A Man is released on DVD August 28th.
GlobalGrind: Think Like a Man is about to drop on DVD. You had such a star-studded cast, including yourself. Can you tell me who was the most fun to work with?
Meagan Good: Obviously Kevin Hart, just because he is such a ball of energy and fun. He is such a genuine person and most of the comedy that he says comes from a true place. He is just fun to be around and he is just a really great person. And definitely Romany Malco. We had done the Love Guru a while back and it was cool because it was a comedy, but we didn’t have a lot of freedom with the lines, so in Think Like A Man there was so much freedom. Tim really let us play and find the best way to do the scenes. It was just fun exploring and being energized in that way.
You played Mya in Think Like A Man. Did you relate to her character in any way in your personal life?
I have friends that have really related to her, but in a sense I have, in making a commitment to doing something different, which I did in my own life when I decided to be celibate. Mya kind of did the same thing by saying, “You know what, I’m not going to sleep with a guy for 90 days.” So I can completely relate to that and trying to find something different and trying to make guys respect and work for it.
Have you ever dated any of the men that were personified in TLAM?
By the grace of God I haven’t had too much trouble with cheaters, but I have definitely dated the mama’s boy. One of my boyfriend’s mothers used to get mad and chase me! I know that sounds crazy, if she felt like I was spending too much time with her son or whatever, she would just get up and chase me like she was going to beat me up! She is a really nice sweet woman but sometimes when she would have a glass of wine, she would decide that I was getting a little too close for comfort and randomly decide to chase me. And my boyfriend would have to lock me in my car until she got tired.
Now you don’t have to deal with dating anymore because you were recently married, so congratulations! How has married life been treating you so far?
It’s funny because people think I am really bigging it up, but it is really the best thing I have ever done in my entire life. He is really an amazing guy and person and I couldn’t have been more blessed. We get each other, we are best friends, we talk about everything, we are open and we just have fun together and we enjoy life the same way. I feel like I’ve got my partner on this journey now and he has my back and I have his. It’s fun. It makes you feel like a kid and gives you a new way of looking at life.
I think that is what everyone looks for when they look to get married, and when someone actually finds it people find it so hard to believe, so congratulations on finding your love.
Thank you! Thank you very much. That is kind of why I gravitated to Think Like a Man, because the whole point of it was telling women, don’t settle. If you refuse to put up with certain things or you wait for the right guy, you might really find them. I feel like that is exactly what happened to me. I waited and didn’t accept certain things and I left my trust to God and believed that with the right timing it was going to be what it was going to be.
What did you learn about love and relationships, and yourself, in that time that you had the vow of celibacy?
I learned to put all my issues to the forefront. My dad is amazing, but he wasn’t able to be there a lot for me and my sister as kids because he was LAPD and working a lot of the time and our parents were separated, so I think I have a lot of baggage that I picked up from that as a kid. As I got older, the way that I assessed things changed, I look at my mom, and she was a knockout, a certified knockout and then I kind of looked at all the things going on in the news and I see Halle Berry and David Justice breaking up and all of these things made me say, ‘wow.’ It doesn’t matter how beautiful you are, it doesn’t matter what you have going for you, a guy is going to be a guy and you have to protect yourself. So I went into every relationship trying to be on the defense, like I am not going to be the one crying at the end of this, I am not going to be the one hurt. I approached relationships like that for so long that it became unhealthy because I couldn’t fully give myself without having my guard up. I think that time alone helped me bring my guard down, put things into perspective and helped me find myself and helped me be open to having an open relationship with someone.
You’re droppin’ gems! I’m sure since you’ve been married everyone has been asking you, do you have plans for kids in the future?
Definitely in the future, but not in the near future. We both want kids, but we want to take our time and be married first. We are like big kids, we want to travel and be very adventurous and do all of those things before having kids. We are the type of couple who will just jump on a plane if we have a few days off, so we want to enjoy doing that for a little while before having kids. I would want give them the full attention.
