Raven-Symoné opens up on feeing 'attacked' after Oprah interview
Raven-Symoné has opened up on feeling "attacked" after a 2014 Oprah Winfrey interview.
The former That's So Raven star spoke out about comments she made about being African American almost a decade ago.
"When that aired, I felt like the entire Internet exploded and threw my name in the garbage," Raven-Symoné, 38, told her wife and podcast co-host, 36-year-old Miranda Maday, adding she had felt "haunted" by the scandal ever since.
In the original interview, Raven-Symoné had told Oprah she did not want to be labelled.
"I don't want to be labelled gay," she said at the time. "I want to be labelled a human who loves humans. I'm tired of being labelled - I'm an American, I'm not an African American - I'm an American."
This week, Raven-Symoné worked to clarify her intention behind the statement.
"There was so much backlash from my community and others that misunderstood/didn't hear the exact words that I said," she explained on Tea Time With Raven and Miranda. "A lot of people thought I said that I wasn't Black, and I never said that."
She went on to further describe what she had meant by her words.
"When I say that African American does not align with me, that label, it doesn't mean that I'm negating my Blackness or I'm not Black," Raven-Symoné said. "It means I am from this country.
"I was born here. My mom, my dad, my great-great-great-great-great – that's what I'm saying. The pure logistics of it."