Guys With Kids

Season 1 SABC3 (*193) 19:30 Comedy

Tempestt Bledsoe says that waiting 30 years to play a TV mom was longer than she’d expected but her mom character Marny on sitcom Guys With Kids (20122013) was a lot of fun because of her co-stars. “It was non-stop laughs. We would do so many reshoots because of hilarious ad-libs that no one was expecting. It was like when I first got into TV – more about enjoyment than work,” explains the 45-year- old.

She’s been on TV for 35 years – she got her first role at 10 as Vanessa Huxtable in iconic sitcom The Cosby Show (1984-1992). Tempestt reprised the role in two other unrelated series – comedies A Different World (1987-1993) and Instant Mom (2013-2015). Tempestt says that the best part of her role was that she and her character were the same age – she was born on 1 August 1973, while Vanessa’s birthdate was on 10 July 1973. “We got to experience life as one person, so it was life imitating art and art imitating life in certain things,” adds the actress. She still dabbles in acting and does guest appearances, but Tempestt is happy to play housewife these days to boyfriend Darryl M Bell. They’ve been dating since co-starring in 1993 on A Different World (he played Ron) but don’t have plans to have an official wedding. Vanessa went to varsity in season 7 (1990) of The Cosby Show and so did Tempestt. She earned her degree in Finance from New York University in 1993 but admits she’s glad she hasn’t had to get a regular 9-to-5 job. Her biggest lifestyle change came in 2006 – she lost 15kg by becoming a vegetarian.