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Celebrities flock to comedienne Chelsea Handler's late night talk show 'Chelsea Lately' to promote their latest projects and crack a few jokes. But sometimes the jokes hit a little too close to home. The leading lady of the upcoming film 'Jumping the Broom' Paula Patton sat down with Handler and talked about her career and family including husband Robin Thicke. But when the subject of her blonde haired blue eyed son Julian came up, it seemed like Handler hit a nerve.
"He's blond, he has blue eyes. It's crazy. Everybody's like, did you have anything to do with this? They think we like adopted a Russian child...and everyday I'm like he's gonna get blacker, no look," Patton said.
She was all smiles chatting with Handler, but it's a bit sad that she's mistaken for her son's nanny, as Handler was quick to point out.
What's so comical and cute about someone confusing a famous actress with the help? Patton isn't the only mother to have experienced this case of mistaken identity. Several publications like 'Essence,' 'The New York Times' and NPR have reported on the issue.
Patton went on to explain that "blackness takes time" and "a tan is coming in, the hair's curlier, I'm telling you."
Comments: (70)
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By: Dimples on 5/05/2011 2:57PM
Thanks for saying that. Since when did anything on the Chelsea Handler show come across as serious news. Nothing wrong with this interview she was making fun of herself.
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By: Franny on 5/05/2011 6:19PM
Diane Nash, Lena Horne, and Dorothy Dandridge certainly could not pass for white. When I look at their pics I see mulatto women not white women.
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By: tanya richardson on 5/09/2011 11:15AM
i couldnt have said it any better COSIGN!!!!! us black folks need to let go of this whole light vs dark crap to be totally honest as far as her getting more acting parts what movies other than jumping the broom has paula patton been in where she gets picked so much more over the other dark skinned actresses i dont see enough blacks woman in movies anyway no matter if she is dark skinned or almost white black is black and we all know how racist america is toward all blacks rather they be biracial or multiracial i mean look at president obama us MINORITIES need to stick together the government has been pitting us against each other for years they pit dark skinned against light skinned, black against brown, men against woman,even the rich against the poor etc they are using the tactic of divide and conquer we are so busy fighting each other that the real enemy who is trying to keep us all down has all the power because of this colored people(all people of color) we need to wake up
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By: Jennifer J. on 5/05/2011 3:02PM
Although me and my husband both have parents who are black, our daughter has fair skin yet her features are that of my husband. What really pissed me off was that people often thought that I was caring for someone else baby when we would go out. When I told them no, she is my daughter, they would say, oh, she must look exactly like her dad because she looks nothing like you. WTH?!?!? Just cruel. Now that she is nearly 6, her skin has continued to darken but not close to what either of ours is and yet, she still looks like dad and nothing like me. We will have another child this summer and I am just waiting for the ignorant comments to surface when he's born. My side of the family has a mix of colors throughout from Ebony to Late. Hell, my mom is darker than both of her sisters.
I understand that Paula is ....upset by such comments. I was pissed when the same was addressed to me however, as previous posters have said, what did she expect given that she is biracial and her husband is Caucasian. Yes, their adorable son may darken some but then again maybe not. She has to rise above it and do the most important thing and that is to love him no matter what.
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By: KC on 5/05/2011 4:04PM
Not to tell u how to feel, but don't take offense or assume people are being rude & ignorant. Some kids look JUST like one parent & sometimes it has nothing to do with skintone. Just take it all in stride. I know you probably feel some type of way that people don't think the child you carried in your body doesn't look like you though lol. But she looks like someone you love. And there are no "Maury" comments to be made lol.
To me it doesn't seem like Paula is "upset" by all of this. She seems to be making light of it. My friend is very dark-skinned & married a light skinned black man who actually is mistaken for white many times. Their daughter (my godchild) is tan-skinned with looong curly hair. I'm tan skinned with curly hair. When we are all out together, people assume I am her mother b/c of the skintone & the hair. I think initially, my friend's feelings were hurt but she's gotten over it. She lives in a lily white community & is mistaken for the "nanny" or "babysitter" sometimes although nobody has ever SAID anything, we can tell they just assume.
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By: Cadesha on 5/05/2011 3:30PM
I really am surprised at all of the sarcasm in the comments above. I'm sure comments like these are reasons why she is concerned. Her child will have to spend the rest of his life being "too black" to be white and way "too white" to be accepted by us. Her appearance may not reflect her heritage in the eyes of the media but if she she's herself as a black woman then that is not the media's call. And there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with her hoping that a little of everything she is made of shows through in her child.
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By: WandaFromRiverdaleNYC on 5/05/2011 3:33PM
Questions, stares and assumptions are bound to be made by narrow minded idiots. I went through the same with my daughter and my sister also with my niece. Is it right-no. I just thanked the Gods that we had healthy and beautiful girls and kept it movin'. What Mrs.Patton-Thicke is going to have to do is learn the fine art of IGNORING THE IGNORANT!
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By: Orlando on 5/05/2011 6:05PM
Paula looks like a light-skinned black woman no one would ever mistake her as white unless they were blind.
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By: KC on 5/05/2011 7:45PM
By: Franny on 5/05/2011 6:19PMNeutral Diane Nash, Lena Horne, and Dorothy Dandridge certainly could not pass for white. When I look at their pics I see mulatto women not white women.
Franny nowhere did I state that any of them could pass for white. People were saying that Paula is not "black enough" to have experienced racism in Hollywood because of her complexion. Paula could never pass for white either & my point was that as light as Dorothy & Lena were, they BOTH experienced much racism in the industry. And the same holds true today.
My point about Diane Nash is that she is a very fair-skinned woman could have almost passed yet she got no "passes" when it came to racial issues. She was attacked & put her life on the line so that blacks of all complexions could have certain freedoms. Blackness is not a shade. And it sickens me that people have the audacity to think they can say is and isn't affected by racism. Absurd.
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By: PrettiRed on 5/05/2011 10:23PM
Everybody wanna be black these days because black is beautiful...they just undercover wit it...SMH
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