By Jawn Murray,
Photographed by Jeanette Rulli,
Styling by Zoë Battles-Moore
As seen in Issue #12
 It’s an early wrap today for Vivica A. Fox. After concluding a restaurant scene for her current film, Getting Played (starring Bill Bellamy, Carmen Electra, and Stacey Dash. Fox hopes to change the title to Playing The Game), the actress beckoned for me to follow her to her trailer.
On the way, Fox initials a few expense reports and signs off on several other documents. You see, she’s not just starring in this romantic comedy; she’s also one of the producers.
“This is fantastic!” she says. “I’m making progress, and I’m doing things. Every day when I come to work, I know that everyone is here because of Vivica Fox, and it’s a wonderful feeling.”
Wearing a short black skirt and deep burgundy satin blouse, she clears out her trailer so we can do our interview in private. After offering me a cold beverage, she goes into her bedroom to slip into more comfortable attire. She emerges a few moments later in a tan, velour Baby Phat skirt and top, with matching Ugg boots, an iced-out wrist and a hot pink Baby Phat cell phone. “Baby Phat and Ice-Tek hooked a sister up!” she raves. “You know I had to include them in the movie.”
Fox isn’t one of those actresses who starves herself. “You don’t mind if I eat while we talk, do you?” she asks, just before digging into her Koo Koo Roo chicken, squash, creamed spinach, and black beans.
“Not at all,” I reply, just happy that the interview is actually happening. The truth is, it almost didn’t. There had been a swarm of rumors surrounding Fox and her short-lived “special friendship” with hip-hop bad boy 50 Cent. Because of that, the actress had avoided the press in an effort to maintain her integrity.
One magazine in particular was invited to the Baltimore set of her current film. Things got out of hand when the rag’s publisher failed to focus on the behind-the-scenes aspect of the film, and instead asked one too many questions about her ties to the G-Unit rapper, forcing Fox to cut the interview short. Much to her dismay, the magazine then ran the headline, “Vivica Fox’s 2 Cent On 50 Cent.” While the actress was disappointed with the yellow journalism, she still phoned the publisher and thanked her for the coverage.
“[They] slipped that one in, to be honest,” says Fox. “I was not granting anyone interviews on 50 Cent. As I stated in that article, I will never speak negatively about 50. I have nothing bad to say. It’s yesterday’s news. It was a relationship that didn’t work out, and I wish him well. I just don’t get down like that, and I don’t talk negatively about people.”
It’s because of her experience with that magazine that, even after our incredible photo shoot, her manager nixed our one-on-one interview. After convincing pleas from some of her celebrity pals, like comedienne Kym E. Whitley and Full Force’s Bowlegged Lou, Fox invited me to the Santa Monica set of her newest film.
Truth be told, Vivica Fox was already a household name long before attending the MTV Video Music Awards with 50. She’d already starred in blockbuster films like Independence Day and Soul Food, in addition to urban classics like Two Can Play That Game and Set It Off. Unlike many Black actresses, she has worked consistently throughout the years. Her recent career boost has everything to do with her bad-ass performance in Kill Bill and Halle Berry’s acknowledgement in her 2001 Oscar acceptance speech, and little-or-nothing to do with her association with 50 Cent.
Continued in Issue #12
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