Lifetime's Partnership with Mary J. Blige Continues with "Strength of a Woman"

Following her brutal sexual assault while in college Kendra has recovered from the traumatic experience and is now a successful Chicagobased photographer She39s married and eager to start a family with Ben Da39Vinchi the first love we met in Real Love now a fond memory However when her life takes another unexpected turn she finds herself questioning wedded bliss to Kevin Hamza Fouad That only escalates after Ben unexpectedly reappears For Alexus who was handpicked by Blige knowing she had two movies and a decent time span in which to really explore the character was a giftquotThese movies were both equally fun because they39re just so differentquot she recently shared while promoting the project quotI think what drew me to the projects is they were two different films In one I was younger in college so it had more of an uppity vibrant feel and Kendra was a little naive Whereas in Strength of a Woman she39s 15 years older and going through the process of having to be more responsible and make responsible choicesquotOn the first set I loved that you could tell the vibequot she continued quotMe and Princess Davis who portrays best friend Terry on the first movie were so giggly all the time But then when we got to Strength of a Woman it was the same but we had just more of a stern feeling with each other Also we had our director Sherry who definitely brought her seriousness to the project as wellquotFor both Alexus and Davis turning back time to the 1990s in that first film was a joy as was their research quotWhen I got the part I definitely studied the 3990s a lot and especially the dance movesquot laughed Davis quotI listened to a lot of Mary J Blige and watched her music videos along with Missy Elliott It reminded me of my mom because we used to like dancing to Mary J So this definitely connected me to my mother and being a kid growing up listening to RampampB and what grounded mequotquotIt was fun for me too because I39m always saying I39m such an old soulquot concurred Alexus quotI grew up on all the 3990s things that you can think of Before starting filming I watched a lot of Janet Jackson like in Poetic Justice Nia Long and Jada Pinkett When I watch Real Love pictured below it39s just so dear to my heart because I feel like you can see parts and pieces of all that in it and we definitely need that in our generation right now So it was so fun to be a part ofquotThat39s not to say both projects didn39t come without some pressure especially for Alexus who as Kendra endures some serious life hurdles quotI think for me it was the importance and it wasn39t a challengequot she shared quotSomething I was just cautious about is the sensitive topics and issues surrounding both movies We touch on sexual assault substance abuse and aging parents Knowing I would be the voice for a lot of women that haven39t had a voice in the past I think I wanted to just make sure I was representing them as real as possible and in a light of letting them feel they have help Like they39re being seen and heard and just being sensitive towards people that actually have been through similar traumatic events in their life and how they39re overcoming themquotWith both films exploring the complicated facets of maintaining long friendships and dealing with life39s complications Alexus is hopeful both films might provide inspiration from her character quotI think there are so many things you can take from Strength of a Womanquot she pondered quotIn life you never stop figuring out what it is or troubles never stop coming your way We do see another phase of Kendra being older more established and more successful but just because she39s more successful in life doesn39t mean the problems stop You see her just take on more of her strengthquotAnd it never stopsquot she added in closing quotI think Kendra is the definition of resilience and bouncing back Even when she39s going through stuff from college to now she39s always pursuing her dreams and goals You see her balance all of that and that39s where you see the strength in a Black woman for surequotMary J Blige39s Strength of a Woman will be telecast Saturday June 17 at 800 pm following an encore presentation of Mary J Blige39s Real Love at 6 pm on LifetimeClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Lifetime's Partnership with Mary J. Blige Continues with "Strength of a Woman"

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Lifetime's Partnership with Mary J. Blige Continues with "Strength of a Woman"

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