Photo courtesy of OWN
Raising Whitely, which premiered April 20 on OWN, follows the life of actress/comedienne Kym Whitley, who got a surprising phone call from a hospital one day about a year and a half ago. They had a baby for her. Only thing was, she wasn’t planning on adopting a baby. She had an hour to make the decision or the infant would be placed in the foster system. She did what any kind-hearted, self-sacrificing person would do. She took him in and got the help of her “Village” of family and friends to raise Joshua. We caught up with Kym and heard her story in her own words.
Kym was born in Cleveland, Ohio but spent her early childhood in Sudan, Khartoum with her family. They moved back to Shaker Heights, Ohio, when she was a pre-teen. She always enjoyed performing and was involved in all her school plays in both high school and college. She said, “I loved to be in front of an audience or camera all the time. Shortly after college, I came to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.”
Soon she was acting in TV shows like the UPN comedy Sparks, and doing guest spots on shows like Grey's Anatomy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Missing, That's So Raven, The Cleveland Show and Animal Practice. Her career was on a role. She stated felt like she was “walking in my dream.” She told us, “A lot of people come out to L.A. with the dream of being a paid actor. The fact that I have been a paid actor for so very many years — that truly means that I am ‘walking in my dream.’ I get to do what I LOVE everyday and I get paid for it.”
Kym didn’t take her success for granted and began giving back. She said, “I have this uncanny knack for finding people who need mentoring. I knew the brother of Joshua’s biological mother. She was headed down the wrong path — so I took it upon myself to help her take a better direction. Currently, I participate in organizations like Jenesse Center in Los Angeles.”
Here’s what happened next: