'Harlem' Stars Talk Breakups, Bad Behavior And Women's Issues

Have you been keeping up with season two of Harlem on Prime Video?

Source: Courtesy / Prime Video

‘Harlem’ Stars Speak On Second Season Developments

Our Sr. Content Director Janeé Bolden chatted with Harlem actresses Meagan Good and Jerrie Johnson ahead of the second season of the Prime Video show. The conversation shed a lot of light on big differences between the actresses and their respective characters – Camille and Tye.

Without giving too much away, season one ended with Camille kissing her ex Ian the night before he was due to wed his fiancé Myra. Meanwhile, the friend group learned that Tye, who was hospitalized with debilitating fibroids, had yet to divorce a husband none of them knew about back home. With this in mind, we thought it was only right to ask the actresses about how their characters navigated these difficult situations in the new season and what lessons viewers could learn from them.

‘Harlem’ Actress Jerrie Johnson Says She’s A Better Communicator Than Her Character Tye

“I think honestly, and this is a big difference between Jerrie and Tye, is I’m such a communicator we have to talk about it, and whether you need space, like a month or two months, we need to have a conversation,” Jerrie Johnson told BOSSIP.

“Tye is like I’m never going to see you again, so let me block you, delete your number, change my location. She’s very much like, ‘I don’t need to talk about this.’ Then when stuff starts to come back up she’s confused as to why stuff is coming back up. Hopefully, she learns more about having those real conversations and maybe the cliffhanger from season two will cause a spiral into season three and Tye can really have that kind of conversation.”

“This whole time I thought you were talking about real life,” Megan laughed.

“Camille she is a little all over the place. Things are happening. I don’t know how much we’re allowed to give away but there are a few things happening at once for her and she’s really kind of discovering herself, in terms of the season she’s in. She’s discovering what she wants, she’s discovering that you can think you’re this incredible person but you do human things just like everyone else and you make mistakes just like everyone else. And sometimes you don’t even feel like you made a mistake and some that you did that are a little shady but are really what you wanted. I think she’s discovering herself in that way and that kinda translates to her career, it translates to her love life, it translates to her future and it translates in every aspect.

‘Harlem’ Actresses Discuss How The Show Addresses Real Issues Like Women’s Health

The Harlem characters face challenges outside of their love lives as well. We asked Good and Johnson to talk about how the show has continued to tackle female reproductive health in the second season. Johnson’s character Tye grapples with ongoing issues from her fibroids in the latest season of the show and Good’s character Camille steps up by referring her to a new doctor. That doctor opens up an even larger conversation that many Black women in their 30s and 40s have dealt with and are dealing with around fertility and their ovarian reserves.

“It’s something that Tracy discussed, you know, with fibroids and everything like that, in the writer’s room,” Good told BOSSIP. “She said a lot of women experience what Tye’s going through. Women go to the doctor and they say ‘There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re strong. You’ll be okay.’ And if it’s not that they want to jump straight to hysterectomy.”

“When Tracy and Scott came to me and we talked a little bit about freezing eggs and what my journey was and my experience,” Good shared. “What I really love about the people that work on this show and the writers’ room, the creators, the producers, the studio, the network, is that we do tackle real things that people experience that isn’t being highlighted on television that you often feel alone in that experience. What you don’t realize is a lot of people are dealing with the same exact things. I think that really approaching things that women want to talk about–and they don’t want them to be taboo and they don’t want them to be something that’s not discussed. I feel like Harlem does a really great job of that because there are things that we can relate to and other women as well.”

“And leaning on your friends!” Jerrie Johnson interjected. “And that your friends are able to say to you, there’s other options and, ‘Here, this doctor knows there are other options.’

“Right,” Good picked up. “‘Let’s get a second opinion, I don’t want that for you.'”

Season two of Harlem is currently streaming on Prime Video.