Regina Hall Is Claiming New Life After 50 As Her 'Fox Season'
The legendary, and somehow 50-year-old Regina Hall has been on her press rounds to promote her latest project, new TV series Nine Perfect Strangers. The show is based on the New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Liane Moriarty and filmed in Byron Bay. "We shot it in Australia, which is gorgeous. It's so pretty I thought it was CGI," Hall explained.
And with the actress resurfacing happy and as hilarious as ever, with quarantine now behind her (a time where she has said she's struggled), she can finally address the top-tier birthday video she released for her 50th this year. The conversation surrounding it has followed her around everywhere she goes, a recent visit to The Ellen Show being no different.
While chatting with frequent guest-host tWitch, she opened up about the milestone.
"I am very happy because the option is death. You're either going to get older every year or you're going to die. So, I'm happy to be alive and honoring what you do gain. There's a lot of, like, wisdom and I do think it's beautiful to age."
tWitch showed the birthday celebration song Hall had released online as the two continued to discuss, eventually touching on why she used the word 'bitch' to refer to herself in the song, noting that the word can also mean a female fox or otter. To that, her reply went in the aging flex hall-of-fame:
"I'm in fox season."
One of the best qualities of Hall is her comedic style, which tows the line of dark humor, and just plain ole funny. This has been the same about her since the Scary Movie franchise, where she got her biggest break. And sis has been working ever since, with more projects up her sleeve. She tells ESSENCE:
"The fact that I've been able to work throughout the years, as Scary Movie celebrates 21 years, I feel like there is no greater due that someone can give you than to continue to have you working. I feel really, really blessed in that way. It's good. I'm still here. What else could I want?"
Last October, Hall secured a first-look deal with Showtime to develop projects under her own production company, Rh Negative, thus expanding her relationship with network, coming off the news that her comedy series Black Monday had been renewed for a third season. Of the deal, Hall says:
"I've wanted to produce for a second now. I find great scripts that would be wonderful for myself and really for other people. There are a lot of things and a lot of opportunities for writers and it excited me to be able to create those opportunities and to create programs and movies that people would enjoy—stories that haven't been told or perspectives of stories that haven't been told."
Can't help but to love and support her!
Watch the clip of Hall discussing her 'fox season' below:
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Featured image by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for BET
Charmin Michelle is a southern native and creative spirit who works as a content marketer and events manager in Chicago. She enjoys traveling, #SummertimeChi, and the journey of mastering womanhood. Connect with her on Instagram @charminmichelle.
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After college, I successfully landed an entertainment news role. I was passionate about my work and grateful for obtaining a job in my desired field. But like most entry-level positions in the creative industry, the pay was left to be desired. I quickly realized that I needed a second job to pay my bills.
Multiple career fairs later, I started a position with an insurance company.
My new role felt like my first “big girl” job because it had full benefits, and I couldn’t have been more excited. Plus, I could work this job during the day and my other gig at night. I excelled in my new role – exceeded the required enterprise accuracy score, received several cash awards, and was consistently selected to train my team members on different learning variances.
Everything was great initially, but unfortunately, the job that guaranteed financial stability became a nightmare after a while.
The first red flag was that this insurance company had an extremely high turnover rate primarily due to the relentless workload; therefore, teams were forced to consolidate and change leadership constantly. I was quickly burning out but overlooked the deteriorating company culture because it allowed me to keep my journalism gig and offered endless overtime. Also, the manager I had at the time was great – he provided opportunities for growth and mentorship.
It wasn’t until I reached my fourth manager that I had my first experience with a hostile work environment.
After several months on her team, my manager started the process of “quietly firing” me despite excelling on the team.
Team Building refers to quiet firing as a “passive-aggressive approach to performance management.” Supervisors will create unpleasant work conditions, which can cause an employee to suffer mentally, emotionally, and sometimes physically.
Whether unintentional – because leaders can unintentionally be neglectful – or intentional, quiet firing creates a toxic work environment.
She stopped providing feedback, blocked promotional opportunities, and eventually denied my yearly raise. I felt hopeless. I couldn’t properly do my role some days because my manager spent most of her office hours avoiding her team. All issues on the team were ignored, and any work-related questions went unanswered.
Whenever I walked into the office, it felt like a dark cloud was cast over me because most of my day would consist of doing others’ jobs or explaining to other managers why I was reaching out to them instead of my own. It wasn’t until I worked myself nearly to death that I realized this job wasn’t worth it.
My health declined rapidly. I started to experience excruciating body aches and fatigue, and my hair was falling out. Clocking into a job where I was just a number, and work still had to be completed despite my failing health was exhausting. I ignored constant pleas from friends and family members to get help out of fear of being unable to pay my bills.
The last time I was admitted to the hospital, my manager called me, and instead of asking how I was, she asked when I was returning to work. The team’s numbers decreased drastically, and upper management wasn’t happy. My manager couldn't care less if I was okay as long as I made her look good. I’m not sure why it seemed like a shocking revelation at the time, but it did. The next time I went into the office, I resigned.
After a few years of forcing a working relationship that wasn’t meant to be, I finally left.
And in all my years of working, that job was the only one I ever walked away from. Although the toxic environment influenced my decision, something about quitting made me feel like a failure. Truthfully, I felt guilty for quitting at first. I believed it was irresponsible to quit without a backup plan. However, I later learned that my manager's hostile tactics, which I loathed, ended up being a blessing.
The entire experience made me realize that God had repeatedly shown me to leave that toxic job, but I was too afraid. It wasn’t until He made me sit still that I learned that this door was meant to close. Strangely, I’m happy my manager acted the way she did because I would’ve never had the courage to leave since that job equaled stability; I was complacent because I could pay my bills.
And that’s the life of so many currently – staying in an uncomfortable position because it offers stability.
That job also taught me the importance of pivoting. It doesn’t matter what your plan or backup plan is; you must be able to pivot at any time – be flexible and adaptable. The last lesson it taught me was never to settle for a job regardless of pay. I am no longer afraid to turn down a job if it’s not a good fit.
My physical and mental health is far more important than a job that can easily replace me at any moment.
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