Bonnielee Cuevas: Can you tell me a little bit about where you come from? Where this drive that you have derives from? What made you fight to be here where you are today? Frenchie Davis: I grew up in LA. I am the oldest of 6 kids. My parents are fighters. They are human rights activists. My dad was the Amnesty West Regional Director. The rights of others spoke with my parents. My mom worked in education and now she is an administrator. I think just having parents who didn’t make a lot of money, but did what they believed in and were passionate about what they did made the difference. My dad fought for the rights of others. It played a huge role in where my passion came from. It is what makes me fight hard as an entertainer. There are many that are wealthy but not happy. I was lucky to have found that balance. Having my parents and just having people around me like teachers. I have gratitude for the teachers in my life from elementary school up until college. They encouraged me and called me out on my BS. They played a role in my drive. It’s kind of like wanting to give up and then I have people who are rooting me on. I don’t want to disappoint them or myself. Nothing of true value comes easy. My parents told me and I entered this, knowing I was going to have to work my butt off. Bonnielee Cuevas: How do you handle any negative publicity that comes your way? Frenchie Davis: You have one of two choices in situations like that. Allow that to break you and discourage you from continuing or to be true to who you are. We are all human. I won’t lie by saying that my feelings don’t get hurt. I get hurt, I allow myself to feel hurt, cry, call my mom and sis and then I have that release. Then I get back to work. I can either believe the bad stuff or I can live a life. Work ethics speak for you and character speaks for you. It’s been 10 years since American Idol. We turned it around. Bonnielee Cuevas: Do you think being a full figured artist holds you back in this industry? Frenchie Davis: I think in the past it did. There is nothing that Barbie’s can do to stop it now. The train is moving. You have actresses like Melissa Mcarthy from Mike and Molly and she’s hysterical. You have women like Monique. Women that will never be a size 2 and news flash don’t want to be. I think beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. It’s fine if you want to be healthy. I work out 6 days a week and I have skinny friends that can’t hang with me. Society needs to be careful about what they convey to us. Such as diet pills and all the things people do to be thin. That’s not really healthy. Let’s be honest we see what those things can do. We see it when people die from their need to be thin. If the message is not be healthy then it’s all BS. We all need to agree that thin is not synonymous with healthy. I run flights of stairs and do pushups. There are women that are thinner than me that can’t do that. CONTINUED NEXT PAGE >>
DEC 2011 BONUS EXCLUSIVE ISSUE WITH FRENCHIE DAVIS \ PG9 \ © SKORCHMAG.COM