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Courtesy of Deborah Joy WinansDeborah Joy Winans stars in Demetria L. Lucas’ new film, Don’t Waste Your Pretty, alongside Redaric Williams and Keri Hilson.
The Greenleaf star plays Jeanné, a recent divorcee who now struggles in the love department, although she finds it in someone close to her.
“In playing the role of Jeanné, I think that you see a woman that has just really struggled with her hurt and her betrayal,” Winans tells ABC Audio. “And so she holds on to it for so long that she cannot see the love and the beauty that’s right in front of her. And I want people to recognize that it’s OK to be hurt.”
“It’s ok to feel betrayed and to be vulnerable and to just recognize what that is,” she continues. “It’s not ok to hold onto it. All you do is stifle your own growth [and] your own journey. When you’re holding on, you’re looking back and I think I want people to be able to walk away from this saying, ‘I’m letting the past go so that I can truly embrace my future. I can embrace the very blessing that’s right in front of me.'”
Winans says she was “grateful” Lucas and the film’s director specifically thought of her to play this particular role, as a representation for all women who want to find love.
“I love the fact that I was told that Demetria and our amazing director, Tamara Bass, they wanted a full-figured woman for this role,” she says. “They wanted someone that just was the average woman so that people could see themselves represented in every shape, every size, every color. And so I was so grateful that they thought of me.”
Don’t Waste Your Pretty premieres Sunday, Feb. 28th at 6 p.m. EST on TvOne.
By Rachel George
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