Blackish actress is radiant on the cover of ELLE's September issue

The strong black female leads are dominating the September issues and next up is Hollywood star and Blackish actress

In her interview with magazine,the 45-year-old actress speaks about her style, what it felt like growing up with Diana Ross for a mother and the importance of setting boundaries for yourself and with others.

Speaking on her Instagram about the cover, Tracee wrote:

OMG ~ so excited to be the september 2018 cover girl! ——“Everybody has different choices, but my desire is to have the life that I’ve lived, all that I’ve done to learn the things that I’ve learned, all the hard lessons I need to own beaming through me and out of my face and out of my body. The history of what I come from—my heartbreaks and my joys—all of it is living in my face. All of those things have made me the woman I am.”

Read excerpts below:

On her style: I genuinely lean toward what makes my heart sing. It changes every day. Sometimes I’m one person; sometimes I’m another. But I know—I know when a script is for me, when an outfit is for me. When I get dressed, sometimes I say ‘That’s it! Okay, that’s right!’ out loud.”

On growing up with a famous mother: “I felt like I grew up in her embrace, not her shadow. And that is a testament to her. [Her children] were always more important than fame. That monster of fame that we see take down so many people with bright lights—my mother protected her light. I don’t know how. But she is a better parent than she is ‘Diana Ross.’ She’d probably kill me, but [Ellis Ross pulls out her cellphone again] I don’t care. Here, 7:48 in the morning, I got this message. She had just seen a magazine that I was on the cover of. She wrote, ‘This to me is an answered prayer.’ I said, ‘Mom, what does that mean?’ She said, ‘I always pray for my children’s happiness and success, and there it is.’ And, by the way, the word ‘happiness’ was first. That’s the mommy I know. That [support] really set the stage for what I am looking for in my life and my career.”

On learning how to set boundaries: “No! You have to learn. That a small no is a big yes. How to have the courage to say what you mean and mean what you say. To have boundaries without hacking up a relationship. Boundaries can be bridges; they don’t have to equal excavating someone from your life. I’ve learned how to do that from friends and mentors, from having conversations, from having a willingness to share my discomfort, my shame and my fear and from making mistakes. That’s a painstaking process that is sometimes like chewing on ground glass, but it’s worth it. I’ve learned how to be kind and loving to myself, even when I feel like I haven’t done my best. It’s very, very difficult. And also how to be transparent about that with people who I trust and feel safe with, who have taught me how to love myself even when I don’t feel lovable.”

Credits

Photographer: @ninomunozEditor-in-chief: @vanessacraftArt director: @jedtalloStylist: @elainejyllHair: @larryjarahsimsMakeup: @lisastoreymakeupnails: @nailbaby_maho