With any new experience in Reality TV, it can’t be denied that adding cameras to one’s life can either bring major blessings or life changing lessons! For the star of E!’s hit show WAGS Miami, Darnell Nicole, this journey has definitely brought her all of the above! Nicole exclusively spoke with us about it all…..
After sacrificing her dreams solely for love and motherhood, Darnell is sharing her story while becoming the epitome of the EGL woman; balancing it all without compromising! Fans watched as Darnell’s high profile engagement to Reshad Jones (of the Miami Dolphins) played out on the show. Though things did not work out the way she imagined, being on a huge platform has its advantages: “It basically kind of made things explode for me, and has opened up a lot of opportunities for me to do all the things that I’ve wanted to do. So I am really appreciative of the opportunity to do the show”.
Of course, there’s another side of the spectrum: “I think anytime you get 7 women together, its going to be hard to mesh personalities and stay on the same page, but with my situation, I’d say the hardest part of filming was actually my personal life and what was really happening at the time. & kind of being worried about how the world would perceive what I was going through.”
That situation would be the star finding her voice and independence despite her then fiancée’s objections to her being on the show: “It was slightly unique because I think his main thing was, he didn’t want me to be in the public eye or go that route. He’s like ok, if you want a clothing line, I’ll give you $20,000 and you can start it and be happy with that. Well, I still needed a platform to push a clothing line. Nobody’s going to buy my clothes just because I am his girlfriend or fiancée, it doesn’t work that way. I would always say one of the most important things to have in a relationship is to have a supportive partner.”
Her advice to other women that may be going through the same thing? “So if you find yourself in a relationship where the main focus is on your partner and you want to get on some stable ground to build yourself up, if they are not pushing you to go up to the top with them, I would get out. Just run.”
We had to get into the probing topic! Why is this always the case in most high profiled relationships? Why do the men reject the idea of their significant others taking this route? : “Because they’re content. They’re thriving in their careers, financially stable, have their home life the way they want. They can walk out the front door to go party with the boys, do whatever they want to do, come back and everything is the same. So whenever you’re a female like myself who is seeing that, its like, I’m living the lifestyle with you, but I’m really not living the lifestyle with you. I don’t have access to the money, I cant just do whatever I want and live out my dreams. So they’re content with their life and we are sitting there like, is this really it? Is this what I want to spend the rest of my life doing? No, you need that platform!”
Coming to reality: “I’ve always been, unfortunately, one of the women who would look down on reality TV like, I would never do that, but when your back is against the wall and you need an opportunity and trying to find a way to live the best life for yourself and your daughter, it was just a saving grace for me, because it allowed me to everything that I needed to do get out there and not have to compromise my morals in order to do it.”
The first step towards independence did cost Darnell her relationship, however in this case, she says it was a blessing in disguise: “We’re not together anymore, at this point we are doing the best at co-parenting. Yea, its just when it gets the point where you’re broken down like that, not just in the privacy of your own home, but in front of the world, there is really no coming back from that.”
So onto a brighter future and finally pursuing all of her goals, including acting! : “That has always been a big love of mine, behind writing, that would be a dream come true for me.” While working with her management to get into more auditions, getting her feet wet as an actress has also shown Darnell, that things might be twice as hard for beautiful woman with Hollywood dreams…. ” It was really hard for me to break in, I had gotten frustrated with it a lot of the times because I would go in an audition, have an awesome read, and the director would be like, [you would be great for this part, why don’t we meet for dinner later after the other auditions so that we can discuss this role some more at my hotel]… and I’m like fuck you, no. I kept getting presented with the casting couch basically. But that’s another thing I loved about the show, is actually being able to get on TV, be seen, have these opportunities present themselves and not have to compromise myself.”
Yes to that! & here’s a little EGL tip on how Darnell balances it all!
“Just prioritizing and staying organized. You know my baby, she comes first and she is the force behind all of my decision making, so If I know that its something that wont be good for her then I can shut it down and move on to the next thing. Its really not that difficult, I got a pretty good head on my shoulders “ as she laughed at the joys of motherhood, Darnell credits her team for helping to make the best business decisions and creating the perfect balance for herself and her princess.
The future is extremely bright for this rising star ! Be sure to check out her newly launched website, http://www.deardarnell.com and the next season of WAGS Miami on E!
Written By: Novia Rose, Associate Entertainment Editor