In Lifetime’s Mary J. Blige Presents: Be Happy, therapeutic unfolds quietly, formed by persistence, presence, and perspective, and by a daughter who understands that love generally means holding house whereas another person finds themselves once more.
That daughter, Kayla, is performed by Zing Ashford, who breaks down her character’s journey for BOSSIP forward of the movie’s February 7 premiere.
Source: Courtesy of Lifetime
Kayla is pregnant, emotionally intuitive, and deeply attuned to her mom, Val’s, transition into an empty-nest chapter. While Val, performed by Tisha Campbell, wrestles with rediscovering who she is exterior of motherhood, Kayla turns into the quiet stabilizer of the movie, providing tenderness with out judgment and steerage with out management.
“She had this degree of empathy that I feel in my very own life I used to be in a position to study from,” Ashford advised BOSSIP’s Lauryn Bass about her character. “She was very form and really cautious together with her mom, very understanding and gave her a secure house to find herself, rediscover herself.”
That emotional attentiveness shouldn’t be incidental. In a narrative centered on Black ladies navigating love, identification, and transition at totally different life phases, Kayla features because the connective tissue between previous and future, daughterhood and motherhood, holding house whereas carrying life herself.
“Her softness, kindness, and vulnerability actually drew me in,” Ashford added.
Stepping Into Pregnancy Without Being A Mother
Although Kayla’s being pregnant is central to the movie’s emotional arc, Ashford herself has by no means been pregnant. Preparing for the function required intention, analysis, and real-world perception.
Source: Courtesy of Lifetime
“I would not have any youngsters of my very own. I positively needed to name my sister as a result of I’ve by no means been pregnant or something like that,” Ashford shared. “My sister had simply given start to her first baby boy.”
Those conversations formed how she embodied Kayla’s bodily and emotional actuality.
“She was identical to, ‘You’re drained on a regular basis,’” Ashford recalled. “‘You’re actually combating by way of simply attending to the subsequent breath.’ So take into consideration that. Think about that heaviness.”
That exhaustion, she mentioned, grew to become a grounding drive in how she carried herself on display, reminding her that being pregnant shouldn’t be solely a visible situation however a relentless bodily negotiation.
A Daughter Preparing For Motherhood While Hosting Her Own Mother
One of Be Happy’s most resonant dynamics is the parallel transition between Kayla getting ready to develop into a mom and Val studying the right way to exist exterior of that function.
“It was this actually stunning chemistry between us,” Ashford defined. “She was experiencing her kids going away, and I used to be experiencing what it’s going to be wish to have kids within the first place.”
Rather than framing motherhood as an ending, the movie treats it as a continuum, the place one girl’s turning into makes room for an additional’s rediscovery.
“We had been each sort of in a position to faucet into what these transitions appear to be intersectionally,” Ashford mentioned. “I assumed that was a extremely stunning side of how our characters associated to at least one one other.”
Working On Set With The Film Crew
That dynamic was strengthened by Ashford’s on-set relationship with Tisha Campbell, who performs Val.
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“She’s not with the entire fan lady stuff,” Ashford mentioned. “The first day we had been on set, she simply pops her head in my room like, ‘Hey lady, we’re about to have a lot enjoyable.’”
Campbell’s method created emotional security from the beginning.
“She would greet me like I used to be her daughter,” Ashford mentioned. “She made certain I felt secure and like we had been equals.”
Ashford additionally spoke extremely of Cameron J. Ross, who wrote the movie and likewise seems in it.
“He needed to offer us the liberty to discover what the character’s life could possibly be exterior of what he initially imagined,” she advised me. “He trusted us to interpret it in the way in which that match our our bodies.”
Source: Courtesy of Lifetime
That sort of belief is uncommon, particularly in a undertaking with large names hooked up. But Zing mentioned it made the performances extra pure. That equality translated on to their on-screen chemistry.
“So that when it was time to play on display, it was simply very pure and it flowed,” she added.
When The Role Starts Reflecting Your Real Life
As filming progressed, Ashford started to acknowledge unsettling similarities between Kayla’s journey and her personal relationship together with her mom.
“I wasn’t fairly in a position to give my very own mom the empathy and understanding till I obtained this half,” she admitted.
The parallels grew to become not possible to disregard.
“Everything about what’s taking place right here is so just like what’s taking place in my life proper now,” she mentioned. “I felt convicted to offer her extra understanding and empathy in the way in which that I used to be speaking together with her.”
That realization shifted one thing basic.
“I walked away from this function, modified,” Ashford mentioned. “I’m so grateful that artwork can inform life in that approach.”
Who Zing Ashford Is Beyond Be Happy
Long earlier than Be Happy, Ashford knew efficiency was her calling. As a baby, she memorized traces from Disney Channel reveals. As a youngster, she balanced that keenness with tutorial excellence, graduating highschool as valedictorian.
“Once I graduated highschool valedictorian, I had sort of put all my focus into teachers at that time to make my household proud,” she mentioned.
That self-discipline carried her to Howard University, the place she formally educated in theater earlier than shifting to New York and starting her skilled profession.
“I went to Howard University for theater, after which issues sort of snowballed after that,” she mentioned.
Today, Ashford is intentional concerning the tales she chooses.
“I’m extra drawn to tales,” she mentioned. “Stories that imply a lot, that matter a lot, that educate and likewise entertain. Being in a position to mix two of the issues that I like probably the most, which is music, and tales that focus on Black household and love and empowerment. I simply really feel tremendous proud that these are the sorts of tales that I’m being drawn to and which are additionally being drawn again to me.”
Source: Ilya S. Savenok / Getty
She additionally hopes to return to her old flame.
“I might like to be in a undertaking the place I can present those that I sing,” Ashford mentioned. “That was my old flame.”
For Ashford, becoming a member of a undertaking govt produced by Mary J. Blige carried weight past credit score.
“She’s the queen,” Ashford mentioned. “Even in the event you’re not essentially a Mary J. Blige fan, you have got been influenced by her music ultimately.”
The full-circle second nonetheless feels surreal.
“I grew up singing her songs,” she mentioned. “This is a present of a lifetime for me, and I’ll all the time, all the time cherish it.”
At its core, she hopes the movie encourages viewers, particularly Black ladies, to grant themselves grace.
“When we love one another and we give one another understanding and house, stunning issues occur,” Ashford mentioned.
Mary J. Blige Presents: Be Happy premieres February 7 on Lifetime.
![Actress Zing Ashford Talks Mary J. Blige’s ‘Be Happy’ [Exclusive]](https://i1.wp.com/bossip.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2026/02/17703050131227.png?strip=all&quality=80&w=1680&crop=0,0,100,960px&w=1024&resize=1024,1024&ssl=1 "Actress Zing Ashford Talks Mary J. Blige’s ‘Be Happy’ [Exclusive]")
