[SOFT MUSIC]
Reflecting back on working on the show,
it's just been a great ride.
It's been a challenge.
It's been exciting.
It's been scary at moments.
It has truly been a roller coaster working on the show.
And I appreciate every peak, every valley of it,
and it's been a huge blessing.
And you, the fans, are just truly amazing.
And that's what makes this show the best show that's--
that's been out.
To work on the show for all these years,
to grow with the whole cast, the crew
that we see every time we get to go back to Atlanta and film,
it's just become such a close knit family.
And it just makes me realize every time we leave
after a season, how blessed we are to be able to go and put
in a lot of hard work, but also be in this thing
together as a team.
And with our leader being Tyler, who
is such a grateful, generous person that knows the vision,
that gives us such great direction
and knows what he wants the storyline to be,
but also gives us the flexibility as actors
to explore and expand on what we feel like our characters
should be.
And you know, it's work, yes, but outside of it,
it's more than that.
We've become great friends.
We have each other over for dinners.
The cast has been invited to my wedding.
I mean, it's just become such a great family.
And in an environment and industry where
it can be so chaotic and so lonely,
I just feel so fortunate and my heart
is so full that I've been able to grow
with such great, wonderful people.
And I feel like even if I wasn't on the show,
just to have these people as my friends, who I now call family,
is, I've already kind of won the battle.
And I couldn't be more grateful to play Wyatt,
but also to play Aaron O'Connell and be a friend to these people
as they are to me.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I've been acting for a long time, and I love it.
It's-- it's what I love.
But I never thought that I could love it as much as I loved
this experience, that I could work with a group of people
that I love this much.
Not ego-driven, but just, let's make this an awesome show.
That I could have a boss that I love that much.
It's just a yay, God moment for me
that I would be blessed to be a part of something like this.
And then to add you guys to it?
Wow!
I guess that's what grace is, 'cause
there's nothing I could have done to earn this experience.
It's just but for the grace of God that I am here.
And I'm so grateful to God and to you.
[MUSIC PLAYING] - Yes.
Ah, excuse me.
Because yes, Crystal does get a little weepy,
for real, just like Hanna.
But these people in this experience mean so much to me.
It was a journey of faith that we all took together.
And when a journey of faith manifests like this, oh, wow.
It uplifts the whole of our lives beyond work.
And as most, I think, actors know, we adopt each other,
whether it's theater, film, or television.
And so all of these people to me are my family, for real.
And over the course of the years,
you see we-- you may start out single
and now people are engaged and people have had babies.
And so those babies are my babies, and so we are.
We are a family.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Looking back on all my years now in the "Haves and Have
Nots," it's hard to believe that I can even say that,
because it seems like a blink.
I've had so much fun.
I've been so free to do whatever comes to mind.
I've never quite felt so appreciated, so valued,
and I've never worked as hard.
But I've never had as much fun.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Working on the show has been a great experience
that the cast--
it's been very unique in that everybody in the cast
gets along, so we really feel like we have this family,
this Tyler Perry "Have and Have Nots" family, own family
that we have time in Atlanta.
Most of us aren't from Atlanta, and we get together.
And so that's a really special kind of connecting time.
And then with the live tweeting and stuff,
we have a different kind of relationship with the "Haves"
fans that normally you get letters
that you may or may not get, or you get weeks later
or whatever.
But with this, for me, it's a very new experience
to sit and watch a show and get live interaction with the fans
to what's going on as the show is airing.
So it's been a really unique, different kind of experience.
And I'm loving it.
We were very fortunate when this whole project started
that we all instantly bonded.
It was kind of uncanny.
And that bond has grown and grown and grown.
We are one big family.
It's to the point that we are so genuinely excited to see
each other when we come back.
And as the seasons have progressed,
that family unit has gotten much stronger.
I lost my mother during one of our seasons,
and the cast, you know, really gathered around me and held me
and supported me.
And now I'm an orphan, basically.
Both of my parents are deceased.
And it's nice to have this other family
that embraces me, that is that I will be friends with for life.
And that's something that can never be taken away.
When the haves and have nots cease to exist
and goes off into the ether, I will always have
these friends in this family.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You know, looking back, it's been great to work on the show
after all these years.
I've had a safe haven to hone my craft as an actor.
I've been paired up with some people
that I feel like will be-- you know, end up
being lifelong relationships.
I've been supported by a fan base that
has just continued to grow and grow
and show more and more love.
And that's a blessing.
And I really just appreciate everyone that I've been around.
It's been great so far.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
It's been a roller coaster of a ride to work on the "Haves
and the Have Nots."
It's been exhilarating.
It's been-- to work with the cast,
like Crystal Fox, who plays my mom.
There are times where I wasn't even meant to cry,
but we connect so well that she just--
I'm just-- it just is what it is.
And just connecting with the cast and the crew,
who have been fantastic.
And the pace we move is kind of fast,
so everybody's just a cohesive group
and we've become a family.
So I loved--
I loved everything about it.
I loved being crazy.
I loved being vulnerable.
I love being kind of open in my heart to this whole process.
And grateful for it.