Leslie Odom Jr. revealed the meaningful words one of his “Hamilton” co-stars shared about raising a Black son in the U.S.
The Oscar nominee and his wife, Nicolette Robinson, welcomed their second child and first son, Able Phineas, on March 25, almost four years after becoming parents to their daughter, Lucy Ruby.
In his cover interview for Deadline and Rolling Stone’s collaboration issue “Celebrating Music in Cinema,” Odom opened up his growing family and something his “Hamilton” co-star and friend Renée Elise Goldsberry said about parenting a Black son in today’s world.
“Renée said a really beautiful thing to me about raising young Black men that I’m paraphrasing: ‘Black people have been bringing children into a hostile world for generations. If our parents, great-grandparents or our great-great-grandparents waited for the world to be free from hostility before they brought us into the world, we wouldn’t be here,’” he said. (Goldsberry has an 11-year-old son named Benjamin and 8-year-old daughter, Brielle.)
Odom also compared his experience having his daughter to the prospect of bringing a son into the world.
“My daughter taught me just how much I do have to offer as a father,” he noted. “I’m still doing more spiritual work on what it means for me to welcome a little man.”
The “One Night in Miami” star has opened up about his approach to parenting. Empowering his daughter is an important priority.
“We accept her as she is,” he told Fatherly in February. “We tell her the truth and we also try to model certain behaviors for her. We don’t hit you, so you are not allowed to hit us. We don’t talk to you that way. You’re not allowed to talk to us that way. It’s self-respect, self-respect for ourselves — there’s only so much abuse that we’re going to tolerate for ourselves. And we want her to have that same respect for herself.”
Odom has learned a thing or two from Lucy as well.
“I really understand generosity and I understand selflessness in a way that I never have before,” he added. “I’m giving you all that I have and all that I can, and I expect nothing in return.”
