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Denisha Hardeman: Oh wow, that’s a good one. Well…to not give too much away, Paula is Spike Lee’s protégé. She grew up around Spike, John, and everyone. She likes to do films that basically tell the truth. I kinda know what the generation wants to see. She has Hoochie Mama Productions. I have kiss and tell productions. Right now, she’s filming True Blood. She’s very intrigued with the New Orleans voodoo scene. The 2 movies she had already written, they are thrillers based on voodoo, but still all African American, stuff that we deal with. The movie that I wrote and that possibly she’ll direct, it is called ‘Under One Roof’. It is actually about my life in college. I experience a little bit more than the average 19-20 year old. I was in an abusive relationship that almost cost me my life. It’s one of the reasons I had to go home. I almost list my scholarship. I was not in a good place. I went through what normal college women don’t go through. You should not be bet up by a nineteen year old man. So I wrote it. It’s based on my life in college. Oh my god, I don’t want to give it away (laughing). I’m such a happy person, but everyone has those secrets. When I talked to Paula, she instantly felt it would make a good movie. I was in a car that blew up on me.
Urban Grandstand: Oh my god
Denisha Hardeman: Yea. Crazy stuff, right (laughing). I was in the hospital. I’ve overdosed! It was a crazy, crazy ride!
Urban Grandstand: This is something that will help a number of people undoubtedly.
Denisha Hardeman: That’s exactly what I want to accomplish. There are also things that were hard to write about. I dealt with sexual assault at one point. There was a time when I was pregnant, so what happened to the baby? Obviously, I don’t have a child, so what happened to the baby? You would be surprised at how many women you’ve met who have been sexually assaulted. I remember talking with a group of girls about a movie they were watching. I don’t watch movies with rape in it. I just can’t take it. So I don’t watch Lifetime at all (laughing). So we’re watching a movie, and they start crying. It’s like 6 of is, and at least 3 said they had been raped before. Women are so beautiful and strong, and I hate to see them go through that. This movie is like, it happened to me, and now I’m able to move on. It’s not my fault. A lot of women think it’s their fault. It was just
amazing though that none of us knew each other had been sexually assaulted. I made this movie to say that this type of thing is not OK. This movie is to say if you went through this, you can get past it. It teaches you the art of forgiveness. It’s a way for you to say, you did this to me but I forgive you, and I have moved on and I conquered. You know who you are. You did it, and I’m living out my dream and you can’t stop me. Actually, my boyfriend in college did not want me to act. He said “you’re never going to be anything, you need to sit at home, and cook me dinner.
Urban Grandstand: But those are the people who are not secure in themselves and their own lives.
Denisha Hardeman: Extremely insecure. I actually broke up with him one week before I got the call for Django. He’s probably the reason I’m not further in my career. He wouldn’t let me go anywhere. He would lock me in the house. But I’m happy, smart, fun, and I partied. So when he took a tool on my life, I stopped eating, lost weight, and was extremely small. I looked sick, and my hair was falling out. This movie represents a huge part of my life. It also incorporates my track background into it as well. It shows a lot of the problems that come along with running track. People think we just run, and pass the stick. They don’t understand. It’s harder than what people know. Everybody I know runs track, and I just want to make it more popular. Since I’m still young and fast, and it’s a true story, I think I can draw a lot of attention. That’s our goal with this. I want women to see that there’s help out there, and there are people who will talk to you. There may be famous people out there who have been through it. They just don’t talk about it. I’m playing the role of myself in the movie, so we’ll see how that goes. Paula is so great and amazing. She’s really awesome.
Urban Grandstand: What other projects are you working on right now?
Denisha Hardeman: I have a web series I wrote called ‘Under One Roof’. It’s even better than I imagined. It’s about college freshmen, you know. There are no shows on about college these days. Everything is about death when it involves college students. Things happen in college though. You know, you party, get drunk, your girl sleeps with your man, you know, your roommate sleeps with your man, so many things. In the movie, it all happens amongst four roommates. There are three
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