In this week’s episode of I Turn My Camera On, Lance Gross chats with fellow actor Omari Hardwick about the importance of health and wellness.
The two begin the conversation by discussing Omari’s daily routines and rituals for keeping his mind, body and spirit in good shape. The Power star emphasizes that a healthy mindset is just important as a healthy physique.
“It makes no sense for your exterior to be on point if your insides are all contaminated,” he says.
As Lance shifts the discussion slightly to ask Omari to speak on a time when he felt he had to choose between his career and his own well-being, the proud fathers and husbands each opened up about the devastating experience of losing a child.
“The sixth year of my working career as an actor, we were pregnant with my first child,” Omari says. “Filming [the movie] Dark Blue, lying to Kick Ass so that I could do both — and dealing with the baby sliding and not doing well. The doctors let us know, you know, that if it were them, they would have aborted and we chose not to. So, just riding that out for months in terms of like, not wanting to go to work and even having somebody secure enough and strong enough at home to say, “No, you have to go to work.” And then it came to a place where we lost the baby. Ironically, the day that we delivered the baby, I was forced to work.”
Watch the clip above to hear how Lance and his wife dealt with losing a child, as well as more from Omari. To see all episodes, visit the official website HERE.
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[BLANK_AUDIO] I'm Lance Gross. And a value that's important to me is health. And when I say health I'm talking body, mind and spirit. Your body, because I just believe in physical appearance. If you stay ready you don't have to get ready. Your mind. You just need to be mentally Grounded and spiritually, because you need to know that there's a higher power controlling your steps and your everyday movement. So that's why health is important to me. [MUSIC] My man, Omari Hardwick. What's up. What's up man, thank you for sitting with me. Allowing me to turn my camera on. Of course. Yeah, so with this project, I've come up with a wish list of celebrities to photograph. Now, I've also put a list together of my values that are important to me. So for you, I choose health. I've known you for a long time, we've had conversations, and every time it's just. Cuz it's just like, wow, man. You embody what I believe is being healthy, body, mind, spirit, so- Thank you, brother. Yeah, so what are your daily health rituals? I try to brush my teeth well. [LAUGH] I gotta do that. I think that's underrated, man, you should always shower Go brush your teeth and then I hit the gym when I can. I think at this point in my life cuz the knees have taken such a beating in all of the years I ball and baseball included as a catcher. So that's what has at this point has had to be put on the back burner. A lot of heavy bag, I love the Your studio as replicas of none other than, of course, Muhammad Ali. And then read, I'm always reading. It's a conditioned mind. You gotta condition your mind, in everything, you know what I mean. Not just reading one John Grove or whatever, but trying to brush up on anything and everything so you're not lonely in a conversation. So you briefly mentioned being an athlete. Mm-hm. How would you say that informed your career as an actor? So I think maybe the non-obvious answer would be the fact that as a young African American being raised in the south It immediately gave me other people whose faces didn't necessarily look like mine. And so I think sports did a great job of allowing me to jettison into a world of a variance of people, which I always thought was a really [INAUDIBLE] thing. Do you believe in spiritual health? Yeah, I think most important that, It makes no sense for your exterior to be on point or whatever that means in terms of your physical appearance if your insides is all contaminated. It's not a gray area. That wouldn't be good. My lady is always my daughter, where are you most beautiful? Yeah you know you can add almost four years old. My overall response is inside. I know when I come home from going to today's work seeing man, it's like I don't care how challenging or how my day was, seeing that little girl like it puts me in happiest place I could ever be in. Absolutely. I know you work a lot. Yeah, more than me. So what is that feeling for you when you come home and your kids is like. They're screaming papa. Yeah. There's nothing better. [MUSIC] Nothing better than that. I remember people telling me as an artist, Mario, you already have so much stuff inside So much complexity, so many buttons to push, but once you become a father, it multiplies that. I definitely can say that. [LAUGH] Whether you need to smile, whether you need to cry, whatever you need. And it's crazy because you don't understand that until you actually have a kid. There's no way. I don't care how old you are, if you don't have a kid, you don't Understand what that feeling is. You listen to people as you try to- Yeah, you try to prepare for it. You hear it, but until you actually experience it, it sure is interesting. Yeah, it is. Omar, have you been in a situation where you had to choose between a job or a person? [UNKNOWN] Probably six year of my working career as an actor. We were pregnant with my first child. Filming Dark Blue lined to kick ****, so that I could do both and dealing with the baby sliding. They're not doing well. And the doctors letting us know you know that if it were them they would've abort it and we chose not to. And just riding that out for months in terms of like not wanting to go to work and of course having somebody secure enough and strong enough to help him to go you know you got to go to work. And then it came to a place where we lost the baby. And the, ironically, the day that we delivered a baby, I was forced to work. And it was the first moment, to me, this was the moment of anger at the industry. Yeah. No I feel you, I relate to you so much in that moment. I was [BLANK_AUDIO] you don't know but we lost a child and I remember getting the call from my wife, I was in the middle of a scene. And I got the call from her and In [INAUDIBLE] you know what I mean? Because I felt like I should have been in. Yeah we learned how many people shared those stories but nobody talks about them. Yeah nobody talks about them. No that's why I said it's a great question you asked. How do you stay sane? My sanity has definitely been a marriage or a hybrid. [UNKNOWN] For me as a [UNKNOWN] It saved me. I thought about all the years that I was rapping on stage. It truly is something that And once it's out it's out and so that AIDS insanity in terms of getting it out it's on the stage, it's there, I gotta do it. Well Maury I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming here and sitting with me. Allowing me to turn my camera on you. It was fun man I always appreciate you. Thank you. Yes sir. [MUSIC]
