WATCH: ESSENCE Best of 2023 Lifestyle
Take a trip down memory lane and check out some of our favorite lifestyle moments in 2023.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hey, hey everyone.
00:12 Hello, beautiful people.
00:13 I'm Victoria Umurogi,
00:14 the Senior Lifestyle Editor for Essence.
00:16 - I'm Dominique Fluker,
00:17 the Contributing Lifestyle Editor for Essence.
00:20 - Yes, yes, and we are Team Lifestyle.
00:22 We are here to chat with you
00:24 about all of the crazy things,
00:25 all things lifestyle that occurred in the year 2023.
00:29 We're talking about the good, the bad,
00:31 and the gentle parenting.
00:32 So let's get right into it.
00:34 We gotta talk about breakups.
00:36 Celebrity breakups were all over the place.
00:39 It was really bad.
00:40 There was like a string of time in the fall
00:42 where it was like at least five people broke up
00:44 and we were shocked by all of them.
00:46 But some of the biggest things that we saw
00:48 kind of decided to take a step back
00:49 on their romantic lives,
00:51 includes Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert,
00:53 Miss Tina Knowles and Richard Lawson.
00:56 We got Eva the Diva Marcel
00:58 and Mr. Michael Sterling,
01:00 and then Lori Harvey and Damson Idris, who's so fun.
01:03 But anyway, what happened was sad for all of these couples,
01:07 but we're trying to figure out, you know,
01:08 where you guys stand on the most shocking one of all.
01:10 Dominique, which of those couples breaking up
01:13 did you feel like the most?
01:14 Like, oh my goodness, I can't believe that happened.
01:16 - Yeah, you know, it has to be Teyana and Iman for me.
01:19 I mean, they are just, well, before it seemed
01:22 like a picture perfect family of a little Junie
01:26 and their other little one.
01:27 And I was really shocked to see,
01:30 of course the cheating allegations
01:31 and then Teyana revealing that they're separated
01:35 only to find out that they are indeed divorced, right?
01:39 And that was because the records were leaked, unfortunately.
01:42 So that was a really sad one for me.
01:44 - Yeah, no, I agree.
01:45 I love them.
01:46 And I thought that they were so, like, they were very sexy.
01:48 They have their cute family.
01:49 Like they're the young hip couple that, you know,
01:51 people can look up to.
01:52 And girl, it just wasn't happening
01:54 the way we really thought.
01:55 So, it's unfortunate.
01:57 But in addition to "Love Gone Awry" news,
01:58 we've got to talk about couples that are kind of in flux
02:01 and whose news had us really in a tizzy this year.
02:04 So that includes, of course, Jada Pinkett Smith
02:07 and Will Smith and their whole reality
02:11 that they've actually been separated since 2016, y'all.
02:13 They was on red carpet.
02:15 He was slapping folks at the Oscars for her
02:17 and they weren't even really, like, there anymore.
02:21 And then in addition to that, yeah, they weren't.
02:23 And then in addition to that, of course,
02:25 the mess of Keke Palmer's ex, Darius Dalton,
02:28 pretty much trying to shame her over the very fly dress
02:31 that she wore to go see "Usher" at his Las Vegas residency.
02:34 Which one of those situations really took you aback?
02:37 - Well, for me, it has to be Will and Jada Smith.
02:39 I was actually upset.
02:40 I was taking it back.
02:41 I was pedagogic.
02:42 - You took it personally.
02:43 - I took it very personally.
02:44 - I still was black.
02:45 You took it personally.
02:47 - I took it very personally because, you know,
02:49 you have a platform that's rooted in transparency, right?
02:53 And then only to find that they were definitely separated.
02:58 And a lot of that hullabaloo could have been avoided
03:02 if the truth was placed, indeed, on that red table talk,
03:05 right then and there, with that episode that we all know
03:09 and we can refer back to.
03:11 - The entanglement.
03:12 - The entanglement episode.
03:13 So if they would have just laid it out on the table,
03:17 I feel like we would, the public,
03:20 would have just been more accepting of it.
03:22 - And then we gotta move on.
03:23 We gotta chat about the couples
03:25 that we are rooting for from this year.
03:27 Some people who are newer that we kinda like
03:29 and who rekindled their romances,
03:31 like Nelly and Ashanti, you know,
03:34 taking it back to what, Y2K era?
03:36 And as well as Angela Simmons and Yo Gotti,
03:41 who, you know, he obviously spoke
03:43 that whole relationship into existence.
03:45 So we need the deets from him.
03:46 So which of those two pairings are you most excited about
03:49 and to see what happens with them in 2020?
03:52 - Well, while the power of manifestation is real,
03:55 I will have to give it to my girl, Ashanti and Nelly,
03:59 because like you said before,
04:00 my Y2K dreams have been answered.
04:03 My prayers have been answered.
04:05 Thank you so much, Lord.
04:06 I just love seeing them together.
04:08 I mean, it's not a tooth not in sight when they're together.
04:11 I mean, they're smiling all day.
04:13 - Grinning.
04:14 - Cameras grinning.
04:15 They're doing lavish birthday parties.
04:18 They're living it up.
04:19 And they're inspiring me to, you know,
04:21 really stick a baby toe back into love,
04:24 maybe spin the block once more.
04:26 And, you know, like, really kind of consider my options.
04:31 - And you know, Dominique,
04:32 nothing says I'm happy to be booed up with my ex again,
04:35 or with my new boo again, than merch.
04:38 Not only did these two come back together,
04:39 and not only did Angela and Yo come together, super cute,
04:43 they out here with their faces on each other's clothes,
04:45 bags, everything.
04:47 Are you doing this for your bae?
04:49 - No.
04:50 - Okay.
04:51 I love Ashanti.
04:52 I'm so excited that she's excited and in love,
04:55 but I'm not having my man on a purse,
04:57 especially not in public.
04:58 Everything doesn't need to be displayed in that way.
05:02 So it's a no for me, dog.
05:04 - Which you would have, you would,
05:05 you would want your man out here
05:06 with your face on his shirt.
05:07 So don't do that.
05:08 You would want to be like Angela and Yo.
05:10 (laughing)
05:12 I did like Angela and Yo Gotti,
05:14 just because like you said, of the power of manifestation.
05:17 But I also really like Angela and Yo,
05:19 because they like to be jet setters.
05:21 They like to see the world.
05:22 And I know one of their locales this year
05:24 was near Mykonos.
05:26 It was gorgeous, in Greece.
05:27 And Greece was a hotspot for travel this year
05:31 for a lot of people, the famous and the not so famous.
05:34 I was there.
05:35 Don't go on my Instagram looking for my business.
05:37 I didn't do all that, but I was there.
05:39 It was fabulous.
05:40 Other hotspots this year for travel included Italy.
05:43 And we know that for Deci-Decemba, Nigeria, Ghana,
05:49 a lot of locales in Africa
05:51 are really gonna be hot and popping.
05:52 So where of those places are you trying to go?
05:55 Would you love to go on a free ticket
05:56 if somebody had to give it to you?
05:58 - Well, I would have to say Greece,
06:00 but I'm kind of embarrassed
06:01 that I haven't been to my homeland at all.
06:04 I have not been to Africa at all.
06:06 So I feel like I need to change that as well.
06:08 - That would be very, very exciting for you.
06:10 And when it comes to the domestic spots, honey,
06:12 nothing can ever be hotter than New Orleans.
06:14 And I'm not saying that just because we have festival there
06:17 and it's always amazing and the food is bomb
06:19 and the weather is nice and balmy too.
06:21 But anyway, you gotta get there.
06:23 - And I know something else you're very excited about
06:25 'cause you're all about wellness.
06:26 Dominique, can you tell us about some of the wellness trends
06:28 that happened this year?
06:29 Maybe like run down a few of them and tell us your favorite.
06:32 - Yes, okay.
06:33 So we have to start with Ozempic, okay?
06:37 That Ozempic had the girls in the tizzy.
06:39 As you know, it is for diabetes,
06:42 but it can be used as a weight loss drug as well.
06:44 And everybody was taking Ozempic,
06:47 from the nurse to the grocer and to our-
06:50 - The men.
06:51 - The men were on that Ozempic, everybody.
06:55 And so we recently did a great wellness check
06:58 with a medical expert,
06:59 really kind of delving into the benefits of Ozempic
07:02 and if you should try it or not.
07:05 And it's really up to you at this point.
07:07 - You know who doesn't get rest?
07:13 Parents, like myself.
07:16 Love our children, it's a blessing.
07:17 But this is a very interesting year
07:18 for parental conversations.
07:20 There was a lot of mess happening.
07:21 We saw T.I. and his son, King,
07:24 get into quite the tussle on social media,
07:27 on Instagram Live after they pulled his card
07:29 about whether or not he has any good points,
07:31 if he's really been through the rough
07:34 or he was really born in a gated community.
07:36 And we also saw Miss April Jones and her son, Mega,
07:40 him way too much in her business on Instagram Live,
07:43 talking about where her man or ex-man, Taye Diggs,
07:46 was a little bit cringe-worthy that that was happening.
07:48 But one of the biggest conversations
07:50 that I saw happen on social media this year was,
07:53 we're back to gentle parenting versus butt whippings.
07:56 And people are really like,
07:58 there's been so many videos and jokes about like,
08:00 this is what happens when you do gentle parenting,
08:02 your kids out here cussing you out,
08:04 talking crazy out in the world.
08:05 And so, you know, it's very hard to know where to stand,
08:07 but if you, you know, you are a parent,
08:09 where do you kind of stand on like,
08:10 how you would go about things, do you think?
08:13 - I'm definitely in the middle, okay?
08:14 'Cause you're not gonna be grown,
08:16 talking to me all types of crazy,
08:17 and not get a pat pat or, you know,
08:20 a little swat on the hand,
08:23 and embarrass me in public.
08:24 After all that I've sacrificed for you, no ma'am.
08:28 So I'm definitely in the middle.
08:29 But you know, I do think it's important for children
08:33 to have their own voice and have their own identity
08:36 and have them feel like they have agency
08:40 to come to you respectfully, number one,
08:45 and speak about their feelings.
08:47 That's very important.
08:48 - I do think when you get out of pocket,
08:51 when I done told you three, four times,
08:53 a little pow pow on a blood ain't gonna do no harm, really.
08:55 So I'm about being in the middle
08:57 and just giving grace to both methods of parenting.
08:59 So I'm glad we kind of are on the same page on that.
09:02 We can't wait to talk about all of the new things
09:04 happening in 2024, the trending topics, all the tea,
09:07 and we can't wait to get into it.
09:08 So we just thank you for watching and happy holidays.
09:12 - Happy holidays.
09:13 (upbeat music)
09:16 (upbeat music)
09:18 (whooshing)