Garcelle Beauvais Recalls Being Mistaken as Her Children's Nanny

On August 9, 10 Bravolebrities joined E!’s Nina Parker for the roundtable discussion, Race in America: A Movement Not a Moment. During the candid conversation, Garcelle Beauvais of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills recalled an instance in which a stranger had mistaken her for a nanny. Porsha Williams of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Gizelle Bryant of The Real Housewives of Potomac had similar stories as well. 

“I had someone think that I was my kids’ nanny,” Garcelle explained in the video above. “And she said something to me in Spanish and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t speak Spanish,’ and she said, ‘You’d make more money if you spoke Spanish,’ and I thought ‘Well, does Telemundo pay a lot? As an actress, maybe I need to speak Spanish.’” 

“When she realized one of my boys came up to me — and they were smaller — and he said, ‘Mommy,’ and she completely turned bright red and ran off because she realized they were actually my kids,” Garcelle continued. “So, you see it in all different ways, almost on a daily basis.” 

Gizelle shared a similar issue she would experience while out with her children. 

“When they were younger, we would go out, it was a major confusion as to why is this women who looks white with these brown children? Are they her kids? That’s offensive to me,” said Gizelle. “That makes me feel like, first of all, yes these are my kids, and it’s none of your business what color they are, but that is an immediate sign to me that you have some racist issues, because you are questioning the color of my children.” 

In the video below, Porsha also details the questions she was often asked by her neighbors when living in a condo in Buckhead. 

“Every time I walked my dog, it happened at least about five times to me, that when I was in the hallway, my white neighbors — all of them were white — would ask me, am I the dog walker? It almost was comical, like, oh my gosh, how many times do I have to tell you, I’m not the dog walker. Then, on another floor, I stopped at the gym, and they had a little play area for kids, and I was asked am I a nanny, and for my services,” she said. “It just became the norm. It was just something that I had to deal with in living in that building.”

For more conversations from Race in America: A Movement Not a Moment, watch the full episode through the Bravo app. 

Porsha's White Neighbors Thought She Was a Dog Walker