While Tracee Ellis Ross had the opportunity to meet Lucille Ball as a child, and singer Marvin Gaye was a regular caller to the family house, there were some celebrities she wasn’t so keen on.
Tracee Ellis Ross was “frightened” when mum Diana’s pal Andy Warhol popped over to paint her and her sisters.
Being the daughter of a superstar as famous as Diana meant that Tracee became used to bumping into famous faces in the comfort of her own home.
While she had the opportunity to meet Lucille Ball as a child, and singer Marvin Gaye was a regular caller to the family house, there were some celebrities Tracee wasn’t so keen on.
On the latest episode of the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast, Tracee said: “Andy Warhol painted me and my sisters… I was not starstruck — I was actually frightened!”
As host Keke said it was “probably” Andy’s distinctive look – glasses and shockingly white hair – that scared Tracee.
But the actress replied: “I did not understand what was happening.”
Warhol photographed Diana, Tracee and her sisters – Rhonda and Chudney – for silkscreen artwork the Upside Down singer had commissioned back in 1981.
One of the portraits was later used by Diana on the cover of her album Silk Electric in 1982.
Tracee’s admission about Andy came after she previously opened up to Flaunt magazine about growing up as the child of a world-famous singer, and insisted that Diana wasn’t a big party girl.
She said: “My mum, of course, has led a very public life, but she is such a private person and such a home person. She’s a mum before she’s ‘Diana Ross’. My childhood was very anchored in real family life. My mum was home, my mum came and woke me up for school.”
“Yes, my mum had a unique job, but I wasn’t this crazy person standing out in my school because of that, or was in a situation where my life was so different from everyone else.
“There were certain unique things, but my mum woke us up for school in the morning. We would sit down and have dinner together.”
Among Diana’s other rules was that she’d only record music when her kids were asleep, and she never went away for more than a week at a time.
Tracee added: “All of those kinds of things were very much a part of who I was.”
Tracee Ellis Ross was ‘frightened’ of mum Diana’s pal Andy Warhol
