Issa Rae Says “I Don’t Ever Want to Believe My Own Hype”

Issa Rae is rooting for everybody black, and we are rooting for everything Issa! The actress was nominated for four awards at Saturday’s NAACP Image Awards, which celebrates and honors people of color across television, music, literature and film. The actress took home her first win from the NAACP for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Insecure. Big things are popping for Rae — who also recently signed a new five-year overall deal with WarnerMedia — and this is only the beginning!

She recently told Tracee Ellis Ross in an interview for Paper magazine that she needs to get used to the idea that she’ll “be here for a while.” She opened up to BeenWorthy‘s Dominique Clark about “what evoked that thought.” 

“I just don’t want to take anything for granted,” Rae shared, explaining that she’s seen people in Hollywood “have their time and they’re gone.” 

“That’s always been a source of anxiety in terms of, ‘I should take on this project or take on this opportunity because I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, I might not get more opportunities.’ And after a while, I was just like, ‘I need to stop that. I need to stop acting like that, and take my time,'” she said. 

“Even before I broke into the industry, I was still trying to make it, but it was very carefully crafted and intentional,” she explained. “I need to get back to that.” 

We have faith that the humble Insecure star will continue to create content that we love for a long a time. We also have faith in how dope this final season of the HBO series is going to be. We’re excited to report that Rae has confirmed that “we’re getting more than eight episodes!”

Rae has been preparing to end the hit show for some time and shared with reporters in the NAACP Awards press room on Saturday that “I’ve been wrapping my head around this since candidly, season 3, but I’m so grateful to be able to play this character, who is obviously a version of me, and in the same way that I want this character to grow, I want to be able to grow too. So I think that’s what comes with it — I’ve played her for a long time, and I have so much more that I want to do.”

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