In early February (2017) Rae’Ven gave her parents the shock of their lives when a judge awarded her $767,610, after determining that her claims were correct, her parents used her earnings for their own personal gain and lied to her, telling her that her biggest residual check was just $75. Rae’Ven still has the other part of her lawsuit pending against her parents for defamation for $30K+. So we’re glad to hear that. But now this…

HER BIG PAYBACK: “FLY,” NEW TV SHOW PACKED w/OUR FAVORITE OLD SCHOOL CELEBS

Today, things are really beginning to look up for Rae’Ven Kelly and her new production company, Everlasting Entertainment. Whoopi Goldberg is executive producing Rae’Ven’s upcoming TV series, called FLY.

The show is based on the REAL -LIFE story of the first all African American flight crew to ever take flight in 2009. It’s a widely unknown Black History fact about four African American women, which took place during Black History Month and on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, 2009. It’s also ironic that Lincoln is the president who had finally had sense enough to abolish slavery and now four descendants of those powerful slaves he freed had the opportunity to pay homage to their ancestors, by making history coincidentally on his birthday…BUT THERE’S MORE…

STAR STUDDED CAST

Let’s talk about this star studded cast, which was hand picked by Rae’Ven Kelly. Here are the details she sent to ILOSM:
– Rae’Ven is the sole creator of FLY. The pilot episode will feature cameos from the original women who flew that historical flight!

• Tatyana Ali is playing Capt. Bess Davenport, Rae’Ven is portraying Capt. Skylar Wyatt.
  
• Glynn Turman is Capt. David Davenport, father of Tatyana’s character & Ashley Monique Clark’s character. Ashley was DL Hughley’s daughter on his sitcom.
  
• Rae’Ven’s ‘adopted grandma,’ Marla Gibbs, will play Glynn Turman’s mom & Tatyana and Ashley’s grandmother, “G-Ma Davenport.” 
  – Ella Joyce (of Roc sitcom) is playing Rae’Ven’s & Karyn Parsons’ ‘mom.’ Ella was Rae’Ven’s ‘mom’ in the Warner Bros spiritual hit, Preacher’s Kid, when Rae’Ven played LeToya Luckett’s best friend.

• Cosby kid (played “Nelson,” Bill Cosby’s grandson on The Cosby Show), Gary LeRoi Gray will be portraying a womanizing flight attendant, “Kosmond Jackson.”

FYI: In a recent interview with Mother Love, Rae’Ven revealed that many of the actors she chose for the roles are who she refers to as her Hollywood/’adopted’ family. Since she no longer speaks to her parents, she says that her family wasn’t at her 2016 wedding to her husband, Sean Dinwoodie. So she improvised and had her Hollywood fam’ there instead, with the former Cosby kid (Gary LeRoi Gray), being her ‘man of honor’ and Marla Gibbs (whom she calls her ‘adopted grandma’) Ella Joyce, Glynn Turman (whom she’s known for years) and others, being her ‘family’ in attendance.

Rae’Ven says she views her strained relationship with her parents and family by saying to herself “You know what? I’m not gonna take lemons and make lemonade, I’m gonna make Cristal!”

HELPING YOUNG ACTORS TO AVOID WHAT SHE ENDURED

Rae’Ven is now an advocate for change in Hollywood for child actors and second generation actors. A portion of all of the proceeds from every production of her company will go to her foundation Ray of Love, which will help to prevent financial, sexual, and emotional abuse of child actors, providing both current and former child actors with food/shelter resources, education and college assistance. She says that she hears of far too many former childhood actors ending up broke, drug addicted, or severely unstable psychologically, due to poor education about the business or mismanagement by their caregivers/managers.

Rae’Ven Kelly’s FLY TV series is about go to into preproduction and will premiere in 2018.

We love seeing stories of survival and redemption like this and we wish Rae’Ven the best. Props to Whoopi Goldberg for steppin’ up to help a sista out too!