Tracee Ellis Ross has an incredible relationship with her parents. And while that might not be remarkable in itself, the identity of her parents most certainly is. Music exec Bob Ellis might not be a household name, but singer Diana Ross most certainly is. One of the great soul pop singers of the 60's and 70's, and the once-lead vocalist of the legendary Supremes, Diana is an American treasure, and daughter Tracee might be her best friend in the world. We'll cover all of the adorable details so you can get to know this mother/daughter duo. This is Tracee Ellis Ross' relationship with her mom Diana Ross explained.
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00:00Tracee Ellis Ross played one of the last decade's quintessential TV matriarchs,
00:06Black-ish's Dr. Rainbow Johnson. But her real-life mom is one of the most famous
00:11stars of all time. Here's a look at Tracee Ellis Ross' relationship with her mom, Diana Ross.
00:18Tracee Ellis Ross was born in 1972 to Diana Ross and her first husband,
00:24music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein. Tracee grew up in a period where her mother
00:29was busy establishing her solo recording career, venturing into the film world for the first time
00:35and breaking new ground as an African-American woman. Therefore, you might expect that Diana
00:40Ross was one of those celebs who left most of the child-raising to the nannies.
00:45But Tracee says that's not the case. In a 2017 interview with Good Housekeeping,
00:51Tracee revealed just how hard her mother worked to ensure that she didn't miss out on her kids
00:56growing up.
00:57"[My mom has an amazing work ethic. To her, on time is 10 minutes early. I've never heard her
01:03complain. She was busy going to the supermarket, waking us up for school, sitting with us during
01:09dinner, recording while we were sleeping, never leaving for longer than a week so she wouldn't be
01:14away from us." Tracee said that her mother always made time for her children. Whether she was about
01:20to go onstage or busy having a meeting, she never responded with,
01:25"'Not now. I don't have time.'"
01:27From figure-hugging bodysuits to fur-trimmed coats, Diana Ross never looks anything less
01:33than fabulous whenever she hits the red carpet. So, you perhaps can't blame her kids for wanting
01:39to make the most of their famous mom's stylish wardrobe from the moment they were old enough to
01:44play dress-up. Her second-oldest child, Tracee Ellis Ross, was particularly keen on borrowing
01:50clothes from her mother, although she freely admits she often did it without her permission.
01:55"'Steal. Borrow. Borrow, steal.'"
01:59Speaking to W Magazine in 2017, the Black-ish star said,
02:04"'It sort of was more like stealing. I'm not going to lie. She would leave the house and I
02:08went in her room and looked out the window and saw her car go down the driveway and I marched
02:13myself right into her bathroom and started taking clothes. What I like to do is put them in my
02:19closet and live with them as if they were mine.'" Tracee also recalled how she was very nearly
02:25busted one time when Diana returned home unexpectedly to pick up a forgotten item.
02:30But the quick-thinking youngster managed to convince her mother that she was only in her
02:35closet as she wanted to help reorganize it. Tracee Ellis Ross may well now be a super-glamorous star
02:42in her own right, but that hasn't stopped her from keeping up the habit of borrowing from her
02:46mother's wardrobe. During her chat with W, the actress said,
02:50"'I go to my mom's house. My mom has the most extraordinary taste, top to bottom,
02:56whether it's the dishes or the clothes, from t-shirts to gowns to hats to coats.'"
03:02Even when she's not rummaging around Diana Ross' own personal collection,
03:06Tracee still likes to get her famous mother's opinion on all style matters, including hair.
03:12Tracee told W,
03:13"'I have a really good mommy. She told me I should never cut my hair,
03:18and I haven't cut my hair since.'"
03:19"'First thing I do is take care of my hair.'"
03:23All five of Diana Ross' biological kids followed her into the showbiz world. Her firstborn,
03:29daughter Rhonda Ross Kendrick, enjoyed a stint on Another World and has also forged a career as a
03:35jazz soul singer. Third daughter Chudney Ross has worked as a producer and production manager.
03:41Son Ross Naess works as an actor-producer, and her youngest, son Evan Ross, is an actor
03:48and musician, who was a regular of The CW's 90210 reboot. But Tracee told W that her mother never
03:55pushed any of them to follow in her footsteps.
03:57"'She really gave us space and the courage to live the lives that we want to be living,
04:02and to have time to dream and conjure up the life that I wanted to be living.
04:07I could really curate or design the world I wanted to be living in.'"
04:11Some showbiz kids can understandably crumble under the pressure of living up to their
04:16famous folks, particularly if they enter the same industry. But not Tracee Ellis Ross.
04:22After becoming only the fifth woman of color to receive an Emmy nod in the Outstanding Lead
04:27Actress in a Comedy Series category in 2016, the star was asked by People magazine whether the
04:33honor proved once and for all that she'd truly distanced herself from her celeb mom, Diana Ross.
04:39The actress, who had been nominated for playing Dr. Rainbow Johnson on Black-ish, replied,
04:45"'I've never felt like I was in my mother's shadow. If anything,
04:48I felt like I was in her embrace. So it's never been an effort to do that.'"
04:53Tracee has since been nominated in the same category several more times,
04:57although she's sadly not yet been given the chance to make an acceptance speech.
05:02Ahead of the 2020 Emmy Awards, for which she received her fourth nomination,
05:06Tracee told Variety that she still gets excited about the honor.
05:10"'Are you kidding me? I will tell you, though, that it was not on my radar at all. I literally
05:16did not even know it was happening that morning. So when I turned on my phone, I was like,
05:21what is going on?' Tracee Ellis Ross was understandably ecstatic when she learned
05:26that she'd been nominated for the Emmy Awards for the very first time in her career in 2016.
05:32But after dancing and running around her dining room,
05:35the actress knew exactly who she wanted to share the news with first.
05:39The Black-ish star told People,
05:41"'I opened my front door and I don't know where I thought I was trying to go.
05:45So I closed the door and I called my mom. She was really cute and we screamed for a little bit.'"
05:50The actress certainly had plenty to celebrate on the day.
05:53In addition to her own outstanding lead actress nomination, Tracee was thrilled with the fact
05:59that Black-ish had been featured in the Outstanding Comedy Series category,
06:03saying,
06:04"'It's the sweetest thing in the world that we all get to celebrate in this together.'"
06:08Diana Ross was also one of the first people that Tracee contacted
06:12when she found out she'd been nominated for a Golden Globe that same year. The actress told ET,
06:18"'My dad was really excited. I got him on the phone. I got my mom on the phone.
06:23My whole family is very excited. My mom in the text said,
06:27"'I want this for you. I want this for you.'" It worked. Tracee went on to win the Golden Globe."
06:34Diana Ross might not be a pushy stage mom, but that doesn't stop her from telling the world
06:39about how proud she is of her children's achievements. Indeed, as reported by ET in
06:442016, the ex-Supreme went to great lengths to share her joy at the news that daughter Tracee
06:50Ellis Ross had been nominated for one of the most prestigious awards in the TV industry.
06:56Not content with just a simple congratulations card or celebratory message on social media,
07:01Diana went the extra mile by taking out an advertisement — and a full-page one at that —
07:06in The Hollywood Reporter. Alongside a picture of her second-born smiling while clasping her face,
07:12the ad featured the caption,
07:14"'Congratulations to my daughter Tracee Ellis Ross on her nomination for Lead Actress in a
07:20Comedy Series for her work on Black-ish. So proud of you. Love, Mom & The Ross Family."
07:27Sadly, Diana's efforts didn't result in victory. That year, Tracee lost out to Veep's Julia Louis
07:33Dreyfus. Tracee Ellis Ross appears to be just as supportive of her mom's career. While hosting the
07:40American Music Awards in 2017, the Black-ish star and the rest of her family proudly watched from
07:46the sidelines as Diana Ross performed a medley of her biggest hits, including,
07:51"'I'm Coming Out' and "'Ain't No Mountain High Enough.'"
07:54The Motown legend then invited all of her nearest and dearest in attendance
07:59to join her on the stage as she accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.
08:03This is an extra special evening because my mom is receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award."
08:10Of course, Diana had served as host of the same ceremony way back in the mid-1980s,
08:15a fact that Tracee was keen to share in her opening monologue. Indeed, she told the audience,
08:20"'We're making history! We are the first mother and daughter who have ever hosted
08:25the American Music Awards. I mean, she did it twice, but there's always next year.'"
08:30Tracee did actually go on to host the following year, too.
08:34Tracee also paid tribute to her famous mom in her own unique way in 2015.
08:39In a fun-loving homage, the actress donned a number of one-piece swimsuits,
08:44lifted some weights, and showed off a few moves while recreating the exercise-themed
08:49video for Diana's 1981 single, "'Work That Body' on Instagram. Fun!"
08:55Considering her mother is one of the world's most popular female vocalists,
09:00you can understand why Tracee Ellis Ross may have been a little nervous showcasing
09:04her own vocal range. The actress even told the Daily Mail in June 2020 that,
09:09as a child, she'd been so afraid and shy to follow in her mother's footsteps
09:14that she pleaded with her Swiss boarding school headmistress for permission to sit
09:18out a school production. Tracee admitted,
09:20"'I said I thought it was unfair I was being asked to sing.'"
09:23Thankfully for the star, her first trip to the recording studio ended up making Diana Ross cry,
09:29and for all the right reasons, too. During an interview at the Dallas stop of Oprah Winfrey's
09:342020 Vision Your Life in Focus tour, the actress recalled the time when her mom first heard her
09:40sing in the 2020 movie The High Note. Tracee said,
09:43"'She pushed my arm and then she turned to me and her face was covered in tears. And she said,
09:49"'Finally.'"
09:50Tracee described the moment as one of the most beautiful in her life,
09:54telling Winfrey that she'd also learned a valuable life lesson through the nerve-wracking playback.
09:58"'I had to realize that it's not the sound of my voice,
10:02it's the honesty of my voice that is the key. I'm not supposed to sound like my mom.'"
10:07Tracee Ellis Ross seems to like nothing more than spending her downtime
10:11recreating throwback snaps of her superstar mom. Take a look at her Instagram page,
10:16and you'll see numerous shots of the blackish star looking uncannily like Diana Ross back
10:21in the day. She told guest host Sean Hayes on Jimmy Kimmel Live, quote,
10:26"'I kind of love doing it.'"
10:28But it's not just at home where Tracee will pay homage to her mother's fabulous dress sense.
10:32It seems as though pretty much any time the Golden Globe winner graces the red carpet,
10:37she's throwing a nod to one of Ross' classic looks. At the 2021 Emmys, for example,
10:42Tracee donned a dazzling red Valentino gown, complete with the kind of voluminous black
10:48curls her mom sported during her 70s disco phase. And at the most ridiculous event on the showbiz
10:53calendar, the Met Gala, that same year the actress took inspiration from one of Diana's
10:58best-loved film roles, fashion designer Tracee Chambers, in 1975's Mahogany with a royal blue
11:06maxi dress and short, angular bob. These two are so adorable together,
11:11we can't wait to see what they do next!