NAACP Image Award-winning actor Kadeem Hardison recently opened up about his off-screen romance with former A Different World co-star Cree Summer.
Hardison, who portrayed the memorable Dwayne Wayne on the show, shared that he had a sweet off-screen romance with Summer, who played Freddie Brooks. He spilled the juicy details via a snippet from an upcoming TV One’s Uncensored episode.
“Cree and I–from the time we met–we became best friends,” he said about his former co-star in the Sept. 19 snippet. “One night we went out, and then we started kissing, and the next thing you know, she was telling me she’s in love with me. I was just stunned.”
The actor continued, saying he had to pretend to be in love with his on-screen beau, Jasmine Guy, while being in love with Summer. At the time, Guy played his girlfriend in the show, Whitley Gilbert.
“And then I had to pretend to be in love with Jasmine while being in love with Cree.”
Back in 2020, he revealed that while being Guy’s on-screen love interest could’ve been awkward, it wasn’t his concern.
“That wasn’t even my concern at the time. Dominic [Hoffman], Jasmine’s boyfriend at the time, did some spots on the show,” Hardison said in an interview with ESSENCE Magazine.
Ironically, Hoffman portrayed Julian Day on A Different World–one of Guy’s on-screen boyfriends.
“It’s like you have your work wife and home wife. But your home wife also happens to work with you,” the Brooklyn native added. “As much as that could have been sticky, they were so in love with each. It was never an issue. Good God, if you thought me and Darryl were close, he and Jasmine were inseparable. They brought out the silliness in each other.”
Hardison and Guy recently appeared on The Breakfast Club and discussed the iconic Black show’s impact, as this year marks its 30th anniversary. During the interview, they talked about the famous wedding episode that aired in 1989.
“We have done so much real things on the show. So many things that felt real—from the AIDS and the apartheid and all of that, and for me to crash this wedding like this felt like a complete leap,” the veteran actor told hosts Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy.
