Meagan Good If Not Now When, Monster Hunter Interview

13. Speaking of mental health, what things do you do to maintain your peace of mind?

I start every day with God. Before I touch that phone, before I do anything, I get up and pray. Then I say my affirmations over myself, read my word, and start my day. When I get into my car, the first thing I listen to is a gospel song, something that’s uplifting and edifying to my spirt. Then throughout the day, whatever is not serving me, I keep it at an arm’s distance. I ask God throughout the day, “Where are you in this? What should I be doing?” The rest I take with a grain of salt and say, “I’m just happy to be here.”

14. Have you picked up any new hobbies or skills during the pandemic?

Cooking more. I’m a decent cook, but during the pandemic I learned how to cook gumbo, curry, eggplant parmesan, and all kinds of stuff. I was like, “It’s just time to expand these horizons.” Also, my hubby’s love language involves doing [acts of service] and showing effort and energy, so that was one of the ways I showed my love to him.

15. Have you ever been starstruck?

Have I?! When I first met Prince! I got this call that Sanaa Hamri, who directed Something New, wanted to meet with me and that Prince wanted to meet with me. Now, I’m thinking [says random name] Prince Johnson from Santa Monica, not Prince. So, it’s the day of and I put in the address in the GPS and I could not find the house. At this point I’m 30 minutes late. I finally find it and buzz myself in. As I pull into the driveway, I’m just like, “Wow, this house is beautiful.” Sanaa meets me outside and then leads me inside the house. I immediately notice an elevator and I’m like, “Who has an elevator in their house?” I’ve never seen an elevator in anyone’s house. Then as soon as the doors opened and I noticed all the crushed purple velvet, that’s when I was like, “Oh my god!”

I step into the elevator and Sanaa steps behind me, and as soon as the door closes I see the huge emblem. I’m like flipping out inside. We get to the top floor and she yells, “Prince, Meagan’s here,” and I mouth to myself “What the fuck?!” He has mirror panels lining the wall, so as he’s coming around the corner, I see millions of him. He had on these silk pajamas, with his hair up, and these platform sandals. I’m not going to tell you the whole story, because I want to save some of it for myself, but he wanted to do this project about a young Malcolm X that was a female, and he wanted me to play that character.