‘Talking About Clair Huxtable Is Blasphemy’: Fans Race to Defend Phylicia Rashad as ‘Disrespectful’ Critic Questions Her Morals After Three Divorces
Phylicia Rashad‘s marital history recently drew shade online — until her supporters quickly came to the defense of the actress and shut it down.
The Instagram page, @JDS_Creatives, shared an anonymous post from a user who seemed to have a gripe with the 76-year-old.
“I will neva let an old washed up actress in her 70’s who has been divorced 3 FAWKING TIMES tell me how I should dress! You modest but single so it ain’t working for ya grannie let us youngins have are a— out if we want.”
The second slide of the post was a response to the distasteful comment about the 76-year-old actress.
Under the account, “Daphne Accountablitiy Sutton,” the responder stated, “You’re dressed in revealing clothing in almost all of your pictures, and you’re single with three kids. It seems that no one has married you yet.” She went on to list the durations of Rashad’s marriages and reminded the original poster that “The Cosby Show” star had both of her children while married.
She continued, “It seems that dressing in revealing clothing and claiming you’re a freak hasn’t made you a wife; rather it has made you a single mother.”
The follower ended her frank statement: “She was chosen three times to be a wife, while you haven’t been chosen once. Maybe you should consider covering up, as showing off your a— isn’t working yougin.”
Comments on the shared social post continued to fire back at the “wild” and “disrespectful” post.
“Getting a divorce doesn’t mean someone can’t have self respect geeze,” said one person.
Reminding us that no Claire Huxtable slander will not be tolerated, two other comments read, “I know she not talking about Claire Huxtable!!!!! BLASPHEMY!!!” and “She got Claire fkd [up].”
“Lord…..poor baby… it’s a blessing to reach 70 and an even BIGGER blessing to still be loved. Let’s just pray for this child!”
Talking directly to the “youngin” for disrespecting Rashad’s legacy, one individual said, “Girl if you knew what that woman has done for us you would crawl back under your rock sad poor thing don’t know no better.”
Rashad’s marriage timeline includes her first marriage to dentist William Lancelot Bowles Jr., which lasted from 1972 to 1975. She had one son, William Lancelot Bowles III, from that relationship.
In 1978, she married Victor Willis, the original lead singer of the Village People. The two divorced in 1982.
But she got her last name from her longest and most publicized marriage to former NFL wide receiver and sportscaster Ahmad Rashad. The two wed in 1985 after Ahmad proposed to Phylicia during a live broadcast of the NFL pregame show on Thanksgiving Day. They divorced in 2001 and share a daughter, Condola Rashad.
Throwback to Thanksgiving 1985 when Ahmad Rashad took time out of a live broadcast to ask Phylicia to marry him pic.twitter.com/Frwr50BSKc
— Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) November 28, 2019
The left-field post about her love life follows Rashad’s March 20 appearance on “The Breakfast Club,” during which she called out Gen-Z for their questionable attire choices.
The clip began with host Charlamagne Tha God asking the “Fall from Grace” actress to share her views on how younger people carry themselves.
“You came up in an era when dignity and grace was everything. You ever look at how wild Hollywood is now and think to yourself, ‘Boy, y’all got it easy. Y’all wouldn’t ever get away with what we did,’” he asked.
She replied, “Well, you have a look at Hollywood, and I’ll look at how young ladies dress.”
After some comedic reactions from Jess Hilarious, Rashad continued. “Young ladies are so beautiful; they are so beautiful. And something has happened in popular culture — and I don’t mean to be critical and I hope young ladies listening don’t take it as personal criticism because I don’t mean it that way.”
“You’re young queens. I’m taken aback when I see on a college campus young women dressed in strips of clothing,” said Rashad, who in 2024 stepped down from her duties as Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University.
She then posed a rhetorical question, “But more importantly than that, no man wants his woman to be out like that, right?”
Charlamagne agreed and referenced a Method Man lyric: “Wearing three-fourths of clothes never showing your stuff off.”
The group began bantering about how today’s fashion designers could do a better job of “leaving something to the imagination,” making clothes that are “for men’s eyes only,” and helping women “look sexy” while staying covered up.
To which Rashad agreed, “And it’s really not sexy.”