Arts & Entertainment

Shaker Heights Native Kym Whitley Will Star In New Series On Oprah Winfrey's Network

'Raising Whitley' is set to premiere 10 p.m. April 20 on OWN

Actress, comedienne and Shaker Heights native Kym Whitley will star in a new reality series on Oprah Winfrey's OWN cable channel.

Raising Whitley is set to premiere at 10 p.m. on April 20.

This is how OWN describes Raising Whitley:

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Raising Whitley is a humorous, poignant new docu-series following actress and comedienne Kym Whitley and her riotous collective of friends – whom she calls "The Village" – as they attempt to do something none of them have ever done before: raise a baby...together.

When Kym signed up to mentor a troubled young girl, she never imagined she'd get a call from the hospital saying, "Your baby is ready." After learning that her mentee exited the maternity ward leaving only Kym's contact information, Kym experienced a cataclysmic moment.

With less than an hour to make a life-changing decision – and to do a lifetime of soul-searching – Kym chose to become a mother. The Village banded together to help Kym bring up baby Joshua the best they know how, but sometimes it's hard to tell who is more mature – Joshua or the adults tasked with raising him.

Over the season, Kym learns the chaotic realities of becoming a full-time mom: She realizes that, while Craigslist may be perfect for finding an old couch, it's not ideal for finding a new nanny; she survives Joshua’s first haircut; she gets her groove back on a manhunt with her girlfriends; and she discovers that being "just friends" with Joshua's "daddy" may not be that simple.

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Click here for a first look at Raising Whitley.

Whitley has already had a lengthy career in entertainment with several credits in television and cinema.

She has performed in movies ranging from Next Friday to Rango to We Bought A Zoo to Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.

On the small screen, she has appeared in My Wife and Kids, Til Death, Black Dynamite and most recently NBC's Animal Practice and BET's Let's Stay Together.

In addition to starring, Whitley is also an executive producer for Raising Whitley.


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