Veteran Author Mary B Morrison Tells All on the Ever-Changing Book Industry, How She Has Maintained Longevity In It, and Empowering Women Along the Way
She’s been telling stories worth reading for almost two whole decades, and her pen has yet to stop moving. Her name is Mary B Morrison, also known as “HoneyB.” She’s a household name and certified game-changer in the book battlefield, who sedulously sets the bar and commands the crowd with her charismatic craft, time and time again. A literary legend with a supreme way of storytelling, Morrison’s unapologetic authorship has kept her feet stamped to the neck of the industry for nearly eighteen years, and over twenty-something novels later and a storied career, she’s still not letting up.
After climbing the corporate ladder, working a government-based nine-to-five, Morrison made her debut into the writing world in 2000, when she unveiled “Soulmates Dissipate.” The seven-part collection soon became the creative genius’ most popular series, and even to this day, the readers continue to rant and rave about it. Since then, her catalog has grown tremendously, with the release of fan favorites “I’d Rather Be With You,” “The Crystal Series,” “The Eternal Engagement,” “Sexcapades,” and “If I Can’t Have You,” to name a few.
But while others may have known that Morrison’s raw delivery and unparalleled tales would take her far, the New York Times bestselling author actually could’ve never imagined it. She just knew that she had a story to tell and the voice to do so, and that’s exactly what she did.
In every book, she strove to create classic characters with real-life issues and subjective scenarios, touching on everything from sex and the men who frivolously give it to the women who naively receive it. What some may have been afraid to say, Morrison screamed it through the words that she wrote, the plots, and the fictional people within them. She impenitently broke the gender-bias barriers of the double standards that society had been parading since the beginning of time, proving that the future was, always had been, and still is, in fact, female.
“Women rule. That’s the way I see it,” Morrison boasts. “Beside every great man, there is a powerful woman. The same does not hold true for every successful woman. A lot of us are single because men want to wear the pants, even if they didn’t buy them.”
Now signed to Kensington Publishing Corporation, as well as Grand Central Publishing, under her pseudonym, HoneyB, Morrison’s talent steadily prevails–be it behind the face of her computer screen, in a director’s chair, or at the center of the camera lens.
The New Orleans-reared veteran author, relationship “sexpert,” and women’s advocate served as the executive producer and playwright of the uber-successful stage production, Single Husbands, which was based on her 2009 work of the same title.
Today, along with passionately penning more bestsellers, Morrison runs her own non-profit organization for battered women, called Healing Her Hurt. Every Tuesday, she also speaks to ladies all over the world, as the host of her very own Worldstar Hit Radio segment, The HoneyB Morrison Show.
Her latest novel happens to be titled “Head Games” and made its entrance onto the market this past August.
We recently spoke with Ms. Mary B. Morrison to talk the ever-changing book industry, how she has managed to maintain her longevity, female empowerment, and so much more. Check it out below!
Parlé Mag: So, before we get into Mary B. Morrison, the author, could you tell us a little bit about your life prior to entering the literary world? How was life growing up?
Mary B Morrison: Life growing up was interesting. I didn’t have much, in terms of finances and material things. I don’t want to say that I grew up poor, but we just didn’t have a lot. My great aunt, who raised me, she focused on education–so, basically, the best of the best public schools that we could go to. Being able to attend a college preparatory high school, I consider that a tremendous influence in my life. I think it made all of the difference in my life, my teachers, and the education that I got because for a very a long time, my high school education was all that I had. That was until years later when I decided to go back to school, and I got an associate’s degree, then I stopped after that. I was working for the government; out of high school, I worked for the IRS as a GS 2. I was able to promote to the GS 7 level, but after that, I needed an education. So, they said that I wasn’t getting jobs because I didn’t have any type of degree. I went back to school, got my degree, and by the time I left the government, I was a GS 14 with a non-competitive 15, working in Washington, D.C. So, that’s pretty much growing up, up until I started writing.
Parlé Mag: When and how did you discover that you wanted to become an author? Is this something that began as an adolescent?
Mary B Morrison: For me, not at all! I don’t have the childhood story of wanting to write books at all. Taking it back to where I went to high school, I loved English, so that was always my favorite subject. Everybody else in my family is math people. Fast forward to after my divorce, I met my soulmate, and we were in a relationship for seven years. When he asked me to marry him, I said ‘no’ because I sobered up and realized that it wasn’t a healthy relationship. There was a lot of infidelity, primarily on his part, but I’m the type of girl where if you’re smashing, I’m smashing. [laughs] I don’t argue. What we’re doing is what we’re doing.
Parlé Mag: Oh, wow! Well, okay! [laughs]
Mary B Morrison: After that relationship, I was like, ‘Okay, I have to write this story.’ So, I came up with the title “Soulmates Dissipate,” but I didn’t write the book until like seven more years. I couldn’t write about my life; I was trying to, but when you try to change names and do all of that, it’s very difficult, so I said ‘forget it.’ Everybody’s going to have money, but it’s still going to be a subject matter that people can relate to, in terms of soulmates dissipating.
Parlé Mag: You first started out in the early 2000s. So, in what ways would you say the book industry has changed since then and has it affected your career at all?
Mary B Morrison: The book industry has changed, I think, significantly. Particularly in the African-American community because we’ve gone up and down with support, and [bookstore] orders used to be like our biggest supporters of carrying out books. Now, it’s more of a challenge with the Barnes & Noble stores because they only carry limited books and very limited of people of color. I don’t have a problem with saying that because it’s the truth. So, in that regard, it’s changed a lot. Also, it’s changed for the better for some people if they want to self-publish because now, self-publishing is much easier to do today. You can do e-books; I have two e-books: “Dicks Are Dumb” and “Never Let a Man Come First.” Those are my two non-fiction books. Everything else is with Kensington Publishing or Grand Central. I’m still able to sustain myself in this industry, but the royalties continue to decline for most writers these days unless you’re just amazing and everybody’s running out to buy whatever you put on the shelf. I do think I’m amazing, however—
Parlé Mag: You are amazing!
Mary B Morrison: [laughs] Thank you!
Parlé Mag: I’m only telling the truth.
Mary B Morrison: We are in a climate where people are always on their phones, and they’re looking for visual content, in terms of videos, TV shows, etcetera. You can do just about anything on your phone!
Parlé Mag: Right.
Mary B Morrison: I have a talk show on Worldstar Hit Radio that I recently started. I just wrapped up my third episode. The HoneyB Morrison Show is what it’s called. I’ve done three segments of that, and I’m on every Tuesday. All of this is on my website, www.marymorrison.com. The last person I interviewed was Pimpin’ Ken because I’m all about my girls. I’m all about female empowerment, so even if I have a pimp on the show, which was my very first time interacting or talking with a pimp, I just want to try to elevate women and their mind-thought. Even with my latest book, “Head Games,” some women are like, “Oh my gosh. You guys are doing terrible things,” but exactly! That’s why I wrote the book. You need to be aware that everybody who steps to you isn’t genuine. You know?
Parlé Mag: I agree, one-hundred percent.
Mary B Morrison: So, I’m just all about elevating.
Parlé Mag: To date, which one of your books challenged you the most to write?
Mary B Morrison: That’s interesting, and I can answer that. I have twenty-six published books–well, twenty-seven that’s done, but the newest one won’t come out until next year. The one that was most challenging is “The Eternal Engagement,” and that’s a stand-alone book. I say that one was the most challenging because it has the least amount of sex in the book. I can write sex all day long. [laughs] But I also like to feel like if you took all of the sex out of any of my books, you’d still have a great storyline. I really wanted “The Eternal Engagement” to be more about the characters and less about the sex. It was also a challenge to actually write it, because when you’re not writing sex and that’s what you do, it can definitely be challenging. I call it my two-percent milk book. [laughs]
Parlé Mag: A lot of people don’t last past the second book, let alone over twenty. So, as a veteran author, how have you managed to maintain such longevity and keep your creative juices flowing as the industry continues to evolve?
Mary B Morrison: What you’re saying is exactly true. It’s hard to sustain in this industry, but for me, first and foremost, I love what I do! I’m passionate about writing; I absolutely love it. It’s still a challenge because, with the more books you write, you still have to top yourself. Make it better, write something different, don’t be afraid to step outside of your zone. What a lot of new writers don’t understand, especially when they are with a publishing company, you have to continue to promote yourself and elevate yourself. The publisher is only going to do so much. For example, they used to send us out on tours, and we would do seven-city tours. They don’t do that anymore. What they do now is social media advertisement. I understand because it’s a business, and more people are on social media.
A lot of people may come out to see you, but then you may go to a certain city where you don’t have that many people coming out to see you and the publisher has paid to fly you there, put you up in a hotel, feed you–all of these other things. So, it’s more social. I stay on social media. Sometimes I hire someone to maintain my page because if I don’t have time to do it every day, I still need to have someone doing that. I mean, that’s what the celebrities do; they’re not sitting in front of their page all day, posting. I post periodically, and then I pay someone else to post daily. Now, I’m even trying to elevate that and get some of the younger people to actually take over my page and do something.
Being with Worldstar Hit Radio has been a blessing. So, even with that, I believe in putting things out in the universe that you want for your life. At the beginning of the year, in January, I said, ‘God, I just want to be in front of people. I don’t always want to be in front of the computer… writing books. I know I can do that. I don’t want to stop writing books; I just want to be like Terry McMillan–when a book is done it’s done. I don’t want to be on the clock to have to turn in two books a year, or a book a year. You know? I still love what I do. I find myself gravitating more toward non-fiction now, so that’s why I wrote the “Dicks Are Dumb” and “Never Let a Man Come First” books and self-published both of those. I didn’t want to wait for the publisher to do it, or anybody else to pick it up. I wanted to say what I wanted to say in both of those books. They’re received very well by my female audience. I also want to pen another book that I’m hoping to get out by Women’s History Month next year. It’s called “Why Women Shouldn’t Get Married,” because I feel like society puts so much pressure on women getting married and nothing about a man. But the reality is, sometimes you’re nothing with him. [laughs]
Parlé Mag: Sadly, that’s the truth!
Mary B Morrison: That’s just reality! A lot of guys out there, they’re just intrigued by girls. They are taking their coins and everything, and I just can’t stand it! I’m like, ‘Okay, wait, we have to change this mindset, and I’m going to do my best to change that in this game because this is just too much!’
Parlé Mag: Would you say that you like writing non-fiction better than fiction?
Mary B Morrison: Hmm, not better than. I just think the non-fiction books are important. As I continue to grow with female empowerment, encouraging women to not stay in bad relationships, and to not feel like they have to even be in a relationship, then it becomes more important to me. But I wouldn’t say I love it more. I’m working on an online dating book right now. It’s crazy because a lot of people are into online dating now.
Parlé Mag: Oh yeah! That’s the new thing nowadays.
Mary B Morrison: Right!
Parlé Mag: Your newest release, Head Games, talk to us about that. Where did the concept come from?
Mary B Morrison: The concept for “Head Games” basically, in a nutshell, just comes from the guys who are always out there playing games. They’re always playing ‘head games’, mentally and sexually. They’re not serious about women. I have one character, his name is Trymm, who has actually been a relationship with his significant one since college, but now, he’s twenty-nine about to turn thirty and has no intentions of marrying her. He does not want to marry her… at all!
Parlé Mag: Wow.
Mary B Morrison: Some guys are like that. They never put a ring on it! Get the ring up front, ladies. Stop playing with these guys! If he can’t commit to a ring and he doesn’t think you’re worth it, then what are you doing in a relationship? 
Parlé Mag: Exactly. It’s like, what’s the purpose?
Mary B Morrison: Yeah, so there are just so many twists and turns in “Head Games.” We have character number two, Kohl, he owns a hooker bar and a strip club. For him, he just feels like it’s easier to have relationships with fat girls. They all have their own thing. The first one, he likes the married women because married women are easy and they have to go hard for their husbands. The second one loves the fat girls because he thinks, “Oh, they have low self-esteem.” I know, sometimes, women are going to feel a certain way about this, but I’m just speaking on reality. I talk to a lot of guys, and I know what they’re saying to me. The third guy, Dallas, he has PTSD and he likes them young; he likes the twenty and twenty-one-year-olds because they’re easy to manipulate, mentally, and take advantage of sexually. So, everybody has their angle.
Then the last one, Blitz, he feels like even though the CEO women are powerful and all of that good stuff, they just want to get laid because, most of the time, they’re so busy working that they don’t have time for a relationship. So, to him, it’s easier to have sex with them. All of these guys are looking at women from different perspectives, but I just want women to understand that sometimes they are coming at you from a different angle.
So, “Head Games” is a very complicated book that delves into a lot of subplots for each character. I wrote differently in a sense of, character number one, Trymm, you get all of his story up front. The first eighteen chapters are his. Then I go into Kohl, then Dallas, then Blitz. So, it’s almost like four short stories, but it’s not a novella because all of these characters are connected. At times, you see all of them together. It wasn’t easy to write, but it was very different.
Parlé Mag: Out of all of the characters in this book, which would you say was your favorite to write? Like, the one you enjoyed the most?
Mary B Morrison: Probably Trymm. I love them all because they’re all so different, but if I had to pick one, I would pick Trymm. He’s that guy who plays basketball overseas, and he’s hot. Well, they’re all hot and sexy, because I like good-looking guys with money, and they all have money. [laughs]
Parlé Mag: Don’t we all? [laughs]
Mary B Morrison: Right?! This guy, Trymm, is just so fly in that sense, but I don’t like the way he treats his girl, and I don’t like the way he treats his ex in the book. However, character-wise, just writing him was very interesting.
Parlé Mag: Speaking of concepts, what’s the process when it comes to actually grabbing inspiration for a storyline and putting it on paper?
Mary B Morrison: That part is very easy for me. I always talk with a title in mind. The book I’m working on now is “Be Careful What You Click For.” It is about the online dating thing and people clicking on all of these profiles. So, I come up with the title first, then I get over-the-top hyped and excited about it. I have to tone that down because I’m like, ‘Girl, you’re way ahead of yourself. You still have to do the “I Do Love You Still” book.’ A lot of times, before I’m done with the book, mentally, I’m on to another book, so I have to keep myself focused. But, like I said, I start with a title, and then I get super excited about it.
Parlé Mag: In your opinion, what are the biggest misconceptions about the urban lit genre? And why do you think so many people look down upon it?
Mary B Morrison: Well, I feel like the biggest misconception about the urban genre is that people who are writing in the lane can’t write. You know, like, “Oh, they’re not that smart,” “They’re always going to be ghetto,” or “They can’t write a book.”
Parlé Mag: Oh, I’ve heard that a lot, unfortunately, and it’s not even true.
Mary B Morrison: Right. I don’t consider myself urban lit at all. I just consider myself contemporary fiction. But sometimes people categorize me like that because they just think, “Oh, all Black authors are urban writers.” I don’t look at Zane as an urban writer, or Kimberla Lawson Roby, Eric Jerome Dickey—any of us in that regard. I’m not offended if someone puts me in that genre because I’m Black. I just feel like one of the misconceptions about Black writers is that people feel like they can’t write, and a lot of them can write. Now, some of them are throwing stuff out there, and they’re trying to see if it’s going to stick, but you have to get yourself a good editor to edit your books. Your editor is going to be your proofreader, but you also have to have a good person who’s laying out your books. That’s important. The cover is important.
So, there are certain things that are important that I don’t think people should skip over, but I love the urban genre. One thing that happened, especially when I first started writing, like back in 2000, people were excited because, finally, Black books! Something that I’m interested in reading! So, it doesn’t matter how great it is. People loved Iceberg Slim. [laughs] It just has to be relatable. Everybody doesn’t relate to the same thing.
Parlé Mag: What has been the most rewarding throughout your journey as a writer?
Mary B Morrison: The most rewarding for me is when somebody actually loves what I do. That just sends it home! It’s like, ‘Yes! This is something that people are appreciating.’ That just makes me feel great about what I do. I write to inspire people, to help people, to uplift people. That’s the same reason I’m on social media. I get kind of crazy on social; I use a lot of profanity, sometimes, when I’m talking and with the show, but that’s what really moves me and inspires me. For example, I was going through the airport one day, and I went through security. My son was still coming through security. The lady at TSA just screamed as loud as she could, like, “Ah! Oh my God!”
Parlé Mag: Aw!
Mary B Morrison: She ran off from her post, darted to her locker, got her book and brought it back. She said, “Can you please sign this book for me?” Those types of things make me feel great as an author, so now, when something similar happens, my son goes, “Okay, somebody realizes who she is…” [laughs] But it’s a good feeling! It really is. I don’t worry about naysayers and people who have negative things to say when I’m trying to empower females. For example, on my page, sometimes guys will go, “Oh, I know what your problem is, you need to get a man.” I usually respond and say, ‘You need to get a man too.’
Parlé Mag: [laughs]
Mary B Morrison: You don’t understand a man until you’ve been with a man. [laughs] Go get you one, then come back and talk to me! They’ll say, “I’m married. I ain’t got no man,” then I’ll hit them with the, ‘Well, I’ve been through your pain. I haven’t seen your wife, so the jury is still out on that one!” Listen, if you come for me, I’m going to come back. I don’t worry about them because they don’t pay me. You don’t put money in my pockets, so I’m going to piss you off, just for the hell of it. I may be petty, but I’m from New Orleans, so that explains it.
Parlé Mag: Hey, sometimes you have to take it there!
Mary B Morrison: Yes!
Parlé Mag: How would you describe your emotions the moment you realized that you were a New York Times Bestselling Author?
Mary B Morrison: On that day, I was in the store with my mentor in Maryland. We were shopping, and I got the phone call from my editor at the time. That was one of the few times where you could actually see my excitement. So, I was just screaming, and I was happy! Believe it or not–taking it back a little bit–I haven’t done this in a long time, but I would form my own calendar. You know, the ones you send out to Walgreens to get printed and all of that? On my calendar that I had printed, I had ‘New York Times Bestselling Author’ before I even became one. So, all of my goals, dreams, and visions, I would just put it on that calendar, month by month, not even knowing that it was going to happen or when.
Just like the beginning of the year, I said I wanted to be in front of people. I have an intuitive person; her name is Nikki Intuitive. Nikki reads and she says things, so, in January, when I said I wanted to do this, she said, “Oh, something big is going to happen in May or June. I can’t tell you which month. Just know that it’s going to be big.” That was actually the Worldstar opportunity, to have my own show. Now, she’s like, “Something bigger is going to happen for you in the next twelve months. I can’t tell you if it’s going to be September or August of next year, but 2019 is going to be crazy for you.” So, not that I rely on her to tell me those things, but I do believe in certain people having certain gifts. It’s solidifying, and then when it happens, you go, ‘Wow! She was right on point.’
Parlé Mag: It’s safe to say that you spoke it into existence!
Mary B Morrison: I believe in that! I believe that God and the universe give us what we want. We have to ask for it, and we have to work hard for it. I’ve been working hard! [laughs] Writing books ain’t as easy as people think it is. It’s a lot of work—for me anyway.
Parlé Mag: Well, it has definitely paid off for you.
Mary B Morrison: Thank you!
Parlé Mag: Any advice for aspiring authors? What should they know before coming into the industry that you wish someone would’ve told you?
Mary B Morrison: The ending part of that question is really interesting. I would say, maybe to be a little more patient. The industry has changed, and what I mean by that is, I still believe that I would be with Kensington, but I was so excited about my first offer that I really didn’t wait for other offers to come in. Other offers did come in, so I was like, ‘Ah! I could’ve signed with you, but I’ve already committed.’ That’s one thing that I wish maybe I would’ve waited to see what others were willing to offer in the industry. The other thing, for aspiring writers, just be yourself. You have to write because this is a story that you want to tell, and you literally cannot give a d*mn about what other people think about that aspect of what you want to create. People are always going to have their opinions and suggestions.
If I had listened to people around me saying, “There’s too much sex in that book. That’s your first book. What are people going to think about you?” then I wouldn’t have made it to where I am now. I just ask them, ‘What will people think about you?’ [laughs]
Parlé Mag: [laughs]
Mary B Morrison: This is not about you! This book is about what I want to do, and I wanted to be real with it because lots do sugarcoat sex in a book. When I would read certain books, I’d be like, ‘Where is the sex?’ It was fast, then it was the next day. Like, what the hell happened after she sat up? [laughs] So, I told myself that I would never sugarcoat anything, and I’m not going to play or dumb it down. Even with the “Head Games” book, yes, these guys are doing some really malicious stuff to women, but I’m not going to dumb that down either.
Parlé Mag: As you shouldn’t because it really happens!
Mary B Morrison: It does happen!
Parlé Mag: Switching gears for a minute, I wanted to touch on your nonprofit, ‘Healing Her Hurt’. How did that come about?
Mary B Morrison: One of the things that I realized in talking to women is that every woman isn’t physically abused. Sometimes it’s just an emotional abuse. I wanted to offer something for just if you’ve been in a bad relationship, or if you’re currently in one, and you don’t know how to get out. Not so much as the woman who needs a psychiatrist, per se, because everybody doesn’t need a psychiatrist and to sit on somebody’s couch and figure out their problems. Girl, you already know what the problem is. Let me see if I can help you. ‘Healing Her Hurt’ is my way of doing that.
I still need to do more fundraising for this particular non-profit that I started. It’s a little different in a sense that, we do not want contributions and donations from women. We want the men who have abused and mistreated these women. They know they have. All of these athletes out here, we need to get in your pockets because you need to help us help them not be so crazy. Guys always want to say, “As soon as I find a good woman…” I’m like, ‘Well, where in the hell are you supposed to find her if you’ve messed over all of the ones you’ve met?”
So, that’s where Healing Her Hurt comes in. Just give us your coins, and we’ll take care of it. Corporations and men, that’s who we would like to have our donations for our organization from. Everything that I do I want Healing Her Hurt and what we’re doing not to cause a woman anything! Sometimes the people who need the help the most don’t have the money to pay, so we just want you to walk through the door. We just want you to come on in, and whatever services we have, we want you to be able to receive those services and just register. They would have to register if we’re doing an event, in order to control our headcount. The first event I did was very successful, even though it wasn’t well-attended. I didn’t realize that it was the day before the weekend of Mother’s Day! I was like, ‘Oh, God! That wasn’t intentional. How did that happen?’ People were busy, and I understood that.
Anyway, the women who came in were awesome. I had volunteers, guys came in, and they volunteered their time. I have a friend who has an event company who came. The set room was so beautiful–how they set everything up. It didn’t charge us a dime. Men contributed funds for the event, so everything that was there, nobody had to pay for. None of the women had to pay.
Parlé Mag: That’s amazing.
Mary B Morrison: They were all able to come and just participate. I believe in writing [at my events], too. So, we start by talking, and then we write, get it out, and share it. There are so many different layers of it. Some women cry through it. It was just beautiful because it is a healing process. That is why I call it ‘Healing Her Hurt’. Also, some of the things we plan to do are self-defense classes, having classes at the gun range, because I am a proponent for women not being victims but being able to protect themselves.
Parlé Mag: How do you hope to continue using your platform to encourage others to speak up and speak out against an issue, such as abuse, that still remains a touchy topic, especially in the Black community.
Mary B Morrison: The platform that I have, when I speak to an audience, I am very well-received because I keep it one hundred. One of the things I want to do is to be able to get on the HBCU speaking circuit. I had the privilege of speaking to a group of young women and their moms who are affiliated with Jack and Jill [of America]. It was just so real. The mothers in the room were like, “Let me go get my daughter because she needs to hear this.” Girls do need to hear what I have to say, so I would like to continue to use my platform to speak more, do speaking engagements, especially on the Black college circuit. There’s so much energy there, so many things that girls are dealing with.
One of the young ladies explained to me that she had lost her virginity to her boyfriend. He was getting ready to go to college, but they met in high school. She was a senior in high school as well. So, she asked me what she should do, because her mother didn’t know that she had lost her virginity. My thing is this, if she could tell me that, and she couldn’t tell you that, that means that you don’t have an open enough relationship with this person. Now, in the midst of some of the conversation we had, someone overheard us and took it back, so it kind of got off-track. I still think that was a good thing, only because the conversation must be had. That’s what I always say.
I don’t even believe in baby dolls. You can buy every baby doll on the shelf, as far as I’m concerned, or leave them there and don’t buy them. The reason why I say that is because when parents start buying toddlers baby dolls, you teach her how to love something outside of herself instead of teaching her how to love herself. You know, there’s a different way to educate girls rather than putting a baby doll in their face. To raise a real baby costs upwards of a quarter of a million dollars, so if you have her thinking that it’s no big deal when seventy percent of African-American women are single parents, we can’t keep doing this. Obviously, that ain’t working.
So, you train her differently, you educate her differently growing up. I know we don’t have time to get into all of that, but that’s one of the ways I hope to use my platform, enlightening girls on a different level. Baby dolls come with kitchens, they come with cars, nurse outfits… that ain’t nothing but a caretaker for a man. When she can’t let go of that little boy, you’re wondering, “I don’t understand why she keeps messing with him!” Well, because you’ve already trained her that way.
Parlé Mag: What’s next for you and the Mary B. Morrison brand? Any plays or tours you’re working on for the near future?
Mary B Morrison: I would love to go back to theater. I did my play, Single Husbands, twice, which was well-received both times, by men and women, because I know how to do a production where the guys will come! They’ll come hesitantly, but before they leave, they’ll be like, “Oh my God! This is the best play I’ve ever gone to in my life!” I’m not even exaggerating because I know how to cater to both sides. So, yeah, I would love to do plays again. I had two meetings recently, with a movie producer and a movie director. It’s two separate situations. I’m all ears; I’m just going to listen. Both are interested in the same series, which is “Soulmates Dissipate.”
Parlé Mag: That’s wonderful!
Mary B Morrison: I’m excited about it, but you know, I like to listen to what people have to say because I’ve been there before. I had a seven-film deal with Leslie Small and Jeff Clanagan, which was right around the time when Kevin Hart got hot. So, I tell people, when Kevin Hart got hot, I got dropped. [laughs] That’s fine! People have to go with their money; that was a business decision, nothing personal. But I feel like my time is probably here. More things are beginning to happen! There’s one other thing that’s super exciting, but I can’t talk about it because it’s a non-disclosure agreement attached to it. We’ll just have to wait and see. When it happens, you’ll know.
I don’t like to get over-the-top excited and then things fall apart. Even with the last deal with Leslie Small and Jeff Clanagan, Leslie would look at me and say, “I’m going to get you a sign that says ‘I’m excited’ so you can hold it up. I keep telling you all of these great things, and you’re just not getting excited!” [laughs] But fast forward, everything fell apart, then they realized why I don’t get too excited. However, when it happens, like New York Times, “Oh, you made the list!” or “The film has been greenlit,” then that’s when I’m like, ‘YES!’
But I have some good stuff happening. I’m still very grateful, even for the interview that you’ve extended to me. I appreciate it! I don’t take anything for granted because things can change so quickly in this industry. I try to stay the same person. Not the same as in not growing, but the same as in… if you know me, then you know this is how I’ve always been.
Parlé Mag: That’s the best way to be!
Mary B Morrison: Always!
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