Marlon Wayans loves to give.
The star and co-creator of NBC’s Marlon stopped by ESSENCE’s Yes, Girl! podcast, where he opened up about everything from fatherhood to the lessons he learned as a kid working his first job in a pizza shop.
For Wayans, it was his father who taught him the importance of taking care of his family, instilling in him that helping others should always be a priority.
“I had a job at nine years old at a pizza shop. The man was taking advantage of me because he was paying me $20 every two weeks, but all the free pizza and Icee’s I could have,” Wayans recalled. “My daddy made me quit because he felt like the dude was taking advantage of me. I cried because it felt so good to work and I felt really good that when I got my $10, I would come home and I would give my momma $3. My father taught me that. You give your momma some money. Why? Because I want you to know that you’re a man and you start paying your way and you always take care of your momma. So, I always gave my mom $3. Now, as a man, I take care of my mom.”
Wayans always finds a way to give something to the people in his life and that extends to the cast members on the set of Marlon. Back in 2017, actress and Marlon co-star Essence Atkins called the actor “an incredible guy.”
“I love him, I trust him. He has an incredible work ethic, he’s an incredible guy. He’s so kind and fun and interesting,” she told ESSENCE.
It’s just the type of person Wayans is and the way he’s always been. “When Keenan used to come home from California, I remember me and Shawn used to want to sit next to him. Shawn would sit right next to Keenan, up under his arm. He would give me money for breakfast, I would go to the store and I’d buy french toast, and eggs and all that stuff. I’d be in the kitchen cooking breakfast for my entire family, because that was my way of saying, ‘Thank you, Keenan.'”
“When you live life like that, life has a funny way of just kinda like taking care of you. The only thing you should want out of life is to give. And when you give, you feel good. It makes my heart feel good to give.”
For more Marlon Wayans, listen to the full episode above!