Condola Rashad was pleasantly surprised when she learned her Insecure namesake was actually named after her.
In season three of HBO’s hit series Insecure, we were introduced to marketing maven Condola, who quickly became Lawrence’s new love interest. And this season we’ve seen the two grow even closer, much to fans’ dismay.
“I had known that this character existed and I think sometimes it truly takes me a while to put things together,” Condola said Monday during a Facebook Live with ESSENCE and her mother, Phylicia Rashad.
“I just thought, Oh well, they really must love the name, so cool,” she added. “I just thought they liked the name…I didn’t think there was actually any kind of actual personal connection.”
Condola, who just released two singles from her debut EP, Space Daughter, said that when she saw Insecure creator Issa Rae on social media explaining that the name was actually inspired by showrunner Prentice Penny’s love for Phylicia’s portrayal of Claire Huxtable from The Cosby Show, she was super excited.
“I was really moved by that. I thought that was so cool. I kind of had a fangirl geek-out moment,” Condola said Monday.
Rae detailed on Instagram earlier this month that “Prentice was sharing a story about how when he was younger and he was kind of dating with intention, it was all about how to find his Claire Huxtable, because, you know, he’s old as f–k. So it was just like, ‘Oh, I’m trying to find my Claire Huxtable; that’s what I’m looking for in a woman.’ ”
“And so we started thinking about Lawrence as he starts to date with intention…and who would he be looking for?” Rae continued. “So I think the natural thought process was, ‘Phylicia Rashad, someone his age…he’d would be looking for his ‘Condola Rashad.’ ”
Condola then explained just exactly where her name came from.
“It’s my paternal grandmother’s name,” the Billions star said, noting that she only embraced her name in college, going by her middle name, Phylea, since she was a little girl. “As a professional artist, I knew that [my middle name] was going to be very close to Phylicia; it was gon’ be a little too confusing. So I said now is the perfect time.”