While filming a new ‘Cheetah Girls’ movie, Raven-Symoné says South Africa’s warm embrace transformed her connection to the continent.
ByBernadette Giacomazzo
September 9, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Raven-Symoné said she may move to South Africa after feeling so welcomed during her second visit that she “forgot” she was from America.
- She said the experience deepened her connection to Africa and challenged American portrayals of the continent, revisiting her controversial past comments about rejecting the “African American” label.
- Raven has spent several weeks there filming a fourth Cheetah Girls movie with Adrienne Bailon-Houghton and Sabrina Bryan, set to premiere on Disney+ in 2027.
Raven-Symoné arrived in South Africa to revive The Cheetah Girls and left herself open to an even bigger change.
During a September 5 interview with Good Hope FM’s Original Sundaze with Irma G, the actor said her second trip to the country has felt so natural that she is considering moving there. “I came here, and I forgot I was from America,” she said.
That feeling was about more than scenery. Raven said South Africans welcomed her in a way that reshaped her connection to the continent—an especially loaded admission after years of controversy surrounding her comments about Black identity.
“I’ve had some controversy in the industry where I said something like I’m not African, I’m an American,” she acknowledged. “But the community and the people have embraced me like my ancestors never left.”
Raven added, “It makes me want to live here. It makes me want to move here.”
That earlier controversy began with Raven’s 2014 Oprah Winfrey interview, when she declared that she was “not an African American” and described herself as “an American” and “a colorless person.” She later clarified that she was rejecting the label “African American,” not denying that she is Black.
More than a decade later, Raven told Irma G that experiencing South Africa firsthand exposed the gap between what Americans are shown and what she found after arriving. “In America, propaganda’s a mess,” she said. “When I get back, there is an ally in me.”
Local music, she said, made her feel “more connected to South Africa” and “swaggy,” while the atmosphere offered a break from the performance she associates with Hollywood. “When I go back to LA, there’s this energy of like, ‘Look at me, look at me,’” she said. “I don’t feel that here.”
Raven has spent several weeks in South Africa filming the fourth Cheetah Girls movie, set to premiere on Disney+ in 2027. She returns as Galleria—now a mother—and serves as an executive producer, while Adrienne Bailon-Houghton reprises her role as Chanel and co-produces.
Sabrina Bryan will appear as Dorinda, and Lynn Whitfield and Lori Alter are also back.
The film follows another group of teenage girls who travel to Africa to volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary before finding their way to the stage.
The return comes as Raven’s views on Blackness are receiving renewed scrutiny. A resurfaced podcast clip showed her asking Kalen Allen, “Was she Black?” after he called Raven Baxter “Black as fuck.” She then asked him to imagine the That’s So Raven family with green skin and determine their race from the dialogue alone.
Allen later insisted, “Raven Baxter was Black AF,” while admitting he should have challenged her more directly.
Former Miss Teen USA runner-up Gloria Almonte has since alleged that Raven referred to 2001 winner Marissa Whitley as “the Black girl” after the pageant.That claim has not been independently verified.
