Jasmine Guy and her daughter, Imani Guy Duckette, just released the first episode of A Different Girl: The Making of the Memoir, a three-part video series building up to her upcoming book.
In Episode 1, directed by @directedbymorgan, mother and daughter talk about the first time Guy saw Alvin Ailey’s Revelations and what she called “the presence of greatness.” That moment set her on the path to becoming a dancer herself. Each episode will share intimate stories tied to different chapters of the book, and Episode 2 drops November 17.
The book itself goes far beyond dance. A Different Girl is co-written with Imani and arrives February 9, 2027, from Atria and Black Privilege Publishing, Charlamagne Tha God’s imprint. It traces Jasmine Guy’s life from her childhood in Atlanta, where she grew up mixed near Morehouse and Spelman as the daughter of a philosophy professor, to joining Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at 17, landing a role in Spike Lee’s School Daze, and becoming a star as Whitley Gilbert.
It also gets personal. According to the book’s description, Guy writes about her struggles with depression, her self-image and the racism she faced in the industry, along with her relationships with Whitney Houston, Debbie Allen and Tupac Shakur.
Her bond with Tupac runs deep. The two met through Jada Pinkett when he guest starred on A Different World, and the friendship outlasted the show. After Tupac was shot in New York in 1994, he recovered at Guy’s home. She later wrote Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary, a biography of his mother.
Charlamagne explained why he wanted to publish the book, saying fans have known Jasmine Guy as the woman who gave the world Whitley Gilbert. “But you can know somebody’s work and still not know the woman behind it,” he said.
The timing lines up. Guy is back as Whitley in Netflix’s A Different World sequel series, which premiered September 24, putting her in front of a whole new generation just as she gets ready to tell her own story.
