Adrienne Bailon-Houghton Dishes on the Cheetah Girls, Hispanic Heritage Month and Finding Joy in Faith and Family (EXCLUSIVE)
'Latinos have always gotten through the mundane in the most fiesta-like fashion, and I love that about us as a people'
As a singer, actress and TV personality, Adrienne Bailon-Houghton has always had a full plate. For her latest project, the former girl group member and talk show host, who is of Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian descent, just teamed up with Colgate-Palmolive and Walmart for a Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15) partnership that’s all about taking the time to enjoy cleaning and celebrate family traditions. “I’ve always felt like being authentic and being proud of my Latin heritage has helped me in my career,” she says. “It’s the thing that has made me stand out and connected me to an audience.”
“The fact that I got to do this campaign with my family means so much,” says Bailon-Houghton. “Anytime I smell lavender Fabuloso, it takes me right back to Saturday cleaning with my mom and grandma. I can hear the Marc Anthony music playing in my head as soon as I smell it!” she laughs. Bailon-Houghton sat down with Woman’s World to discuss the power of her Hispanic heritage, overcoming challenges in the entertainment industry, her Disney-star days as a member of the Cheetah Girls and more.
Paying tribute to her heritage by finding joy in the everyday
“Latinos really believe in making life a party,” says Bailon-Houghton, who is raising her 3-year-old son, Ever James, to see chores not as a burden, but as an opportunity to dance and have fun. “There are all of these things on Instagram now that are like, ‘Romanticize your life,’ and I’m like, Latinos have been romanticizing their lives! We’ve always gotten through the mundane in the most fiesta-like fashion, and I love that about us as a people,” she says with a smile.
From TV subtitles to teleprompters
Bailon-Houghton has been in the public eye for over 25 years, but her road to fame wasn’t easy. “Growing up, we didn’t have much. I was raised in the projects in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and I loved acting, singing and dancing but never had the opportunity to get proper training for that, because we couldn’t afford it. I never took any lessons,” she says.
“My dad used to watch TV with Spanish captions,” she continues. “I was a huge soap opera fan, and I figured out that when I watched those shows, I could put the caption on the screen and mute the TV and read it like a teleprompter. I had never seen a script before in my life. I would make friends come over and have them take on different roles. I had a friend that turned out to be a frenemy, and she went back to school and was like, ‘Don’t go to Adrienne’s house. She’s a weirdo. She’s gonna make you read the TV.’”
“I felt so bad about that at the time, but then when I became a daytime talk show host, I read a teleprompter for a living, and one of the producers told me I was one of the best teleprompter readers they’d ever worked with,” she says. “I realized I’d been doing that my whole life, and I didn’t even know it. The things in your life that seem like downfalls can become strengths.” Bailon-Houghton was the Emmy-winning cohost of The Real from 2013 to 2022, and she made history as the first Latina host of a daytime talk show, so her early days of reading subtitled soaps served her better than she ever could’ve imagined.
Keeping it in the family
Bailon-Houghton relies on faith and family to stay grounded. Since 2016, she’s been married to Christian musician Israel Houghton, and the couple recently collaborated on his live album Coritos Vol. 1. The second volume will be out on September 18, and Bailon-Houghton says, “I love that these albums are filled with the songs that my grandma taught me and that I grew up singing in church. My sister and dad also both got to sing with us on the albums. These songs take me back to how my grandma always taught me the importance of having a connection with God, and I love that now I get to give that to my son.”
“I think what’s given me a genuinely happy and fulfilling life has been recognizing who and what really matters,” she adds. “My mom always used to tell me, ‘Don’t take things personally from people that don’t know you personally,’ and in the world of everybody having an opinion online, it’s so important to anchor yourself in God and the people that know you and love you. That’s the foundation of who you truly are,” she says, noting that she makes sure to bring her family along on work trips whenever possible and is best friends with her manager.
Girl group goodness
Bailon-Houghton, now 41, started her career as a member of the late-’90s girl group 3LW as a teen and then became part of the Disney girl group the Cheetah Girls in the aughts. She looks back on her millennial girl-group era fondly. “What mattered most to me about those groups was the girl-power messaging behind them,” she says. “I joke that I am the perpetual girl group member, and I even feel like going on to do The Real and working with all women cohosts was an extension of that.”
“My superpower has always been that I’m a girl’s girl and that I love working with women,” she says emphatically. “People think it can be hard, but I’ve never felt that way. My mom always instilled in me that my sister was my best friend and we always cheered each other on. When I hear about sibling rivalries, I feel like I have no concept of what that is, because the way I see it, when my sister wins, I win. I think that having that mindset for women more generally is so important.”
“The fact that I was able to represent young Latinas in the Cheetah Girls means the world to me,” she says. “It’s really fulfilling when somebody comes up to me and says that I was part of their childhood. That’s the greatest compliment,” and it’s clear that as an adult, Latina representation remains as important to Bailon-Houghton as ever.
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