This holiday will be a decidedly different one for DC Young Fly and his family, but he’s keeping things positive.
The Wild ‘N Out star chatted with ET’s Kevin Frazier at the Los Angeles premiere of Candy Cane Lane, where he opened up about his holiday plans with his kids following the death of his partner, Ms Jacky Oh!.
“Everybody’s good, man, we staying grounded, keeping God first, you know what I’m saying? Staying positive, that’s really the only way,” DC shares of his family’s mental state months after Jacky Oh’s death.
“Family is everything. During this time, we still holding on and just letting people know, like, ‘Look, we can be happy even through pain and through agony.’ We can always find peace because that’s what it says in the Bible,” he adds. “At the end of the day, we’re gonna be obedient. As long as we are obedient, we gonna be alright.”
Jacky Oh died on May 31 from complications from cosmetic surgery. She was 33.
DC and Jacky Oh met in 2015, the same year that DC Young Fly made his first appearance on Wild ‘N Out, on which Jacky Oh was already starring. The pair shared three children, Nova, Nala and Prince’Nehemiah.
The comedian reveals that he and his family plan to approach the holiday season a bit differently than the norm. Rather than anticipating their own gifts, DC uses the giving season to teach his children to focus on facilitating other people’s happiness.
“I try to teach my kids how to give back. I try to not buy them anything, I buy them nothing for Christmas,” he tells ET. “We only watch people be happy. It’s this time of the year we want to be happy for others, so I try to instill in them to show them, ‘Look, at a time where everybody else is wanting something, you gone be trying to reach out here to be happy for others.'”
He notes that his family is “blessed” in that they can “get throughout the year,” so he wants his children to focus on being happy for others “who are just receiving something.”
“Because a lot of times, people don’t be happy for others when they get blessed. And I want my children to be happy when other people are happy,” he declares.
It’s a generous mindset that DC attributes to every part of his life, including his career. The actor gushes about his Candy Cane Lane co-stars, including star Eddie Murphy, whom he says he feels blessed to work beside.
“Man, Eddie is one of those ones that you got to come to work, and you got to come like prepared to learn because you never know when he’s gonna drop a gem,” DC tells ET. “You never know when he’s gonna do something that you can take with you in your endeavors, you know what I mean? And this is like, this is somebody we’ve watched for years and years. It’s like, you know what, god done aligned our steps, now I’m apart of his legacy. So it’s like, what can I take from this? Take it seriously and look how long you can be in the game.”
DC adds that he tries to take tips from everybody he works with because “there’s room for improvement. This is an art. Entertainment is an art.”
“I’m an artist. Not only that, I entertain the people. I have to entertain. So if God opened up a new door and said, ‘Look, I want you to entertain the people doing this. Now go figure it out.’ That’s what Ima do,” he says.
And the entertainer has nothing but gratitude for anyone who has helped him on his journey. “It’s a blessing. I take every step of my career, and I take it seriously, and I try to understand the purpose and the reason why I’m there,” DC tells ET. “I come from theatre so I have a theater background where it’s like, every time we’re on stage, we always want to capitalize every moment. So I feel like whenever I’m doing something or I’m apart of something, I just want to capitalize every moment.”
Candy Cane Lane hits Prime Video on Dec. 1.
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