He doesn’t want to take it off! Morris Chestnut stopped by HuffPost Live on Tuesday, March 1, to explain why he requested fewer shirtless scenes on Fox’s Rosewood.
“This character is fun, he’s witty, he’s vulnerable, he’s confident,” said Chestnut, 47, who plays hunky Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. “What happens is, it takes a lot of energy and work — I have to work out. We’re doing a minimum of 12 hours a day, and then I have to work out on top of that.”
Time at the gym wasn’t the only reason why the TV star didn’t want more shirtless scenes. “I wanted the viewers to become really invested in the characters and in the show, and I didn’t want ‘that’ to be the show,” the California native explained. “It’s like the icing on the cake. Once you’re really involved in the story line and you’re really involved in the characters, seeing my costar Jaina Lee Ortiz naked is icing on the cake!”
Although there are some intimate scenes between the actor and several of his costars, this doesn’t affect his 20-year marriage. “Everyone’s different at 28 than they were at 22 … so you could either grow apart or you can grow together, and we’ve been fortunate enough to grow together,” Chestnut said of his marriage to his wife, Pam.
“I’m in Hollywood, but Hollywood is not my life,” the G.I. Jane actor said, explaining that separating work and home is key to a long-lasting marriage.
Hollywood may not be his life, but it has definitely affected it. One of the Chestnut’s most iconic roles was Ricky Baker in the 1991 crime drama Boyz N the Hood, in which he played a high school running back trying to escape the dangerous environment at home in South Central L.A. The two-time-Oscar-nominated film was the actor’s first job, and he still likes to reflect on the amazing experience he had with his costars Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ice Cube.
“Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t yell out ‘Ricky!’ when I’m walking down the street. Not a day goes by,” Chestnut said with a smile. “People still tell me that they still feel for that movie. It still resonates.”
Rosewood airs on Fox Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST.
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