Raven-Symoné is getting candid about her time on Disney Channel. More specifically, she’s opening up about the alleged favoritism the network enacted when it came to her fan-favorite show “That’s So Raven” and its competitor “Hannah Montana.”
For context, Raven’s show first came on the air back in 2003 and quickly became a hit. The show was categorized as the highest rated original program in Disney Channel’s history at time and went on to be the first time an original Disney Channel series would exceed three seasons and reach 100 episodes—the number needed for the coveted syndication status.
Miley’s “Hannah Montana” would later join the Disney fold in 2006, just one year before “TSR” went off the air. It, too, was a hit and built upon the massive success the network had with Raven’s show.
However, in looking back in the difference of treatment betwene how Disney propped up and positioned her show versus Miley’s, Raven said they dropped the ball when it came to building up her brand.
“I was famous at 3 years old, and I had been on multiple television shows before I got on ‘That’s So Raven.’ Disney knew it but also didn’t play that up to build the brand of ‘That’s So Raven,’” she said in a recent interview with Jason Lee. “So when other ladies came to the network to then use that platform and push it forward, I was already sitting in my ego.”
She went on to say that while she was already older than Miley by the time she made her Disney Channel debut and was worried about other things (like her costar Orlando Brown, more on that later)—she chalked up “Hannah Montana’s” meteoric rise to Miley being “skinny” and “white” and her reaping the rewards of the foundation that her show built.
“I was 18 on the set, dealing with Orlando [Brown, her costar]. So I had a lot more things to worry about than Miley Cyrus. Was there, in my brain, a ‘WTF’ on what, why, and how this is going faster than what I went through? Obviously,” Raven explained. “But then at that time, you chalk it up to skinny, white, and the foundation was already built.”
Later on in that same interview, Raven took the time to address Orlando and his antics but chose to keep it cute and ultimately took the high rode. Explaining how she wanted to be careful with what she said, Raven praised him for being a “comedic genius” but ultimately shared that whatever off the wall things he’s said—it doesn’t phase her.
“I know his family, I know him. I knew him before drugs, after drugs. During God, not during God. And he was a comedic genius and he’s still making people laugh—at other’s expenses,” she said.
She concluded in part: “Im secure enough in my bank account and in my life that I don’t have to dig that deep down to take it. And I also don’t have to defend myself about anything because that’s his experience.”