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- Hey guys, it's Angela from The Root

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and we have with us today Tracy McMillan.

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She is a relationship author,
television writer and host

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and the creator of the new
series "Unprisoned" on Hulu

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starring Kerry Washington
and Delroy Lindo.

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Welcome Tracy.

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How are you?
- Thank you.

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I'm well, thanks.

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How are you?

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- Great, so I wanna get into the show,

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it centers around Paige.

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She's a therapist and a mom

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and she's kind of navigating
a relationship with her father

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who's been recently released from prison.

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Now, I understand that this
is loosely based on your life.

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- [Tracy] Yes, indeed.

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- [Angela] So tell me a little
bit about why you thought

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that this would be a
great idea for a show.

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- Basically I needed therapy.

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I needed to work it out for myself

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and as a writer, what you
do is you write a show

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with a character who isn't you

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but is having the same
circumstance you're in,

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the same feelings you're having,

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but there's something about
being able to step back from it

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that allows you to
really explore something

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and the thing is, is
I'm not the only person

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with a formerly incarcerated parent.

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There are 80 million
people in this country

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with criminal records of some kind

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so there's millions and millions of people

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who are dealing with
what I was dealing with

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and this shows for them.

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- So I have to imagine that
there were some painful aspects

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to having a father who was
not with you all the time

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but this show is pretty funny.

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How are you able to find
humor in all the pain?

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- Well, I feel like I needed

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to find the humor in all the pain.

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To me, humor and human,

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when you start going to what's
the essence of being alive,

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what's the essence of art of the dilemma

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of being a human being, it's
like that's when you start

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finding what's truly funny and so my dad

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was in and out of prison

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my whole life from the age of three.

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His final sentence was 19 years

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and as the time started to come closer

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and in that time, of course,

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all kinds of life happened
for me, I had a baby,

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I moved, I had a career, things
were happening in my life

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that he wasn't there for
and as the time came closer

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toward his release, I was like,

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"What's this gonna be like?

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"How am I gonna have a
relationship with him

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"after all these years on the inside,

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"how am I gonna have a relationship
with him on the outside

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"and what's it gonna be like
to introduce him to my child?"

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So these were the things that I was like

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obviously worried about
and the show really kind of

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goes into how do you put
a family back together

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after mass incarceration?