‘The Real’ Hosts Broke the Mold for Daytime Talk Shows. 10 Years Later, They Reflect on Their Legacy. (Exclusive)

From the very first episode, viewers knew the ladies of The Real were going to keep it, well, real. 

"There really isn't enough Asians on TV," Jeannie Mai Jenkins said when the show premiered for full syndication. "I never saw anybody looking like myself other than Wendy Tokuda on Channel 4 News. That was all I had."

But when Warner Bros. Unscripted Television and Telepictures Production began the talk show with a seven-city trial run on July 15, 2013, they hoped a diverse group of faces including Jenkins, Tamar Braxton, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Loni Love and Adrienne Houghton would create something special.

Over the course of eight seasons and 1,360 episodes, the cast and crew did just that. Now, 10 years after the very first episode aired, much of the cast is looking back on a show that made a lasting impact on daytime TV. 

"I believe that The Real helped to normalize diversity because now you have wonderful shows with Sherri Shepherd and you have Jennifer Hudson so you have diversity," Love exclusively told The Messenger at the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation's 2023 Blue Diamond Gala. "We have The View that's on the air. We have The Talk that diversified with gender as well as demographic, so I think that The Real kind of helped to normalize that, and that's why I'm proud."

For Jenkins, the show allowed her to be vulnerable and grow as an individual as she discussed personal topics like marriage, motherhood, race and women's issues. 

"The Real is one of the most revealing parts of my life because I was writing my journal to myself on live TV," Jenkins exclusively told The Messenger. "I was telling my story of married at a young age, divorced at a young age, not wanting to have children, what that process is like to rediscover myself and remove shame and all the trauma of things that happened in my childhood coming up."

While Jenkins is now married to rapper Jeezy with a daughter named Monaco, the chief brand officer of Owl's Brew doesn't regret sharing so much of her life on the small screen.

"These were things that, while many people can process on their own or with close friends or in counseling, I was doing live on TV," she continued. "And there's something great to that." 

While Garcelle Beauvais joined the show in Season 7 after Mowry-Housley and Amanda Seales' exit, she has fond memories of working with the ladies.

"I love being part of the cast," she exclusively told The Messenger. "Although my first season was from home because of the pandemic, the talk platform is my favorite."

While the co-hosts continue pursuing different ventures, their friendship and bond remain the same off-camera. 

"The girls will always be a part of my family," Mowry-Housley told Entertainment Tonight in October 2020. "I may not be physically in front of the camera, [but] we will be a family forever."

After all, you can't erase years of "Girls Chat" and accomplishments like winning a Daytime Emmy. 

"We have made our mark," Houghton shared on the show's final episode in June 2022. "I was talking to my mom earlier this morning. She knows this is the farewell show, and she was just telling me, 'You guys really did break the mold of daytime television,' and it's so crazy when you think of it that way. There was never a show that looked like us."