After a heady rise and humiliating fall, AMC's Tonya Pinkins is relishing her second shot at success By Gabrielle Winkel
Soap Opera Weekly - August 10, 2004

It's summer 2004 and the living seems easy for All My Children' Tonya Pinkins (Livia). She's everywhere, or about to be. TV. Broadway. The big screen. The record store. 0, The Oprah Magazine included her in their first-annual Chutzpah Awards.

A year ago, things were very different for the Tony-award winning actress. In addition to being, oh, unemployed, Pinkins was named a deadbeat mom by the New York Post, with her photo on the cover, no less. (A little backstory here: The report said Pinkins owed $104,680 in child support, and explained that to appear on the list, one's ex-spouse need only give approval. At the time, Pinkins insisted to SOAP OPERA WEEKLY that "I send money every month, not to mention giving my children things and flying them to visit me.") Things worsened when the fathers of her two younger children left her, and them, without a penny.

Pinkins ended up on welfare and was on the brink of homelessness.
These are just. some of the footnotes in the darkest chapter of Pinkins' life, which begun with the stormy relationship with her ex-husband, Ron Brawer (former musical director of Another World), and ended with the custody battle for then-two teenage sons, Myles and Maxx. She lost - but continues to fight for mothers' rights everywhere.

There is a happy ending to this story, however. George C. Wolfe, producer of The Public Theater in New York, had directed Pinkins' Tony-winning performance in Jelly's Last Jam and he was working on a new musical - Caroline, or Change - with playwright Tony Kushner (he wrote the book and lyrics). Wolfe knew Pinkins would be perfect for the role. She was. Pinkins was singing on the; stage again. And, more significantly, it's the first time she's ever taken the lead - in this case, the title role, too - of a production. "Before, in my life, I was very happy doing supporting roles," reflects Pinkins, while walking between gigs and making phone calls, including this one. "I had grown a lot to say I'm ready to take on a character who's onstage three-quarters of the night," confesses Pinkins, who adds that playing AMC's level-headed legal eagle Livia is the perfect juxtaposition to the role of Caroline: "To be able to go through what Caroline goes through every night I have to empty myself of my stuff, and that's not always easy to do. Maybe if I was doing a comedy at night, I might want to have a really intense story on AMC."

Initially, Pinkins was brought back for only a few episodes, but she recently signed a contract with the soap. With two steady paychecks in hand, Pinkins can easily afford to turn her attentions to her two younger children (ages 7 and 5; she chooses not to ID them), for whom she has just set up house, where the family enjoys gardening and barbecuing.

As for her older children, the sting of losing custody leaves Pinkins anxious to help other mothers in her position. "The most important thing I would want to say to them is that it is a myth that only bad mothers lose custody," she says. "That myth has killed so many women. They become so traumatized, so stigmatized. If they knew this possibility exists they would go in and be prepared a little differently. And then there is a cultural thing going on, where the single fathers are glorified just for being a single father. That they are superb for doing what a woman is supposed to do - they are doing something extraordinary -- when it really is an equal responsibility. But they get praised for doing their share."

Though Pinkins' relationship with Brawer will always be strained - "That will be probably something that will go on as long as I live," she sighs - she appreciates how far she has come." I have a great relationship with my kids and my life is really good," she smiles. I'm blessed in that way."