70's icon Pam Grier talks about being successful despite her ethnicity, dating and lesbian rumors

Hollywood film and music industry has changed a great deal today. In the present context, there are actors and musicians who come from different walk of life. They belong to different races, gender, ethnicities, religions, status and nationalities. Black people, who were treated like vermin before 1970s, are the now well represented in Hollywood. The discrimination has gone down significantly. Everybody is equal and show biz today is considered home for the talented, no matter what race or class they are from.

But it was not that easy for black people back in the 70’s. They were exploited and dominated by the white and so-called superior class. But there was one such person who broke the barrier and brought change. She is none other than Pam Grier. Grier is the actress who brought the Blaxploitation (black+exploitation) cinema to the mainstream audiences. She came to the limelight after appearing in movies like “Foxy Brown” and Quentin Tarantino’s classic “Jackie Brown”. Pam shot to fame as the first action heroine of Hollywood and as the star of Blaxploitation films long before any other black artist.

The actress spoke to Fox 4 News about breaking into films and achieving success as an actress.

The actress, who is most popularly known as “Foxy Brown”, broke boundaries at the height of Blaxploitation era and gave the taste of her movie not just to the urban black audience but also to the whole country. She not just won the hearts of millions through her acting, but also appeared on covers of fashion magazines.

When the host told her that she did something different than most of the people at that time and that she turned from pioneer to an icon then she laughed heartily and simply answered, ‘I have no idea.’

But she did admit that she was a child who was born after the Women’s Movement and she realized that her grandmother and mother were marginalized and she said, “There was the opportunity to bring the balance. And I just did what I needed to do.”

The host moved forward with a question, “You were touching the power to tackle racism, sexism during the time of major changes, not just in the film industry__”

But before he could complete his question, Pam replied, “I don’t believe in racism or sexism but I believe in balance.”

She said she believed just in the moment of now and her purpose. The Jackie Brown fame proudly revealed how she garnered success in spite of her ethnicity. Grier is not only black from her father’s side, but her mother is Cheyenne Indian. She has previously stated that she has Filipino, Cheyenne Native American, Hispanic, Chinese, and Puerto Rican ancestry.

Many of you may not know but Pam was raped at a tender age of six by two boys in her aunt’s house. She recalled the painful event and said, "It took so long to deal with the pain of that.

 "You try to deal with it, but you never really get over it. And not just me; my family endured so much guilt and anger that something like that happened to me."

She is a brave woman in a true sense because despite everything she gained a level of success that she deserves and she is still the coolest and the most talented actress of all time.

The actress has not married anyone but she was engaged to music executive Kevin Evans in 1998 but Pam split with her then soon-to-be-husband in 1999. Later she dated marketing executive Peter Hempel from 2000 to 2008. The Golden Globe nominated actress of American nationality was rumored to be lesbian but she has neither accepted nor denied the allegations. If she was indeed gay than she wouldn’t have dated men, would she?

The actress has no children and she is currently single and lives with the estimated net worth of $10 million. She is pretty active on Twitter.