AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Each week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Tracee Ellis Ross is known for starring in the hit show "Black-ish." She's also the host of "Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross." She says that show, which returns for its second season next week, asks an important question.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS: Can you be yourself by yourself out in the world? So that's really the premise of the show. And then underneath that is, can you - are you willing to let your life be your own? Are you willing to be responsible for your own happiness?
CHANG: Tracee Ellis Ross spoke with Wild Card host Rachel Martin at a live taping in Pasadena with LAist. At the very end of every Wild Card conversation, Rachel asks the guest about a moment in their life that they would want to go back to that they would not change anything about. Here's what Ross had to say.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
ROSS: One of the great loves of my life was my dog Ladybug. Ladybug and I were two sassys [expletive] who lived together.
(LAUGHTER)
ROSS: She changed my life. She taught me how to love in a different way. God, I loved that girl. She had a big tush like me. She had very clear boundaries. I always used to say, you're here for me, and she would be like, no, I'm not.
(LAUGHTER)
ROSS: What are you talking about?
RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: Living my own life.
ROSS: Yeah, she was like, what? And I always thought to myself, if I ever had kids, I was like, wow, I really would - I would build a person with an identity.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
ROSS: 'Cause Ladybug really had an identity. And half the time when I was being whatever, she would just kind of go, yeah. But I would - oh. I would go back to that moment when she gave me the honor of walking her through her death. It was the honor of my life. And she was right here. And we waited, we waited. I kept asking her, you got to tell me when you're ready. And she did. And I would hold in that moment for as long as I could. She was safe. I was safe. And I really loved that being. And they say that pets leave us when someone needs them more. And it was comforting to me to know that because I thought I wasn't ready for her to go, you know? But I was like, her life is not - was not mine. It was hers. And she changed my life.
CHANG: You can watch the full conversation with Tracee Ellis Ross on YouTube by searching for NPR Wild Card. Her TV show "Solo Traveling" returns for a new season next week. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
