Mathis Family Talks

How much of your dream is your family being asked to carry? Javicia Leslie says her mother took two more tours in Iraq and Afghanistan to help support her and her brother while she pursued acting in Los Angeles.

The Batwoman, High Potential, and The Family Business actress sits down with longtime friends Judge Greg Mathis, Linda Mathis, Camara Mathis, and Amir Mathis to talk about the people and jobs behind her career. She shares a casting confrontation that made her question her own booking, the backlash that followed Batwoman, and why success didn’t make her ready for marriage.

Linda draws a distinction between supporting adult children and supporting them financially. Judge revisits the risk his family took when he moved into television. Between the career stories and wedding jokes, the family gets into paying for a dream, maintaining an ambitious marriage, and learning not to give so much that nothing is left for yourself.

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Does being a bridesmaid mean agreeing to a $1,000 dress and a destination bachelorette weekend? Celebrity wedding planner Diann Valentine joins Linda Mathis, Greg Jr., Camara and Amir for a conversation about wedding expectations, friendship and who should pay.

The family doesn’t land on the same answer. Diann draws a distinction between traveling to celebrate a friend and paying the extra costs of being in the wedding party. They also debate how much control parents should have when they’re funding the celebration.

Linda and Camara revisit the heat, the cake and the budget behind Camara’s wedding. Diann shares stories from To Rome for Love, explains what it felt like to start again in the beauty business around 50, and reflects on the costs her daughter experienced while she built her career as a single mother. She also explains why she’s rethinking what she wants to leave her grandchildren.

Follow Mathis Family Talks for more conversations from our couch to yours.

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What happens when giving your child the opportunities you never had starts putting your relationship at risk?

Craig Young, father of NFL quarterback Bryce Young and author of Growing Up Young: One Family’s Faith Journey to the NFL, joins Judge Greg Mathis, Linda Mathis, Greg Mathis Jr. and Amir Mathis to discuss the difference between supporting a child and taking over their dream.

Craig describes the childhood experiences that shaped his parenting, the warning from his wife, Julie, and the work of rebuilding trust with Bryce. Amir shares how athletic expectations affected his sense of approval from his father, while Linda and Judge compare their approaches to giving their children independence.

The conversation also covers stepping back as children become adults, finding time for emotional connection, and making space for both faith and professional counseling. Along the way, the family revisits Greg Jr.’s basketball mishap and Judge admits exactly what he read before the interview.

An honest conversation about wanting the best for your children without deciding their lives for them.

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How do you pass down your values without deciding who your children have to become? Congressman Jonathan Jackson talks with Judge Greg Mathis, Linda Mathis, and Greg Mathis Jr. about growing up with Reverend Jesse Jackson, finding his own direction, and why he never felt afraid to come home.

Jonathan remembers starting out in speech therapy and tells the story of the push from Judge that helped him decide to run for Congress. Linda brings her experience running childcare centers to a conversation about what working parents can afford, while the family discusses civil rights, public service, and continuing the work of the generation before them.

There are also the stories only longtime friends can tell: campaigning before the cameras, Grandma Gertrude choosing the Judge Mathis show over a real phone call with Judge, and a borrowed Bentley that took some effort to get back.

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What does real friendship look like when life stops going to plan? For Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, one answer involves a house full of friends, his sister’s fried chicken and an unexpected encounter with Denzel Washington.

Chill catches up with Judge Greg Mathis, Linda Mathis and Amir Mathis for a conversation about the people who showed up, the roles that changed his career, and the values he wants his sons to carry. He remembers the friends brought together by Butch Lewis, tells his side of House Party’s original casting story, and explains how Michael Strahan committed to Brothers before seeing a script.

Along the way, there’s a two-week trip to Los Angeles that turned into ten years, Linda asking whether his wife still laughs at his jokes, and Chill’s distinction between possessing money and owning your name. They also talk NCIS: New Orleans, reuniting with Tim Allen on Shifting Gears, and moving into directing.

Old friends compare stories, tease each other and get into what showing up really means.

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Long before Diarra Kilpatrick created and starred in Diarra From Detroit, she was a four-year-old student in Linda Mathis' preschool classroom in Detroit. She even spent mornings at the Mathis home before school, while Judge Greg Mathis was developing a friendship with her father.

Years later, Diarra returns to the Mathis couch for a conversation about the people and places that shaped the storyteller she became.

Diarra talks with Linda, Judge and Greg Jr. about Bates Academy, Detroit Country Day, playwright Ron Milner, leaving Detroit, finding her voice as an actor and writer, and eventually creating Diarra From Detroit. She also opens up about working with Kenya Barris and her husband Miles, staying authentic in an industry that often asks people to change, losing her mother, becoming a mother herself, and the emotional inheritance she hopes to pass on to her son.

And because this is still the Mathis couch, the conversation includes childhood stories, plenty of Detroit humor, and a Coney Island alibi game that quickly gets out of hand.

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Celebrity hairstylist and longtime Mathis family friend Lawrence “Ray” Parker II joins the family for a conversation that goes far beyond hair.

Ray shares how he went from studying music at Hampton University to working with major names like 50 Cent, Olivia and Naomi Campbell, and how one unexpected salon client helped open the door to Hollywood. He also gets candid about trust between stylists and clients, being taken advantage of in the entertainment industry, and why he believes “the chair is sacred.”

Plus, Ray breaks down changing hair trends, reveals the secret behind his own hair, and explains how he turned years behind the chair into his own product line and plans for a manufacturing plant in Atlanta.

Then the family pitches Ray their own billion-dollar hair ideas to see which one he thinks could actually work.

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The Mathis family opens up Family Court for real viewer dilemmas about trust, money, relationships, parenting, code-switching, mental health, and boundaries.

Linda, Judge Mathis, Camara, Greg Jr., and Amir debate whether a mom should be forgiven for posting her daughter’s pregnancy news, whether parents get a say when they’re paying the bills, and whether preparing someone for the “real world” can cross the line into telling them to hide who they are.

The episode ends with the bigger question every family has to answer: when does love stop being support and start becoming control? Judge Mathis closes with the Family Verdict.

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After 41 years of marriage and 45 years together, Judge Greg Mathis and Linda Mathis get candid about what it really takes to keep a relationship fresh. They talk about sex, romance, feeling pursued, fear of rejection, scheduling intimacy, and how their idea of love has changed through careers, kids, dogs, and decades of marriage.

They also answer listener questions about feeling more like roommates, getting your partner to put in more effort, and keeping the spark alive when life gets in the way. Then Judge and Linda put it all to the test by pretending they’re strangers meeting at a hotel bar for the first time.

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Judge Greg Mathis and Linda Mathis revisit their favorite moments from the first 10 episodes of Mathis Family Talks.

From family money rules and a forgotten $1,200 loan to marriage honesty, code-switching, friendship lessons, AI scams, Rick James stories, and the “Black tax” in Hollywood, Judge and Linda react to the clips, correct the record, and admit that the family may have told a little too much of each other’s business.

They also reflect on what these conversations revealed about their family and why some viewers may be ready to have conversations they have been avoiding in their own homes.

From our couch to yours. 

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