It’s been more than 20 years since the release of the first Cheetah Girls movie, but the “tails” of nasty habits in the scenes persist.
Writer and co-producer Deborah Gregory’s own story, which she’s never talked about before, is also as movie-worthy as the groundbreaking franchise.
Prior to Cheetah Girls in 2003, Disney Channel had never produced a movie starring a predominantly black and brown cast.
And they haven’t made anything similar since.
A main draw for the show was that each of the four main characters had a different skin color and body type.
And the hugely popular franchise was based on Deborah’s own life, right down to the fact that she wears leopard print every day.
Still, not everything went as on set.
Deborah wanted to use an unknown cast, but Disney chose more famous faces.
This included Raven-Symone, Rob Kardashian’s now ex-girlfriend Adrienne Bailon, Sabrina Bryan, and Kiely Williams.
“I thought those little cat fights were interesting,” Deborah told the Sun newspaper.
“There was a big split between Raven and the the rest of the girls. Because she was a star from a little kid.
“The most irritating thing is that Raven is doing the third movie.
“It just kills my franchise, why not? It’s just horrible.
“There was even an 88 city tour and she didn’t go on it. There was plenty of truth about some rift.
“I was very hurt. I was crushed. Especially because it’s so unfair to the kids. There’s no replacing a character.
“Everything will have to come to an end. It wasn’t something that lasted forever. You shoot the movie and go home. It’s done. “
“I wanted the women to be unknown because, in my opinion, kids would think it was real. But the studios are thinking about fame.
“They’re thinking about getting the biggest names imaginable for a lot of pieces.
“In this case, I know what I’m thinking and, of course, I look at what happened. “
Child star Raven got her big break on The Cosby Show in 1989 and starred in the popular series That’s So Raven from 2003, then aged 15, to 2007.
In an Instagram Live in April 2020, Raven and Kiely admitted that they had a fight with Adrienne and that Cheetah Girls 3 had failed that Raven wasn’t in it.
Fans may also not know that Solange Knowles, Beyonce’s younger sister, was originally set to play one of the girls until scheduling conflicts got in the way.
Deborah, who sells cheetah prints on her antiques site Etsy, has more than a generation of teddy bears.
Some of Kardashian’s children, including North West and Penelope Disick, even dressed up as the prominent women’s organization that Gregory created last Halloween.
“My call is Miss Cheetah Hardcore,” said Deborah. I made my first dress by hand when I was 11 years old. I sewed the fabric by hand.
“I remember it came apart in class and my girlfriend gave me her sweater to wear, because you could see my bloomers.”
While some parts of the series blatantly showed Deborah’s cheetah tracks, she didn’t reveal the similarities between her own life and other facets until later.
Fans of the franchise know that the Cheetah Girls’ own Dorinda was a foster care child, who often hid her background from the other girls.
But they might not know that Deborah was inspired to base the character off of her own upbringing in the foster care system.
Like the series, which focused on 4 young women in search of fame, Deborah dreamed of something more.
What Deborah didn’t know at the time is that, like her main character, she’s multiracial.
“I created the Garibaldi Gallery partly Italian and part black because I found it fun,” he said.
“I also thought it would come from the city of Bologna because it looks Bolognese. I said, ‘Oh, the kids are going to love this. ‘
“Then, after taking a DNA test, I found out that I’m also half Italian and half black. And it scares me. “
And that wasn’t the similarity.
“If I had a choice, I would be a singer playing in some dinky club for $100 in Amsterdam.
“I love the concept and I don’t see it as star nonsense.
“But I cannot sing. I look like a singer, I act like a singer but I don’t have the voice honey.
“So it’s Dorothea Garibaldi, it’s the mother of Galleria. “
Galleria’s mother, played by Lynn Whitfield, owns a plus-size boutique, also through Deborah.
“That was me. I had a boutique in New York called Fun and Larger Sizes,” she said.
One of his biggest regular clients at the time was the fashion editor of Essence magazine.
After Deborah convinced (or, in her own words, “bullied”) her into writing for the magazine, their adventure took even more turns.
While running as the publication’s fashion and good looks editor, she ended up landing an interview with Destiny’s Child in Houston.
“There are as many women’s teams as there used to be, but where I come from, it was all about women’s teams,” she said.
“I enjoyed writing about women’s groups. “
After watching a documentary during an Essence work lunch about someone who goes on a search for her birth mother, Deborah broke down.
“I had talked about it and I lost it,” he said.
“Susan Taylor, our editor-in-chief, convinced me to impersonate her. Oh my God.
“I ended up writing a story about Finding Mom. “
The former model, who grew up in New York City, found out she was born in Brooklyn.
She went south to find a cousin and discovered that her mother was a singer.
“I was always obsessed with girl groups and thought it was because of Diana Ross and the pretty outfits,” she said.
“For me it’s a way to escape this terrible scenario that I’m in, but now I’m finding that it’s still a component of who I am. “
After taking a DNA test and hiring a famous genealogist, Deborah also found out who her real father was and that her paternal grandparents were immigrants from Italy.
And fashion was also part of her inner fabric – literally.
“I come from a line of tailors,” he said.
“When I went to meet another first cousin in New Jersey, I noticed an old Singer sewing machine in her house.
“She explained that my aunt made clothes and my grandmother was the manager of the factory.
“That’s where my fashion sense comes from. “
Her love of clothing came through so prominently in The Cheetah Girls that it was almost a character itself throughout the series.
Today, Deborah continues to bond with former members of her family and recently took her long-lost loved ones to Italy to sample soul food in Harlem.
During the Covid pandemic, she researched even more foster care cases.
Deborah discovered that the social staff had discovered that her father paid her mother’s rent, but she didn’t need anyone to know who she was.
“This wasn’t a one-night stand,” he said.
The overall story, however, is more of an escape for the writer.
“I made it all up, but the kids thought it was real and didn’t know it.
“I came up with the idea after watching an episode of Where are They Now with David Cassidy from the Partridge family.
“It’s the first time I’ve found out that the exhibit isn’t based on a genuine family.
“That really got my wheels turning. I started out with the books because I wanted to get the kids to read.
“I also added the concept of the concert and the clothes, so I took 50 more steps. “
The Cheetah Girls marked the studio’s first time making a full-length musical film.
The first of the three movies was a massive success, racking up over 84 million views.
Deborah must know only one thing.
“Where’s my remake? I think that’s unfair. And this stuff is so popular it’s incredible,” he asked.
“I get emails from Sweden and other people of all nationalities around the world who grew up with him and still love him.
“They already have the dramatic rights. They’re in your vault.
“The kids are begging for it, it’s a classic.”
Fans of the trilogy continue to post movie memes and pay attention to the band’s music on Spotify more than two decades later.
The music platform still records more than one million daily visits to Cheetah Girls’ music.
Students from FSU even flew from Florida to New York last year to make a 12-minute documentary on Deborah called Mama Cheetah.
The filmmakers of the future followed her for a week.
And yes, she’s fighting for this remake.
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