Christina Milian reminisces about her early acting days, sharing that her decision to change her last name from her birth name, Christina Flores, to Milian, was a strategic business move. "It was a conscious decision to appeal to the prevalent tastes at the time," she explains in the January 20th episode of the 'Richer Lives by SoFi' podcast. "As an Afro-Cuban, I noticed there weren't many faces like mine on TV. I'd try to present myself as a Latina for auditions, but my skin tone didn't quite match the last names that were in demand. Often, I wasn't even given the chance to audition."
She's not alone in this experience. Christina notes that one of her friends couldn't land auditions until she changed her last name too. Reflecting on the process, Christina brainstormed several potential monikers before settling on Milian, her mother's surname. Like her friend, the change brought immediate results. "With the same picture and headshot, we sent it to the same casting directors overnight. It transformed everything. I started booking TV shows right away. That small shift in identity redirected the course of my entire career."
Despite being proud of her accomplishments, Christina acknowledges it's "unfortunate" that she had to conceal a part of herself. "It's not something I'm proud of," she confesses, "but I'm thrilled to see more Black Latina faces on TV now. People are less fixated on such trivialities and focus more on talent."
Christina applies this mindset when teaching her children – Violet, 15, with ex-partner The Dream, and Isaiah, 6, and Kenna, 4, with husband Matt Pokora – to embrace their cultural heritage in their new environment in France. "We're a tight-knit family," she told Parents last October. "My mom is the pillar and matriarch of our family. Violet is very aware of Celia Cruz through music. Like any other Latina artist, music flows through our veins alongside food and other cultural aspects."
She adds, "We still speak Spanish among ourselves sometimes, but we've also learned other languages like French."
