Keyshia Cole is no stranger to television, having starred in numerous reality shows chronicling her family and career over the years. The 41-year-old singer-songwriter has lived a lot of her life in front of the camera, but she has even more to share with the world following the announcement of a made-for-TV biopic coming to Lifetime this June. Cole is slated to star as herself and make her acting debut in Keyshia Cole: This Is My Story, which she is also executive producing and creating new music for in the form of the song “Forever Is A Thing.”
The film will tell Keyshia’s fascinating life story and follow her from the trenches in Oakland to her ascent to R&B stardom and reality TV domination. Veteran actress Debbi Morgan will play her embattled biological mother Frankie Lons. Cole’s adoptive parents Leon Cole and Yvonne Cole will be played by Joseph C. Phillips and Tonia Jackson, while Cindi Davis and Brittney Level have been cast in the roles of her biological sisters Neffe and Elite.
Keyshia Cole: This Is My Story is co-directed by D'Angela Proctor and Manu Boyer from a script written by Angelica Cherri. On the music side of things, Keyshia’s long-time collaborator Ron Fair serves as the music supervisor while Warryn Campbell has composed the film’s original score.
Keyshia Cole is dedicating the movie to her mother Frankie who sadly passed away in 2021 on her 61st birthday from an accidental drug overdose. “This is a story of a daughter’s love for her mother and although my heart remains broken from her untimely passing I am honored to be sharing it with the world,” she said of the project in a press statement. “Playing the role of myself was a unique opportunity to re-live special moments in my life that also gave me the chance to process her loss in ways I did not expect. I miss her every day and even though she is not here, her presence was felt throughout this film.”
Lons was a constant presence throughout her daughter’s forays in reality television and co-starred with her on the series Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, which aired on BET for three seasons between 2006 to 2008. Cole has also starred in the shows Keyshia & Danyel: Family First (2012) and Keyshia Cole: All In (2015), both of which also ran on BET. She was a cast member of VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood for a time and the subject of the BET documentary special Keyshia Cole: My New Life in 2019.
Given her television track record, this biopic is sure to be more must-see-TV. Keyshia Cole: This Is My Story will premiere on Saturday, June 24th at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT as part of Lifetime’s Black Music Month programming.
