Jill Marie Jones believed Girlfriends viewers should've ''kept watching'' after she left the series
Megan Thee Stallion is dubbed "Thee Hot Girl," but in the early 2000s, that name perfectly described a fictional character named Toni Childs. In real life, Jill Marie Jones, the actress who played Childs, was an IT Girl, too! She was a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys, aka America's Team, before starring alongside Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White, and Reggie Hayes in Girlfriends.
When the drama series, with comedy elements, first aired, you were either a part of the group who loved or loathed Toni Childs. She was a go-getter friend who loved to live lavishly. She was self-centered and only dated men up to par with her standards. If their money wasn't "long," she wouldn't even acknowledge their existence.
Childs grew up with Joan, her best friend out of the group, and often was babied by the lawyer. The entire group had both significant and minor disagreements. However, they always found themselves making up. That is until Joan missed the court hearing for Toni during a custody battle with her ex-husband, Todd, at the end of season six. That was the end of their friendship, as Toni moved to New York so her child could be closer to Todd. She refused to talk to Joan but kept in touch with Maya and Lynn (Golden Brooks, Persia White).
It was written this way because Jill Marie Jones left the series to pursue a movie career. Although Girlfriends continued for two seasons after she left, many viewers said they stopped watching when Toni was gone.
During an interview with BET.com in 2011, Jones had the perfect response to viewers who left with her: "People are always telling me, 'I stopped watching the show when you left.' I know it comes from love, and it's really sweet to hear, but I would always tell them they should have kept watching."
She continued, saying, "It was a great show and I'm proud to have been a part of it for six years. It's like a spice cabinet; we [the cast] all had a different spice. If you take one spice out of the cabinet, especially if you've seen that spice for six years, it can do a little something to the sauce. But I'm proud of the work we did on Girlfriends."
Watch Girlfriends on Dabl
EVERY DAY AT 9a/8c | 9p/8c