Actress Vanessa Bell Calloway Talks Marriage, Daughters, Dieting, Dance

As part of her 60th birthday celebration, still stunning and in fabulous shape actress Vanessa Bell Calloway (Saints and Sinners, Shameless, Coming to America) performed a dance routine to the classic If I Could by Regina Bell. Calloway shared her big day with many of those with whom she came up with in show business such as Vivica Fox, Tina Lawson, Jackee Harry, Holly Robinson Peete, Tika Sumpter, Debbie Allen, james Pickens, Dondre Whitfield, Cedric the Entertainer and Star Jones. Calloway also fulfilled one of her life’s ambitions by performing a stand-up comedy routine. By far, the most talked about event though, was Calloway’s modern dance performance with her two daughters, Ashley and Ally.

Evidenced by her birthday outfit and dance costume, Calloway is in impeccable shape. In an interview she did with me just around the time of the premiere of her show Saints and Sinners last year, she alluded to her dance training and to the fact that she definitely pays attention to her diet. “Because I’m an ex-dancer you know I dance so fitness is important. I can’t live without movement so I work out about four or five times a week, sometimes seven. If I’m not in the gym I’m hiking, power walking, walking on the beach. I spin, I do pilates sometimes, I do a lot of different things to work out. I still take dance classes so workout is key. I drink a lot of water. That’s very important. I eat a very healthy diet. I don’t eat sweets, nothing with sugar. I don’t do juices, I don’t do sodas. I do mostly vegetables and salads and a little protein. Very little carbs no starches.“

Calloway’s husband of twenty-eight years Dr. Anthony Calloway was also at her birthday celebration. In that same interview she spoke at length about him stating that, “I’ve been married almost twenty-eight years and yes, your first question is very true. You gotta pick the right person. And you gotta get married for the right reasons. A lot of people get married because they want the wedding or they just want to be married. Sometimes we think we’re picking the right person and it doesn’t happen but I guess I was lucky. I love my husband more today than I ever did twenty-eight years ago when I said I do. He’s a great guy.”

She also shared that her daughters were both accomplished dancers although she had no wish that either of them go into any of the performing arts as professions. “I wish somebody would have told me more things about acting in this industry when I was their age instead of all the bubble gum hopes and dreams type of stuff. I wish somebody would have told me ‘take business classes Vanessa. That’s great I know you’re gonna be a dancer you’re a good dancer but because you’re a good dancer, why don’t you learn something else just to see what you could do.’ Because I’ve had to go out and learn so many things to accompany my dancing and my acting because I didn’t get it in the early parts of my life because nobody told me about it. It would have helped had I known about a lot of other things. Both my girls are beautiful dancers. They both grew up dancing with Debbie Allen. They were like semi-professional children. They performed a great deal and they loved it. But when they both got older after college they realized there were other things in life they wanted to do. And that’s why I gave them that life when they were younger.

I wanted them to either love it or find another life that they were happy with and they both have done that.”

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