Raven Symone Explains to Kiely Williams Why She Did Not Participate in ‘Cheetah Girls’ Final Film
The Cheetah Girls had young girls worldwide wearing animal print clothing and screaming girl power. After successful films, albums, merchandise, and tours, the group disbanded and found individual success. But the final installment of the franchise excluded one notable member: Raven Symone.
Symone and her former co-star and group member, Kiely Williams, took to Instagram to give their takes on what went wrong. Then, the two reunited on Instagram live to set the record straight, with Symone explaining why she left the franchise.
‘The Cheetah Girls: One World’ did not include Raven Symone
One World was the third and final film of The Cheetah Girls franchise produced by Disney. The film followed the group’s journey to India to star in a Bollywood film. Symone, who starred as lead singer Gabriella, was not part of the project. Her absence was explained as her character attending college.
Symone allegedly opted out of the third film, with a YouTube documentary claiming she had a horrible experience filming the second. Instead, she focused on recording the music for her solo project while she worked on her Disney series, That’s So Raven. In an onstage performance, she revealed that she loved working on the films with the group but preferred other projects.
One World premiered to over six million viewers but failed to match the ratings of the first two films. Some fans attributed the lower ratings to Symone’s absence.
Raven Symone and Kiely Williams trade jabs on Instagram
Symone having a terrible experience on the second film may have been true, at least according to her. In a resurfaced clip from The View, Symone chats with her Cheetah Girls co-star, Lynn Whitfield. She revealed that Whitfield intervened when Symone almost got into an altercation with another co-star. Symone joked that she almost went to jail while filming in Barcelona but was “saved” by Whitfield.
Social media users speculated that Symone was talking about Williams. Symone also previously revealed to Entertainment Tonight that she was not interested in a Cheetah Girls reunion with anyone besides Adrienne Bailon due to past tension.
Symone confirmed that a clash with a co-star did take place. Williams responded and claimed she had no idea what Symone was referencing. According to Williams, she never witnessed Symone clash with anyone on set. She insinuated that Symone was speaking of such to drum up publicity for a new music project.
Raven Symone explains to Kiely Williams why she quit the ‘Cheetah Girls’ franchise
After going back and forth online, Symone and Williams surprised Cheetah Girls fans with a joint Instagram live chat. The live was intended to clear the air on Symone’s comments and also hash out any ill feelings from the past.
Williams wanted to know why Symone did not join the group for One World and Symone had no issue explaining. Symone said that she decided not to do the final film because the girls were “clique-ish” and made her feel “excluded” and “ostracized.”
Symone also admitted that Williams annoyed her when Williams approached her on set and revealed that she auditioned to play Olivia on The Cosby Show –– a role Symone landed. The two laughed about it and were happy they took the time to speak and put old feelings to rest for good.
