Many of us first became familiar with actor, Charles S. Dutton, through his popular sitcom, “Roc”, in the early ’90s. His character was a family man who worked as a garbage collector and helped his lazy brother out all of the time.

What many didn’t know during that time was that Dutton was actually an actor who went from prison to Yale…literally. Before he started his acting career, our man Dutton had an inmate prison number and an orange jumpsuit. After his release he suited up, put on his game face and made his way to Yale.

Why Dutton Serving Many Years In The Pen’ Back In The Day

Dutton served seven and a half years in prison for manslaughter after having a fight with a man on the street who ultimately died from his injuries. You see, after Dutton dropped out of school in the 7th grade at 12 years old, he became an amateur boxer (his boxing name was “Roc”). He said the dude actually started the altercation, but what the guy probably wasn’t aware of was that Dutton was trained to use his fists as a weapon. One thing led to another…and unfortunately, a man lost his life as a result.

While in prison, Dutton received an additional 8-year sentence for fighting a prison guard.

“I got three years for killing a black man and eight for punching a white man,” Dutton once exclaimed.

That wasn’t the end of trouble for Dutton though, also while he was serving his time, he got into a prison fight with another inmate who stabbed Dutton in the neck with an ice pick…OUCH! That had to hurt, but by then Dutton, who had a rep’ for not taking no mess off of anyone, had began to change his outlook on life. He decided not to retaliate to teach the other prisoner a lesson.

How He Turned His Life Around In Prison

The punishment for their fight was to spend 6 days in solitary confinement with just one book. He got lucky by picking a book that was about Black playwrights and after he was able to touch the concrete on the prison cell block again, things really began to shape up for him:

Charles S. Dutton: “The only thing you were allowed to bring with you into the hole was one book. I brought in an anthology of plays that my girlfriend sent me from the outside. I had meant to grab a different book, actually, but took the plays by mistake,” he says. “For the first three days, I couldn’t read it. The hunger hurt too badly. But after that, by the light that shone through the two inches between the door.”

Once out of solitary confinement, Charles convinced the prison warden to allow the inmates to start a drama group for their Christmas talent show and the warden agreed under one condition- that Dutton get his GED while in prison. Dutton agreed and after that he was hooked!

Released, Then Re-Jailed For Different Offense

Charles S. Dutton was eventually released after serving his seven years, only to be thrown back in the pen’ several months later for another three year sentence. He has arrested for possession of a deadly weapon, which as a convicted felon was a no-no. So that threw a monkey wrench in his acting plans but after serving his last three years in the pen,’ he was finally able to pursue his dream. He went on to attend Townsend University in Maryland and then earned his master’s degree from Yale School of Drama.

It’s A New Day

Nowadays, Dutton is still acting and working on several projects for HBO and others, but he spends a lot of time tending to his farm in Maryland. He said that was his childhood dream and he donates most of the produce to homeless shelters and churches.

If Charles S. Dutton hasn’t displayed a life of hard work and dedication, then we don’t know what is! He is what it looks like to never allow your current circumstances to dictate the way the rest of your life will play out. Job well done Mr. Dutton.

Source, Source

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post “Roc” Actor Charles S. Dutton Spent Years In Prison For Heinous Crime That Changed His Life appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Debbi Morgan has written a memoir, “The Monkey On My Back”, which was released in 2015, but it wasn’t until her epic performance in Toni Braxton’s Lifetime Biopic a few years ago that led us to dig a little deeper into the fantastic actress that we love with the “deep dimples”!

We’ve written about Mrs. Morgan her here a few times on ILOSM, but she was the “scene stealer” in last night’s biopic, “Unbreak My Heart”, where she played a fierce Momma Evelyn!

With so many celebrities writings books and memoirs, we’d lost touch with Debbi Morgan’s story, but as we researched further, we read all about the cycle of domestic abuse that plagued her family for generations.

Morgan says her grandmother, mother, and aunts all married men who abused them; additionally, she says all of her uncles “turned out to be abusive husbands, except for one.”

“Our parents are our first role models. We emulate what we see. So when I kept attracting these same kind of men into my life, I’m not consciously thinking that that’s what I’m doing,” says Morgan, detailing her own struggle with domestic violence.

Morgan says she kept being attracted to violent men, saying she saw them as protectors. “Ultimately, I would find out that they were the person that I needed to be protected from.”

Debbi Morgan also revealed the point where she believed death would be better than what was currently happening and her abusive marriages.

In an interview with NewOne, Debbi Morgan spoke about dealing the the physical and emotional abuse that she experienced.

“I was a victim of bullying. I went through physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a teenage boyfriend. I suffered severe emotional abuse by three of my four husbands. I was just caught in this cycle. I mean, spinning like a washing machine.”

In her book, Morgan spoke of an abusive episode between her mother and father where death seemed to be the best outcome.

“Lying there frightened beyond reason, I shuddered at the thought of my beautiful mother lying
helpless on the other side of my bedroom door. Wet, warm tears ran down my face, and wet, warm
urine down my legs. Shaking uncontrollably I tried to brace myself for what might happen next. Since my father had finished with my mother he’d surely come for me. The thought was almost welcomed.

After all, death certainly had to be better than this…” [Source]

Morgan herself has dealt with domestic abuse in her marriages. She didn’t go into detail, but with her 3 previous marriages to Charles Weldon (1980-84); to actor Charles S. Dutton (1989-94); and to photographer Donn Thompson (1997-2000), she said she needed to break the cycle of abuse.

Before Debbi and Charles divorced in 1994, Debbi, a woman who grew up in a family plagued by domestic violence, says Charles’ quiet danger became like a drug to her.

“One of the things with children growing up in domestic violence homes, they are sort of drawn to people that have a lot of brute strength because they feel that they’re going to protect them,” she says. “I learned that he had spent all of his time in prison … and it might sound crazy, but there was something that was sort of seductive to me about that.”

While Debbi says Charles S. Dutton was never physically abusive towards her, the end of their relationship brought her to her knees:

“That was the relationship that started the big turnaround for me, because that relationship brought me to my knees,” Debbi told Oprah Winfrey regarding her marriage to Dutton. “As the saying goes, when you hit rock bottom there’s nowhere to go but up, and that was my rock bottom,” she proclaimed.

The Emmy winner has finally found true love with businessman Jeffrey Winston. They wed in 2009, bringing an end to her family’s cycle of abuse that lasted three generations.

Debbi Morgan’s memoir, “The Monkey on My Back,” is available online here.

The post Debbi Morgan Confessed Marriage To “Roc” Actor Charles S. Dutton Brought Her To Her Knees appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Many of us first became familiar with actor, Charles S. Dutton, through his popular sitcom, “Roc”, in the early ’90s. His character was a family man who worked as a garbage collector and helped his lazy brother out all of the time.

What many didn’t know during that time was that Dutton was actually an actor who went from prison to Yale…literally. Before he started his acting career, our man Dutton had an inmate prison number and an orange jumpsuit. After his release he suited up, put on his game face and made his way to Yale.

Why Dutton Serving Many Years In The Pen’ Back In The Day

Dutton served seven and a half years in prison for manslaughter after having a fight with a man on the street who ultimately died from his injuries. You see, after Dutton dropped out of school in the 7th grade at 12 years old, he became an amateur boxer (his boxing name was “Roc”). He said the dude actually started the altercation, but what the guy probably wasn’t aware of was that Dutton was trained to use his fists as a weapon. One thing led to another…and unfortunately, a man lost his life as a result.

While in prison, Dutton received an additional 8-year sentence for fighting a prison guard.

“I got three years for killing a black man and eight for punching a white man,” Dutton once exclaimed.

That wasn’t the end of trouble for Dutton though, also while he was serving his time, he got into a prison fight with another inmate who stabbed Dutton in the neck with an ice pick…OUCH! That had to hurt, but by then Dutton, who had a rep’ for not taking no mess off of anyone, had began to change his outlook on life. He decided not to retaliate to teach the other prisoner a lesson.

How He Turned His Life Around In Prison

The punishment for their fight was to spend 6 days in solitary confinement with just one book. He got lucky by picking a book that was about Black playwrights and after he was able to touch the concrete on the prison cell block again, things really began to shape up for him:

Charles S. Dutton: “The only thing you were allowed to bring with you into the hole was one book. I brought in an anthology of plays that my girlfriend sent me from the outside. I had meant to grab a different book, actually, but took the plays by mistake,” he says. “For the first three days, I couldn’t read it. The hunger hurt too badly. But after that, by the light that shone through the two inches between the door.”

Once out of solitary confinement, Charles convinced the prison warden to allow the inmates to start a drama group for their Christmas talent show and the warden agreed under one condition- that Dutton get his GED while in prison. Dutton agreed and after that he was hooked!

Released, Then Re-Jailed For Different Offense

Charles S. Dutton was eventually released after serving his seven years, only to be thrown back in the pen’ several months later for another three year sentence. He has arrested for possession of a deadly weapon, which as a convicted felon was a no-no. So that threw a monkey wrench in his acting plans but after serving his last three years in the pen,’ he was finally able to pursue his dream. He went on to attend Townsend University in Maryland and then earned his master’s degree from Yale School of Drama.

It’s A New Day

Nowadays, Dutton is still acting and working on several projects for HBO and others, but he spends a lot of time tending to his farm in Maryland. He said that was his childhood dream and he donates most of the produce to homeless shelters and churches.

If Charles S. Dutton hasn’t displayed a life of hard work and dedication, then we don’t know what is! He is what it looks like to never allow your current circumstances to dictate the way the rest of your life will play out. Job well done Mr. Dutton.

Source, Source

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post “Roc” Actor Charles S. Dutton Spent Years In Prison For Violent Crime That Changed His Life appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Debbi Morgan has written a memoir, “The Monkey On My Back”, which was released in 2015, but it wasn’t until her epic performance in Toni Braxton’s Lifetime Biopic a few years ago that led us to dig a little deeper into the fantastic actress that we love with the “deep dimples”!

We’ve written about Mrs. Morgan her here a few times on ILOSM, but she was the “scene stealer” in last night’s biopic, “Unbreak My Heart”, where she played a fierce Momma Evelyn!

With so many celebrities writings books and memoirs, we’d lost touch with Debbi Morgan’s story, but as we researched further, we read all about the cycle of domestic abuse that plagued her family for generations.

Morgan says her grandmother, mother, and aunts all married men who abused them; additionally, she says all of her uncles “turned out to be abusive husbands, except for one.”

“Our parents are our first role models. We emulate what we see. So when I kept attracting these same kind of men into my life, I’m not consciously thinking that that’s what I’m doing,” says Morgan, detailing her own struggle with domestic violence.

Morgan says she kept being attracted to violent men, saying she saw them as protectors. “Ultimately, I would find out that they were the person that I needed to be protected from.”

Debbi Morgan also revealed the point where she believed death would be better than what was currently happening and her abusive marriages.

In an interview with NewOne, Debbi Morgan spoke about dealing the the physical and emotional abuse that she experienced.

“I was a victim of bullying. I went through physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a teenage boyfriend. I suffered severe emotional abuse by three of my four husbands. I was just caught in this cycle. I mean, spinning like a washing machine.”

In her book, Morgan spoke of an abusive episode between her mother and father where death seemed to be the best outcome.

“Lying there frightened beyond reason, I shuddered at the thought of my beautiful mother lying
helpless on the other side of my bedroom door. Wet, warm tears ran down my face, and wet, warm
urine down my legs. Shaking uncontrollably I tried to brace myself for what might happen next. Since my father had finished with my mother he’d surely come for me. The thought was almost welcomed.

After all, death certainly had to be better than this…” [Source]

Morgan herself has dealt with domestic abuse in her marriages. She didn’t go into detail, but with her 3 previous marriages to Charles Weldon (1980-84); to actor Charles S. Dutton (1989-94); and to photographer Donn Thompson (1997-2000), she said she needed to break the cycle of abuse.

Before Debbi and Charles divorced in 1994, Debbi, a woman who grew up in a family plagued by domestic violence, says Charles’ quiet danger became like a drug to her.

“One of the things with children growing up in domestic violence homes, they are sort of drawn to people that have a lot of brute strength because they feel that they’re going to protect them,” she says. “I learned that he had spent all of his time in prison … and it might sound crazy, but there was something that was sort of seductive to me about that.”

While Debbi says Charles S. Dutton was never physically abusive towards her, the end of their relationship brought her to her knees:

“That was the relationship that started the big turnaround for me, because that relationship brought me to my knees,” Debbi told Oprah Winfrey regarding her marriage to Dutton. “As the saying goes, when you hit rock bottom there’s nowhere to go but up, and that was my rock bottom,” she proclaimed.

The Emmy winner has finally found true love with businessman Jeffrey Winston. They wed in 2009, bringing an end to her family’s cycle of abuse that lasted three generations.

Debbi Morgan’s memoir, “The Monkey on My Back,” is available online here.

The post Debbi Morgan Confessed Marriage To “Roc” Actor Charles S. Dutton Brought Her To Her Knees appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Many of us first became familiar with actor, Charles S. Dutton, through his popular sitcom, “Roc”, in the early ’90s. His character was a family man who worked as a garbage collector and helped his lazy brother out all of the time.

What many didn’t know during that time was that Dutton was actually an actor who went from prison to Yale…literally. Before he started his acting career, our man Dutton had an inmate prison number and an orange jumpsuit. After his release he suited up, put on his game face and made his way to Yale.

Why Dutton Serving Many Years In The Pen’ Back In The Day

Dutton served seven and a half years in prison for manslaughter after having a fight with a man on the street who ultimately died from his injuries. You see, after Dutton dropped out of school in the 7th grade at 12 years old, he became an amateur boxer (his boxing name was “Roc”). He said the dude actually started the altercation, but what the guy probably wasn’t aware of was that Dutton was trained to use his fists as a weapon. One thing lead to another and unfortunately a man lost his life as a result.

While in prison, Dutton received an additional 8 year sentence for fighting a prison guard.

“I got three years for killing a black man and eight for punching a white man,” Dutton once exclaimed.

That wasn’t the end of trouble for Dutton though, also while he was serving his time, he got into a prison fight with another inmate who stabbed Dutton in the neck with an ice pick…OUCH! That had to hurt, but by then Dutton, who had a rep’ for not taking no mess off of anyone, had began to change his outlook on life. He decided not to retaliate to teach the other prisoner a lesson.

How He Turned His Life Around In Prison

The punishment for their fight was to spend 6 days in solitary confinement with just one book. He got lucky by picking a book that was about Black playwrights and after he was able to touch the concrete on the prison cell block again, things really began to shape up for him:

Charles S. Dutton: “The only thing you were allowed to bring with you into the hole was one book. I brought in an anthology of plays that my girlfriend sent me from the outside. I had meant to grab a different book, actually, but took the plays by mistake,” he says. “For the first three days, I couldn’t read it. The hunger hurt too badly. But after that, by the light that shone through the two inches between the door.”

Once out of solitary confinement, Charles convinced the prison warden to allow the inmates to start a drama group for their Christmas talent show and the warden agreed under one condition- that Dutton get his GED while in prison. Dutton agreed and after that he was hooked!

Released, Then Re-Jailed For Different Offense

Charles S. Dutton was eventually released after serving his seven years, only to be thrown back in the pen’ several months later for another three year sentence. He has arrested for possession of a deadly weapon, which as a convicted felon was a no-no. So that threw a monkey wrench in his acting plans but after serving his last three years in the pen,’ he was finally able to pursue his dream. He went on to attend Townsend University in Maryland and then earned his master’s degree from Yale School of Drama.

It’s A New Day

Nowadays, Dutton is still acting and working on several projects for HBO and others, but he spends a lot of time tending to his farm in Maryland. He said that was his childhood dream and he donates most of the produce to homeless shelters and churches.

If Charles S. Dutton hasn’t displayed a life of hard work and dedication, then we don’t know what is! He is what it looks like to never allow your current circumstances to dictate the way the rest of your life will play out. Job well done Mr. Dutton.

Source, Source

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post “Roc” Star Charles S. Dutton Served Years In Prison For Violent Crime That Changed His Life appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Many of us became most familiar with actor Charles S. Dutton through his  show “Roc” that was popular in the early 90’s. His character was a family man who worked as a garbage collector and helped his lazy brother out all of the time.

What many didn’t know during that time was that Dutton was actually an actor who went from jail to Yale…literally. Before he started his acting career, our man Dutton had an inmate prison number and an orange jumpsuit. After his release he suited up, put on his game face and made his way to Yale.

Why Dutton Serving Many Years In The Pen’ Back In The Day

Dutton served seven and a half years in prison for manslaughter after having a fight with a man on the street who ultimately died from his injuries. You see, after Dutton dropped out of school in the 7th grade at 12 years old, he became an amateur boxer (his boxing name was “Roc”). He said the dude actually started the altercation, but what the guy probably wasn’t aware of was that Dutton was trained to use his fists as a weapon. One thing lead to another and unfortunately a man lost his life as a result.

While in prison, Dutton received an additional 8 year sentence for fighting a prison guard.

“I got three years for killing a black man and eight for punching a white man,” Dutton once exclaimed.

That wasn’t the end of trouble for Dutton though, also while he was serving his time, he got into a prison fight with another inmate who stabbed Dutton in the neck with an ice pick…OUCH! That had to hurt, but by then Dutton, who had a rep’ for not taking no mess off of anyone, had began to change his outlook on life. He decided not to retaliate to teach the other prisoner a lesson.

How He Turned His Life Around In Prison

The punishment for their fight was to spend 6 days in solitary confinement with just one book. He got lucky by picking a book that was about Black playwrights and after he was able to touch the concrete on the prison cell block again, things really began to shape up for him:

Charles S. Dutton: “The only thing you were allowed to bring with you into the hole was one book. I brought in an anthology of plays that my girlfriend sent me from the outside. I had meant to grab a different book, actually, but took the plays by mistake,” he says. “For the first three days, I couldn’t read it. The hunger hurt too badly. But after that, by the light that shone through the two inches between the door.”

Once out of solitary confinement, Charles convinced the prison warden to allow the inmates to start a drama group for their Christmas talent show and the warden agreed under one condition- that Dutton get his GED while in prison. Dutton agreed and after that he was hooked!

Released, Then Re-Jailed For Different Offense

Charles S. Dutton was eventually released after serving his seven years, only to be thrown back in the pen’ several months later for another three year sentence. He has arrested for possession of a deadly weapon, which as a convicted felon was a no-no. So that threw a monkey wrench in his acting plans but after serving his last three years in the pen,’ he was finally able to pursue his dream. He went on to attend Townsend University in Maryland and then earned his master’s degree from Yale School of Drama.

It’s A New Day

Nowadays, Dutton is still acting and working on several projects for HBO and others, but he spends a lot of time tending to his farm in Maryland. He said that was his childhood dream and he donates most of the produce to homeless shelters and churches.

If Charles S. Dutton hasn’t displayed a life of hard work and dedication, then we don’t know what is! He is what it looks like to never allow your current circumstances to dictate the way the rest of your life will play out. Job well done Mr. Dutton.

Source, Source

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post “Roc” Star Charles S. Dutton Served Years In Prison For Major Crime And It Changed His Life appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Debbi Morgan has written a memoir, “The Monkey On My Back”, which was released in 2015, but it wasn’t until her epic performance in Toni Braxton’s Lifetime Biopic a few years ago that led us to dig a little deeper into the fantastic actress that we love with the “deep dimples”!

We’ve written about Mrs. Morgan her here a few times on ILOSM, but she was the “scene stealer” in last night’s biopic, “Unbreak My Heart”, where she played a fierce Momma Evelyn!

With so many celebrities writings books and memoirs, we’d lost touch with Debbi Morgan’s story, but as we researched further, we read all about the cycle of domestic abuse that plagued her family for generations.

Morgan says her grandmother, mother, and aunts all married men who abused them; additionally, she says all of her uncles “turned out to be abusive husbands, except for one.”

“Our parents are our first role models. We emulate what we see. So when I kept attracting these same kind of men into my life, I’m not consciously thinking that that’s what I’m doing,” says Morgan, detailing her own struggle with domestic violence.

Morgan says she kept being attracted to violent men, saying she saw them as protectors. “Ultimately, I would find out that they were the person that I needed to be protected from.”

Debbi Morgan also revealed the point where she believed death would be better than what was currently happening and her abusive marriages.

In an interview with NewOne, Debbi Morgan spoke about dealing the the physical and emotional abuse that she experienced.

“I was a victim of bullying. I went through physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a teenage boyfriend. I suffered severe emotional abuse by three of my four husbands. I was just caught in this cycle. I mean, spinning like a washing machine.”

In her book, Morgan spoke of an abusive episode between her mother and father where death seemed to be the best outcome.

“Lying there frightened beyond reason, I shuddered at the thought of my beautiful mother lying
helpless on the other side of my bedroom door. Wet, warm tears ran down my face, and wet, warm
urine down my legs. Shaking uncontrollably I tried to brace myself for what might happen next. Since my father had finished with my mother he’d surely come for me. The thought was almost welcomed.

After all, death certainly had to be better than this…” [Source]

Morgan herself has dealt with domestic abuse in her marriages. She didn’t go into detail, but with her 3 previous marriages to Charles Weldon (1980-84); to actor Charles S. Dutton (1989-94); and to photographer Donn Thompson (1997-2000), she said she needed to break the cycle of abuse.

Before Debbi and Charles divorced in 1994, Debbi, a woman who grew up in a family plagued by domestic violence, says Charles’ quiet danger became like a drug to her.

“One of the things with children growing up in domestic violence homes, they are sort of drawn to people that have a lot of brute strength because they feel that they’re going to protect them,” she says. “I learned that he had spent all of his time in prison … and it might sound crazy, but there was something that was sort of seductive to me about that.”

While Debbi says Charles S. Dutton was never physically abusive towards her, the end of their relationship brought her to her knees:

“That was the relationship that started the big turnaround for me, because that relationship brought me to my knees,” Debbi told Oprah Winfrey regarding her marriage to Dutton. “As the saying goes, when you hit rock bottom there’s nowhere to go but up, and that was my rock bottom,” she proclaimed.

The Emmy winner has finally found true love with businessman Jeffrey Winston. They wed in 2009, bringing an end to her family’s cycle of abuse that lasted three generations.

Debbi Morgan’s memoir, “The Monkey on My Back,” is available online here.

The post Debbi Morgan Confesses Marriage To “Roc” Actor Charles S. Dutton Brought Her To Her Knees appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

What many didn’t know during that time was that Dutton was actually an actor who went from jail to Yale…literally. Before he started his acting career, our man Dutton had an inmate prison number and an orange jumpsuit. After his release he suited up, put on his game face and made his way to Yale.

Find out why he ended up serving many years in the pen’ back in the day…

The post Who Knew Charles S. Dutton Went To Jail For Committing THIS Major Crime? appeared first on I Love Old School Music.