“I don’t even know how to go back to normal life at this point,” Corinne Foxx says one April afternoon over the phone. “I feel like I’m going to be socially awkward because I’ve been holed up for so long!”
The scion opened up to W about spending the majority of the pandemic working on her biggest project to date—producing a Netflix series based on her life as the daughter of superstar Jamie Foxx. At just 27 years old, she’s the executive producer of Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!. The idea for the show began when, after years of discussing snippets of their lives in interviews, the Foxxes pitched Corinne’s diary to Netflix in late 2019. Then, they filmed the first episode on March 13, 2020, the day before the coronavirus pandemic shut Hollywood down. “We thought we’d come back in two weeks,” she told W. “But we had no idea what was lying ahead of us.”
Eventually, production kicked off again in September 2020, and the show was released on Netflix in April 2021. It stars Jamie as a version of himself, David Alan Grier as his father, and Kyla-Drew Simmons as a version of Corinne, dealing with being embarrassed by her dad as he learns how to connect with his teenage daughter.
Foxx told W that even though she pitched her diary, a very personal document, she was not concerned about revealing too much about the intergenerational dynamic. “The more truthful we were, the more relatable it was,” she said. “So many dads struggle to understand their teenage daughters. It’s a very normal experience. Even though my dad is a mega superstar, he’s still a father. Our stories were relatable and even if they weren’t perfect, that’s life. We didn’t shy away from the messiness of a father-daughter relationship.”
Below, Foxx talks about her relationship with both parents, managing the many hats she wears as an executive producer, model, and actress, and reveals the beauty and wellness tips that she cannot live without.
You’ve worked for many years as a model and actress, but now you’re an executive producer at 27. Did you always know you wanted to work in this part of the industry?
I never felt limited to just being an actor or just being a model. That’s a very old-school mindset to just be one thing. I always thought of myself as multifaceted, and even now I want to be a business owner, a producer, an actor. I always saw myself in a bunch of different roles, but I will say jumping into it was a big lesson for me. It was my first time being a producer, and I actually got promoted during production to executive producer. I felt like, okay I must be doing a good job if I got a promotion my first time doing it!
Wearing so many hats and managing a busy life can require a balanced mindset. Do you have any wellness routines you like to stick to?
Learning to take care of yourself physically and mentally is so important in this industry, because it can tear you down at times. It can be discouraging. You have to prioritize your mental and physical well-being, and being in the modeling industry, I developed a beauty routine I really love. I’m also a mental health advocate and I work with National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), so I have a mental health routine—those are my ways of controlling a very volatile industry.
What’s the first thing you do, beauty-wise, when you wake up in the morning?
First thing I do is wash my face. I know some people don’t like to wash their face in the mornings, but I have to have a fresh start every morning. Then I use my vitamin C serum and my hyaluronic acid, and sunscreen. Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen: everybody preaches it, and I am religious about it. Even in the pandemic, when I was not going outside, I still wore sunscreen indoors—because sun rays can come through windows. I picked that tip up in the modeling industry.
Speaking of, what’s the best beauty tip you’ve picked up on set?
I worked on a movie called 47 Meters Down, and one of our actresses in the movie—who is absolutely gorgeous—told me she religiously gets facials. Before the pandemic, I was getting facials every single month. My facialist got me an ice roller—on days that I’m going to be on camera, I ice roll like crazy. I feel like it helps contour your face and evens everything up. I wake up in the morning and my face is so puffy—I look like I’ve been crying when I haven’t. My ice roller is my little secret trick.
What’s the worst beauty trend you’ve participated in?
That’s such a great question. I bought into the whole “infrared light” thing. I got the infrared mask, and I do think they work, but I haven’t really seen any results. It’s so ridiculously expensive. I sit on my couch and red-light my face, but I don’t think it’s doing anything. Maybe 30 years from now, I’ll be thankful for it! [Laughs.] Maybe it’s doing something microscopic.
What’s the best beauty advice you’ve ever received and who was it from?
My mom has taken great care of her skin. Both of my parents look amazing. I can only be so lucky to age as gracefully as the both of them, but from a young age my mom taught me the practice of taking care of my skin and being aware of my skin. I grew up watching her put creams on her face and we always did masks together; she took me to get my first facial. She instilled in me the idea that you’re beautiful from the inside out, but you can also splurge a little bit to take care of your skin.
What’s the best beauty splurge you’ve ever made?
Getting the monthly facials—that was a huge splurge. I used to get one every six months or once a year, but when I committed to doing it monthly and making it a priority, that was a splurge.
Both of your parents do look great—I’m wondering if your dad is into skincare, too?
Oh my gosh, no! I don’t know how this man ages the way he does. He stays up late, he doesn’t drink water. [Laughs.] He does exercise a lot and I think endorphins probably make his skin glow, but he does nothing and his skin is always dry, yet he still looks amazing. It must be in our genetics. I hope it is.
Who is your beauty icon?
I love Tracee Ellis Ross. I just went on this big natural hair journey where I stopped straightening my hair all throughout the pandemic and I’m embracing my curls. Tracee Ellis Ross was my North Star with how I wanted to embrace my heritage, my hair. She has aged flawlessly. For my birthday, my best friend got me the full Pattern Beauty line and I was crying.
What does your ideal spa day look like?
I haven’t thought in this way in so long! My ideal day at the spa is going in, getting a facial, doing the extractions and the steam and the mask, and I am also dying to get a salt scrub and just scrub all the dead skin off my body that has accumulated for a year. I feel like a snake that needs to shed its skin. Getting a massage would feel like winning the lotto at this point. I would do the works!
What’s the No. 1 skin care rule that you abide by, no matter what?
I hate to sound like a broken record, but sunscreen. I don’t have to do anything else, and as long as I’m wearing sunscreen I feel like I’m protecting my skin and taking care of myself. I won’t go outside without it.
In the future, when most people are vaccinated and going out again, what’s your go-to look for a night out?
I’m never somebody who wears a lot of makeup, but I do think it would be really fun to do full glam: the lashes, contour, really go for it. My best friend is amazing at makeup so I’d probably have her do it. I’m ready.
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