30 November 2020
Newsdesk
In the first episode of the new series, actor, writer, producer and double BAFTA award-winning Michaela Coel talks to Louis about speaking in tongues, sexual consent and suffering from 'post-writum depression' after the success of I May Destroy You.
Michaela talks about discovering Christianity at the age of 18
Michaela Coel: What I know is that I felt like I'd lived this life without acknowledging that there was this God that loved me and that saw me as valuable. And that made me cry.
Louis Theroux: So that was the moment. It must have been quite amazing to feel that and you must have felt with certainty that God was there, which is tremendously reassuring right? Like oh my god we’re not alone
M.C: Yes, not only are we not alone. It's here, it's in this church, it's in my heart the message has come. The new certainty. Everything is so clear now. The challenges are clear, you know, stay away from sex. Don't mock people don't gamble, don't go to parties don't drink or Don't drink too much, read the Bible go to church. Everything was so clear and that was glorious.
The first time Michaela spoke in tongues
L.T: You spoke in tongues?
M.C: Yes I spoke in tongues. The first time I spoke in tongues was in the park, we would do prayer in the park and I spoke in tongues. It's interesting you know, because obviously I'm not Christian anymore. So it's interesting to look back and know that I have the fake Christian version which is the dancer. Then I have this Christian version, which it's almost like, our minds are so powerful that I really believed and who is to say what any of that means.
L.T: When you were speaking in tongues, was there any part of you thinking this isn’t real, but I'm just going to go with it or were you 100% in the zone?
M.C: yeah I was 100% in the zone. Sometimes it really freaks me out.
L.T: What did it sound like?
M.C: Oh, there's a running joke in the church actually, because sometimes my experience of being a Christian, we would often take the piss out of each other and out of like pastors, and the pastor's would say things like, ‘Honda Civico’, which is a Honda Civic but it just kind of sounds like that. It just sounds like vowels and consonants just strung together. Honda Civico, Mercedes Benza.
Louis and Michaela discuss people who ‘like a particular general group’ in relationships
L.T: I saw you said you have white friends that say ‘I’ve got a thing for black guys’ and you’re not a fan of that attitude? Unpack that a little bit because I can imagine some people think ‘well what’s wrong with saying that?’
M.C: Yeah, so maybe this is just me. I really struggle with ‘I like a particular general group’, because for me, it sounds like you're only part relating to a human. I find it really strange when people say ‘Hey you know here's my thing, I just love South Asian girls.’ Each of them is a Human and I imagine that they're all probably different and they vary in their feelings, their thoughts, their bodies are different their faces. How can you just like a group like that? I find it quite strange. I’ve always found it really strange even when a guy says, ‘you know for me I just love black women’. And then I'm like, so are you with me because you like me or am I really lucky I happen to be born black, because if I wasn't, you wouldn't look twice at me, by having this positive discrimination, so what do you think of all the other women? I find it weird, this group thing. But what I have to learn because some of the women that I adore In my life, have these views, I have to sort of draw a line and go, You know what? I don't have a black dick for you to fetishize. This is actually none of my business. It's not my black dick that you’re desperate for.
Michaela’s ‘Post-writum depression’
M.C: Have you heard of post writum depression?
L.T: No but I like that phrase
M.C: I'm just grieving. I'm not even busy. I’m just sat here, running, walking, meditating. I am really just in that artist depression-y bit. I'll be out soon. I just need to go through it a little bit.
Episode 1 of Radio 4’s Grounded with Louis Theroux, series 2 is available on BBC Sounds from Monday 30 November. Series 1 is available to listen in full on BBC Sounds.
