Keyshia Cole to Play Herself in New Movie About Her Life

Keyshia Cole is known for not being afraid to share her life story. Just as her career was taking off in the early 2000s, the Oakland-born R&B songstress signed up for a BET reality series, The Way It Is, showcasing her complicated family dynamic. Cole was adopted and raised by family friends. She learned of her adoption by mishap. After finding her birth mother, they developed a relationship. But her mother Frankie’s drug abuse would cause their relationship to be rocky. Additionally, Cole struggled to maintain tightknit relationships with her birth siblings, and balance her relationship with her adoptive family. The show was one of BET’s early reality series, sparking her mother’s spinoff series, and future projects for Cole. Now, she’s sharing more in-depth in a Lifetime biopic, that she’s also starring in. It marks Cole’s acting and film debut.

Premiering Saturday, June 24, as part of Lifetime’s celebration of Black Music Month, Keyshia Cole: This is My Story features a new song by Cole titled “Forever is a Thing.” Ron Fair, her long-standing A&R, and music collaborator, supervised the music. Grammy Award winner Warryn Campbell composed the original score.

Cole dedicates the project to Frankie, who died in July 2021 at the age of 61 of multiple drug intoxication and an accidental overdose. “This is a story of a daughter’s love for her mother and although my heart remains broken from her untimely passing I am honored to be sharing it with the world,” Cole said in a statement. “Playing the role of myself was a unique opportunity to re-live special moments in my life that also gave me the chance to process her loss in ways I did not expect. I miss her every day and even though she is not here, her presence was felt throughout this film. Mom, I love you.”