Dakota Tao Brooks-Woodside, daughter of Golden Brooks and D.B. Woodside, has graduated from middle school. Golden took to Instagram on Sunday (Jun. 11) to celebrate her graduate.
“I can’t believe 8th grade is over,” Golden shared with her social media fans. “We are so proud of you Dakota,” the celebrity mom wrote to her daughter. “Happy Graduation Day,” Brooks exclaimed. “Let the new chapter begin!”
Golden Brooks and D.B. Woodside welcomed their daughter in 2009. Dakota arrived one year after the final episode of Girlfriends aired. Golden recently spoke with the press about her role as Maya on the hit series.
“I think it’s important for pop culture — the movies, and film and TV — to continue to find ways to celebrate and shed light and to portray Black motherhood and what that means,” Golden explained to Hey Black Mom. “I didn’t want to make that part of Maya that Black motherhood stereotype because there is a certain image that we think of when we think of Black mamas and their sons and Black mamas and their daughters,” she added.
“I really wanted to show a little bit of that humor in there along with her tenacity to make her son better, even no matter what her and Darnell were going through,” the actress revealed.
Viewers got to see Maya and Darnell essentially go from rags to riches as he started a business during one of the seasons and she wrote a bestseller during another season. The storyline is still relatable as a new audiences watches Girlfriends and gains life lessons.
“Twenty years ago,” Golden said when discussing the lasting effect of the hit series. “Twenty years ago was when Girlfriends came on and it’s still prevalent and connecting and resurrecting and re-resurrecting in homes as if it just came on yesterday,” the actress shared.
“That’s a testament to [show creator Mara Brock Akil], to the wardrobe and to being this progressive woman who saw women as progressive,” Brooks told the press. “I think why it’s still so relevant is because we’re still in need of these types of characters.
Fans of Girlfriends can catch all eight seasons of the show on Netflix.
Photo: Golden Brooks/Instagram
