Grownup friendships don’t simply form who we’re — they usually save us.
That fact sits on the coronary heart of Lifetime’s new movie, “He Wasn’t Man Sufficient,” impressed by Toni Braxton’s hit track of the identical title and starring the R&B icon alongside Essence Atkins and Yvette Nicole Brown.
“I like how this script form of expounded on [the song],” Atkins, 53, informed TheGrio throughout an interview forward of the movie’s launch. “I actually love the way it was dropped at a narrative and made this nice movie about coming again round and recognizing what actually issues. And on this specific occasion, it’s us. It’s the friendship.”
The movie follows three ladies based mostly in Atlanta — Profitable author Mel (Braxton), Monica (Atkins), and Sweet (Brown) — whose once-solid friendship fractured years in the past after life, love, and a sophisticated breakup pushed them aside. The story drops them again into one another’s orbit when a brand new scenario forces the trio to revisit outdated wounds and at last face what pulled them away from each other. For Atkins and Brown, bringing that dynamic to life was each pure and joyful — particularly since they set to work collectively as real-life associates whereas additionally assembly Braxton for the primary time.
“It was like enjoying with your folks for 3 or 4 weeks,” Brown, 54, mentioned, who added how Braxton was a delight to work with.
Collectively, the actresses hope the film reminds viewers of the important — and sophisticated — nature of grownup friendships, one thing each ladies have had loads of private expertise with. Atkins famous how, up till this level, her feminine associates have been the actual “epic love story” of her life.
“They’ve been so paramount for me in my development, in my grief, in my pleasure, in my celebrations,” she expressed
Brown agreed, including how her personal neighborhood has held her collectively by way of main life moments.
“My sister associates had been those that actually held me up and stored me collectively, particularly transferring to LA and not likely having anyone,” she defined. “I constructed a beautiful village of fine girlfriends.”
In line with the actresses, sisterhood isn’t nearly exhibiting up when life is simple — it’s about selecting one another once more when issues get messy, uncomfortable, or painful to confront. It’s additionally about discovering methods to transcend life’s adjustments.
Brown, who just lately tied the knot, shared that lots of her associates anticipated by no means to see her once more now that she was lastly a spouse.
“Girls will meet the man after which toss the ladies that had been ‘the Bridge Over Troubled Water’ apart,” she mentioned. “We have now to honor these relationships and construct a bridge when one thing goes terribly fallacious.”
In the meantime, Atkins famous how her friendship with a just lately engaged buddy needed to change barely to stay.
“In honor of that, I’ve taken a little bit of a step again to permit for him to be the primary telephone name,” she admitted. “As a result of I don’t need him to really feel as if this village round her — as a result of she’s received an enormous, large village of girls who love and adore her — that he must penetrate it, versus us deciding to make room to carry them in.”
In the long run, these nuances and a lot are what drive the plot of the movie that sees the ladies struggling to reconnect as completely different males revolve round them.
“It’s a really enjoyable and humorous glimpse,” Atkins mentioned. “However I really feel like at its core, it’s a really actual peek into what it’s like to actually have an awesome sisterhood and the realities of that, since you’re going to undergo issues as a result of we’re human, and we’re going to harm one another, even not that means to generally.”
“He Wasn’t Man Sufficient” premieres Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, at 8/7c on Lifetime.
