Anita Dupree (Tamara Tunie) has reached a devastating low point in her cancer journey on Beyond the Gates and considers giving up treatment until a heartbreaking conversation with her family restores her will to fight.
“The chemo is taking its toll on her body and her spirit, and she’s hit a wall,” begins Tunie. “She’s at a crossroads, and she’s wondering, ‘Is it worth it? Can you live the rest of your life like this?’ I know when we filmed the scenes, how emotional it was, but I understand that our editors, who are all men, were just weeping as they were editing the scenes together. They had to walk out of the room. So, I think it’ll be pretty powerful.”
CBS
That emotional weight was something Tunie felt from the very beginning, when she first learned about Anita’s diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer. “My initial reaction was trepidation,” she reveals. “I knew how important a story this was, how important this issue was, how so many people have been impacted by this situation, and I was very concerned about how we were going to approach the story. If we were going to do it, I felt that we should do it absolutely right, with no half-stepping. I was very concerned about getting too preachy, too soapboxy about it, but I have great confidence in our writers and knew that it would be handled in a way that would really have the impact that we all were hoping to have.”
Taking Anita to such a fragile place also pushed Tunie in new ways as a performer. “It was humbling, and at the same time, wonderful to play,” she offers. “To the outside, someone might look like their life is perfect, and their health is perfect, and everything is perfect, and we all know that everything is not always perfect. So, when you get in those situations where you can show vulnerability, I think it allows people to say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.’”
Because of the intensity of the material, Tunie was intentional about how she separated herself from the role once filming wrapped. “I tend to leave work at work, but when you are investing your entire being in a role like this, where a character is going through something like this, it does take its toll on your body and on your spirit,” she explains. “It’s very emotionally taxing, but I was trying to be as proactive as I could about taking care of myself physically, sage-ing myself after the more intense scenes. People might think that’s all woo-woo, la, la, la, but I believe in energy, and I believe in the energetic responses that we have. I would say out loud, ‘I don’t have cancer,’ because I’m an empathetic person and I take things in, so I had to remind my body that I was playing a role, that it was a character, and that it was not me.”
CBS
Onscreen, Anita’s diagnosis has had ripple effects throughout the canvas, which has deepened the drama. Both Dani Dupree (Karla Mosley) and her daughter, Naomi Hamilton Hawthorne (Arielle Prepetit), discovered they’re carriers of the BRCA gene mutation, which significantly increases the likelihood of cancer. “The cast and my Dupree family, we have gotten so close in real life, and we genuinely care about each other,” notes Tunie. “When we’re playing these scenes where we’re having these heavy conversations, it’s as real as it can possibly be. We hug after because as women, we just innately know and connect and care on that level, and I think that’s what really comes across. When we look into each other’s eyes as we’re playing these scenes, we see each other, and we feel each other.”
The storyline has also impacted the audience, which Tunie has experienced firsthand. “People are sharing their stories with me,” she says. “I have a colleague who texted me right after Anita’s diagnosis, and she said how realistic the process was and thanked me for doing the story. I said to her, ‘Am I misremembering? Did you have a cancer scare several years ago?’ And she said, ‘No, I didn’t, but I was diagnosed with breast cancer the same day as Anita was,’ and I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I’ve had people through social media say, ‘I hadn’t had a mammogram in so long, and I’ve made my appointment to go,’ and just being proactive about their health, which was the point of this story. Yes, it’s great drama to watch, and you invest emotionally and everything, but it’s a bit of a public service message that tells women to take care of themselves. Put yourself first.”
Michele Crowe/CBS
That blurring of fiction and reality extended to a recent set of scenes, where Anita, who is a famous singer, appeared in a scripted segment with CBS News anchor Gayle King, revealing her cancer diagnosis. “The Gayle King interview was a little confusing,” Tunie shares. “It got posted on social media, and it was just me talking to Gayle King, and unless you read closely, you didn’t see, ‘Beyond the Gates: Anita goes to see Gayle King.’ So, I was getting messages and phone calls, saying that people were praying for me, and they know I can beat this and all that, so I was like, ‘It’s the character, it’s not me.’ And they’re like, ‘Thank goodness, OK, great.’”
Ultimately, Tunie is proud of the reaction the story has generated so far and appreciates that it’s been so well-received. “It’s sparking conversation, and that’s what I hope art will always do: make people ask questions, make people think, and make people active,” she reflects. “So, I’m really proud, and I feel so blessed for all of this — for the show, for the storylines, for the actors that I’m working with, the directors that I’m working with, the crew, everybody. It’s really unique and wonderful, and I feel really, really happy at this point in my life that this is what I’m doing.”
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