Joan Clayton (Tracee Ellis Ross) is at the great peak of her life. She is almost 30, is almost junior partner at her law firm, and has a great friend circle.
At the end of Season 7, she became engaged to Aaron Waters, whom she met while rehabilitating homes in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina; she moved into his home in West Adams, Los Angeles, while Aaron was deployed to Iraq and rented her house to Lynn.
For me and my career, my contract was up after six seasons and there's a whole film world that I wanted to experience and that's what I've been doing. I think if Toni came back to the show, there would be so much more to write and much more to bring.
As for Joan and Toni, the situation resulted in Joan kicking Toni out and ending their friendship — to be honest, the two did make up, but they regularly clashed several times throughout the series.
The Game is an American television series created by Mara Brock Akil. A spin-off of UPN's Girlfriends, the series premiered on its successor network The CW on October 1, 2006.
Analyzing Joan Clayton’s fashion on “Girlfriends” ✨💄
Why did Girlfriends end so abruptly?
The show's cancellation was due to low ratings and high licensing costs in an unusual business environment, not a reflection of its quality or importance in TV history.
In fact, “all four of us were so protective” of each other and the women they portrayed onscreen, Ross says, “We all believed in the power of representation in terms of the characters we were playing.” “We are Black women, but we're telling a story of women,” Jones adds.
Fans began suspecting the reason behind actor Jill Marie Jones sudden departure from the show in 2006. But Jill who plays Toni Childs in Girlfriends revealed in an old interview with Essence Magazine that she had left the show because she wanted to do movies.
The 51-year-old star added that she is as heartbroken as the fans who want to see the show return, but she has accepted the fact that Girlfriends is not coming back. “The truth is, I think we have been broken-hearted in the past, but now we are past being broken-hearted,” she said.
Kendre Berry held the role for seasons 7 and 8. Why did they change Jabari on Girlfriends? There have been several speculations as to why this happened, among them being that Tanner Scott outgrew the role and thus could not continue. Since Girlfriends, Kain has mainly been on guest appearances.
Why did Joan and Toni stop being friends on Girlfriends?
In the season-two premiere, titled, “The Fallout,” tensions between the two characters reached a breaking point. In the episode, Joan admitted the role she played in Toni's breakup with her boyfriend, Greg. The betrayal led the real estate agent to slap her childhood friend across the face.
Ultimately, though, she bucks up and realizes that even though it's not the way she planned it, a baby may ultimately be a blessing. That only leaves her more crestfallen when she goes to the doctor and discovers that she isn't actually pregnant.
Sean has difficulty battling his sex addiction. Joan tries to help him out over the phone, and ultimately flies to New York to see him. He says that having sex only a few times a month is too difficult for him in his condition, and asks her to move to New York. Joan cannot do this, so they break up.
At the end of Season 7, she became engaged to Aaron Waters, whom she met while rehabilitating homes in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina; she moved into his home while Aaron was deployed to Iraq and rented her house to Lynn.
One very curious twitter user set off a domino of reactions from faithful Girlfriends fans after Tracee Ellis Ross replied to their inquiry. Tracee says Tia's character on The Game had actually started on Girlfriends as her cousin.
(Though Joan tried to make amends to Toni in Season 7, Toni refuses any further contact with Joan.) Although she is mentioned frequently in the early episodes of Season 7, Toni does not appear in Seasons 7 or 8 (due to Jones' departure).
In the show Toni left to move forward with her partner after a custody fight over their child. The reason for Toni's departure was that actress Jill Marie Jones didn't want to renew her contract. She was contracted for six seasons and had said she felt it was a good time to go and try other things, one being movies.
Since Girlfriends ended, Jill Marie Jones has worked steadily with roles in series like Sleepy Hollow; American Horror Story: Asylum; the OWN legal drama Delilah and the streaming series Monogamy.
By the time the show premiered, however, Jill Marie Jones had replaced Leslie Silva as Toni, Persia White had replaced Christina Cox as Lynn, and the original pilot never aired.
Kain appeared as Darnell Wilkes, Maya's (portrayed by Golden Brooks) husband on the UPN/CW TV series Girlfriends from season 2 through the conclusion of the series. Kain replaced his Juice co-star Flex Alexander, who left to star in the sitcom One on One.
