Tracee Ellis Ross Gets Real About Being Called the “Poster Child for Singledom” by Oprah

Actress and entrepreneur Tracee Ellis Ross is offering a fresh and intimate look at what it means to live fully and freely in your 50s, unapologetically single, child-free, and on her own terms.

In her new Roku series Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross, the black-ish and Girlfriends star invites viewers to join her as she journeys across the globe, from Morocco to Mexico to France, exploring the world, herself, and the often-overlooked beauty of solitude.

Through vlog-style footage, Ross shares her travel routines, personal reflections, and spontaneous moments that highlight the richness of solo living.

In one poignant episode, Ross revisits a remark made by Oprah Winfrey during a 2020 Visionaries interview, where the media mogul jokingly referred to her as “the poster child for singledom.”

While the comment resonated at the time, Ross now uses the label as a jumping-off point for a deeper reflection on what it means to live a meaningful life outside of conventional norms.

“I don’t want to be the poster child for singledom,” Ross explains. “I want to be the poster child for being an inhabitant in your own skin, for living in your own skin.”

She emphasizes that her lifestyle isn’t defined by the absence of a partner or children, but by a commitment to self-exploration and joy. “Yes, I am a single Black woman who does not have children. But not having a long-term relationship or children has allowed me to explore things about my own humanity,” Ross says.

“It has deposited me here, at 52, in an extraordinary experience filled with joy, loneliness, grief, exuberance, and delight literally all of it. And I feel available to it.”

Her words echo a growing movement of women who are choosing autonomy and intentional living over societal expectations. In reflecting on her past statement to Oprah — “I am choicefully single. Gloriously single.”

Ross highlights a common double standard: “So many people have asked, ‘Have you ever thought about having children? My child gave my life meaning.’ I’m like, ‘Are you saying my life isn’t meaningful?’”

Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross is more than a travelogue, it’s a celebration of freedom, a challenge to societal norms, and an intimate portrait of a woman embracing her life as it is, not as others expect it to be.

The series is streaming now on Roku.