Phylicia Rashad is one of television’s most iconic moms, but in real life she is a mother of two children: William “Billy” and Condola.
The Cosby Show actress became a mom for the first time in 1973 with the birth of her son, Billy. She and her first husband, William Lancelot Bowles Jr., welcomed him before they divorced in 1975.
At the time, Phylicia was pursuing her acting career on Broadway. However, when her son was 10 years old, she landed the role of a lifetime as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show. Her work as the maternal character resulted in Phylicia being named “the mother” of the Black community at the 2010 NAACP Image Awards.
“I didn’t think about myself as being a Black mother. I’m a mother,” she later told Bustle. “I didn’t think about my children being Black children; I think of my children being children.”
In 1985, Phylicia married former NFL player and sportscaster Ahmad Rashad. The couple welcomed their daughter, Condola, a year later. Like her mom and aunt — actress Debbie Allen — Condola was interested in the arts and is now a musician and an actress, appearing both onstage and on-screen.
“What I am proudest of with my daughter is her work ethic,” Phylicia said in an interview with online magazine Bossip. “She’s phenomenal. I’m very proud of her.”
Here’s everything to know about Phylicia Rashad’s children: William and Condola.
William Lancelot Bowles III
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The family lived in New York, where Bowles worked as a dentist while Phylicia was pursuing a career on Broadway. However, when Billy was a toddler, his parents divorced.
Despite her demanding career, Phylicia would do her best to keep Billy close, including taking him to rehearsals of The Wiz with her. “At age 7, he could say, ‘Mommy, you needed more energy in this part here,’ and he’d be right!” she said.
However, his interest in the entertainment industry didn’t continue and, as an adult, William lives a private life away from the spotlight. Phylicia doesn’t share photos of him on social media, and even in interviews, she reveals very little.
According to a 2009 conversation with The New York Times, William works in computer graphics. In another interview in 2020, she told the hosts of The Breakfast Club podcast that he was living on the West Coast.
She also spoke about her philosophy as a mother and wanting to let her kids create their own path in life. “The most important thing that I wanted my children to learn was, ‘Who are you really?’ And that’s an inner journey,” she said.
Condola Phylea Rashad
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On Dec. 11, 1986, almost a year after their wedding, they added a sixth child to the family when they welcomed their daughter, Condola Phylea Rashad.
Growing up, Condola, who was named after her paternal grandmother, went by her middle name, Phylea. She started going by the name Condola in college because Phylea sounded so similar to her mom’s name of Phylicia and since she was pursuing her own career in the arts, she wanted to make sure her name was distinguishable.
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Like her mom and her mom’s sister, actress Debbie Allen, Condola was interested in performing. In fact, she started taking weekly piano lessons when she was 7 years old and continued until she turned 18. She then went to college at the California Institute of the Arts, graduating in 2008 with a degree in theater.
“I grew up in the theater with my mom and that’s how I knew I wanted to be an actor,” she told Interview Magazine in 2016. “My mom was really busy when I was growing up, but she did a really good job in terms of balancing her home life with her professional life,” she said, adding, “She basically took me everywhere. She was like, ‘If I have rehearsal, I’m just going to bring you.’ ”
Speaking to Bossip, Phylicia recalled introducing her daughter to the art of acting. “When she was very young, I would always take her with me and she was always watching what the work actually was — how it was coming together, what the rehearsal process was like,” she explained. “When she learned to read, she helped me learn my lines.”
Speaking to Town & Country magazine in 2018, Phylicia expressed her admiration for her daughter and made sure to give her all the credit. “I’ve never made a single phone call for Condola,” she said.
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In her interview with Bossip, Phylicia gushed about her daughter’s talent and work ethic. “She’s phenomenal. I’m very proud of her,” she said. “She’s accomplished — oh my goodness, when I look at her career and the chronology of it and the timing of it, coming out of school, it’s pretty darn amazing.”
It seems the admiration goes both ways. In 2020, Condola shared a loving Mother’s Day tribute on Instagram with two pictures: one of her and her mom when she was a toddler and another of her mom, aunt and grandmother.
“My whole life, I have looked up to this woman,” she wrote alongside the photos. “Words cannot express the level of gratitude I have for her as a mother, for her as her own woman in this world. Infinitely grateful to be a branch on this divine Feminine tree of goddesses.”
