Remember Janine from 'House of Payne'? She has rarely-seen grown-up son who is her carbon-copy

Singer, actress, and mom, Demetria McKinney, has been pretty busy in the last year, as her career continues on its way to the top. She recently landed one of her dreamed roles in the musical “The Wiz,” and despite her increasing fame, she has managed to keep her son away from the spotlight.

Demetria McKinney first became known to the public thanks to her supporting role as Janine in Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne.” Later, she earned more fame thanks to her short-lived participation on “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” and had a regular role in the series “Saints & Sinners.”

These days, she has roles in the series “The Quad,” “The Paynes,” and “Superstition,” and on top of that, she released her first album “Officially Yours” in October and gave life to Whitney Houston in Bobbi Kristina’s biopic of the same name that premiered on the same month last year.

McKinney has been open about her struggles while growing up and all the hardships she had to face before becoming successful in the industry. Her mother’s husband sexually harassed her as a teenager, and even after he brought the issue to her mom, the woman refused to believe her. That led Demetria to leave her house, and she was homeless at 17. She was physically abused by a boyfriend and became a single mom at 19.

However, Demetria has been able to overcome every single obstacle in her life, and to this day, she’s enjoying of a successful career that she has built from nothing thanks to her talent and resilience. But she knows the price of fame, and perhaps that’s why she prefers to keep some things of her life away from the cameras, especially her son.

The young man is 18-years-old, and he has been featured on his mom’s Instagram only once when she posted a special message to the boy for his birthday three years ago. At the time, she wrote: “#HappyBirthday to my 1st TRUE LOVE. This right here is my heart....1 I would truly #TradeItAll for. I love you Kiddo! #Minime.”

As a single mom, focusing on her career while trying to maintain a relationship with his son has been a difficult task for McKinney, as she confessed to The Atlanta Voice last year saying:

“That part has been hard. I’m really glad my son is of age now. He’s 18. So, he’s looking for that independence along with me now having to give it to him. The communication we still have is awesome. He’s still asking me for money. He still trying to be my dad by checking on where I am and what I’m wearing. We are still very much connected, and we are because we were before all this began.”

The 38-years-old star also admitted that she’s aware of what she puts out there for the public to see, and even when she protects herself and family a lot, there are always rumors surrounding her, like every public figure.

She said:

“I wasn’t really affected so much by the lack of privacy because I control what I put out there. Whatever that isn’t true, I can’t control that. That’s what people do. For me, it’s the personal relationships. Learning who I can really trust as this thing grows and shifts and moves into something else. I’ve had to lose some people. I’ve had to cry a little bit. I’ve had to grow a lot, and some people have changed.”

Demetria most recent milestone was getting the role of Glinda the Good Witch on “The Wiz” the African American musical take on “The Wizard of Oz” presented at The Muny in St. Louis.