Iyanla Vanzant is bringing mothers, daughters, Black men and women together for conversations that could get messy — on two new OWN Spotlight Specials.
The network announced details on the specials Wednesday, Sept. 23. The first installment titled Mothers & Daughters: Torn Apart with Iyanla Vanzant will air Friday, Oct. 9.
The following week, What Black Men Say vs. What Black Women Hear with Iyanla Vanzant airs Friday, Oct. 16. Both specials were filmed in front of a live audience and begin at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
In the first special, Vanzant works with three generations of mothers and daughters as they confront “painful truths and break destructive family cycles,” according to the official description.
On the second special, the spiritual life coach brings men and women together for a conversation about “the communication gap between Black men and Black women.”
Related: Iyanla Vanzant Rules Out Return to ‘Fix My Life’
The specials mark Vanzant’s return to working with guests in front of a live audience. The newly released teaser trailer shows Iyanla telling participants she’s trying to save their lives as tears flow.
“The wounds between mothers and daughters, and the disconnect between men and women, are rarely about what happened in a single moment,” Vanzant said in a statement. “They are often the result of generations of unmet needs, unspoken truths, and unheard hearts.”
She is best known for self-help series Fix My Life, which aired on OWN from 2012 to 2021. The episodes were often explosive as the life coach clashed with the people she was trying to help.
Earlier this year, she returned to OWN with Iyanla: The Inside Fix, a series that revisited episodes of Fix My Life to explore new lessons about healing.
In a January interview with Urban Hollywood 411, Vanzant ruled out recording new episodes of Fix My Life, saying the original series required days of intense work with guests, including everyday people, actors, singers and reality stars, who were often resistant to change.
“Very often, people came to Fix My Life, not just reality stars, they came thinking the problem was one thing, and when we got into it, they discovered it was something else. So it’s like, ‘What? No, it’s not me,’” Vanzant said, adding, “It’s you Boo. It’s you.”
The new specials give her a different setting to address difficult relationships and encourage people to communicate. They are produced by Bunim/Murray Productions for OWN.
Again, the specials air Oct. 9 and 16. Both episodes will stream the next day on Discovery+ and HBO Max.
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