Geoffrey Owens, 'Cosby Show' Actor, 'Still Struggles to Make a Living' After Quitting Cashier Job
Geoffrey Owens admitted how he is still struggling to make ends meet after he went viral in 2018.
Owens, who played Elvin Tibideaux on The Cosby Show, appeared on the Big Tigger Morning Show on Atlanta's V-103 on December 18 where he described how, "Even today, right now, as we speak, I still struggle to make a living."
"I struggle every day to make my ends meet. And people can't get their heads around that because they see me in movies," he added.
Owens says he was forced to quit his Trader Joe's job after an "attack on my privacy." In 2018, a customer took a picture of Owens working at the grocery chain, and the snap quickly went viral.
"It was strange because someone had been in the store taking pictures," the 63-year-old remembered. "And I was like, 'Now that this is breaking I'm not going to feel comfortable working in this store wondering who is around with a camera.' It would just be too weird. I'm a very private person."
He added: "It wasn't like I quit knowing I would be making a lot of money soon or anything. I just felt like I wasn't going to be able to handle that kind of scrutiny and attack on my privacy."
The Cosby Show star Geoffrey Owens is spotted working as a cashier at Trader Joe's in New Jersey https://t.co/cSMYf74DET
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) August 31, 2018
"At first, there was some negative stuff about basically the job shaming. A 'where is he now' kinda thing," Owens continued. "But then, very soon after that, there was all this support and encouragement from all over the world." That support included a lump sum of cash from Nicki Minaj, $25,000 to be exact, that Owens ultimately donated to charity. He said how he "didn't feel right to keep it" without working for it.
The Brooklyn, New York, native described his TV residual checks "never particularly wonderful," revealing he only acted in "maybe 20% of shows" of The Cosby Show.
"People have a false impression of what the average middle-class actor makes and their ability to make a living in the industry," Owens, who graduated from Yale University, said.
Owens has also appeared on Tyler Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and 50 Cent's Power and Power Book II: Ghost on Starz.
Owens currently stars on Poppa's House on CBS, starring Damon Wayans as Poppa, a popular New York City radio DJ, and his son Damon Wayans Jr.
