Many things have happened this year that probably weren’t on anyone’s 2023 bingo card. Learning that Solange Knowles was supposed to be a Cheetah Girl is likely one of those unexpected instances. In a recent interview, Adrienne Bailon revealed that the songstress was supposed to join to Chettahlicious crew. Of course, it didn’t work out that way.
Cheetah Girls: The Solange Version
The “We Said What We Said” podcast hosted by influencer duo, Rickey Thompson and Denzel Dion, often digs into interesting, unknown facts about pop culture. That being said, no one thought they would be walking into a bombshell piece of information like this when they invited Adrienne Bailon-Hougton on the show.
As most know, the cast of the original movie included Bailon-Houghton as Chanel “Chuchie” Simmons, Raven-Symoné as Galleria “Bubbles” Garibaldi, Sabrina Bryan as Dorinda “Do” Thomas, and Kiely Williams as Aquanette “Aqua” Walker.
When discussing her experience learning she landed the role, Bailon-Houghton revealed that the original cast was supposed to be different.
“I ended up finding out I got the role,” she began to explain. ” At the time, I was told that the other girls that were chosen were Raven-Symoné as Galleria, Sabrina Bryan as Dorinda, myself as Chanel, and Solange Knowles as Aqua.”
Aqua’s character aligned perfectly with who Knowles is. Bailon-Houghton explained that it just would have made sense.
“The character is supposed to be from Houston, Texas, She has the Texas accent, the hot sauce,” the actress continued. “It was supposed to be Solange, and originally she was supposed to be the cast member, and at the last minute, for whatever reason, ended up not doing the film.”
She explained that sometime later she was told who her cast mates were and that the decision for Knowles did not work out. Bailon-Houghton received a call while at a 3LW rehearsal asking if Williams could jump in for the role last minute. The rest was Cheetah-licious history!