LisaRaye Explains How Playing A Stripper In 'The Players Club' Gave Her An Identity Crisis

by Daryl Nelson

LisaRaye McCoy shot to fame after playing Diana “Diamond” Armstrong in the 1998 film The Players Club but it led to her having an identity crisis.

She recently talked about the Ice Cube-directed movie in an interview and how things changed for her after its release.

"I had an identity crisis after Players Club because I felt like I had to have the long hair and look like my character Diamond in order to be recognized," McCoy told Page Six. "Players Club put me on the map… it made me a bona fide sex symbol, and when you are a sex symbol people think that you’re sexy all the time and that stigma follows you. So, I am forever Diamond." 

"I’m an older Diamond now but diamonds always shine, so I am here for it," she added. "I did not know what sexy was at the time … I think it was best for me not to really know, because I probably would’ve tried to play it up in my role and messed it up.”

Where would you rank The Players Club among other Ice Cube related films?