Get To Know The Milian Family
Content Producer/Editor: Donnel Perry ([email protected]) Correspondent: Briea Chanel ([email protected])
With her sisters Danielle and Liz, and momager Carmen by her side, Christina Milian is taking over E! with her new reality show, Christina Milian Turned Up. The series showcases Christina’s return to music, her family, being a mother to her daughter Violet and her everyday hustle as an artist and entrepreneur in the entertainment industry. But Christina isn’t the only one who’s turned up this season. Her mom and manager Carmen and sisters Liz and Danielle all come together to show the passion, beauty and drama that comes with family and fame. Carmen, Liz and Danielle spoke with us at GirlMuch.com to share their personal insight on the new E! series, relationship advice, the pros and cons of working with family and more!
Read it all in our exclusive interview below:
Carmen Milian-Flores
Q: How do you feel after filming “Christina Turned Up” and what can we expect from you this season? How did you feel about the premiere of the first episode?
A: Filming our family docu-series was a little difficult for me at first because I’ve always been use to being behind the cameras and 
not in front of it. I’m not use to having a camera follow every step I take or have a microphone record every word I say. I felt it was a bit intrusive at first but eventually I became more comfortable with it.
A: In this season I think people will get a chance to get to know me outside of the “Mamager” role that everyone thinks I am 24/7. My life is actually more about my love and concern for my 3 daughters and my grandkids. They will see that I’m just a normal single Latin mom who wants to love and protect her kids.
A: Watching the premier was nerve racking and exciting at the same time. It’s scary waiting to see what people were going to think about the show. After it ended the phone rang off the hook with people calling to express how much they LOVED the show and wanted to see more. All the great feedback was nothing but music to my ears.
Q: How do you manage to balance being both a single mother and a manager to your daughters? How is your experience running Milian Corp and what are the responsibilities that come with this role?
A: There is a fine line between my job and my personal life. I try very hard to keep them separate. As a manager I professionally consult and guide my daughters as clients about business. I have a thinking process that comes from a place of experience, a lot of research and education mixed with common sense. If my daughters don’t agree with my recommendation, it’s ok with me because at the end of the day they’re the boss and they have the final say so when it comes to their career choices. Now when I deal with them as their mother I give them good old fashion love and heart felt advice. That’s when my opinion comes with more passion and concern. This is when I do care if they don’t listen or value my opinion which I’ve been known to take personal. I’ll admit I can be a bit sensitive and end up getting my feelings hurt when we don’t agree on things. But now I believe we are all in a good space and we have mutually come to a place of love and respect for each other’s opinions and agree that it is ok to disagree.
A: Milian Corporation is our basically our mothership. All our businesses run thru it and that’s where we began building the family empire.
Q: Based on your brand image we know you classify yourself as a motivational speaker, why is that?
A: I have been been involved in several charity events over the years as motivation speaker along side of Christina at inner city schools, boys & girls clubs, shelters and foster girls homes. We have had the opportunity to speak and motivate young kids, teens 
and struggling moms about our own personal struggles and how we overcame them. We’ve covered issues from self esteem issues, bullying in school to trying to inspire kids to stay in school. Many of these events that I participated in have not been documented because I was not famous nor did I draw in media attention. But I did it for my own personal reason which was to hopefully help them get through their struggles by asking them to have faith and never give up on yourself or others because God will never give up on you.
Q: You’ve had many roles throughout your career, can you tell us about your experience being in the costume department of Christina Milian’s hit movie “Love Don’t Cost A Thing”?
A: The funny thing about that particular job was that I got it by default. The original wardrobe stylist on the film was fired during the 2nd week of filming. Needless to say there was chaos on the set the day it happened. The director and producers just loved how I styled Christina in her everyday life and when they found that I had been her wardrobe stylist in her videos and made all her stage costumes they called me in and begged me to take over her characters wardrobe. They handed me a budget and assigned me a seamstress as my assistant and I started working that same night. I ended up doing all Christina’s character’s wardrobe for the entire film and for all the marketing and promotion. They ended up hiring someone else a few days later for the rest of the actors in the film.
Q: How was the experience of working with Hollywood producer Kelsey Grammar?
A: Kelsey Grammar is a credited producer on our show but none of us had the pleasure to meet him yet. Two of the executive directors on our show are signed to his production company so that’s how his name gets in on the credits.
Q: How do you feel about Christina wanting to take more control of her career after all of these years?
A: Don’t let Christina fool you, she has always been in control of her career. She’s a lot bossier then she leads people to believe.
She just decided over the last few years to start doing projects on her own. That means without me consulting or managing her. She has her own clothing line called “We Are Pop Culture” and a hookah line called “Platinum Hookahs” which I’m not a part of either one. Honestly she has worked along side of me long enough to know what she is doing and so far both business are doing well. If she needs my help or she gets in any trouble she knows exactly where to find me.
I’ve also been venturing out on my own and plan to pursue my own projects like cook books or a How to manage your child in the entertainment business. I’m also thinking of starting my own clothing line in the future.
Christina and I now work as a team, we have started a few companies together but this time as equal partners. We have wine company called “Viva Diva” We sell in 22 states and we have an exclusive deal with Wines.com . We have a musical animation we created and own together called “Shelby Star”. Last but not least we are both executive producers on our docu-series and we plan to continue producing together more films and television shows in the future.
Danielle Milian
Q: How does it feel being the head of beauty for Christina Milian and her team? Can you name some of your celebrity clients and a 
hairstylist and beauty expert?
A: Christina as well as the rest of us Milians work with a multitude of talented makeup artists and hairstylists that help us establish our looks that are ever changing.
Q: In the show we see that your relationship can become difficult at times, do you have any advice on how to balance building a brand, maintaining a healthy marriage and raising a family?
A: It’s easy to put your children first, but it takes work and is so important to nurture your marriage as well. I think Work is always important because it maintains a sense of self that most likely attracted your partner in the first place.
Q: When did you first discover your passion for the world of beauty? How is it writing for Latina Magazine, and what topics do you enjoy writing about the most?
A: I discovered my love for the beauty industry early on but decided to follow the dream in 2004 after going on the usher tour with Christina. I blog about the newest trends and best products on Latina.com . My favorite things to cover are celebrity looks and how to get them.
Q: How is the experience filming “Christina Milian Turned Up”? How do you feel now that the first 2 episodes have aired?
A: Filming the show was quite an experience. I’m an open book so the audience will see many sides of my personality. So far viewers have seen a very limited side of myself and my relationship. Soon I hope they see me in a different light than what’s played out so far.
Liz Milian
Q: Seeing that you’re a personal chef, have you had any celebrity clients and if so who?
A: When I first graduated culinary school I was about 18 years old and I was fortunate enough to be around a lot of celebrity and cook for plenty of them but never really called it work Bc they were more or less peers people like cool & Dre, Rick Ross, nick 
cannon , DJ Khaled and a few others.
Q: What are you favorite dishes to cook?
A: I can pretty much emulate any meal but I make a killer tomato pie, I enjoyed making many variations of sticky toffee pudding and lately I’ve been know for my white chocolate s’more eggrolls.
Q: How does it feel writing your first cook book and what is the potential release date of the book?
A: I’m so excited to be writing a non conventional cookbook. It has given me opportunity to be creative all across the board from writing to plating. I’m still finishing up a few details but it’s pretty much good to go. But just like any book, I’m gonna publish it and hope crazy ppl like me purchase it ☺️
Q: When did you first discover your passion for cooking and journalism?
A: In high school I started to read comedic biographies written by people such as Paul Feig. I loved the concept of intertwining your personal life experiences and ideas to shape a story for person you are today. I figured The same could and should be done with chefs…. Oh! And also my followers kept yelling at me for posting pictures of food and never telling them how to make it. Lmao
Q: I see you write weekly columns for OK! Magazine, what topics do you enjoy writing about the most?
A: I love the idea of making Latin food kosher. For most it’s a large stumbling block for me I believe it is the best challenge and makes for good writing.
Q: How is the experience working with your sisters & mother filming “Christina Milian Turned Up”? Do you all get along for the most part?
A: Filming CMTU was definitely something new for all of us. Sometimes it felt like too many chiefs and not enough Indians and some days it felt like no cameras are on us and we are just having a good time. You gotta learn to love it or else you’ll go crazy.
Q: How do you feel now that the first episode has aired?
A: I’m pretty happy with everything that they’ve shown on the season thus far I’m only sad they cut out a lot of funny scenes! I don’t even mind when they showed me pounding on walls, now ppl KNOW I’m crazy no question about it Hahaah .
Q: In the show you talk about your religious journey. How has your life changed now that you’ve converted to Judaism?
A: I haven’t finished my conversion and My life hasn’t changed too much. But now that the show has shined a light on it, everybody seems to have a opinion on how I live my life, what I wear and who I date. The same ppl who applaud kids for getting Botox will shun me for letting my elbows show. I can’t please everyone, so I please myself. It seems to be working out just fine.
