The Cheetah Girls almost featured Solange Knowles as a cheetah sister!
via: Page Six
Adrienne Bailon stunned “Cheetah Girls” fans when she revealed on Tuesday that Beyoncé’s sister was an original cast member in the movie.
“I got the role and at the time, I was told that that the other girls that were chosen were Raven-Symoné as Galleria, Sabrina Bryan as Dorinda, myself as Chanel, and Solange as Aqua,” the former “Real” co-host told “We Said What We Said With Rickey and Denzel” listeners.
Bailon, 39, noted that Aquanette “Aqua” Walker’s “character is supposed to be from Houston” — like the 37-year-old “Stay Flo” singer — and “has the Texas accent [and] the hot sauce.”
While “it was supposed to be Solange and originally she was supposed to be Aqua,” Kiely Williams took over the role when Knowles “ended up not doing the film … at the last minute … for whatever reason.”
Bailon recalled, “I remember I was in dance rehearsal with [our girl group] 3LW and we got a phone call that said, ‘Is there any way that Kiely could jump into the role for Aqua?’”
Surprised social media users expressed mixed feelings over the possibility of Knowles being a member of the fictional Disney Channel group.
“Cheetah girls was huge, but I don’t think it would’ve fit her brand,” one of the podcast’s Instagram followers wrote.
However, others wrote that the actress “would have been perfect” and they felt “robbed of an experience,” with one fan gushing, “This would’ve changed pop culture history!!”
The “Cheetah Girls” movie, which was based off of Deborah Gregory’s book of the same name, premiered in 2003.
Following its success, Bailon, Williams, 37, Bryan, 38, and Raven-Symoné, 37, starred in “The Cheetah Girls 2” in 2006 — although the “That’s So Raven” alum did not return for “The Cheetah Girls: One World” two years later.
Bailon does remain close with Raven-Symoné, telling Page Six in October 2022 that her co-star played a special role in her son Ever‘s surrogacy journey.
“Implanting him, finding out that we were pregnant, [it] was all while I was shooting [‘Raven’s Home’],” she told us at the time.
