Empire season 4 is in full swing, and Grace Byers, 33, is one busy woman. In addition to playing Anika on the hit FOX show, Grace and her co-star turned husband Trai Byers, 34, are now the face of the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism’s romance ad campaign starting this October. Grace was raised in the Cayman Islands, so this partnership is such an exciting and rewarding experience for her and her husband. The campaign photos of the couple are simply gorgeous!
HollywoodLife.com sat down EXCLUSIVELY with Grace to talk about what’s going to happen with Anika now that she’s out of prison and ready to go back into full-time mom mode with baby Bella. Plus, we also chatted about Grace and Trai’s stunning April 2016 nuptials, which took place in Grace’s hometown. Check out our Q&A with Grace below! Then make sure you see our exclusive photos of Grace from our studio session, as well as the beautiful campaign photos of Grace and Trai in our gallery above!
When Anika gets out of jail, what kind of challenges is she going to be facing?
Grace Byers: I think the biggest, most immediate challenge is that the Lyon family has been looking after her child this entire time. So the question is, will they give her back? How does Anika assimilate into this culture of not being the primary person in Bella’s life anymore? Things have shifted. Things have changed. Bella is growing up, and with Anika not being there, it is definitely the biggest challenge. I think that will play out for some time.
How do you Anika will react to this new Lucious?
Grace Byers: I’d be very interested in seeing the dynamic between the two of them. Like now that Lucious doesn’t remember anything, will he see Anika and fall madly in love because there’s some part of him that loved her before? Is there no affinity for her at all because there are no memories to pull from? I think at this point Anika is very upset with Lucious. I feel like she thinks that he just kind of let her rot in jail and hasn’t even come to see her, or find out if she really did kill Tarik. None of that. I think a part of her is still really upset with him. I can’t guarantee what she’ll do when she sees him.
Cookie and Anika’s relationship is one of my favorites. Do you think there will ever come a time when they could be friends?
Grace Byers: No [laughs]. I don’t think so! I think there was a time when that door could have been open, and I just don’t think that anymore. Cookie is very much for her family. She’s very ride or die for her family, and Anika continues to cross too many people in the family.
How did you decide that you wanted to get married in Grand Cayman?
Grace Byers: I love this part of the conversation because it gives me the opportunity to tell people more about where I’m from. I am bi-racial, so my father is a white American and my mother is an Afro-Caribbean Caymanian. I grew up in the Cayman Islands with my mom. She raised us, my sister and I, with her entire family, so the Cayman culture is what I know. It’s what I grew up knowing and loving and embracing. I did not come back to America until I was 18 years old, so that was a whole other culture shock in and of itself. I go back home very often. Everyone is still there, and when Trai and I started dating, I took him back to the Cayman Islands and he met my family. He met everyone there. First of all, he was like, “The island is stunning.” Secondly, he was like, “You’re a different person when you’re here. You’re more alive. You can tell this is your home. You can just tell this is where you grew up. I love who you are here.” He’s like, “Your accent comes out here!” It was really wonderful. When we were thinking about venues, I was sure I wanted to elope somewhere else, and he said, “No, I think we need to go back to your home and do it there.” And I was like, “Really?” He said, “The water is stunning. That can be your backdrop.” And it was.
You said you wanted to elope. Did you and Trai always want to go somewhere and get married?
Grace Byers: When Trai and I started dating, Empire was still kind of starting to become popular. So however many months later, I was like, “Okay, I just wanted to go somewhere where I won’t be bothered.” That was the main thing. I think eventually a destination wedding became the thing when it was just that I wanted to go somewhere. Literally, the plan was to elope. And then Trai was like, “No, we need at least the closest family there.”
When you were planning your ceremony, did you incorporate your Caymanian culture?
Grace Byers: Yes, absolutely. A few of my friends have gotten married since I have and they asked, “What advice do you have about planning a wedding?” I said, pick a few words and then when you’re putting your wedding together, make sure that those words are incorporated. That’s how you can level everything down. So for us, it was elegant, classic, island, so that was kind of like the native aspect. It wasn’t like any island, but my island. We wanted to make sure all those things were in there. Plus, warm. I guess I would say light. So not just the sun, we had candles, we had chandeliers, we had lanterns. With island being one of the words, we made sure that we found different ways to incorporate the culture. Not only was it on the beach, which was one thing and we decided to keep everything really simple because the background was so beautiful, but we had little graters as favors. A big part of Cayman culture was way back in the day a lot of people would get together in someone’s kitchen and grab their fiddles and pots and pans and graters and would scratch them and play. We have a band back home called Swanky that will actually do this kind of music. So when we were introducing the favors, it said, “Instead of tapping your glass of wine, here’s a taste of Caymankind (which is a hashtag that we use back home). Scratch this grate with all your might to see the groom kiss his bride tonight.” So they were using it throughout the whole night, and then they got to keep them. When our MC was introducing it, he was like, “Hey, this is a part of Cayman culture!” So Trai’s family was able to learn little things. My uncle is 75 years old, and he has this band that he’s had for years. He’s a local artist, so he performed. We had guests drinking out of coconuts. It was great.
Why are the Cayman Islands the perfect place for a wedding?
Grace Byers: I think that it’s exclusive and reclusive. For me, some people want really big, large, lovely events, and that can still happen in the Cayman Islands because it’s just so stunning. But the majority of people I know that are looking for the perfect wedding vibe are looking for something that’s intimate. The Cayman Islands can absolutely provide that because we have indoor venues like hotels, gorgeous set-ups and gardens. You can do a beach, which is really stunning and what we did. Or you can do a historical places like Pedro castle, which is our oldest castle building in the Islands. It’s been a courthouse, it’s been a jail, it’s been a restaurant, it’s been so many different things. It’s so imperative to our culture, and so many people get married there. There are so many different vibes that you can have there. You can even get married in the water. Our diving sites are among top-rated in the world. People will dive and get married. I think that apart from the stunning beauty, it provides an intimacy and a beauty you can’t really get everywhere. Plus, the food. The food is so good. We’re considered the Culinary Capital of the Caribbean. Trust me, we earn the title.
What does it mean to you and Trai to be a part of this new campaign?
Grace Byers: Well, Trai’s here for the entire ride. He’s like, “Oh my gosh, I love Cayman.” He’s thrilled. For me, because I grew up there, I’m already doing something that is paving the way for a lot of Cayman artists, artists that may feel like they can’t go off and dream big dreams because it’s never really happened for a Caymanian before. So I take being an ambassador for my country very seriously. Everyone that knows me knows that I love my country. So being able to be the liaison between the world and my country is an honor.
HollywoodLifers, is Anika your favorite Empire character? Are Grace and Trai your favorite Hollywood couple? Let us know!