Tracee Ellis Ross struggled to figure out who she was after ‘Girlfriends’ ended.

The 49-year-old star got her breakthrough in 2000 playing lawyer ‘Joan Clayton’ in the comedy series and when it concluded in 2008, the actress had to go through a “grieving process” because so much of her true self was tangled up in her character.

She said: “It was such a huge portion of who I was and had become.

“Especially because Joan wore a lot of Tracee’s clothes. Joan and Tracee’s hairstyles were the same. All my favourite lipsticks were Joan’s favourite lipsticks. My shoes were Joan’s favourite shoes.

“And although we weren’t the same person in any way, shape, or form, my physical self was really being utilised.

“It took me time to kind of figure out who I was again. When the show finished … in hindsight, I could say I was sort of going through a bit of a grieving process.”

But Tracee admitted she was always very different to her character in her outlook on relationships.

She told America’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine: “On ‘Girlfriends’, I spent eight years speaking a language that I have spent years trying to unpack. Waiting to be chosen was all Joan talked about. And I am not—I don’t want that.”

The ‘Black-ish’ star is happy to voice her opinion of she’s not convinced of something, but she admitted it wasn’t always “well received” when she spoke out while working on ‘Girlfriends’.

She admitted: “There were a lot of instances on ‘Girlfriends’ when I used my voice powerfully and it wasn’t well received.

“People don’t want to be told that what they’re doing might not be the right thing or might not make everybody happy. But I am somebody who – I don’t just go along to get along.”