Barbershop Star's Drug Drama

Blue-eyed hottie Michael Ealy has made a living playing characters on the wrong side of the law. In addition to the convicted felon he channeled in both Barbershop flicks, the 30-year-old actor portrays a young man driven into a seedy world of drugs and murder in the disturbing new film Never Die Alone. "It is repugnant and repulsive and it is relentless," Ealy says of the latter flick. "It is hard to look at."

So much so that he advised his mother not to see it — advice she failed to heed. "I spoke to my mom and she said she saw it at a sneak preview," he sighs. "She just said three words, 'Foul, foul, foul.' Then she had to go back to her prayer meeting. I'm probably in trouble.

"My mom listens to gospel," he continues. "This is not gospel. This is a world that my mom worked hard to keep me from. I can't imagine her watching me exist in this world. It has got to be difficult for her to separate me as actor and son, but at the same time she is probably counting her blessings that it wasn't really my story."

Although the MPAA slapped Never Die Alone with an R rating, Ealy admits he's worried that kids will see the flick and miss its message. The whole point of the film is "that this is not the life you want," he says. "I don't think that 12-year-olds would get it. This movie is rated R for a reason. It is not for everybody."