She was one of the most beloved members of the Huxtable family and certainly the cutest. From 1984 to 1992, Keshia Knight Pulliam starred on The Cosby Show as Rudy Huxtable, the youngest child in the family. She was only five years old when the series began, but that didn't stop her from receiving an Emmy nomination for the role when she was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series after the show's second season.
After The Cosby Show ended, Knight Pulliam stopped acting almost entirely for 10 years, instead finishing school and attending college. Now, she's back at it and also pursuing other interests too. Read on to find out more about the former child star's life today.
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She's still an actor.
Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesKnight Pulliam took a hiatus from performing following The Cosby Show. During this break, she attended Spelman College, graduating in 2001 with a degree in sociology and a concentration in film.
In 2002, she started acting regularly again. She was in 2005's Beauty Shop and 2009's Madea Goes to Jail. In 2007, she began starring on the TV series House of Payne and stayed on until it concluded in 2012. She returned when the show was revived in 2020 and remains on it currently.
Some of her other recent projects include the TV movies Redeemed, The Christmas Aunt, and Tempted by Danger.
She's done a lot of reality TV.
Paul Natkin/WireImage via Getty ImagesKnight Pulliam has participated in several reality TV shows and competitions. She was on Fear Factor, The Mole, Splash, The Celebrity Apprentice, and Celebrity Big Brother. She also was the host of Married at First Sight: Afterparty in 2022.
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She runs her own business.
Paras Griffin/Getty ImagesIn addition to acting, Knight Pulliam is passionate about cooking and sells her own line of spices called Keshia's Kitchen.
"I realized that people just weren’t at home. Everyone eats out, everyone orders food in, or what have you," Knight Pulliam told Essence. "And I decided to do my own spices, because I realized a lot of people don’t cook because they’re like, ‘I don’t know what to put on chicken' or ‘I don’t know how to season my vegetables to make them taste good.’ So I made it really easy. I have a meat, a poultry, and an all-purpose.”
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She's a mom.
Paras Griffin/Getty ImagesKnight Pulliam welcomed her daughter, Ella Hartwell, in 2017 with her ex-husband former NFL player Ed Hartwell.
"I just love being a mom,” she told Closer Weekly in 2020. “Out of everything I’ve ever done, that is my greatest joy and my greatest accomplishment.”
She said that her daughter has shown interest in acting already, but that she didn't plan on taking her to auditions. "No, my plan is allowing her to be a child," Knight Pulliam said. "If it organically happens, it happens. This is her stage to just explore the world and her different interests, and for me to support that."
Now, Knight Pulliam is married to her second husband, actor Brad James, who she met when they worked on the movie Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta together.
"Last week my life forever changed," she wrote on Instagram when they got married in October 2021. "I married my best friend at our home surrounded by family & it was magical!!!" She added, "It wasn’t the large destination wedding we were originally planning. Instead, it was intimate, whimsical, full of love, laughter and joy… Absolutely perfect!!"
