‘Baywatch’ Actor Gregory Alan Williams Breaks Down in Tears in Docuseries

Bay watch actor Gregory Alan Williams, who played Sgt. Garner Ellerbee on the popular lifeguard series and its spin-off, Baywatch nightsneeded a break from filming his interview for the new Hulu docuseries After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun. Looking back on some of his experiences as a black actor on the show was sometimes too much.

The emotional moment came in the third episode, when Williams recalled an experience from the show’s first season. He was invited by a producer to attend a promotional shoot on the beach, but when he got there, he was told he wasn’t needed.

“That walk back across the sand was the longest walk I’ve ever taken in my life,” he said.

“I realized I wasn’t what they were selling. Bay watch was a show that celebrated European beauty,” Williams said. “So at that point I put a wall between myself and the show and decided I was going to enjoy it and make money, but I wasn’t going to let it hurt me. Those were Bay watch lessons.”

“Baywatch was a great thing for me,” Williams continued. “It taught me. It gave me strength. It hurt me at times — but so do the people and things we love.”

Williams became emotional and asked for a break. When he returned, he said he was grateful: “I really needed a chance to process this s—, man.”

Williams starred in the series for the first five seasons before moving on to the spin-off.

After Baywatch serves as a sort of reckoning for the series, which ran from 1989 to 2001. The docuseries takes an inside look at Baywatch, as cast members open up about their experiences.

Actress Alexandra Paul, who played lifeguard Stephanie Holden, said she “kept asking the producers to please give me a boyfriend of color.” Eventually, they agreed. “And so they said, ‘Alexandra, we wrote a couple episodes where you have a boyfriend. And guess what? He’s Latino,'” Paul recalled. “And I said, ‘Oh, that’s great.’ And then I read the script, and he’s a gang member. And I went back to the producers and I said, ‘You can’t make him a gang member.’ So they made him an ex-gang member.”

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The docuseries noted that television in general failed to accurately portray race and racism during the 1992 Los Angeles race riots, which followed the acquittal of police officers filmed beating Rodney King, a black man.

“It’s a very tumultuous time, especially all the talk about race,” said journalist Chris Connelly. “None of it touches Bay watch.”

After Baywatch notes that Williams had a connection to the riots. Archive footage showed him dragging a man away from a crowd after the man’s vehicle was hit with rocks.

“People were breaking the windows of the Bronco and starting to hit him — you know, pipes, bars, rocks, fists, bottles. And I saw him slump over the steering wheel,” Williams said. “And I said to myself, Man, if you stand here and let these people kill this man in front of your eyes, you’ll never be able to look yourself in the eye again.“

After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun is now streaming on Hulu.