Jenna Von Oy Meets World

Icons of the ‘90s collide when the gang talks to Jenna Von Oy, a.k.a. Six from “Blossom!” You might know her voice from “A Goofy Movie,” but one host has totally different memories - from when they dated! Hear all the stories of this whirlwind romance that ended in a parking lot.

After Rider and Danielle go superfan on Jenna, we hear HOW she pulled off filming “Blossom” and “Lenny” at the same time! It won’t surprise you that she started drinking coffee at 6 years old.
 
So grab your floppy hat and oversized flower for an all-new interview, with another member of the Inner Circle, on Pod Meets World!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I have had a cold now for eight days.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
I can't keep it nine days. Whatever it is, it
will not go away.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
And I keep hearing all.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
These random people giving me advice on how to get
rid of it. And the one I heard yesterday was
just doing shots of bourbon with lemon in it, which
sounds great, and I feel like I'm just going to be.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
With you drunk and then you don't mind having a cold.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
I'm wondering if you guys can give me any advice
about the random, most random ways you've heard to get
rid of the common cold, which is just not going away.

Speaker 5 (00:47):
I shan't okay, Well, first of all, do you use
a netty pot?

Speaker 4 (00:53):
What a nutty pot? I do not use a net
I feel like I'm put things up my nose.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
And then okay, Well, I would like to say that
a Nettie pot one is great even if you don't
have a cold. It helps prevent you possibly from getting sick,
because nasal visage is getting all, you know, helping keep
it clear from germs, and when you are sick, it
will help push things through faster. I really cannot say

(01:23):
enough wonderful things about a Nettie pot and I would
highly recomon do it in the show?

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Do we just enter an Nettie Pot commercial? And I
didn't realize it? It's like it also leads me to
believe do we have the copy.

Speaker 6 (01:35):
I don't know what the pot Neteethpot.

Speaker 5 (01:38):
You can get it at your local CBS, Walgreens, Nettie
Meets World.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
I've actually never used the pot, but I know people
like around me you swore it, but it's I also
heard it's kind of addictive, though, like one of those
things like once you clear your nasal passages.

Speaker 5 (01:55):
I don't recommend using it every day. I don't recommend
using it every day if you're not sick. If you're sick,
I recommend using it every day if you're not sick,
a couple times a week, maybe just once a week,
or maybe you just pick and choose, like before you
go on a plane, after you come off a plane,
like places where maybe you're going to be in extra
jermy environments. I use it in the shower so that

(02:16):
I don't have to worry about, you know, it dripping
down my face or feeling like I'm drowning. I can
just figure out the best most comfortable position to be
in to use it.

Speaker 6 (02:24):
I really highly recommend that.

Speaker 5 (02:25):
And there is a little bit of truth will to
the idea of the bourbon that's kind of like a
hot toddy.

Speaker 6 (02:30):
Yeah, it's honey lemon, a little bit of your favorite
type of alcohol.

Speaker 5 (02:35):
And a cinnamon stick. And it will help one help
you sleep. It will sue the sore throat, it will
it will just give you a little bit of extra rest.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
I have no symptoms other than my head.

Speaker 6 (02:47):
Is clogged for I can hear it.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Just I cannot kick this thing. It is killing me
at this point.

Speaker 6 (02:54):
I'm so sorry. I also really love Faara Flu.

Speaker 5 (02:57):
If you don't want to do the alcohol version a
night time I'm fair flu. They make a daytime theiflu.
I'm also a really big fan of Floonse.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
It really.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Works on me.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
The the afron is the stuff that's scary, not touch
and it works so well.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
And then next thing you know.

Speaker 6 (03:13):
That that is addicted.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
I don't recommend. Yeah, I don't reckon. My dad had
an afron addiction. Couldn't breathe image at one point.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, it happens fast too, but it's such a good.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Product, and then you can't breathe without it. So flose
doesn't do that. It's non addictive. So you know, Will I,
I really I think if you started a regiment of
Nettie pot Flownase a hot body and or a faraflu,
and you're gonna feel better in a couple of days.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
I'm just going to stick to the bourbon. I think
that's the way. I'm It seems the easiest way, just
to start taking.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
Bourbon the least natural.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Tell you, though, I'll meet you in the middle and
I will drink bourbon in the shower.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Okay, so we'll do that.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Perfect sold, wonderful.

Speaker 6 (03:55):
Welcome to pod meets World. I'm Daniel Fischl.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm right or strong Will Fidel.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
At this point in the podcast, we all know about
Andy and Danny, the unstoppable nineties duo that took photos
throughout all of Los Angeles and held up childhood blankies
that looked like genitals in front of handmade.

Speaker 6 (04:11):
Cars like it was nobody's business.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
But what you don't know is that we had a
third amigo, someone who was in just as many photos
and also held just as special of a place in
my heart and also Will's hart.

Speaker 6 (04:27):
But we'll get to that later.

Speaker 5 (04:29):
Our guest this week is best known as the iconic
the Dorothy six lemuur On Blossom, the eccentric best Friend,
nicknamed because it took that amount of beers for her conception.
She'd also be seen in The Night Story Really it
was Yes, Wow, isn't that funny? I didn't know that either.

(04:49):
That's great.

Speaker 6 (04:50):
She'd also be.

Speaker 5 (04:51):
Seen in the nineteen ninety nine sitcom The Parkers and
heard as Stacy in the classic A Goofy movie. But
we'll always remember seeing her in real life in that
red convertible Toyota Selica, where she was the coolest woman
any of us knew, and there was no way you
could convince us any different. This week, we are thrilled

(05:12):
to welcome not only a nineties sitcom legend to pod
Meets World, but someone from the inner circle of myself,
Will and writer.

Speaker 6 (05:22):
It's Jenna VANOI.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Thought I was white, white, Selica.

Speaker 6 (05:29):
Hers was red.

Speaker 5 (05:31):
Let's ask her if hers is white.

Speaker 6 (05:35):
I'm gonna be I'm gonna be.

Speaker 7 (05:39):
Walking abound.

Speaker 5 (05:39):
Tell me was your convertible convertible Selica white or red?

Speaker 7 (05:46):
I'm just curious. At first, I have to ask who
said what I said red?

Speaker 1 (05:50):
I said white? I don't remember.

Speaker 7 (05:53):
I mean, I'm gonna go with the guy I dated.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Was correct, thank you.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
My Selica was read. Hers was white. That's one of
the reasons we bonded at dinner that night.

Speaker 7 (06:04):
Yes, that's correct.

Speaker 6 (06:05):
Wow, believable. I'm really.

Speaker 7 (06:11):
So I'm going to see you. I'm so excited.

Speaker 5 (06:17):
First of all, my whole life, I've wanted a red
Toyota Selica convertible, and I've attributed it to you my
entire life. I've said it in panels, I've said it everywhere.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well, you were inspired by her, but then it became
red in your magic. So your version was going to
be right, that's how you're gonna be. You were gonna
be like your version.

Speaker 7 (06:32):
Yeah. Yeah, it was like you know the dream that
took off room.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
Yeah, you were the inspiration and I just wanted the
cherry red. Wow, it's pretty pretty amazing. So to jump
into all of this, do you know how many photos
we took together and related to that? Do you have
room in your house for a few boxes full of them?

Speaker 7 (06:56):
No, because my mother has already sent me all of
the ones that she's stockpiled in her attic, and there
was far more of a packrat than I ever gave
he credit for. So no, there's no room, no room.
I will say this. So I have a nine and
an eleven year old, right, and I was I'm threatening
this summer to make them sit down, and I actually

(07:16):
kind of think this is a brilliant idea. I'm very
excited about it. I'm threatening to make them sit down
and go through all of like the old Team Beat
magazines and tear out the pages, and like, I think
this is a really good summer project. Guys, I'm really.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
You're going to make them Yeah, you're gonna consolidate.

Speaker 7 (07:34):
I like that, Yes, because my mother gave me all
these boxes of magazines and I was like.

Speaker 6 (07:39):
What am I gonna do with all this? I have
all of mine too.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Yeah, that's great. Just to take your pictures out, you
can call it between Beat.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
My god.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yep, I'll show myself out. That's fine.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
I'm officially done for the day.

Speaker 7 (07:52):
Let me just say that some things never change, all right.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Do you guys have any memory of meeting Jenna or Jenna?
Do you remember meeting us? Because for me, you just
appeared fully formed as the most experienced, coolest, nicest like
when we showed up on boy Metsorre that was like,
who can we trust that knows what's happening in this
whole crazy experience And it was like Jenna and you

(08:18):
were just like.

Speaker 7 (08:19):
The rock for all of us and what worked the
world was I totally balanced and good.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Like I don't know, you were the folest person ever.
I think you will list you were sixteen or seventeen.
You had been on a hit sitcom that was like
ahead of us, like two or three seasons in so
when we started, I just know that we all looked
to you. It was like, how can we be more
like Jenna? And like you were just always around. You
were so kind, You were so nice for the parents.

(08:46):
You like had your own apartment maybe already or just
your own car. So you were just like everything we
wanted to be. And was like how do we who
do we trust? Right? I mean, don't you guys remember
feeling this way? And I don't remember meeting you. I
just you were just like this fairy that entered our
life and like I knew I needed you in my life.
And I remember everything about meeting Jenna, all.

Speaker 7 (09:05):
The confidence that.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Of course I remember meeting Jenna.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
I remember where we were. I remember the first night we.

Speaker 6 (09:12):
Met, of course, because tell us the story?

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Well we do you want to tell it?

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Or should I tell it?

Speaker 1 (09:17):
You're the guest, you should tell it?

Speaker 7 (09:19):
I kind of would like to defer to you for
a moment.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
Well, So Jenna was writing an article for was it
a teen magazine?

Speaker 7 (09:29):
Yeah? I think it was teen be?

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Was it teen Beat?

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (09:32):
And so was it Scott Appel?

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Somebody put us together through a publicist, put us together
so you could interview me.

Speaker 7 (09:42):
I feel like there was probably underlying matchmaking things happening
that No, probably, but that's besides.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
And so we went to an Italian restaurant in Burbank
and we both ordered salads because both of us were
too embarrassed to eat in front of each other, and
neither of us I think took a bite the entire
night we sat there.

Speaker 7 (10:01):
Wow, likely because we were talking too much, but maybe
also because we were nervous about eating in front of
each other, yet.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
In front of each other, and we were. We instantly
found out we had all these things in common.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
We were from Connecticut.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
We both drove Toyota Celica's and we kept she was
recording it, and she kept stopping the tape and then
going back and being like, oh my god, we just
found out another thing that we had in common.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
It was just one thing after another, and we just kind.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Of started dating after that.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
We were just kind of together after that night.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, wow, how long did you guys?

Speaker 4 (10:32):
Date?

Speaker 3 (10:33):
For?

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Four months? Six months?

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Okay?

Speaker 7 (10:38):
Right, I mean at sixteen. I feel like it was
a pretty link.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 7 (10:43):
She broke up with me in a parking lot in Connecticut.
But that's like a story for another time.

Speaker 6 (10:48):
That story.

Speaker 5 (10:49):
Forget the story, tell that story, Jenna Gough.

Speaker 7 (10:54):
Fine, it's fine. I'm not scarred from it or anything
I did ironically, So here know, there actually was a
very precious thing, which was that it was the first
Valentine's Day. This fun, fun little secrets that I don't
think anybody knows first Valentine's Day that either of us
had ever had a significant other. Yeah, which, ye, a
significant other you can have at sixteen. And and he

(11:18):
gave he was he was so sweet and gave me
his favorite Whaler's sweatshirt.

Speaker 6 (11:25):
Not the jersey, the sweatshirt.

Speaker 7 (11:26):
Big you guys. That was like, so yeah, yeah, I
can't believe we're like in this in minute what four address?
This is like record? So yeah, what Siri is talking
to me now, She's like, here's what I found. God
knows what She's.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Got sweatshirt wh.

Speaker 7 (11:49):
Yeah, so Whaler's sweatshirt, which I actually located I think
about two years ago and was like, holy crap, SI
left this and I took a picture of it because
I was going to try and send it to you,
and I don't I don't know if I like found
you online and send it to you or not, Like
I was going to try and find you on social
media and like send it, but I think, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Don't have any social media.

Speaker 6 (12:11):
Correct.

Speaker 5 (12:11):
Do you take a picture of it before you donated
it or do you still have it? You know?

Speaker 7 (12:16):
I actually don't know the answer to that because I
was getting out of a storage unit and I'm not
going to say I had this what shirt and a
storage unit? But you did break up with me in
a parking lot, so storage unit.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
I mean, I do feel like we at least you
kept it at all.

Speaker 6 (12:30):
I do know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (12:32):
Come on, we know how you met, so now I
think it's only appropriate we know how it ended.

Speaker 7 (12:37):
But correct, correct, correct, but no hard feelings. I mean,
you know, forty years.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Later we saw each other. After that, it wasn't what
I mean, Jenna was around for a while.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
At least, you were just the You were the most experienced,
like actor.

Speaker 7 (12:57):
So bad experienced actor okay, yeah, just like make sure
we add actor to like the very yeah's.

Speaker 6 (13:03):
You were a fast girl.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
No, no, no, you were just the one who knew
the ropes of like being on a sitcom and how
to manage like the teen magazines and like where to go.
Like I don't know, like, did you go to ed
de Bevik's with us? I feel like that seems sounds
about right.

Speaker 7 (13:18):
Like that's highly likely. Y.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, I feel like that you were just in and
that you were in the scene in a way that like,
you know, we didn't we just looked up to you.
I just remember looking up to you and you were
so cool and fun and we just liked each other.
And I just remember like thinking, yeah, it's so funny
to look back and be like, yeah, you were actually
probably only sixteen and probably had no clue what you
were doing either.

Speaker 7 (13:39):
But do you feel like that how people who are
only a couple of years older than you seem so
much older at the time. Yeah, I'm like in my
brain and of course I still feel this, and I'm like, oh,
you're twenty seven, We're the same age. It's totally fine. Yeah,
Like you know, at that time, I feel like I
looked at you as being my peer and being the

(14:02):
same age as me. Meanwhile, I was obviously a couple
of years older than you, and that pines in age
was just that gap was so huge. What I think,
what I remember most for you, writer is the cruise
that we all yes, which was so and so insane
looking back.

Speaker 4 (14:23):
But for you, hell it was it was Yeah, ocean
hell is what we've called that.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
No, well, okay, oh wait, but you were there old
on we you were in the first year, right, or
were you there when Danielle went? I think you were
there the first year.

Speaker 6 (14:37):
She was there with me.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
She was oh did you do both years?

Speaker 3 (14:40):
Then?

Speaker 4 (14:41):
No?

Speaker 7 (14:42):
Okay, I didn't know there were two years.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
I went two years.

Speaker 6 (14:45):
I went two years.

Speaker 7 (14:46):
Too, Wow, you went two years. Yeah, there might have
been reasons why they didn't invite me back. It's I
think you.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
I think you did do the second year because good,
that's so you weren't invited the first year, but you
got a invited to the second year.

Speaker 7 (15:01):
Okay, fair well, that sounds better.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
So will mentioned already you're from Connecticut. How did you
decide to become an actor? And what did your parents
think of you wanting to do this?

Speaker 7 (15:23):
Other than that I was nuts. You know, acting is
not It's not in my family at all. My mom
is from a small town Wisconsin. My dad is from Fairfield, Connecticut,
very you know, fairly small town. And when I was
about three years old, there was a Jordash Jean's commercial

(15:43):
and all these girls were doing ballet and I loved
to dance, and I took dance classes at the time,
essentially because my parents didn't know what to do with
me because I had so much energy, which now as
a mom to a firecracker of a nine year old,
I'm like, oh, goat feeling my poor parents. But so

(16:04):
I think, you know, I saw this commercial and I
was like, oh, all these girls are dancing, and I
don't know what goes through one's mind prior to understanding
that there are actually people on display on the television,
that it's not robots, that it's not I don't I mean,
I don't know what you think prior to that, but
for me, that was my first indication that there were

(16:25):
actually humans that were doing these roles and they were dancing,
and these were kids like me, and it made sense
to me, and I was like, oh, well, that's what
I want to do. So I started telling my parents
and they were like, oh, that's so cute. You know,
you're gonna fight fires one day, dance and dad where
Georde Ash Jean's the next. And I was like, hmmm, no,

(16:47):
it's that We're done. Here we go and scene. So yeah,
they started, they didn't know what to do. They ignored
it for a while. And then this woman my dad
was a longtime server at a really beautiful water fall
front restaurant in Connecticut that served he served, you know,

(17:08):
people like Paul Newman and were the stewart for many
many years and it was just like this classic traditional
restaurant and the bartender there. Ironically, or maybe not so ironically,
when my dad told her that I wanted to be
an actress, said to him, Oh, that's funny. I just
started taking my son to New York for auditions. I'm

(17:29):
I'm a manager. Now I've become a manager. My dad
was like, I don't really know what that means, but cool,
and she said, well, I'd love to meet her. And
I went to her house and she was like, oh, yeah,
we're going to do this. And so she started taking
me to New York for auditions and still plenty of
money along the way. My dye, oh no, because it

(17:50):
was one of those situations where, you know, my parents
were so green and yeah, I know them. They're both
from small towns and they they had no idea and
which really, in the long run, as much as it
sucks to say this, like it's kind of a beautiful thing.
My parents didn't know any better and that they were
amateurs in the whole thing. You know, we learned together,

(18:11):
we grew together in the business to understand it better
and and well not be taking taken advantage of quite
so much. But but yeah, So this woman took me
to New York on the train for auditions for years,
and then at some point when we realized sort of
more of what was going on, my parents started taking
me in instead.

Speaker 6 (18:30):
So what was the first job you booked?

Speaker 7 (18:32):
It was a It was a Jello Pudding Pops commercial
with Bill Cosby.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Now I remember this.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
We talked.

Speaker 7 (18:39):
Yes, I was an extra. One of the girls licked
a jello pudding pop after she was told not to
lick it and got her tongue stuck a Lah Christmas
in the Christmas Story. Yeah, and it was, but it
was quite. It was quite the memorable day.

Speaker 6 (18:57):
Tell us more, I.

Speaker 7 (19:00):
You know, other than her getting her tongues, Like, that's
really the bulk of my memories. Henrible because of that.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
So how old were you when you did the commercial?

Speaker 7 (19:10):
Six years old?

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Six? Okay, so yeah you were you were in the
young group. Yeah, you're in the young group for us.

Speaker 7 (19:16):
So me, Joey, Melissa Hart, Sarah Geller, Natasha Leone, these
are Alison Porter, like, these are all people that I
was in New York with and yeah, grew up with and.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
You know, yeah, so you knew Joey before Blossom.

Speaker 7 (19:36):
So I didn't know Joey, but we were both auditioning
in New York at the same time. I mostly knew
the girls because we would end up at the same auditions. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:50):
When did you then get or hear about Blossom for
your first time?

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Was it a thing?

Speaker 4 (19:54):
Were you auditioned in New York and they flew you
out to l A or were you already in Los Angeles?

Speaker 7 (19:58):
Yeah, I auditioned a new Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
You guys were the cool New York kids. We were,
and we'll both yeah, it was another thing we had
in common.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
We had, we had a lot in common when we met.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
It.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Always there's always this. The network test came down to
two people from LA and one New Yorker always and
then New Yorker always got it.

Speaker 7 (20:17):
It sucked for us, but not true because I went
to network for Roseanne with Sarah Gilbert and she got it.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
We always saw the l A people as the ones
that were actually getting.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
The But when they flew you out from New York
and they put you up in a hotel, you felt
so much cooler. You can give you that extra bit
of confidence, like they're flying me out, I.

Speaker 7 (20:38):
Mean that's probably fair. Yeah, Like I'm not taking the
train to the audition today, I'm flying it. Like that's
pretty high tech.

Speaker 4 (20:46):
And staying at the Universal Sheridan is always there's always
it was.

Speaker 7 (20:51):
Always that Howard Johnson's, which may not Howard Johnson's anymore
on like Vineland or Joe's.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Oh my I with my manager all the time, with
Bruce and I at that Howard Johnson's. Yes, oh, I
remember the taste of the instant coffee that you would
get in your room.

Speaker 7 (21:11):
Yeah, for me, it was there. It was like an
attached restaurant at the time, you know, going back a
little bit far, and they had these like fried clams
and clam chowder. And of course it was not like
an East Coast clam chowder at no, I mean not
even close. But it was like the only thing even
close to home that I could find, and I was
latching onto it like yes.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
I'm sorry, I can't let one thing pass rider. How
old were you when you were drinking the instant coffee
in the hotel.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Room, Probably starting at eleven. I was like super sweet.

Speaker 4 (21:41):
It would like it would be like it was like
wait a minute, you're now tell as a kid you're
drinking the coffee.

Speaker 6 (21:46):
I started drinking coffee at twelve.

Speaker 7 (21:48):
I started drinking coffee at six years old on my
way to New York for three am, because we would
have to we would leave from Fairfield train station. There
was a Dunkin Donuts at the train station, and I
would have to be in by six am or whatever,
so we'd have to leave my house at six or
at three rather to get there by six, and so

(22:09):
my dad would get me half coffee, half cream. I
tributed all of my Napoleon Napoleonic stature. I have my
coffee obsession, my father getting me dunkin donuts.

Speaker 6 (22:26):
And now I say the same thing.

Speaker 5 (22:28):
I'm horizontally challenged because of the coffee at twelve.

Speaker 7 (22:32):
As fun sized, blind sized size.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
At eleven years old, the coffee would have ruined the
taste of my cigarettes.

Speaker 5 (22:44):
Okay, so will you tell us a little bit about
what we'll ask the blah how did Blossom come around?

Speaker 7 (22:50):
So I auditioned in New York the same day that
I auditioned for Blossom. And this is like the most
probably one of the weirdest stories for me, because I'm
not really a believer of ghosts or things of that
supernatural things of that nature, just not very much. A

(23:10):
I like logic. I really love logic. I really embrace logic,
and so things like that kind of tend to elude me. However,
on this particular day, I was auditioning for three different things.
One was a show called Lenny, one was a show
called Blossom, and one was some sort of miniseries or
commercial or something. And I got on the train with
my mom and we sat in the back and this

(23:33):
man was sitting in the row in front of us,
and he turned around and he started talking to me,
because in those days, a grown up can talk to
a child and it's not terrifying now. And this man
was like, you know, what are you going to New
York for? And I said, Oh, I'm an actress. I'm
going to some auditions. And he goes tell me about them.

(23:55):
And normally I would not have done that, right, I
would have felt very uncomfortable and not done this. For
some reason, I felt very comfortable, and I said, I'm
going on an audition for this show, this show or
this mini series, this show and this commercial or whatever.
He was like, Blossom that one. You're gonna get that?
Get ready?

Speaker 1 (24:13):
Wow geez?

Speaker 7 (24:15):
And I was like okay, thanks.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
Well.

Speaker 7 (24:18):
At the next stop, we looked and he was gone,
like he had gotten up and left. We hadn't noticed
he had totally disappeared. And I was like, Mommy, what
would happen if, like I did get this show and
it filmed in California? And she goes, oh, we'll cross
that bridge when we get to it, and I was like,
I think we're at it. He just said I'm getting it,
and lo and behold I go. And I auditioned for

(24:41):
the show, and then I also auditioned for the show
called Lenny. So Lenny and Blossom were both created by
Don Rio, amazing, just phenomenal writer. Both were with Thomas shows.
One was NBC, one was CBS. And when I was

(25:04):
flown to California to test for Blossom, I was also
flown to California to test for Lenny.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
They were vying for you. Yeah, and that's always the
best way to be in hollywod.

Speaker 7 (25:13):
Let's I mean, yeah, I'm not not complaining at all
and uh and so, but Blossom was first, and before
we went to network, they brought Miam and I together
at the Sunset Gower lot and we went up to
this room and I'll never forget this, Like I can
remember what she was wearing. I remember what I was wearing.
Of course they told me to bring I had worn

(25:34):
this like crazy wide brimmed purple hat to the audition
and when I got the callback, they were like, tell
her to wear the hat, and so network work, they
were like, tell her to wear the hat again. So
it became part of my character. You were the character, right,
and being a New Yorker or being you know, being
from the East Coast, just being an East Coast girl.

(25:54):
Like I talked, I talked quickly. It's you know, south
now for seventeen years, so probably sounds I'm like very
bipolar in my in my chair or in my language.
But but back then I was very much sounded East
Coast and uh and I think that the fast talking yeah,
derived from that. And uh so, yeah, So they brought

(26:17):
me up and I talked to Maam and we did
the scene together, and then we went into Network together.
She had already gotten the role. They brought me in
with her because they knew that they wanted me and
and they wanted to make sure that that was what happened.
Joey was also there, so you know, they had us

(26:37):
and they told us talk about crazy because this would
not happen now. We walked out of the room. They
told us to hang on for a second. They told
us we got it outside of the room. She was
at Network when it happened.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
My hold on a second. But Mie was the show, right,
she was already cast, like the show was being built
her out but you and Joey both got the art
at the same time in the chemistry test. Amazing.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, so I saw the show.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
They were like, here's the show.

Speaker 4 (27:06):
Yeah, mine had done Beaches already, right, I mean, that's
where she's.

Speaker 7 (27:09):
Why they created And then she had also done a
show called Malloy, a very short lived show called Malloy
after Beaches with Jennifer Aniston. And so they knew that
she could. I feel like they knew that she could
carry a sitcom. Dawn for she could carry a sitcom.
And now in retrospect, of course, we all know that it's.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Quite interesting that that used to be the Like, I
don't know do they still do that where they like
see a kid actor and then go give that kid
a show and build an entire Like that was how
our show got created, that was how Wowson got created.
There was the Gabby what's her name show that wast
her own show. Like if you were a kid actor
and you had like a breakout role in a movie,

(27:48):
you would just get a sitcom the next year they
would build a whole. I don't know if they'd do
that anymore.

Speaker 5 (27:53):
That's so, Yeah, Disney Channel doesn't mean that and Nickelodeon,
even that girl Leyley was you know, so it's not
necessarily having a role in a movie. But maybe you
have a song, or you're a big social media talent
their you know, influencer type thing. If you're a personality,
a big personality as a kid, they might try to
build a show around you. I mean, Miam was such

(28:14):
a force at such a young age. What were your
first impressions of her?

Speaker 7 (28:21):
I think really the same impressions that I have now.
I just know her a hell of a lot better.
And she's brilliant. I don't think anybody meets Miami and thinks,
you know, yeah, yeah, she's okay, she's so smart, like
that's it. You know, that just doesn't happen. She's She's

(28:42):
a phenomenal woman. And I will say that we are
a lot closer now than we were back then. You know,
it was a little bit odd with us growing up
together because she and Joey and I were so on
such fart ends of the spectrum when it came to
our likes and dislikes, and you know, she likes Elivius
Costello and Joey and I were singing harmonizing to boys
to men like it was very desperate scene. But but

(29:08):
she's just like, but she's always been so cool because
she's never been afraid to be her, very just unapologetically
her and I and that's something that I've you know, writer,
you talk about you talked earlier about like looking up
to me and being experienced, Like I looked at Miam
like that. And although she had never done a show before,

(29:29):
and you know, Joey and I had both spent years
already in the industry prior to being on Blossom. You know,
he did give me a break and all of that,
and I, you know, and I'd done tons of guest
spots and mini series and movies and whatever else like,
but myam to me somehow was just this this like

(29:51):
essence of knowledge and and like, you know, just there's
she's just a fount of knowledge and and she's all
has been super professional, which I will say to all
of our credit is something that and I imagine this
was the same on your show too, But all of
us really really put a lot of stock in being
professional at all times. Yes, you know, I look at

(30:15):
shows that are on now and I think, you know,
it's a very different it's a very different scene, and
you do have sort of, like you said, Danielle, the
the those who sort of are involved because they've gained
notoriety through some other avenue like social media, which doesn't

(30:36):
necessarily prepare them for the type of work ethic that
happens on a set like.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
We had absolutely what was the set of Blossom?

Speaker 7 (30:47):
Like you know what it was? It was really awesome,
Like we had a lot of inside jokes and we
had like Miam and I used to it we laugh
now because we used to have these like little codes
that we would send each other about boys. Will I'm
sure your name.

Speaker 6 (30:59):
Was in there where Oh it had to be, I'm sure.

Speaker 7 (31:03):
Actually, let me say so, you met her for the
first time not that long ago, like a couple of
weeks ago, and she she sent me a text and
she was like guess what and she the picture of
you guys together, and I was like, no way, that
was my first boyfriend. She goes, dude, I know that's
my point.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
Well, that's what I wanted to ask you, because she
said to me she were we were talking and she said,
why did you never come to the set?

Speaker 1 (31:27):
I wondered that too, because I never.

Speaker 6 (31:28):
I still I don't think I didn't.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
I you never because and I answered truthfully and this,
and I'd like to know I'd like you to answer this,
because I was never invited you. Even when we were dating,
you never invited me to the set of Blossom. Maam
said it was because you thought she would she would
try to steal me. And she was joking, of course
as she was saying that, but she said, why didn't

(31:50):
you come? And it's when I realized you had never
once invited me to come to the set.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
A boy, Yeah, she was always I remember, yea.

Speaker 7 (31:59):
All the time. It more likely was because I was
worried about what the hell Joey would say?

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Oh really, probably that makes sense, you know.

Speaker 7 (32:10):
Yeah, we've always had very much like this brother sister
relationship where like and never he's kind of like the
wild card for me, where I don't I don't noways no,
it's gonna come out with that, and I probably just
like I probably wanted keep it private and not feel
everybody was.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
In on it, you know, so you weren't embarrassed by me?

Speaker 7 (32:32):
Oh, for the love of God, No, no, now I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
But yeah, well, now, well everybody is. I want to
have the Joey conversation. I want to hear what that
was like, because when you started the show, he was
obviously already working as a child actor, but he became

(32:59):
like the Joe Lawrence we know because of Blossom, Right,
So what was that progression like as his character became,
you know, this phenomenon, and as he became this public
figure and then a musician, like what happened there?

Speaker 4 (33:12):
Well?

Speaker 8 (33:12):
As his hair grew, I feel like so did his popularity, Yes,
and so did his He go, I don't know, I'm
just guessing.

Speaker 7 (33:24):
I love me some, Joey, I say not. My point
in all of this is that when we started the show,
he yeah, I think you know, he'd done a lot
of shows before. He, by far of all of us,
had the most experienced. Sure, For as much as I
had on my resume, it did not it could not

(33:45):
compete with Joey having been on a series before and
really understanding that.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
Day to day he worked NonStop from the time he
was five years old. I mean, he was the consummate.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
It wasn't even a child actor. He was just an
actor we'd been working for ever.

Speaker 7 (34:00):
And well and well deserved.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
Yeah, absolutely so talented, so talented.

Speaker 7 (34:05):
And so I think, you know, the the interesting thing
was to watch what happened as we grew enough into
our our bodies, ourselves that the audience, like all the
girls would start throwing. I mean they would. We would

(34:25):
come out for intros before the.

Speaker 6 (34:28):
Show, you know, they'd cast intros.

Speaker 7 (34:29):
Yeah, yeah, and people would like girls would throw underwear
and I'm like, I don't know if they packed them
and they're personal wearing them first, I don't want to know,
but they're the underwear were flung well well aimed. Might
I add flung had a teenager and you know, and

(34:51):
we were like we were like twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and
it was just that's what's so crazy is we started
to show when so I was twelve and I'm trying
to think, so that would make I guess Joey thirteen
and I am fourteen, because I think I want to
say we were like a couple of years off from
each other, and uh yeah, so we just we we

(35:12):
literally went from being kids to being teenagers and him
being this teenage heart throb almost overnight, and they would
fling underwear, the condoms were thrown.

Speaker 6 (35:25):
Oh my gosh, this bizarre, Like I.

Speaker 7 (35:29):
Don't even know if I knew what condoms were when
they were That's how like early on it was. And yeah,
it was just bizarre. But also this kind of brilliant
phenomenon that happened where it was like the making of
an idol of a.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
Teenage Yeah, you really got to see them from the
inside of the making of a teen idol, like going
back television wise, you're talking David Cassidy, Scott Bao. I mean,
this is like a generational teen icon. Was Joey Lawrence
in the late eighties early nineties. I mean, he was
that peak of talent and of popularity. It was.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
It was amazing, and so why should he not do.

Speaker 7 (36:15):
A music video where he wraps and rides around like
a you know, a jokal gym thing like that's a
great naturally, that's the.

Speaker 9 (36:22):
Next he throws the football to himself. He throws the
football and then catches the same football. It's very impressive,
very impressive.

Speaker 7 (36:33):
I feel like you've spent more time watching it than.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
I My stepdaughter from the time she was a little kid.
Nothing of love can't fix for your baby has been
her jam. So it's yeah, I mean, but again just
very impressive to both be the quarterback and the wide
receiver at the same time.

Speaker 7 (36:52):
Totally, totally, and I feel like at the next Super
Bowl we should really like him. Make sure some people
know about that, because that's how it brilliant is.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (37:02):
So Blossom was a mid season replacement that ended up
going one hundred and fourteen episodes.

Speaker 6 (37:08):
When did you know it was a hit? And were
you recognized all the time?

Speaker 7 (37:14):
So you know something that I don't, which is it
was one hundred and fourteen episodes. For some reason in
my head, I was thinking it was like one hundred
and twenty two or twenty three. But I also confusing
it with the Parkers right now.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
Which okay, it's highly possible.

Speaker 7 (37:29):
Yeah, it, I don't know when we knew. I can
tell you that the you know, we did the pilot,
it did not get picked up. I had gone so
when going back a little bit, when I went to LA,
when they flew med to LA from New York, and
I went to Network for Blossom, and they told me
right then and there, they told Joliana that we'd gotten it.

(37:52):
I then did not go to Network for Lenny, which
was immediately following like an hour or two later because
I already had a show, so I had to skip it. Well,
when Blossom didn't get picked up, Don Rio called me
and said, hey, would you like to be on Lenny instead?
And I was like, well sure, I yeah, not an idiot. Yeah,

(38:17):
So I went and did Lenny. We did the pilot.
That show was already picked up, so I was on CBS.
CBS had no idea, They didn't They didn't know that
I was the same girl from Blossom, which is super weird,
but we'll go with it. I had like curly hair
on one show and straight hair on another, and apparently
it was terribly deceiving.

Speaker 6 (38:36):
Yeah you had Clark Clinton, Clark Clark Kent classes.

Speaker 7 (38:39):
Yeah, exactly. And then Lenny got halfway through the season
and Blossom got picked up as a mid season replacement.
With this revamp of UH, Ted was being the single
dad as opposed to parents. We had, you know, originally
a mom and a dad, so it's Ted Wass as

(39:01):
a single parent. But they wanted to keep all the kids.
So at that point, you know, Don Rio told NBC, well,
you know, I've got Jenna on this other show, and
they were like, what are you talking about. He was like, well,
we're gonna have to recast six because Jenna is on
my other show on CBS. And they were like, you're kidding.
Oh okay, so they recast the role. Halfway through the

(39:23):
first week, Don calls me in my schoolroom and says, so, listen,
how do you feel about doing two shows at once?

Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yes? Wow, you're such a badass school sudro over it.

Speaker 7 (39:37):
I was like, I'm in.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
I get off the phone.

Speaker 7 (39:39):
My tutor, my tutor, God bless her, who I'm still
friends with. I don't know if she remembers this or not.
I gotta ask her. But Sandy was like, so, uh,
Don doesn't really call you in your school in the
school much like what's going on. I was like, oh,
I'm gonna do both shows. She was like, and when
are we gonna do school? I was like, I'll figure it.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Out, school right Networks.

Speaker 7 (40:04):
So I did both shows and we did. We filmed
one on Tuesdays and one on Fridays for half a
secon and I went back and forth and I did
both shows. And then at the end of the first year,
Lenny had been on CBS up against Murphy Brown, like
with Murphy Brown, but it was during the goal War,
and it just I mean, we got preempted so many times.
There was way that show could live.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
What was Lenny very briefly, who was who was on
Lenny based on.

Speaker 7 (40:30):
This comedian Lenny Clark? Awesome, awesome, A lot of work.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Since actually yeah, Lenny Clark, Yeah, Lenny.

Speaker 7 (40:38):
And and then Lee Garlington, phenomenal actress played his wife.
There were great, great cast members, I mean just great.
It took place in Boston. He's this Boston comic and
it was like kind of the sort of the initiation
of of comics having television shows.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Yeah, he's like the Boston guy too.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
It's Lenny Clark. Yeah, he's Boston.

Speaker 7 (41:01):
Yeah, he is Boston through and through. Yes. So yeah,
So I did that for half a season and then
it got canceled because of being prempted so many times.
I just couldn't get the numbers up because of that
and and that. But Blossom, but Blossom went and uh
and so then they finally, you know, then they because
at first I had to be a guest star on

(41:23):
Blossom because I was irregular around money. So for like
the first half a season of the first year of Blossom,
I was a guest star I think until they could
could technically legally make you make me a regular. But yeah,
so we did. We did that and and yeah it
was just like this crazy, crazy situation that I can't

(41:44):
imagine happening now, and I yeah, it kind of blows
my mind.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
And six became such an identifiable character? Was it always
I mean you talked about like wearing the hat at
the network and stuff, But was it always written like
as this very identifiable, fast talking, quirky or was that
kind of did that evolve with you in concert with
the writing creating the character?

Speaker 7 (42:09):
This is called Jena driving too much coffee as a kid?

Speaker 2 (42:15):
True start?

Speaker 7 (42:17):
Wait did I answer the full question that you asked
me before? I'm trying to think. I feel like there
there was a tube parter and my the second part.

Speaker 6 (42:25):
Of it was did you get recognized all the time?

Speaker 5 (42:28):
Oh?

Speaker 7 (42:28):
Well, like when did we know that the show was?

Speaker 6 (42:30):
Like did we did you know it was a hit?
And did you get recognized all the time?

Speaker 7 (42:35):
I feel like so when the show got picked up
as a mid season replacement for a couple of years,
I don't feel like the first year or so it
was sort of just even keeled. And then I want
to say something weird happened with like Warren Littlefield was
president of NBC at the time, and I think, if
I recall correctly, and I hope I'm not misquoting all

(42:57):
of this, it's obviously been a His daughter was like
obsessed with the show when he was going to cancel it,
and she was like, oh my god, please please don't
do that. Like I think we almost single handedly can
can thank Warren Littlefield's daughter for the show being being
given that that chance UH to continue. And then it

(43:19):
really really took off. And I will say that the moment.
There were like two moments where I was like, oh
my god, I think actually, like maybe people watched this
show and it's a thing. The first was I went
to a Boys to Men concert.

Speaker 6 (43:36):
Shocker and I can't wait to talk to you about
music go on and.

Speaker 7 (43:41):
And mc hammer was also in concert with them. And
I was in like Peoria, Illinois doing some sort of
like signing or something, and you know, and people started climbing.
I was in like a little box thing and people
started climbing it to get autographs and they had to
carry me. They had actually had and I was like
geezh okay, like this might this might mean people watch

(44:07):
the show. The second one was that they parodied us
on Saturday and Saturday Night.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
It definitely that's it, that's it for us, like.

Speaker 7 (44:19):
Like mal Shannon and that was Yeah, I don't know,
maybe it wasn't Molly Shannon. I'm trying to remember who
was in there, but like Mike Myers, definitely Mike Joey.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Joey, Yeah, I remember saying yeah, but you.

Speaker 4 (44:34):
I mean, Blossom is also one of those shows, and
it might be right at the tail end of it, frankly,
but where the opening title sequence was hugely important to
the show. Yeah, I mean these were you know, back
in the days of Family Ties Cosby Show, the opening
title sequence was really important.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
It started to go away.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
Seinfeld got rid of it essentially entirely, Boymans World even
got rid of it entirely. But that I remember distinctly
people singing the home humming along with the song, seeing
you all come out and dancing. I mean, it really
was its own character at that time in television where
that opening title sequences were important. I mean it really
it mattered what your opening title sequence was, and Blossom

(45:13):
was one of the last ones that was really had
that signature.

Speaker 7 (45:17):
I don't know if I've ever realized that. You know,
the original song was Bobby Brown's Don't Worry I'm blanky prerogative.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
It was a real hy pregative that was like.

Speaker 7 (45:31):
The initial theme song. And then I don't know what happened.
I'm sure it was a like a rights issue and
they couldn't it wasn't sustainable, but uh yeah, and then
it became you know, I think it's doctor John is
who sings my opinionation, and then that became like the

(45:53):
the thing, so weird.

Speaker 5 (45:56):
So music is a huge part of your life and
was always a passion of yours.

Speaker 6 (46:01):
Where did that come from? And tell us what it's
meant to you over your life?

Speaker 7 (46:08):
I mean, music was always I think my dad sings
my you know, I mean my dad sings, but it's like,
you know, church choir. And I grew up listening only
to classical music, and I think my mom listened to
John Denver. That was about the extent of my music knowledge.

Speaker 10 (46:25):
Like my mom didn't doesn't like Elvis at all, didn't
like the Beatles, so like I had to teach myself
music and which now this has become a big thing
in my household, Like when I'm cooking dinner, I put
on music from different genres and different eras for my
girls because I really I'm like, okay, who's sing this?

Speaker 7 (46:43):
Come on?

Speaker 1 (46:45):
You know, like my daughter.

Speaker 7 (46:49):
Exactly. And my daughter has taken to wearing Cyndy Lopper
gloves to school on a daily base mat her outfit.
So I' mean it's fine, It's all good. I don't
know that school's thrilled with me about it, but I'm
but I'm thrilled.

Speaker 6 (47:00):
I love happy.

Speaker 7 (47:01):
Yeah, we're channeling the eighties over here. But yeah. So
I kind of like taught myself music and it was
always super important to me. I wrote from the time
I was very very little. That was always an outlet
for me in some former fashion, and I think it
started out with music and poetry and things of that nature.
And now I write, you know, film scripts, and I

(47:23):
write for a lifestyle publication in Nashville and all that
kind of stuff. So I've been I've always written, just
in different in different capacities. But because my parents didn't
really raise me to know a broad musical horizon, I
was very excited being on Blossom because we had crazy

(47:45):
cool music guests, everybody from BB King to you know,
little Richard See and See Music Factory. Like the list
just goes on and on and on. I mean, it
was a phenomenal, phenomenal, eye opening musical experience, I think
to be on the show because Don Rio is such

(48:07):
a music fan that he invited as many people as
he could that he loved and respected to the show.
And you know, and we all had really vast and
varied musical Mayam was very much the like violent Femmes

(48:28):
and Elvis Costello and and and you know again, Joey
was very and Joey was the boys to men and
and and you know, and all of that, and so
it was kind of a cool exposure.

Speaker 6 (48:44):
That's so great.

Speaker 5 (48:45):
Yeah, you've mentioned your daughters a couple of times. Now
you have two daughters, and you've been able to write
about your experience with the situation Mammady books. What would
you say is the most important lesson you've learned in
Mother Grace?

Speaker 7 (49:01):
Just Grace capital g R A c E. My kids
are amazing. My older daughter is Gray, she's eleven. Uh.
And then my younger daughter, Marlowe.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
Is nine, and you know her name is Gray.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Her name is gret.

Speaker 7 (49:21):
I was like, wow, no, no, I mean they make
me go gray by wearing the ball. Now they're and
they're amazing, They're they're so awesome, Like it's just it's
really cool to parenting is really cool. Like adulting sucks ass,
but parenting is really cool. And I think some they're

(49:44):
you know, they're so Yeah. Gray's in middle school and
she's my introspective, avid reader. She's kind of me at
her age. She very much wants to people please, and
she's like she wants everybody to know she's trying her best,
and she's kicking butt in school and she's like in

(50:04):
the gifted program and she's you know, I mean, she's
freaking brilliant and she's super intuitive. If she understands things
that it's just not even right. It's not fair and
not right because because there are just conversations we shouldn't have,
but we do and they're awesome. And I pour myself
a bourbon and we sit down and we chat. But

(50:26):
and then Marlowe is like my little spitfirefirecracker. She's kind
of me once I realized that I had a voice,
And I'm super impressed that she at nine years old
already knows that she has one's Wow, it's pretty pretty cool.

Speaker 5 (50:45):
So if your girls came to you and said they
wanted to get into acting, what do you think you
would say?

Speaker 7 (50:52):
Well, they have, which is crazy. I think this is
probably the first interview I've done since I haven't done
one in a while where question has been asked, and
like in the past, you know, I was always like, wow,
if they're really serious about it, obviously you know this.
This industry comes with its pitfalls, and it's I mean,
there were so many highs and lows on a daily

(51:12):
basis really with this industry. And but having experienced as
much as we all have, particularly during a time when
I think that we understand work ethic and and sort
of like the sort of old school industry the way

(51:33):
that we do, which I have a lot of appreciation
for old school industry, I feel like I could coach
them through it in a way that would you know,
my parents were so green, they just didn't know about
any of it, And having the background that we have
makes it a little bit easier. At the same time,

(51:57):
having the background makes me sit back and go, you
better really want it, kid. Yeah, So yeah, I you know,
they just need to really want. I want to know
it's coming from them. It's not a hey, you did it,
so I'm curious about it being this is awesome. You
should be curious about everything. Please be curious, be curious
about it all. But to actually pursue this industry, I

(52:19):
need to know that you want it for you. This
is your passion, not your passion because it was my
passion or is my passion. Yeah, and you know, both
of my kids have expressed high, high level interest in it,
but they're both really young and I so I also
understand that we live in a world where social media

(52:41):
has produced very you know, people with a lot of
notoriety that haven't necessarily used talent to get there. That's like,
you know, I'm just trying to be fair about this
whole thing. Like social media isn't a necessarily always based
on talent. Now that's not to say it isn't based

(53:03):
on business savvy, totally different thing. But to actually be
an actress, like I want to know that you have
talent and want.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
This is like what you actually has to be about
the art or expression, yeah, not not personal desire to
do it.

Speaker 7 (53:22):
Yourself too, right, not that like Taylor Swift is famous,
ergo I should be famous, right, Like, this is not
you know, that's not what I'm working. I'm not going
to work with that. So so I'm really I'm careful.
I'm mindful about thoughtful all about their about their pursuits,

(53:42):
because I just want to make sure it really truly
is coming from the right place and coming from their
art and and and nothing else.

Speaker 6 (53:50):
Have they watched Blossom? Do they know how cool you were?

Speaker 7 (53:53):
And are? Well? I don't know about cool, because I'm
pretty sure if you ask both of my children they'd
be like, oh, have you seen our mind dance? I'm
I want to say they've seen an episode of Blossom.
I believe I showed them an episode of Blossom a
couple of years ago because they were what they were

(54:14):
asking about it, and I wanted them, you know, I'm
proud of it, like I am really proud of it,
and I want them to have context. At the same time,
I don't want them to feel any sense of weird
entitlement by that, or like confusion that somehow I don't know,

(54:35):
that's just not really a part of our lives at
this particular juncture, you know, And I want them to
feel my sense of pride and understand my work ethic
without thinking that it's cool that I.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Was on the show.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
Right, right, do you still get recognized?

Speaker 7 (54:52):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Yeah, yeah. How long have you been in You're in Nashville, right,
how long have you been there?

Speaker 7 (55:01):
Here's what's crazy. So come April, I'll be here seventeen years. Wow,
And I was early and I was in La seventeen years.
So this bizarre thing for me is is hitting this
moment where I'm like, oh, wow, I've actually been in
both places.

Speaker 6 (55:20):
Just as long.

Speaker 7 (55:21):
Yeah, for an equal amnt of time.

Speaker 6 (55:23):
So cool, so weird.

Speaker 5 (55:25):
So looking back now almost thirty five years, so's awesome, debuted,
I hear nothing. What I know looking at young Jenna's
work dating young Wilfredell at the time. Yeah, how do
you feel about young Jenna and what message would you

(55:48):
like to give to her today?

Speaker 7 (55:50):
Oh gosh, it's I mean, it's kind of the same
message that I give myself and my kids now about
about having grace. I think you know, I knew exactly
what I was getting into at that time, in the
sense that it was my passion. I wanted so badly

(56:13):
to continue working. I was the one who begged my
parents to be an actress. I you know, wasn't their idea,
it was mine, and I continued to have one passion
for it. I still do. You know, being in Nashville
doesn't change the fact that I absolutely love being on camera.

(56:34):
I love memorizing lines. I love writing scripts, I love
reading scripts. I love sitting with the cast at the
first read.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
I love.

Speaker 7 (56:42):
I love all of it. I love all of it,
every every last.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Bit of it.

Speaker 7 (56:48):
But I think the biggest thing for me would just be,
you know, we all go through our own evolution with
self awareness, and I had a really hard time, I think.
I you know, we were on shows during a time
when someone like Tracy Gold was getting called fat, yeah,

(57:10):
and it was drastically affecting her view of herself, and
it caused her to in a big way and caused
her to have an eating disorder, you know. And I
think we probably, all, in our own ways, Carrie with us,
certain elements of that time of feeling like really we

(57:36):
could like you know, now everybody's far more careful about
what they joke about. To be fair, you know, everybody's
really aware of mental health, particularly following COVID. You know,
and we were on shows during a time where they
made a lot of fun of things because they they could,

(58:00):
and it wasn't nobody was saying, hey, maybe that's maybe
that's harming this person in the long run.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
So I don't know.

Speaker 7 (58:12):
I'd like to think that what I would tell myself
is to just sort of take it with a grain
of salt. And I probably wouldn't believe it if I
heard it. I probably heard it from somebody then and
didn't you know, as we all have to go through
our own experiences with it. And I'm very much a
visual person, so I'm not shocked that I had to

(58:32):
be hands on in all of it to really appreciate that.
But I'd like to think that having self awareness and
evolving and adulting, man, I feel like it has helped me,
has helped me outgrow some of those some of those
difficulties with self confidence, you know, which is also again

(58:55):
why I go back to it's so interesting to hear
you say writer that I've seemed so so confident, because
I felt so far from confident during that time. And ironically,
I want to say that because I did my MS
podcast at one point and I want to say she
said something similar to me, and like, I just there
is nothing that I never ever felt confident. I still

(59:18):
wake up in the morning and drink my cup of
coffee and I'm like, do I feel confident today?

Speaker 2 (59:21):
I don't know.

Speaker 7 (59:22):
We'll see how it goes, Like you know, so, it's
so interesting to hear other people's perspectives relatively kind of
shining a shining a light on your own opinions on it.

Speaker 5 (59:36):
But well, Jenna, you were one of the coolest people
we knew back then, and you're still one of the
coolest people we know today. And we are honored that
you spend your time with us this morning. It's so
good to reconnect with you. Please let us know the
next time you're in La we would absolutely love to

(59:59):
do that dinner.

Speaker 7 (01:00:02):
Still existed, which I'm assuming it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
There's one well ren Selica's.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
Restaurant and look at each other while not eating salad,
and Jenna and I will record it on a tape
recorder for teen b and I'll bring my mom, who
will take a photo shoot for us.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Love it.

Speaker 7 (01:00:20):
I think we've got it. We've hit the nail on
the head here.

Speaker 4 (01:00:22):
We've got to find that tape Jenna, We've got to
find that tape of the original first date.

Speaker 7 (01:00:26):
Oh my god, I wonder if I probably turned it
into team Beat. It's either you know, burned somewhere, or
it's in like some scary archive in some mic.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
It's on microfish somewhere.

Speaker 7 (01:00:44):
I mean, thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
This was Awesomeank you so good to see you, big, big,
big hug. Can't wait to give it to you in person.
You jugs same here, all right, bye bye. It's so
interesting how many women we speak to who all have
you know, the same the same stories. And it's not
just women. Of course, men in the industry also have

(01:01:11):
their own, you know, feelings of insecurity and whatever. But really,
you know, almost every woman we talk to has some
story about feeling not beautiful or you know, worried about
whether or not they were overweight. And you know, they're
always the people that were like, wait, what like are

(01:01:33):
It's just you know, you aren't a good judge of yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
We are, certainly in terms of the looks, but even
even in terms of like it's so funny that she
didn't even think of herself as like put together.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
Or are confident when like she was the all the most.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
Confident, funny like knew everything about like I just you know,
and yeah, it's you know, it just goes to show
that like no matter what stage you're in, whether you're
a teenager acting on a TV show or a forty
four year old sad dad, to get out of your
own way, like don't worry about it, like just be
just be focused on you know, your goals and the

(01:02:09):
thing you want to be and be in the print
and just just worry about that. Like if you if
you worry too much about who you are, what you
look like, what you sound like, or what people's perception
of you, it's it's never good. Like it doesn't it
doesn't help any like because you actually will never know,
you know, like you could be going through the worst
time I said than done.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
Though everybody says to themselves like I'm not going to
care and people think about me, I'm not going to
care how I look, and it's almost impossible to do.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
Everybody seems to care about all that stuff all the time.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
And so it's the older you're getting older, I'm getting
I'm trying to let that stuff go, but it's hard.
It's yeah, you know, it's different now, than it was
when I was fifteen sixteen, but it's still always there.

Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
Yeah, Well, when you're that age too, it's really hard
for you to understand that you're actually not the center
of the universe.

Speaker 6 (01:02:54):
Right, Fundamentally, you're supposed to.

Speaker 5 (01:02:57):
Think you're the center of the universe at that time,
and yet trying to tell yourself no one else is
thinking this as much as you are.

Speaker 6 (01:03:05):
Is impossible that Well, if you're on.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
A TV show, you actually are kind of the center.

Speaker 6 (01:03:09):
You're the center of that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
I mean, that's it's so weird, right, Like when you're
an adolescent and you still do think the world revolves
around like we're social life, and then like your friends,
the people you work with are also being recognized everywhere
you go. It's a weird thing. Like it's a very
it's distorting. It was always a distorting mirror.

Speaker 5 (01:03:29):
Well, thank you for joining us for this episode of
Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on
Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your
emails pod meets World Show at gmail dot com, and
we have merch.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
Jenna Selica is White March.

Speaker 6 (01:03:43):
I can't believe you were right about all that. I'm
never wrong. How did this happen?

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
Writer?

Speaker 6 (01:03:50):
Send us out?

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is
an iHeart podcast producer and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfordell
and Writers. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman. Executive
in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara Subasch, producer,
Mattie Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World superman Easton Allen.
Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow

(01:04:14):
us on Instagram at podmets World Show, or email us
at Podmeats Worldshow at gmail dot com