July 31, 2024 • 29 mins
As her biggest fans, we had been waiting for this moment impatiently... at last, on Becoming an Icon, we explore the incredible journey of Christina Aguilera! Xtina rose from a broken home with boundless talent and determination. And while stardom came early in her life, Christina would walk a long road before finally stepping into her power and becoming the boss she was always meant to be.
Lilliana Vazquez and Joseph Carrillo are the hosts of Becoming An Icon with production support by Nick Milanes, Santiago Sierra, Rodrigo Crespo, Evelyn Uribe and Edgar Esteban of Sonoro Media in partnership with iHeart Radio's My Cultura Podcast network.
If you want to support the podcast, please rate and review our show.
Follow Lilliana Vazquez on Instagram and Twitter @lillianavazquez
Follow Joseph Carrillo on Instagram @josephcarrillo
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ring the alarm and were thrown albow live from NOO Familia, Joseph,
just checking in. Are you read miha? I got my
gloves on and I feel too dirty to clean my.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Acta you and me both, because today we are talking
about Extina, Joseph, let's get right into it. When did
you become a Christina Aguilera fan?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
When she came out of the bottle? I instantaneously knew
just because, and to be honest, not only was she beautiful,
we love Brittany, but I saw her. She was beautiful
and her last name was Aguilera, and it was like WHOA.
I just immediately liked her. And being from Alpasso on
the north of Mexico, there were a lot of blonde hair,
(00:46):
blue eyed Latina girls that I didn't think that she
looked like a white girl like most people. Oh Gania
bottle number one. So from the get, from the get,
what about you same? I think?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You know, I always remember there was this like are
you team Brittany or are you team Christina? And I thought, well,
what if I'm team bo And I love pop music?
So and their sound was different and I don't think
they were the same, but yes, for sure, I.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Question, have you ever been in the same room or
interviewed her?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
So I have never professionally interviewed her.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Okay, I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
But I just saw her New Year's Eve eve in
Las Vegas at her brand new cabaret show, and it
was epic. I loved every second of the day. I'd
never seen her in concert before. Concerts love concerts. I
just had never seen her in concert before, and this
(01:44):
was such an intimate space compared to like a big arena,
and her voice is so incredibly powerful that it just
vibrates the walls of the room.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
And bitch can dance and sing at the same time.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So I think it's fair to say that we are
both Christina Hagul were a fans and once a fan,
always a fan, because she is a fide Now for
those of you that don't know a lot of history here,
we're going to take you back. So she came from
a broken home and it was immediately obvious that she
(02:20):
had boundless talent and incredible determination.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, because you need both facts, and.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
With encouragement from her mom, she stuck to what she
loved the most.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Even though the wackness did not stop when she left
her childhood behind our girls been through it.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
If you want to learn how the press can rile
up conflict and controversy.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
If you want to learn how record lybs can be
completely fucking unhelpful.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And most importantly, if you want to learn how to
define yourself when everybody is obsessed with comparing you to
somebody else Britney Speers, and when nobody seems to understand
the Olniviennis, look no further than Christina Aguilera, because while
stardom came early in her life, Christina would walk a
long road before finally stepping into her power and becoming
(03:08):
the boss.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
She was always meant to be the boss.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
The fans always knew she could be. And girl, the fans.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Stood by her, and she stood by them in six
inch heels.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
All right, Basa, yah, with the setup, I'm ready to
do this.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I'm your host Liliana Rosquez.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon, a.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how
today's most famous.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
LATINX stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
And given the world some extra ubble.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Because we are going in the only way we know
how with whenas leave us, when assays some cheese and
a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements
on our journey to find out what makes them still iconic.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December eighteenth, nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I know my girl as a Sagittarius son. She's friendly,
she's enthusiastic about what she does avviy, and she sees
the big picture. When disappointments happen, she puts them behind
her and keeps on moving. But as a tourist moon
she has a clear picture of what the good life
looks like like me in this case, a loyal friends
(04:37):
and physical plage honey, and she don't care to settle.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
For less, but less, unfortunately, is what she would start with.
Justa heads up for those who don't know, the story
of Christina Aguilera's early childhood is not a very happy one.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Fact, our queen was not born a princess.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Christina was born in New York, but grua kind of
all over the place.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
That's because her dad, Fauso Xavier Aguiletta, was an army man.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
A sergeant to be precise, and as a Sergeant Fausto
would be assigned to various military bases all over the world.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
And the rest of the Aguilera's aka Christina and her mother, Shelley,
didn't really have a choice but to.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Come with them, making young Christina a classic military brat
for all intents and purposes. She didn't have a hometown
nor any means of real connection to the places where
her father was stationed.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Mostly, all she knew was her family, and.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
That family was broken. Her mother, Shelley, says that from
the moment she said I do, she didn't become a wife,
she became an object.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Oh, which that's harsh and shouting in physical violence were
common occurrences in Christina's household. She was a frequent witness
to her father's abuse of her mother. She would remember
the physical altercations well into her adult years.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Christina felt powerless and her only refuge music.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
When things got scary, she would hide in her room
and play the film soundtrack to the sound of music.
She would stand at her open window and sing along
to Julie Andrews. Music was both her way of escape
and her way of expressing pain.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
She said those songs saved her life. Something her own
music would do for so many of her fans years later.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Isn't that amazing? Like it healed her? And then she
goes back that healing.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
That's what I think that we're meant to do. That's
our purpose to help others.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But all of this was not before she and Shelley escaped,
and before that things would actually get worse.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Fosta was stationed in Japan for three years, and there
Faust's abuse finally spread from Shelley to Christina.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
One day, Shelley heard a loud bang from upstairs. She
raced up and found little Christina, at just four years old,
with blood dripping down her chin.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Christina told Shelley quote, Dad wanted to take a nap
and I was making too much noise.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Little Christina was Shelley's one light in a dark situation,
and here she was bleeding from the face. They had
to get out of there and they would get their chance.
About two years later, when Fausto was again relocated to
Fort Dix, New Jersey, back in.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The States, Shelley loaded up the car with Christina, her
new baby daughter, Rachel, and whatever they could grab from
the house and enough money for gas and diapers. And
drove almost four hundred miles to her mother's house in Rochester,
New York.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The trip was scary for Christina. She remembers her daughter
worrying aloud that Fasto would spot them on the road
on his way back home for lunch.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
But in the end, they made it, and the next
year Shelley and Fauso got a divorce. They were married
ten years.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
That is a long time to live in hell.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Christina's memories of this time would last her entire life,
but so would memories of her mother's courage, and decades later,
she would make peace with these memories in the twenty
twenty two song no Es.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Get the Extrage. This song is incredibly powerful.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I felt like, even though her voice is powerful, it's
a different type of vibe for her. And maybe it's
because it's in Spanish and I just wasn't expecting it.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
You just feel it more because it just it hurts,
and it's weird because you're just kind of like, wait,
am I talking about? Like what kind of love?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Like?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
What am I missing? Like or not?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Now, for you, as a Christina fan, how did you
receive this song?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
You know, being that it's a newer one, I think
about Christina Moore about like the gay pop stuff that
I loved, and so this is just a new version
of her that I guess I have to evolve and
grow with. I don't not like it. It's just a
little too powerful for me, and I don't identify it
with it at the moment.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I think that's very fair.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I think music is like it hits you at the
right time, right, You're like, this is not the song
I was looking for in twenty twenty two from her
for you, Right. I think for me what was interesting
about it was obviously we're both Latino, but I think
there's always been a difficult conversation to be had about
her Latini that, right, And I hate like talking about
(09:14):
that because one thing doesn't make you Latina, one thing
doesn't make you more Latino than somebody else, Right, But
I do think that that's something that she's spoken about.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
She said, you know, like it's been hard to connect
with her Latin heritage and that it's a fractured part
of her. So I think it's for her.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
This song is not just an acknowledgment of the cycles
of abuse right from her father, but also a little
bit about her relationship with Latino culture.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
You know. And I was going to stay that point.
I was going to stay to that point too. Here's
the thing. She didn't have a home, and she didn't
have friends. Where were the Latinos. She was in fucking Japan,
you know, so us to be like your Latina aguileta.
She's like, you know, I am, but like, I don't
know that yet. I So I could see that struggle.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Well and also think about it.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
That side of her heritage and culture is what is
most closely aligned with her father Faustal, So totally would
she have been suppressing that side of her because she
wants to create distance and space between the abuse and
her dad, And maybe that was her way of separating,
being like, I don't want anything to do with that
part of me because it's so painful and it's so
(10:27):
deep and it hurts so bad. And maybe as she's
gotten older and worked through it, and listen, we're big
fans of therapy around here, you know, she's been able
to process some of that pain and say, wait, just
because he's Latino doesn't mean that I can't own and
claim my own Latini.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
That for myself.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I'm sure she was also just curious about where she
came from and what that culture is like, because you know,
when you grow up an army brat. I was not,
but I know a few, and it's just you just
are kind of like, where do I belong?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Nid that ki ni that yeah mm hm.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
The song is an acknowledgment of the cycles of abuse
that Fausto hurt them because someone hurt him.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And while Christina doesn't want to blame him or dwell
on what he did, she regrets that in the end
he hurt them both.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I think that in doing the show, we have really
seen examples of all of the forces that can pull
Latino families apart.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And machismo is a big one. Those wounds take a
long time to heal.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But just as we heard, Christina would eventually find peace
without ever forgetting where she came from Gomdruz.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
To forgive is to remember without pain. All right, hard parts.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Over well for us, at least for Christina, her work
is just beginning.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Because if there's one thing we've learned this season is
to start them when they're.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Young as usual. You're not wrong, Juanghi, Celia, Selina, Santana,
Los Vegas.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
All started doing music before the age of ten. Do
you think we'll ever do an icon who did a
complete when eighty in life and hit it big?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
I'm not really sure that they exist.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Wait to kill my inner child? Low.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You know what they say, bou kill your darlings. But
you can always live vicariously through Christina. I always have
like we we are a team.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
We always have.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Okay, So Christina and her mom, along with baby Rachel,
left behind a dark past. But Christina holds onto the
thing that kept her head held high.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Mm hm. That flawless four octave vocal range, that.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Too, But I'm talking specifically about her deep love and
passion of music, and obviously the vocal range. I'm the
control of a season singer three times her age was
pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
As well, which Christina's grandmother and the mothers of her
schoolmates immediately noticed, because how could you not.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
At a first Great Talent show in her new home
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Christina blew the audience and the competition away.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Then the whole PTA swarmed Shelley after the show and
begged Nate demanded that she put that girl on star Search.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Wait, do you know what star search is?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yes? The singing competition launch pad for Brittany Aliyah Beyonce
via the hip hop rapping Girls Time, the TV show
that gave us the iconic video of Tiny Extina belting
on stage wearing a belt the size of my vanity mirror.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I just got the best visual of that. And okay, yes, yes,
I just had to clarify because you don't know things
like Ed Sullivan, Like, you don't know what the Ed
Sullivan Show is.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Well, everyone under the age of forty five and asked
them if they know who Ed Sullivan is, then you
will see who's surprised. Let's watch the damn video. Fine,
we're fighting now, by the way.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Oh trust me, I know. Let's watch the video.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Fine.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Favorite moment in the.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Video, Oh my god, the velvet scrunchy in her hair.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
You were the only person in the entire world that
would mention that after hearing a little ten year old
belt out what sounds like, I don't know, a forty
year old singing in a cabaret after smoking cigarettes like what?
Speaker 1 (14:24):
You have channeled the bully in me because I'm pissnoyed.
So it is the vevet scrunchy.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Okay, all I know is that I want that entire.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, it's a look, you know, it's a little sing
yoda in a good way.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Also, I was going to say, yeah, they had to
dress her up. It's also just so crazy that, like
they didn't opt to do a pink skirt and a
this and.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
A oh nobody.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
She was taking her role as a cabaret singer.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
You're serious.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
It was the character she was. Yeah, and and then
moved on rouge there you go.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I mean she definitely had a maturity to her voice. Yeah,
that did not match up with the tiny peanut.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
That show up stage and that haircut.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Do not come for the hair. Don't you already stop?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
We started highlights young. I'm just saying that, Joseph.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
We cannot stay mad at each other. We have a
podcast to record, we are paying for studio time, and
we are doing the Christina episodes. These are the Christina episodes.
We begged for these, Joseph. So as a peace offering,
I'm going to let you in on one of my
favorite pastimes.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Go on judging other kids' moms'.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I don't judge other moms, all right, but I will
judge these moms. So those same moms who encourage Christina's
mom to put her on Star Search then banned her
from the school Talent show because their kids were jealous
of her voice, Like.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Excuse me, your child is shining too bright. It's hurting
my little donna's ego. I mean her eyes.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I mean that belt would have hurt anybody's, but they
weren't talking about the belt.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Fuck the PTA and their kids too, my.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
GODK well not really okay, but you know what, those
little shits bullied her as well.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Never mind, fuck those kids.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Kids and I have one by the way, Okay, are
we all good? Now? You know it all right, let's
keep the story moving.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So obviously you got a feel for Christina here, because
back in those days, being the kid who's really good
at one thing, it kind of made you an easy target.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So did having the last name like Agui Letta. Let's
be real facts and.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Remember she was also a military brat. She went from
Staten Island to Japan to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
She wasn't playing with other kids all those years. She
was just having Julie Andrews sing a long time at
the window. Then she runs from a broken home to Pittsburgh,
like we were girls. She's different.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
No shade here, but where all my different people at?
Because I think we're the top of that list, actually,
But it's also easy to see why it might have
been hard for Christina to relate to other kids her age.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
But it doesn't matter because our girl was a star
on local TV and in the ice rink.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You heard him right.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Christina became the go to girl to sing the national
anthem at Pittsburgh Penguin's hockey games, and it turns out
she was their lucky charm.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Every single game she sang at. The Penguins won.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
By the way, I think this is the first time
either of us have ever cared about hockey.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Give a fuck about hockey. I care about little Donna
in the bleachers seething while Tina hits the note in
Land of the Free.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That was actually really good, That wasn't pitchy, dog, that
wasn't pitching. Well, you can bet that little Donna was
seething because unfortunately, the bullying at her school continued. Christina's
schoolmates even went so far as to call her home
at night to harass her aka the analog version of
(18:12):
trolls Up in your DMS. Christina was so upset she
started having nightmares.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Shit, can you imagine? Okay, Mom, Lily, what would you
do if this was something.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
You don't want to know, because I would go full Danielle.
Stop on those kids' moms, like you do not want
to unlock the Latina kid me when it comes to
my kid, like he should be afraid of me. My
husband is actually afraid of that. We talk about it.
He's like, you know that you can't like be mean
(18:43):
to other kids. I'm like, I can be mean to
their moms. I can go after somebody my size.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well, you would still be smaller, but you would beat
the ass. I know you would. If not, you call
me and I'll beat the ass.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Okay, But after I beat their ass, I'd probably take
a page from Shelley's bok.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
She noticed how Christina was suffering and asked her, do
you love singing this much? Is it worth it?
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Real? Like, a kid can be good at something without
loving it, and you have to make sure that you're
not just doing it because you think you're supposed to.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
But little Christina told her mom that she loved singing
too much to give it up, and Shelley told her.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Well, then God must be preparing you for something bigger
and better and listeners.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
She wasn't wrong, because soon after, Christina's grandmother would notice
the smallest ad in the newspaper an open call for
auditions for the Mickey Mouse Club.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And it wasn't too long after that Christina would find
herself on National TV alongside Ryan Justin and it's Britney bitch,
so Leleana, We've known for a while that child stardom.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Is a whirlpool that sucks in kids and families who
don't know any better. I mean, what could possibly give
anybody that idea? McCauley, Michael, Let's leave the Olsen Twins
out of this, because you know the row and hello
Nicky jam Selena.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, and you've mentioned quite on set a couple of
times in other episodes.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Y'all if you have not watched the show, watch it seriously.
It's so good.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Have you seen it? No, we'll we'll do that when
I go over Margarita's sata.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
First of all, yes, absolutely, But before we do that,
how do you feel when we watch these old clips
of Christina and now this Mickey Mouse Club stuff with
Brittany Jt et cetera.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
I mean I feel a lot of different emotions.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Hmmm.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
I loved those shows growing up.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
I actually was a Kids Incorporated fan. Oh yeah, and
I love a good variety show.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I still do.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
But I do think there's something kind of like exploititive
about children and being consumed for adult entertainment. It's weird.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It makes makes me uncomfortable. Doesn't make me feel icky,
It just makes me slightly uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Okay, oh whoa, whoa, Okay, this is this is interesting.
So like, what if Santhi was an amazing singer and
it's not so much that you want to I don't
say that you would ever want to exploit Sonthi in
any way, but I think that you definitely would want
because I think you would want to share his talent
with others because you're proud of him.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
I mean, I will say this is the million dollar
question because back then, parents really only had vehicles like
these kids' shows or like these adult variety shows to
showcase their child's talent. Right it was only you know,
Star Search or the Mickey Bass Club or Kids Incorporated.
Now that show is TikTok is TikTok, and so I
(21:50):
think you're touching on a very difficult question, and I
go back and forth all of the time. You know,
Sometimes I feel like I want to share him because
he brings me joy and happiness. He's so fucking cute
that I'm like, the world needs to see this. But
then other times I'm like, but the world is big
and dark and fucking scary, and so maybe the world
doesn't need to see this. So I think for me,
(22:11):
I'm starting to pull back. Like I've noticed myself taking
a lot more photos of him where I don't show
his face, and I'm posting a lot more of that
because I do think that the world has a weird
fascination with child stars.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
So like, for you right now, like is TikTok? Do
you think TikTok right now? And like we're going to
call that the new show? Right So is TikTok and
all that stuff for these is that? Do you think
that's ethical?
Speaker 3 (22:34):
I think it's for every parent to decide interest what
is ethical or okay in their home. I can tell
you that right now, as the mother to a toddler,
I'm going to keep him as far away from all
things social media as long as I can, because not
only do I see what's happening to this generation of kids.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
But in this podcast, think about what we've learned about
a lot of these people that started off when they
were super young. So I just want to keep him
innocent and childlike as long as I can, even if
he is the best guitarist, drummer, singer, actor ever.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I think for me, like what if he's like, Mom,
I'm a fucking really good DJ in middle school, Like you.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Know these you should go DJ at your middle.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
But do it on TikTok No.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
No, you have the rest of your world to be
a grown up, be a child. But that's my opinion
today as a mom in twenty twenty four. When I
was a kid in the late eighties and early nineties,
I mean, these conversations didn't exist. By the way, My
mom probably wanted me to be on Mickey Mask Club
and Kids Incorporated.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Bitch not us in the line with Barney come.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
On really, And I definitely took acting classes. So when
Christina Aguire's grandmother told her and her mom about the ad, clearly,
like many of us, there was like zero hesitation, like
let's fucking go.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Eight hundred kids showed up to this audition ready to
sing dance and act their little baby hearts out, and
when the casting director called Agia up to the audition room,
our girl rolled in a suitcase full of cassette tapes
and told them pick one.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
According to casting director of Matt Cassella, She's sang Vision.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Of Love Marijah Honey at ten years old, once again,
four octave vocal range and wisdom beyond her years.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Christina gives an unforgettable performance that stuns the entire room
into silence, from the casting executives to the kids waiting
for their turn. I mean those kids should have just
gone home right then, right, and all of the kids
in this room go nuts with.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Applause after all that boolling she went through back in Pittsburgh,
here's hundreds of kids giving her her propers. That's how
you know you found your people, Cassella.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
The casting director claimed that a star had been born.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
But no, but she's a star, a star, I tell you.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
No question about it.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But unfortunately the producers thought that Christina was still too
young to be a mouse.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I'm Azmilski. That's like being too drama for the Real Housewives.
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I know, it's actually shocking with all of our child
star talk earlier. The ad in the paper hadn't specified
a minimum age requirement and for contacts. Full House had
been on for at least three years by that point,
and that show had literal like HODLERSHONSI would be aged
out a full House at this way.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Show me a toddler who can sing like Mariah, and
I will buy awe of their merch. Bitch.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
I mean, I'm subscribing right. I would feel weird about it.
But the point is Christina was so close and yet
so far.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
She was crushed.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Exit Little Christina rolling her suitcase of cassettes behind her head,
hanging low.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Okay, now I'm crushed.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I refuse to suffer alone.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Okay, in thirty years when we are ye hitos, We're
going to have a big friendship anniversary party and I'm
writing that on the cake.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Casella refused to let Christina suffer rejection for long. He
went to bat for her, held on to her audition materials,
and called her mother up as soon as Christina was
old enough for the show, and after a private audition
with the producers.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Christina was a mouse goot tear bitch.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Holly whoa wait wait, wait, wait, wait, Joseph, you mean Orlando, Florida.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Okay, you're killing me.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I refuse to suffer alone. And Christina, for the first
time in her dark, difficult childhood, was not alone.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Girl just had to find her tribe. Performing arts kids.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
How about performing arts kids on steroids? I mean, if
we're talking about this cast which had Ryan Gosling, Carrie Russell,
J C.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Chase, also Matt Morris aka co writer.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Of Can't Hold Us Down and Hello, Britney Spears, and
Justin Timberlake.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Which we are going to get into. Do not worry
for now.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
We'll just say big Summer camp slash theater camp Vibes.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Camp mouse Keutier is the place for theater kids summer.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
I know that you never watched The Mickey Mouse Club,
but for an entire generation of people, like myself.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Watch Kids Incorporated. Though okay, good.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Well, it was just like Kids Incorporated, but it was
Disney themed and it was like church like. I really
looked forward to this thing once a week. I wanted
to be like them. I wanted to dress like them.
I mean, they were my, they were my they were cool.
I was following them. They were my influencers. At the time.
Kid influencers of the ogs like SNL Yeah. Basically, well
(27:42):
that's how I thought your Kids Incorporator was.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
It's the same thing.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
It's kind of felting, acting, dancing, all of it. I
would pay at least like fifty grand to be teleported
back in time to see what I said. Yeah, like
like what it was happening?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Crazy? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
By all accounts, Christina had the time of her life
during her run on The Mickey Mouse Club.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
She got to do what she loved without any bullies
or complaining ask parents dimming her chine.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
She had found her people and her place after a
whole childhood with neither. But unfortunately, I hate it when
you do this, her time would be cut short.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
We're fighting again.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Don't blame me, blame TV programming execs, because while Christina
had signed a five year contract, the Disney Channel would
cancel The Mickey Mouse Club in nineteen ninety four, giving
Christina just two seasons with her friends and castmates.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Camp Mouseketeer closes forever.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
This is devastating, but all of that is what makes
her a fire.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Hey, She's been through hell and back and she said
it herself. She loves singing, too much to give it up.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
So at just seventeen, Christina goes to New York to
find her first manager, and shortly thereafter she was off
too not.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Doing this again. You're gonna tell meus she went to
Tampa or Phoenix.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
No, fine, I'll say it, Holly Wood.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Just kidding. Booth. Isn't it fun being in the same room?
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Honestly, every room is better with you in it, and
that's true.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
On the next Becoming an Icon, Christina's golden age starts
as soon as she steps in the recording.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Booth, and so does the rumor mail.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael
Duda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast
Ring the alarm and were thrown albow live from NOO Familia, Joseph,
just checking in. Are you read miha? I got my
gloves on and I feel too dirty to clean my.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Acta you and me both, because today we are talking
about Extina, Joseph, let's get right into it. When did
you become a Christina Aguilera fan?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
When she came out of the bottle? I instantaneously knew
just because, and to be honest, not only was she beautiful,
we love Brittany, but I saw her. She was beautiful
and her last name was Aguilera, and it was like WHOA.
I just immediately liked her. And being from Alpasso on
the north of Mexico, there were a lot of blonde hair,
(00:46):
blue eyed Latina girls that I didn't think that she
looked like a white girl like most people. Oh Gania
bottle number one. So from the get, from the get,
what about you same? I think?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You know, I always remember there was this like are
you team Brittany or are you team Christina? And I thought, well,
what if I'm team bo And I love pop music?
So and their sound was different and I don't think
they were the same, but yes, for sure, I.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Question, have you ever been in the same room or
interviewed her?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
So I have never professionally interviewed her.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Okay, I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
But I just saw her New Year's Eve eve in
Las Vegas at her brand new cabaret show, and it
was epic. I loved every second of the day. I'd
never seen her in concert before. Concerts love concerts. I
just had never seen her in concert before, and this
(01:44):
was such an intimate space compared to like a big arena,
and her voice is so incredibly powerful that it just
vibrates the walls of the room.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
And bitch can dance and sing at the same time.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So I think it's fair to say that we are
both Christina Hagul were a fans and once a fan,
always a fan, because she is a fide Now for
those of you that don't know a lot of history here,
we're going to take you back. So she came from
a broken home and it was immediately obvious that she
(02:20):
had boundless talent and incredible determination.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, because you need both facts, and.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
With encouragement from her mom, she stuck to what she
loved the most.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Even though the wackness did not stop when she left
her childhood behind our girls been through it.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
If you want to learn how the press can rile
up conflict and controversy.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
If you want to learn how record lybs can be
completely fucking unhelpful.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And most importantly, if you want to learn how to
define yourself when everybody is obsessed with comparing you to
somebody else Britney Speers, and when nobody seems to understand
the Olniviennis, look no further than Christina Aguilera, because while
stardom came early in her life, Christina would walk a
long road before finally stepping into her power and becoming
(03:08):
the boss.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
She was always meant to be the boss.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
The fans always knew she could be. And girl, the fans.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Stood by her, and she stood by them in six
inch heels.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
All right, Basa, yah, with the setup, I'm ready to
do this.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I'm your host Liliana Rosquez.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon, a.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how
today's most famous.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
LATINX stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
And given the world some extra ubble.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Because we are going in the only way we know
how with whenas leave us, when assays some cheese and
a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements
on our journey to find out what makes them still iconic.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December eighteenth, nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I know my girl as a Sagittarius son. She's friendly,
she's enthusiastic about what she does avviy, and she sees
the big picture. When disappointments happen, she puts them behind
her and keeps on moving. But as a tourist moon
she has a clear picture of what the good life
looks like like me in this case, a loyal friends
(04:37):
and physical plage honey, and she don't care to settle.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
For less, but less, unfortunately, is what she would start with.
Justa heads up for those who don't know, the story
of Christina Aguilera's early childhood is not a very happy one.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Fact, our queen was not born a princess.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Christina was born in New York, but grua kind of
all over the place.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
That's because her dad, Fauso Xavier Aguiletta, was an army man.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
A sergeant to be precise, and as a Sergeant Fausto
would be assigned to various military bases all over the world.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
And the rest of the Aguilera's aka Christina and her mother, Shelley,
didn't really have a choice but to.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Come with them, making young Christina a classic military brat
for all intents and purposes. She didn't have a hometown
nor any means of real connection to the places where
her father was stationed.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Mostly, all she knew was her family, and.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
That family was broken. Her mother, Shelley, says that from
the moment she said I do, she didn't become a wife,
she became an object.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Oh, which that's harsh and shouting in physical violence were
common occurrences in Christina's household. She was a frequent witness
to her father's abuse of her mother. She would remember
the physical altercations well into her adult years.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Christina felt powerless and her only refuge music.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
When things got scary, she would hide in her room
and play the film soundtrack to the sound of music.
She would stand at her open window and sing along
to Julie Andrews. Music was both her way of escape
and her way of expressing pain.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
She said those songs saved her life. Something her own
music would do for so many of her fans years later.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Isn't that amazing? Like it healed her? And then she
goes back that healing.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
That's what I think that we're meant to do. That's
our purpose to help others.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But all of this was not before she and Shelley escaped,
and before that things would actually get worse.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Fosta was stationed in Japan for three years, and there
Faust's abuse finally spread from Shelley to Christina.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
One day, Shelley heard a loud bang from upstairs. She
raced up and found little Christina, at just four years old,
with blood dripping down her chin.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Christina told Shelley quote, Dad wanted to take a nap
and I was making too much noise.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Little Christina was Shelley's one light in a dark situation,
and here she was bleeding from the face. They had
to get out of there and they would get their chance.
About two years later, when Fausto was again relocated to
Fort Dix, New Jersey, back in.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The States, Shelley loaded up the car with Christina, her
new baby daughter, Rachel, and whatever they could grab from
the house and enough money for gas and diapers. And
drove almost four hundred miles to her mother's house in Rochester,
New York.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The trip was scary for Christina. She remembers her daughter
worrying aloud that Fasto would spot them on the road
on his way back home for lunch.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
But in the end, they made it, and the next
year Shelley and Fauso got a divorce. They were married
ten years.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
That is a long time to live in hell.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Christina's memories of this time would last her entire life,
but so would memories of her mother's courage, and decades later,
she would make peace with these memories in the twenty
twenty two song no Es.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Get the Extrage. This song is incredibly powerful.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I felt like, even though her voice is powerful, it's
a different type of vibe for her. And maybe it's
because it's in Spanish and I just wasn't expecting it.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
You just feel it more because it just it hurts,
and it's weird because you're just kind of like, wait,
am I talking about? Like what kind of love?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Like?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
What am I missing? Like or not?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Now, for you, as a Christina fan, how did you
receive this song?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
You know, being that it's a newer one, I think
about Christina Moore about like the gay pop stuff that
I loved, and so this is just a new version
of her that I guess I have to evolve and
grow with. I don't not like it. It's just a
little too powerful for me, and I don't identify it
with it at the moment.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I think that's very fair.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I think music is like it hits you at the
right time, right, You're like, this is not the song
I was looking for in twenty twenty two from her
for you, Right. I think for me what was interesting
about it was obviously we're both Latino, but I think
there's always been a difficult conversation to be had about
her Latini that, right, And I hate like talking about
(09:14):
that because one thing doesn't make you Latina, one thing
doesn't make you more Latino than somebody else, Right, But
I do think that that's something that she's spoken about.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
She said, you know, like it's been hard to connect
with her Latin heritage and that it's a fractured part
of her. So I think it's for her.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
This song is not just an acknowledgment of the cycles
of abuse right from her father, but also a little
bit about her relationship with Latino culture.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
You know. And I was going to stay that point.
I was going to stay to that point too. Here's
the thing. She didn't have a home, and she didn't
have friends. Where were the Latinos. She was in fucking Japan,
you know, so us to be like your Latina aguileta.
She's like, you know, I am, but like, I don't
know that yet. I So I could see that struggle.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Well and also think about it.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
That side of her heritage and culture is what is
most closely aligned with her father Faustal, So totally would
she have been suppressing that side of her because she
wants to create distance and space between the abuse and
her dad, And maybe that was her way of separating,
being like, I don't want anything to do with that
part of me because it's so painful and it's so
(10:27):
deep and it hurts so bad. And maybe as she's
gotten older and worked through it, and listen, we're big
fans of therapy around here, you know, she's been able
to process some of that pain and say, wait, just
because he's Latino doesn't mean that I can't own and
claim my own Latini.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
That for myself.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I'm sure she was also just curious about where she
came from and what that culture is like, because you know,
when you grow up an army brat. I was not,
but I know a few, and it's just you just
are kind of like, where do I belong?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Nid that ki ni that yeah mm hm.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
The song is an acknowledgment of the cycles of abuse
that Fausto hurt them because someone hurt him.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And while Christina doesn't want to blame him or dwell
on what he did, she regrets that in the end
he hurt them both.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I think that in doing the show, we have really
seen examples of all of the forces that can pull
Latino families apart.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And machismo is a big one. Those wounds take a
long time to heal.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But just as we heard, Christina would eventually find peace
without ever forgetting where she came from Gomdruz.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
To forgive is to remember without pain. All right, hard parts.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Over well for us, at least for Christina, her work
is just beginning.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Because if there's one thing we've learned this season is
to start them when they're.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Young as usual. You're not wrong, Juanghi, Celia, Selina, Santana,
Los Vegas.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
All started doing music before the age of ten. Do
you think we'll ever do an icon who did a
complete when eighty in life and hit it big?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
I'm not really sure that they exist.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Wait to kill my inner child? Low.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You know what they say, bou kill your darlings. But
you can always live vicariously through Christina. I always have
like we we are a team.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
We always have.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Okay, So Christina and her mom, along with baby Rachel,
left behind a dark past. But Christina holds onto the
thing that kept her head held high.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Mm hm. That flawless four octave vocal range, that.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Too, But I'm talking specifically about her deep love and
passion of music, and obviously the vocal range. I'm the
control of a season singer three times her age was
pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
As well, which Christina's grandmother and the mothers of her
schoolmates immediately noticed, because how could you not.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
At a first Great Talent show in her new home
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Christina blew the audience and the competition away.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Then the whole PTA swarmed Shelley after the show and
begged Nate demanded that she put that girl on star Search.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Wait, do you know what star search is?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yes? The singing competition launch pad for Brittany Aliyah Beyonce
via the hip hop rapping Girls Time, the TV show
that gave us the iconic video of Tiny Extina belting
on stage wearing a belt the size of my vanity mirror.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I just got the best visual of that. And okay, yes, yes,
I just had to clarify because you don't know things
like Ed Sullivan, Like, you don't know what the Ed
Sullivan Show is.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Well, everyone under the age of forty five and asked
them if they know who Ed Sullivan is, then you
will see who's surprised. Let's watch the damn video. Fine,
we're fighting now, by the way.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Oh trust me, I know. Let's watch the video.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Fine.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Favorite moment in the.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Video, Oh my god, the velvet scrunchy in her hair.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
You were the only person in the entire world that
would mention that after hearing a little ten year old
belt out what sounds like, I don't know, a forty
year old singing in a cabaret after smoking cigarettes like what?
Speaker 1 (14:24):
You have channeled the bully in me because I'm pissnoyed.
So it is the vevet scrunchy.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Okay, all I know is that I want that entire.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, it's a look, you know, it's a little sing
yoda in a good way.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Also, I was going to say, yeah, they had to
dress her up. It's also just so crazy that, like
they didn't opt to do a pink skirt and a
this and.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
A oh nobody.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
She was taking her role as a cabaret singer.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
You're serious.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
It was the character she was. Yeah, and and then
moved on rouge there you go.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I mean she definitely had a maturity to her voice. Yeah,
that did not match up with the tiny peanut.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
That show up stage and that haircut.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Do not come for the hair. Don't you already stop?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
We started highlights young. I'm just saying that, Joseph.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
We cannot stay mad at each other. We have a
podcast to record, we are paying for studio time, and
we are doing the Christina episodes. These are the Christina episodes.
We begged for these, Joseph. So as a peace offering,
I'm going to let you in on one of my
favorite pastimes.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Go on judging other kids' moms'.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I don't judge other moms, all right, but I will
judge these moms. So those same moms who encourage Christina's
mom to put her on Star Search then banned her
from the school Talent show because their kids were jealous
of her voice, Like.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Excuse me, your child is shining too bright. It's hurting
my little donna's ego. I mean her eyes.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I mean that belt would have hurt anybody's, but they
weren't talking about the belt.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Fuck the PTA and their kids too, my.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
GODK well not really okay, but you know what, those
little shits bullied her as well.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Never mind, fuck those kids.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Kids and I have one by the way, Okay, are
we all good? Now? You know it all right, let's
keep the story moving.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So obviously you got a feel for Christina here, because
back in those days, being the kid who's really good
at one thing, it kind of made you an easy target.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So did having the last name like Agui Letta. Let's
be real facts and.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Remember she was also a military brat. She went from
Staten Island to Japan to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
She wasn't playing with other kids all those years. She
was just having Julie Andrews sing a long time at
the window. Then she runs from a broken home to Pittsburgh,
like we were girls. She's different.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
No shade here, but where all my different people at?
Because I think we're the top of that list, actually,
But it's also easy to see why it might have
been hard for Christina to relate to other kids her age.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
But it doesn't matter because our girl was a star
on local TV and in the ice rink.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You heard him right.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Christina became the go to girl to sing the national
anthem at Pittsburgh Penguin's hockey games, and it turns out
she was their lucky charm.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Every single game she sang at. The Penguins won.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
By the way, I think this is the first time
either of us have ever cared about hockey.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Give a fuck about hockey. I care about little Donna
in the bleachers seething while Tina hits the note in
Land of the Free.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That was actually really good, That wasn't pitchy, dog, that
wasn't pitching. Well, you can bet that little Donna was
seething because unfortunately, the bullying at her school continued. Christina's
schoolmates even went so far as to call her home
at night to harass her aka the analog version of
(18:12):
trolls Up in your DMS. Christina was so upset she
started having nightmares.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Shit, can you imagine? Okay, Mom, Lily, what would you
do if this was something.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
You don't want to know, because I would go full Danielle.
Stop on those kids' moms, like you do not want
to unlock the Latina kid me when it comes to
my kid, like he should be afraid of me. My
husband is actually afraid of that. We talk about it.
He's like, you know that you can't like be mean
(18:43):
to other kids. I'm like, I can be mean to
their moms. I can go after somebody my size.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well, you would still be smaller, but you would beat
the ass. I know you would. If not, you call
me and I'll beat the ass.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Okay, But after I beat their ass, I'd probably take
a page from Shelley's bok.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
She noticed how Christina was suffering and asked her, do
you love singing this much? Is it worth it?
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Real? Like, a kid can be good at something without
loving it, and you have to make sure that you're
not just doing it because you think you're supposed to.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
But little Christina told her mom that she loved singing
too much to give it up, and Shelley told her.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Well, then God must be preparing you for something bigger
and better and listeners.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
She wasn't wrong, because soon after, Christina's grandmother would notice
the smallest ad in the newspaper an open call for
auditions for the Mickey Mouse Club.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And it wasn't too long after that Christina would find
herself on National TV alongside Ryan Justin and it's Britney bitch,
so Leleana, We've known for a while that child stardom.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Is a whirlpool that sucks in kids and families who
don't know any better. I mean, what could possibly give
anybody that idea? McCauley, Michael, Let's leave the Olsen Twins
out of this, because you know the row and hello
Nicky jam Selena.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, and you've mentioned quite on set a couple of
times in other episodes.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Y'all if you have not watched the show, watch it seriously.
It's so good.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Have you seen it? No, we'll we'll do that when
I go over Margarita's sata.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
First of all, yes, absolutely, But before we do that,
how do you feel when we watch these old clips
of Christina and now this Mickey Mouse Club stuff with
Brittany Jt et cetera.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
I mean I feel a lot of different emotions.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Hmmm.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
I loved those shows growing up.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
I actually was a Kids Incorporated fan. Oh yeah, and
I love a good variety show.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I still do.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
But I do think there's something kind of like exploititive
about children and being consumed for adult entertainment. It's weird.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It makes makes me uncomfortable. Doesn't make me feel icky,
It just makes me slightly uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Okay, oh whoa, whoa, Okay, this is this is interesting.
So like, what if Santhi was an amazing singer and
it's not so much that you want to I don't
say that you would ever want to exploit Sonthi in
any way, but I think that you definitely would want
because I think you would want to share his talent
with others because you're proud of him.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
I mean, I will say this is the million dollar
question because back then, parents really only had vehicles like
these kids' shows or like these adult variety shows to
showcase their child's talent. Right it was only you know,
Star Search or the Mickey Bass Club or Kids Incorporated.
Now that show is TikTok is TikTok, and so I
(21:50):
think you're touching on a very difficult question, and I
go back and forth all of the time. You know,
Sometimes I feel like I want to share him because
he brings me joy and happiness. He's so fucking cute
that I'm like, the world needs to see this. But
then other times I'm like, but the world is big
and dark and fucking scary, and so maybe the world
doesn't need to see this. So I think for me,
(22:11):
I'm starting to pull back. Like I've noticed myself taking
a lot more photos of him where I don't show
his face, and I'm posting a lot more of that
because I do think that the world has a weird
fascination with child stars.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
So like, for you right now, like is TikTok? Do
you think TikTok right now? And like we're going to
call that the new show? Right So is TikTok and
all that stuff for these is that? Do you think
that's ethical?
Speaker 3 (22:34):
I think it's for every parent to decide interest what
is ethical or okay in their home. I can tell
you that right now, as the mother to a toddler,
I'm going to keep him as far away from all
things social media as long as I can, because not
only do I see what's happening to this generation of kids.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
But in this podcast, think about what we've learned about
a lot of these people that started off when they
were super young. So I just want to keep him
innocent and childlike as long as I can, even if
he is the best guitarist, drummer, singer, actor ever.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I think for me, like what if he's like, Mom,
I'm a fucking really good DJ in middle school, Like you.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Know these you should go DJ at your middle.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
But do it on TikTok No.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
No, you have the rest of your world to be
a grown up, be a child. But that's my opinion
today as a mom in twenty twenty four. When I
was a kid in the late eighties and early nineties,
I mean, these conversations didn't exist. By the way, My
mom probably wanted me to be on Mickey Mask Club
and Kids Incorporated.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Bitch not us in the line with Barney come.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
On really, And I definitely took acting classes. So when
Christina Aguire's grandmother told her and her mom about the ad, clearly,
like many of us, there was like zero hesitation, like
let's fucking go.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Eight hundred kids showed up to this audition ready to
sing dance and act their little baby hearts out, and
when the casting director called Agia up to the audition room,
our girl rolled in a suitcase full of cassette tapes
and told them pick one.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
According to casting director of Matt Cassella, She's sang Vision.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Of Love Marijah Honey at ten years old, once again,
four octave vocal range and wisdom beyond her years.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Christina gives an unforgettable performance that stuns the entire room
into silence, from the casting executives to the kids waiting
for their turn. I mean those kids should have just
gone home right then, right, and all of the kids
in this room go nuts with.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Applause after all that boolling she went through back in Pittsburgh,
here's hundreds of kids giving her her propers. That's how
you know you found your people, Cassella.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
The casting director claimed that a star had been born.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
But no, but she's a star, a star, I tell you.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
No question about it.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But unfortunately the producers thought that Christina was still too
young to be a mouse.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I'm Azmilski. That's like being too drama for the Real Housewives.
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I know, it's actually shocking with all of our child
star talk earlier. The ad in the paper hadn't specified
a minimum age requirement and for contacts. Full House had
been on for at least three years by that point,
and that show had literal like HODLERSHONSI would be aged
out a full House at this way.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Show me a toddler who can sing like Mariah, and
I will buy awe of their merch. Bitch.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
I mean, I'm subscribing right. I would feel weird about it.
But the point is Christina was so close and yet
so far.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
She was crushed.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Exit Little Christina rolling her suitcase of cassettes behind her head,
hanging low.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Okay, now I'm crushed.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I refuse to suffer alone.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Okay, in thirty years when we are ye hitos, We're
going to have a big friendship anniversary party and I'm
writing that on the cake.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Casella refused to let Christina suffer rejection for long. He
went to bat for her, held on to her audition materials,
and called her mother up as soon as Christina was
old enough for the show, and after a private audition
with the producers.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Christina was a mouse goot tear bitch.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Holly whoa wait wait, wait, wait, wait, Joseph, you mean Orlando, Florida.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Okay, you're killing me.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I refuse to suffer alone. And Christina, for the first
time in her dark, difficult childhood, was not alone.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Girl just had to find her tribe. Performing arts kids.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
How about performing arts kids on steroids? I mean, if
we're talking about this cast which had Ryan Gosling, Carrie Russell,
J C.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Chase, also Matt Morris aka co writer.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Of Can't Hold Us Down and Hello, Britney Spears, and
Justin Timberlake.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Which we are going to get into. Do not worry
for now.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
We'll just say big Summer camp slash theater camp Vibes.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Camp mouse Keutier is the place for theater kids summer.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
I know that you never watched The Mickey Mouse Club,
but for an entire generation of people, like myself.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Watch Kids Incorporated. Though okay, good.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Well, it was just like Kids Incorporated, but it was
Disney themed and it was like church like. I really
looked forward to this thing once a week. I wanted
to be like them. I wanted to dress like them.
I mean, they were my, they were my they were cool.
I was following them. They were my influencers. At the time.
Kid influencers of the ogs like SNL Yeah. Basically, well
(27:42):
that's how I thought your Kids Incorporator was.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
It's the same thing.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
It's kind of felting, acting, dancing, all of it. I
would pay at least like fifty grand to be teleported
back in time to see what I said. Yeah, like
like what it was happening?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Crazy? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
By all accounts, Christina had the time of her life
during her run on The Mickey Mouse Club.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
She got to do what she loved without any bullies
or complaining ask parents dimming her chine.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
She had found her people and her place after a
whole childhood with neither. But unfortunately, I hate it when
you do this, her time would be cut short.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
We're fighting again.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Don't blame me, blame TV programming execs, because while Christina
had signed a five year contract, the Disney Channel would
cancel The Mickey Mouse Club in nineteen ninety four, giving
Christina just two seasons with her friends and castmates.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Camp Mouseketeer closes forever.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
This is devastating, but all of that is what makes
her a fire.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Hey, She's been through hell and back and she said
it herself. She loves singing, too much to give it up.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
So at just seventeen, Christina goes to New York to
find her first manager, and shortly thereafter she was off
too not.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Doing this again. You're gonna tell meus she went to
Tampa or Phoenix.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
No, fine, I'll say it, Holly Wood.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Just kidding. Booth. Isn't it fun being in the same room?
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Honestly, every room is better with you in it, and
that's true.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
On the next Becoming an Icon, Christina's golden age starts
as soon as she steps in the recording.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Booth, and so does the rumor mail.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael
Duda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast
Hosts And Creators
Lilliana Vazquez
Joseph Carrillo
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