# Tartie Takes: Life Before Glee

An episode of [And That's What You REALLY Missed](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1645980188), 16 Feb 2026, 40 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/67adaf3b-fc3c-4c67-9613-af12015fa842/400ee087-f551-4d18-bc07-b3f1000c7c9e/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d5f905ac-eb40-4fc6-9d03-af120160041a

What was life like before Glee? From auditions to pilot season to upfronts, Jenna and Kevin pull back the curtain on what it was like growing up in the industry! They open up about being child actors, their first auditions and jobs, the agony of dealing with other stage parents, and Jenna's 100 commercials by age 10! Plus, Jenna reveals her grueling theater schedule as a kid, while Kevin talks about his life in a boy band, including sneaking into clubs, and his surreal experiences hanging out with huge artists! This is an insider look at Hollywood you don't want to miss! For fun, exclusive content, and behind-the-scenes clips, follow us on Instagram @andthatswhatyoureallymissedpod & TikTok @thatswhatyoureallymissed! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: And That's what you really missed with Jenna.
[0:04] Speaker 2: And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
[0:08] Speaker 1: Welcome to and That's what you Really miss podcast.
[0:12] Speaker 3: It's a tardy take.
[0:14] Speaker 2: Day takes t take. We should have a jingle. Let's
[0:20] Speaker 2: workshop it.
[0:21] Speaker 1: Well, let's workshop it. I'm getting over being sick, So
[0:25] Speaker 1: I sound like not a sexy radio voice like Phoebe Buffe.
[0:31] Speaker 1: I think it's sexy gnarly. No, it's just disgusting, so annoying.
[0:37] Speaker 2: If it's not you, it's me.
[0:38] Speaker 1: You know, no, I know, We're just we don't even
[0:40] Speaker 1: see each other. We keep it, passing it back and forth.
[0:44] Speaker 2: That's how committed we are to our friendship. Other people
[0:46] Speaker 2: aren't doing it like us. If you aren't giving sickness
[0:49] Speaker 2: to one another through zoom.
[0:50] Speaker 1: What are you even doing?
[0:51] Speaker 2: Are you even? Really? Best?
[0:53] Speaker 1: Even besties are harder. Everyone try harder. Okay, today's an indiant.
[1:03] Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about something that we've been We've
[1:06] Speaker 1: we've always talked about and it's obviously a part of
[1:08] Speaker 1: who we are. Kevin today, I was thinking about growing
[1:14] Speaker 1: up in the industry.
[1:16] Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
[1:17] Speaker 4: We both grew up in industries alike, yet on different paths.
[1:23] Speaker 2: Yep.
[1:24] Speaker 1: But from a very young age and ended up in
[1:27] Speaker 1: some somewhat of the same place for some of that time.
[1:31] Speaker 1: So I would just love to like kind of talk
[1:33] Speaker 1: about what it was like to grow up in the
[1:36] Speaker 1: industry and also like thinking about I've started working with
[1:41] Speaker 1: kids or was working with kids for a period of
[1:44] Speaker 1: time between my two my two kids, and what it's
[1:50] Speaker 1: like growing up in the industry today, yes, versus what it.
[1:53] Speaker 3: Was like for us.
[1:54] Speaker 2: Yes, it's a big difference.
[1:57] Speaker 1: Like when we were growing up in the industry, you
[2:00] Speaker 1: were getting scouted in malls.
[2:04] Speaker 2: Yeah, scouted in malls or like for me it was
[2:09] Speaker 2: a bit of nepotism because my sister was an agent,
[2:13] Speaker 2: or like I took singing lessons and then a lot
[2:15] Speaker 2: of the kids do the singing lessons at agents.
[2:19] Speaker 1: Was your sister already an agent by the time you started, Yes, Okay,
[2:25] Speaker 1: go back. So I just would love to hear like
[2:28] Speaker 1: more specifically what age you started and how you got
[2:31] Speaker 1: into the business.
[2:33] Speaker 2: So it started for me in fourth grade, I believe nine. Yeah,
[2:41] Speaker 2: so my sister was in a like an adult agent,
[2:45] Speaker 2: not like porn, but like adults.
[2:47] Speaker 1: She's also like a lot older than you, so yeah, yeah,
[2:52] Speaker 1: she wasn't like a tiny agent.
[2:55] Speaker 2: Yes, I think it was ten maybe Damn I was young, Wow, yeah,
[3:00] Speaker 2: and there was She said there was an audition for
[3:04] Speaker 2: their making a sequel to Little Rascals, and I was like,
[3:08] Speaker 2: I was obsessed with little me? Who is that? Use?
[3:12] Speaker 1: It would have been perfect for a Little Rascal, thank
[3:13] Speaker 1: you very much.
[3:16] Speaker 2: And they were recasting everyone and I was gonna audition
[3:18] Speaker 2: for Alfalfa and I convinced her it has never been
[3:24] Speaker 2: a thought that I would want to be an actor
[3:26] Speaker 2: because I was so deathly shy. But I was just
[3:28] Speaker 2: performing around the house all the time, and so she
[3:33] Speaker 2: I somehow convinced her to like, let me audition and
[3:36] Speaker 2: then I had to memorize three pages, which seemed like
[3:38] Speaker 2: so much. And we worked for like a week and
[3:42] Speaker 2: I went into her office. They put me on tape
[3:44] Speaker 2: and I did it. The movie never got made, but
[3:48] Speaker 2: her agency was like, Shannon, are you cool if we
[3:51] Speaker 2: signed him to the kids division? And she was like,
[3:54] Speaker 2: I guess, And so then I started there. So then
[3:57] Speaker 2: I started like going on auditions and there's lots of
[4:01] Speaker 2: commercials there. I was also I also started to take
[4:04] Speaker 2: singing lessons. I think around twelve years old and dance
[4:07] Speaker 2: classes and.
[4:08] Speaker 1: Did you like it?
[4:10] Speaker 4: Did you want to do this? Like was this part
[4:12] Speaker 4: of like your like.
[4:14] Speaker 1: I'm going to be I'm going to go to Hollywood,
[4:16] Speaker 1: I'm going to be on TV or was this like
[4:18] Speaker 1: fun for you or was this not fun for you
[4:21] Speaker 1: and like more of an influence by the your surroundings right.
[4:25] Speaker 2: Like stage parent stage sister type situation. Totally, No, they
[4:30] Speaker 2: were not stage parents or stage siblings.
[4:35] Speaker 4: Yeah, they don't do those vibes.
[4:37] Speaker 2: No, it was sort of reluctant. I mean, they very
[4:39] Speaker 2: much believe in me and thought I was talented and
[4:43] Speaker 2: like pushing for it. Once I said I wanted to
[4:46] Speaker 2: do it, then Shannon was like, okay, yeah, then we're
[4:49] Speaker 2: going to do it.
[4:50] Speaker 4: Yeah that's great.
[4:52] Speaker 2: Yeah, But it was like singing lessons were really hard
[4:55] Speaker 2: for me because I was really uncomfortable for me to
[4:58] Speaker 2: get in front of people, and I so shy or
[5:01] Speaker 2: dance I was really really shy. So like going on
[5:03] Speaker 2: auditions I didn't necessarily mind because it was like in
[5:07] Speaker 2: a closed.
[5:08] Speaker 1: Room, you know, it's so interesting and your parents must
[5:13] Speaker 1: have been like, oh, it's pulling him out of his shell.
[5:16] Speaker 2: I guess. But here the other weird thing is which
[5:18] Speaker 2: I don't know the answer to. Actually I partly do
[5:22] Speaker 2: know the answer to this. But all my siblings are acting.
[5:25] Speaker 2: So my brother Timmy was in like a big I
[5:29] Speaker 2: think he was in like a big Chevy commercial. They
[5:32] Speaker 2: all like commercials. But what he was so stubborn they
[5:34] Speaker 2: stopped taking him on auditions because he refused to audition.
[5:38] Speaker 3: Got it.
[5:39] Speaker 2: My brother Chris, I think, also did it and it was.
[5:41] Speaker 1: Just commercials is so funny.
[5:43] Speaker 2: And then Shannon, the reason it happened is because my
[5:45] Speaker 2: oldest sister, Like we said, he's sixteen years older than me.
[5:49] Speaker 2: She's the one who wanted to do it. She moved
[5:51] Speaker 2: to La to pursue it. But it turns out she
[5:54] Speaker 2: was really bad at it and had terrible nerves. And
[5:58] Speaker 2: I think she never got a call back in her
[6:01] Speaker 2: life or like one or something like that. Wow, But
[6:05] Speaker 2: she hasn't, but she loves it. But so she has
[6:08] Speaker 2: an eye for it. Now she's a manager.
[6:10] Speaker 3: Wow.
[6:11] Speaker 2: Now she's my co manager. But like, hmmm, so it
[6:14] Speaker 2: started through her and I started doing auditions and all
[6:17] Speaker 2: that stuff, doing commercials.
[6:19] Speaker 1: In Texas, Okay, and then you started working and like,
[6:22] Speaker 1: at what point were you like Oh, I'm gonna start
[6:25] Speaker 1: do actually doing this, Like did you book a job,
[6:28] Speaker 1: like what was your what was your in.
[6:30] Speaker 2: I booked a few commercials in Dallas, and I really
[6:34] Speaker 2: enjoyed it. And I think as I got a little older,
[6:37] Speaker 2: with the singing all that I was starting to come
[6:40] Speaker 2: out of my shell. And my sister, all my siblings
[6:43] Speaker 2: are so much older than me that once my brother,
[6:45] Speaker 2: who's closest an age to me, graduated likef to college,
[6:49] Speaker 2: my sister was like, you should take him out to LA.
[6:52] Speaker 2: So my parents, my mom started taking me out for
[6:55] Speaker 2: pilot season. They pulled me out of school and I
[6:58] Speaker 2: would go to pilot season.
[7:00] Speaker 1: When there was a pilot season, which for people who
[7:03] Speaker 1: don't know.
[7:04] Speaker 2: So, pilot season was a specific time of the year
[7:09] Speaker 2: January and February where every network with their new pilots,
[7:14] Speaker 2: so first episodes of TV shows that they would hope
[7:18] Speaker 2: would go to series and they would make them. But
[7:19] Speaker 2: they would make all these pilots and they would cast
[7:21] Speaker 2: them all at the same time and shoot them all
[7:23] Speaker 2: in March and April. And if you listen to this podcast,
[7:26] Speaker 2: you've heard us talk about upfronts. When gleaning too upfronts
[7:29] Speaker 2: because you make all these things, and then they go
[7:31] Speaker 2: before the network the studio, and then then they decide
[7:35] Speaker 2: if they actually want to produce these pilots into a
[7:38] Speaker 2: full season yep. And then when they decided to pick
[7:42] Speaker 2: them up, they present them at the upfronts as their
[7:44] Speaker 2: new lineup of shows for the fall. And so pilot
[7:47] Speaker 2: season from all around the world, not on the country.
[7:51] Speaker 2: Everybody would head to La January and February and it
[7:53] Speaker 2: was packed and it was.
[7:55] Speaker 1: And there were so many auditions and everybody's in to
[7:58] Speaker 1: get a TV show sometimes to day. Yeah, I mean
[8:01] Speaker 1: I remember one pilot season. I think I had nineteen
[8:04] Speaker 1: auditions in that month. In those two months. It's like
[8:07] Speaker 1: it's it's absolutely psycho and riveting at the same time, but.
[8:10] Speaker 4: Also just psychotics. Oh yeah, like it was, but that's gone.
[8:14] Speaker 2: Yeah it is. It's actually sort of this year randomly,
[8:17] Speaker 2: there's sort of like a mini pilot season happening. Yeah.
[8:20] Speaker 1: Yeah, there's there's more being made, for sure, we're reverting back.
[8:25] Speaker 1: There's less. There's less still though, so there's more competition
[8:30] Speaker 1: and it's just more crowded.
[8:31] Speaker 2: But yes, so I would come out here for a
[8:33] Speaker 2: couple of weeks, oh to La for a couple of weeks,
[8:37] Speaker 2: and then you I would also sort of come back
[8:39] Speaker 2: in the summer for a couple of weeks, and then
[8:45] Speaker 2: at some point we just decided because like my dad
[8:48] Speaker 2: lost his job in Dallas, and when I was fifteen,
[8:52] Speaker 2: We're like, okay, let's just do it. We preferred La
[8:57] Speaker 2: to Dallas anyway, and like it made it easy because
[9:00] Speaker 2: when you go for something like pilot season, there's a
[9:02] Speaker 2: lot of pressure. Like I felt like I hated that
[9:04] Speaker 2: my parents were spending money on me. Like you go there,
[9:07] Speaker 2: you rent a car, you got to deliver.
[9:10] Speaker 4: You got to get a job, like everybody's there for you.
[9:13] Speaker 2: And I never booked anything. I booked like a commercial
[9:16] Speaker 2: the first summer I went out there, and so I
[9:19] Speaker 2: was just yeah, I didn't so to me, like moving
[9:23] Speaker 2: out there was like, oh, we actually just want to
[9:25] Speaker 2: be here. This entertainment stuff may not happen, oh I see,
[9:28] Speaker 2: And so like took the pressure off a little bit totally.
[9:31] Speaker 2: It was like I just want to live Vanilla anyway.
[9:33] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[9:34] Speaker 2: And then I got in the boy band M.
[9:36] Speaker 3: And music was your way in and music ended up
[9:39] Speaker 3: being like the big thing.
[9:41] Speaker 1: Did you want to do music? Yes, so music was
[9:44] Speaker 1: the one thing you wanted to do anyway.
[9:46] Speaker 2: Music was the one I mean, yes, music was the thing.
[9:49] Speaker 2: Like my I guess my aspirations weren't necessarily like, oh
[9:52] Speaker 2: I want to be Leonardo DiCaprio, it was I want
[9:55] Speaker 2: to be Michael Jackson. Like it was always music based.
[9:58] Speaker 2: I wanted to be JC and and sync. Yeah, you know,
[10:01] Speaker 2: like that's how I could see myself doing this. Yeah,
[10:05] Speaker 2: it wasn't necessarily through.
[10:06] Speaker 3: Act, got it.
[10:08] Speaker 1: I was in a band.
[10:10] Speaker 2: You were in a band.
[10:12] Speaker 1: I was in a group when I was a kid.
[10:16] Speaker 1: It wasn't it didn't really go anywhere. Wait, I've done
[10:20] Speaker 1: it all, but I how old were you? I wasn't
[10:24] Speaker 1: signed by anybody. I must have been twelve thirteen called
[10:28] Speaker 1: Take five?
[10:31] Speaker 2: Wasn't there a Take five boy band?
[10:32] Speaker 1: I don't know. Probably we didn't do any of our
[10:35] Speaker 1: due diligence. It was just kind of this hope and
[10:36] Speaker 1: a dream and we were already all working, so like
[10:40] Speaker 1: it didn't you know what I mean. It was just
[10:41] Speaker 1: something we were like, oh, this could be fun.
[10:52] Speaker 2: Can we talk about you for a second, because obviously,
[10:55] Speaker 2: like you ended up on Broadway at like eight or
[10:57] Speaker 2: nine years old.
[10:59] Speaker 1: Yeah, nutshell, so I don't take up too much time.
[11:03] Speaker 1: I started when I was three because my parents, I
[11:06] Speaker 1: would be like the kid who would go up to
[11:09] Speaker 1: other tables and restaurants and like say hi. And now
[11:11] Speaker 1: in retrospect, like I understand that, like my kids are
[11:14] Speaker 1: not like that, and so I understand like when you
[11:17] Speaker 1: have a kid who is like really friendly and very charming,
[11:20] Speaker 1: like you're like, oh, like you should do this. And
[11:23] Speaker 1: I think that was happening a lot on Long Island
[11:25] Speaker 1: because we were so close to the city.
[11:28] Speaker 4: So I started getting into I got an agent or
[11:31] Speaker 4: a manager.
[11:31] Speaker 1: On Long Island. I can't remember which one. First, I
[11:34] Speaker 1: think it was a manager, and.
[11:38] Speaker 4: I started I booked my first job. It was a
[11:40] Speaker 4: play school ad.
[11:41] Speaker 1: And it was like the dress me up Ernie, I
[11:44] Speaker 1: have it the photo, of course. And then I booked
[11:48] Speaker 1: my first commercial. It was Toys r US commercial. I'm
[11:51] Speaker 1: like waving at the end in my ballery in address,
[11:53] Speaker 1: and like, I just kept booking things like really fat,
[11:56] Speaker 1: like national commercials, like really gassed. So by the time
[12:00] Speaker 1: I was like ten nine or ten. By the time
[12:03] Speaker 1: I started auditioning for like real theater, I had had
[12:07] Speaker 1: an agent. I had done about five hundred print jobs,
[12:10] Speaker 1: one hundred national commercials, and like one hundred commercials. Yeah,
[12:18] Speaker 1: and like I.
[12:19] Speaker 2: Was a kid who would go on auditions and I
[12:20] Speaker 2: would hear parents, oh, you know, like the stage parents
[12:22] Speaker 2: all talking to each other.
[12:24] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yes, so.
[12:25] Speaker 2: And so has done like two hundred and fifty. I
[12:27] Speaker 2: did like six, and I thought that it was amazing.
[12:32] Speaker 1: It's crazy, and I just.
[12:35] Speaker 4: Was like I was working.
[12:36] Speaker 1: I was a commercial kid, right like I it was
[12:40] Speaker 1: really crazy. But then I started like I was like,
[12:43] Speaker 1: these are fine. It's kind of annoying to drive into
[12:45] Speaker 1: the city and miss out on birthday parties and after selectivities.
[12:49] Speaker 1: But like I would get taken out of school early
[12:52] Speaker 1: most days for auditions. Legally, they can't do it until
[12:57] Speaker 1: after like auditions can't happen until after school, but I
[13:00] Speaker 1: lived so far away that we had to so and
[13:04] Speaker 1: then I started taking lessons and going into like like
[13:09] Speaker 1: real theater at my school.
[13:11] Speaker 4: I was given roles and responsibilities.
[13:14] Speaker 1: And I really loved it. So I went on an
[13:16] Speaker 1: audition for The King and I on Broadway when I
[13:18] Speaker 1: was nine, and there was like five hundred kids. They
[13:25] Speaker 1: were whittling us down doing the you know, like okay,
[13:29] Speaker 1: well these numbers stay, will these numbers say, well, these
[13:31] Speaker 1: five numbers come and sing together. We had to do
[13:34] Speaker 1: like it was a couple of days process, and then
[13:36] Speaker 1: we came back into commercial callbacks and then more.
[13:39] Speaker 3: Callbacks, et cetera, et cetera.
[13:42] Speaker 1: And then at some point I remember being like did
[13:45] Speaker 1: I get it? Like did I get it? Because it
[13:47] Speaker 1: was just such a long process kind of likely, but
[13:50] Speaker 1: I got it.
[13:51] Speaker 2: That's quite as a child, though, to like be in
[13:53] Speaker 2: those rooms were like whittling it down.
[13:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I did a lot of those, Like
[13:58] Speaker 1: the Wizard of Oz, they did it, MSG Care Christmas, Carol, Annie,
[14:03] Speaker 1: Like those open calls were like so crazy and yet
[14:07] Speaker 1: like very common for us, and like very common they
[14:10] Speaker 1: started to do.
[14:11] Speaker 2: I'm like that just reminded me. The first and maybe
[14:13] Speaker 2: open call I ever went on was for Barney. They
[14:18] Speaker 2: were recasting Barney.
[14:19] Speaker 1: Oh my god, And how many kids showed up for
[14:22] Speaker 1: that auditions and hundreds of kids.
[14:25] Speaker 3: And you know, I know.
[14:28] Speaker 1: And then I booked a TV movie during the King
[14:31] Speaker 1: and I for I think it was Hallmark or one
[14:36] Speaker 1: of those channels, and I couldn't leave my contract for
[14:39] Speaker 1: the King, and I and my parents got were like, oh, man, like,
[14:44] Speaker 1: is she going to be missing out on this kind
[14:45] Speaker 1: of stuff on these TV things? So we left The
[14:48] Speaker 1: King and I I left Broadway.
[14:50] Speaker 4: It was about a year.
[14:51] Speaker 1: I had been in the show for about a year,
[14:53] Speaker 1: maybe a little bit longer at that point. But we
[14:57] Speaker 1: laughed and I didn't book anything for a while. But
[15:03] Speaker 1: I kept doing commercials, kept doing it all and then
[15:07] Speaker 1: I did like TV. I did Sesame Street, which was
[15:11] Speaker 1: really like, you know, goals, and and I did like
[15:16] Speaker 1: a little bit of here, this, this and that throughout
[15:19] Speaker 1: my whole career basically, so I got like a taste,
[15:22] Speaker 1: but I never did obviously the LA thing, like we
[15:24] Speaker 1: were on separate coast. You were doing the LA World
[15:26] Speaker 1: and I was doing like the theater commercial kid World.
[15:30] Speaker 3: I booked a couple of like.
[15:31] Speaker 1: One pilot that ended up when I was like in
[15:36] Speaker 1: college that ended up not going, or it went and
[15:40] Speaker 1: my character didn't get picked up because I looked too young,
[15:43] Speaker 1: and I was devastated. And had I gotten that role,
[15:48] Speaker 1: or had I stayed on that show for the six
[15:50] Speaker 1: year contract, I wouldn't have been able to do Glee.
[15:52] Speaker 2: Did the show last that long?
[15:54] Speaker 1: No?
[15:54] Speaker 4: It didn't.
[15:55] Speaker 1: It came out it was it was a Disney show.
[15:58] Speaker 1: Oh I remember this any playhouse. Yeah, and it didn't.
[16:02] Speaker 1: It lasted maybe a season or two. I think I
[16:04] Speaker 1: could be wrong, but it still would have conflicted.
[16:08] Speaker 4: I wouldn't be able to audition Bergley at all.
[16:10] Speaker 2: So crazy, it's crazy how close to those things.
[16:15] Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, I mean that's the thing, right, Like for
[16:19] Speaker 1: actors aspiring actors out there, it's pretty crazy when you're like, oh,
[16:23] Speaker 1: I always now as a four year old woman, and
[16:26] Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I'm so excited to see why I
[16:29] Speaker 1: didn't this thing didn't work out, right, Like, I'm excited
[16:31] Speaker 1: to see, like why it didn't happen, because something else
[16:34] Speaker 1: is going to happen, right, Yeah, whatever it is. But
[16:38] Speaker 1: growing up as a kid in the industry, did you
[16:41] Speaker 1: feel like in New York and in the theater scene,
[16:45] Speaker 1: in particular, the competition the stage parents, It was fierce,
[16:49] Speaker 1: Like the stage parents were so.
[16:53] Speaker 4: Rampant and serious.
[16:57] Speaker 1: And that's learned for a kid, right, Like the competition
[17:01] Speaker 1: is learned for a kid. You don't just know how
[17:03] Speaker 1: to like.
[17:05] Speaker 4: Cut a kid.
[17:06] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[17:06] Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious, like what you saw in the music
[17:10] Speaker 1: industry and in that world in your world.
[17:13] Speaker 2: I definitely saw that. My mom, who was the one
[17:16] Speaker 2: who's almost always taking me on auditions, was very much
[17:19] Speaker 2: not that. Yeah, almost to the point where like she'd
[17:22] Speaker 2: wait in the car and I'd go in.
[17:24] Speaker 1: She let you do that.
[17:25] Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yes, you were older too, but that's yeah.
[17:28] Speaker 2: She was just like she hated the stage parents. I
[17:31] Speaker 2: hated the stage parents. I thought it was so embarrassing.
[17:34] Speaker 2: I had enough nerves going on anyway of just trying
[17:36] Speaker 2: to get through the audition. Yeah, yeah, I was like
[17:38] Speaker 2: these parents talking loudly and like, what are you so stupid?
[17:43] Speaker 2: Like I always it was all so silly. Yeah, yeah,
[17:45] Speaker 2: I want to do this because I like doing it.
[17:48] Speaker 2: But like all that stuff was a real big turn off.
[17:52] Speaker 2: And I think once we moved here it became even
[17:54] Speaker 2: more casual for my parents, which was nice, Like it
[17:57] Speaker 2: really took the pressure off. And by that point I
[17:59] Speaker 2: was in the boy band and we were doing most
[18:03] Speaker 2: of the music stuff, and so for that it was
[18:06] Speaker 2: like I would go to high school during the day
[18:10] Speaker 2: and then go do music stuff at nine time.
[18:14] Speaker 1: Were you also auditioning during that time? Were you just
[18:16] Speaker 1: like all doing it?
[18:17] Speaker 2: Yeah? So I did, like the office aid true blood
[18:20] Speaker 2: during that.
[18:21] Speaker 4: Right, did you not Were the stakes lower since you
[18:24] Speaker 4: were already in the boy band and you were kind
[18:27] Speaker 4: of auditioning outside and going to school, were the stakes
[18:29] Speaker 4: lower for you?
[18:30] Speaker 1: Or were you like, I need to get this job,
[18:33] Speaker 1: Like did it matter to you? Did it not matter
[18:35] Speaker 1: to you?
[18:36] Speaker 2: It mattered to me in terms of like, of course
[18:40] Speaker 2: I wanted to book. I just wanted to book a job,
[18:43] Speaker 2: like I remember for the Office. It was just like, Oh,
[18:47] Speaker 2: this would just be so incredible to do. This is
[18:49] Speaker 2: such an amazing show. It's so big, and like to
[18:52] Speaker 2: get to work with all these people would just be amazing.
[18:54] Speaker 2: It wasn't necessarily so much like we moved out here,
[18:58] Speaker 2: I need to provide, Like there was none of that.
[19:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah it was nice.
[19:03] Speaker 2: It was just like I wanted it for me because
[19:05] Speaker 2: I just wanted it. And the music stuff was really
[19:09] Speaker 2: fun because I also felt like I felt like Batman
[19:13] Speaker 2: or like at school I would be going like still
[19:16] Speaker 2: kind of shy, awkward, whatever, and then I would be
[19:20] Speaker 2: in the recording studio with like Ryan Tedder at night
[19:23] Speaker 2: crazy yeah, and like before Ryan Tedder was super famous
[19:28] Speaker 2: and like that went on for like my entire high
[19:32] Speaker 2: school life, and I'd come back the next day and
[19:35] Speaker 2: show like my best friend Cleo was song and she
[19:37] Speaker 2: was like, that's not you. I guess it is. So
[19:40] Speaker 2: I was just actually before we got on here, I
[19:42] Speaker 2: was just going down this rabbit hole of songs. So
[19:47] Speaker 2: James Fauntleroy, this is so random that. Okay, Harvey Mason,
[19:52] Speaker 2: who's the head of the Grammys, was part of the Underdogs,
[19:55] Speaker 2: huge producers. They produced a lot of our music in
[19:57] Speaker 2: the boy.
[19:58] Speaker 3: Band Got It.
[20:00] Speaker 2: And I was just going through like my old like
[20:03] Speaker 2: iTunes basically and found all these old demos Kevin from
[20:08] Speaker 2: all of them, and it's like, I remember there was
[20:10] Speaker 2: this song that I wanted for us, and Jesse McCartney
[20:13] Speaker 2: got it and I found the demo and then I
[20:14] Speaker 2: listened to Jesse McCartney's version, and so it's so funy
[20:18] Speaker 2: and so like I would go like, I remember one
[20:20] Speaker 2: time we were in the studio and it was where
[20:21] Speaker 2: I am, and it was Chris Brown and Omarion and
[20:23] Speaker 2: they were dance battling in the hallway and then Pharrell
[20:26] Speaker 2: was in the studio across from us, and Farrell came
[20:28] Speaker 2: over and he's like, I heard you guys are recording
[20:30] Speaker 2: my song, and like so at night I was literally
[20:33] Speaker 2: hanging out with Pharrell and will I Am wrapped an
[20:36] Speaker 2: entire freestyle to me and my friend justin Wow, but
[20:39] Speaker 2: the beat playing in his studio, he left the door open,
[20:42] Speaker 2: came out and freestyled an entire song. And so like
[20:46] Speaker 2: then I would just go to school. And then we
[20:48] Speaker 2: got signed by Interscope Geffen, and and so like we
[20:56] Speaker 2: would go to the Geffen Interscope parties and so like,
[21:01] Speaker 2: I remember one night I was on my way home
[21:02] Speaker 2: and I was like calling my sister, who was in
[21:05] Speaker 2: Texas by that point, being like I just hung out
[21:07] Speaker 2: with Stevie Nicks and Mary J. Blige. What as like
[21:11] Speaker 2: a seventeen sixteen year old seventeen.
[21:13] Speaker 3: Year old wow? Yeah, And it was just like wow.
[21:17] Speaker 2: It was very surreal and definitely felt like I was
[21:20] Speaker 2: living a double life, but like that's what I wanted
[21:22] Speaker 2: to be doing. Like we were hanging out with Nicole
[21:24] Speaker 2: Scherz and you're on the regular like all the pussy
[21:26] Speaker 2: Cat dolls.
[21:26] Speaker 1: Like that was when your friends more of the Hollywood
[21:29] Speaker 1: friends or were your friends.
[21:30] Speaker 3: More of the school friends?
[21:31] Speaker 4: Like which which life did you live more.
[21:37] Speaker 1: Or was it intertwined?
[21:38] Speaker 2: It was very much intertwined because so my friend Justin
[21:42] Speaker 2: he was sort of like the person in between. So
[21:45] Speaker 2: we lived in the same area. So I was friends
[21:48] Speaker 2: with him because but he was also like I was
[21:50] Speaker 2: also in the group with him. Yeah, and so like
[21:52] Speaker 2: he and I would go do all the Hollywood stuff
[21:54] Speaker 2: together and then we'd go back and we'd live in
[21:57] Speaker 2: the same area, which is like forty minutes outside of
[21:59] Speaker 2: La Yeah, Santa Karita, So I did both.
[22:03] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[22:05] Speaker 2: It was very strange. Like that was also the time,
[22:08] Speaker 2: and I think we've talked about it. We're like, I
[22:10] Speaker 2: also don't know why my parents are letting me do this,
[22:13] Speaker 2: but like we get snuck into clubs in Hollywood.
[22:17] Speaker 1: You were living in Hollywood, what do you do? I
[22:21] Speaker 1: was talking about Club one seven. Do you remember that one?
[22:24] Speaker 2: Oh my god? Club one seven?
[22:26] Speaker 1: She I didn't know about this, and she was like,
[22:28] Speaker 1: do you know Club one seven? I was like, I
[22:29] Speaker 1: didn't live here during that time, Jenna.
[22:31] Speaker 2: My mom would drive us all and I'll see down
[22:35] Speaker 2: to Hollywood and Highland and she would wait outside. Can
[22:39] Speaker 2: you imagine that? He would wait outside, But we'd all
[22:42] Speaker 2: go in there and hang out at Club one seven.
[22:46] Speaker 2: And sometimes I would see my rival. I had a rival,
[22:49] Speaker 2: so like you know, I'm sure you had one or two.
[22:51] Speaker 2: Like when you watch you always say saw the same people.
[22:54] Speaker 2: There was this one guy who I always saw. He
[22:57] Speaker 2: was a really good dancer, and I was just like,
[23:00] Speaker 2: oh my god, and he's a really good actor. And
[23:03] Speaker 2: it was always down to me and him for everything,
[23:06] Speaker 2: to everything. And we'd go to club on seven and
[23:08] Speaker 2: he would be there and be like oh yeah, yeah,
[23:10] Speaker 2: and they would get like Shirley Temples.
[23:13] Speaker 3: Oh my god, you guys.
[23:15] Speaker 1: I this is such a different live and this kind
[23:17] Speaker 1: of like makes sense to me no of like why
[23:21] Speaker 1: you were so like not unaffected by Glee, but like
[23:25] Speaker 1: this was like you had lived in this.
[23:28] Speaker 4: World whereas like maybe Ambrow was the closest other.
[23:31] Speaker 3: Thing to it.
[23:31] Speaker 1: But like Matt Leah Me, Chris, we all came from
[23:37] Speaker 1: like theater. This is like a totally different experience. Like
[23:41] Speaker 1: we weren't going to clubs, like oh yeah, we were
[23:45] Speaker 1: like the competition. All all you can do is live
[23:48] Speaker 1: and breathe theater. And maybe I'm only speaking for myself,
[23:52] Speaker 1: but like I lived in a world where like college
[23:55] Speaker 1: was everything and it was a conservatory or bust, like
[23:59] Speaker 1: if you were living, breathing, like everything was about your showcase,
[24:03] Speaker 1: about what agent you were going to get, or like
[24:05] Speaker 1: what kind of jobs you were going to get outside
[24:07] Speaker 1: of school. Who was going to book the first Broadway
[24:09] Speaker 1: show out of school or tour or get their equity card?
[24:13] Speaker 4: Like it was.
[24:14] Speaker 1: It was like all encompassing to the point where like
[24:17] Speaker 1: nothing else mattered, and it was so.
[24:20] Speaker 3: Serious. Yeah, it was so serious.
[24:25] Speaker 4: So it's so interesting.
[24:26] Speaker 1: To hear the the different ways that people grow up
[24:30] Speaker 1: in Hollywood or in theater, right, like they just their
[24:33] Speaker 1: very different lanes but yet similar.
[24:36] Speaker 2: And I think I think what was really helpful was
[24:41] Speaker 2: because my parents and family were not impressed by any
[24:46] Speaker 2: of it, were not confected by it. That like I
[24:50] Speaker 2: grew up around all of like Disney, Nickelodeon kids totally,
[24:54] Speaker 2: when I grew up around successful musicians like Pussycat Dolls
[24:59] Speaker 2: and all these people. And then I would go out
[25:01] Speaker 2: and I would be around, like I was around when
[25:04] Speaker 2: Nicole and Prince were talking at a club, and like
[25:07] Speaker 2: when James Blunt was really big, like like I would
[25:09] Speaker 2: you would see people because there were no phones, right, yeah,
[25:12] Speaker 2: And so I feel like, oh, like when I was sixteen,
[25:14] Speaker 2: we flew to New York and showcased for like five
[25:18] Speaker 2: or six labels, and so, like I remember going into
[25:21] Speaker 2: Drive not Drive.
[25:23] Speaker 3: Drive still exist, Yes, I think we did, And we.
[25:25] Speaker 2: Went into La Reed. We auditioned for l A Re
[25:27] Speaker 2: Oh my god, like really, we got signed to Motown
[25:32] Speaker 2: and then dropped and then resigned with Innerscope. But like
[25:35] Speaker 2: so and Sylvia run he was ahead of Motown at
[25:38] Speaker 2: the time. She just got like an honorary Grammy this year.
[25:41] Speaker 2: But I think because and it wasn't I don't think
[25:46] Speaker 2: I was jaded, but I was unimpressed. Where like when
[25:51] Speaker 2: you were around the people who around your age who
[25:53] Speaker 2: are that successful, like all the Disney nickelodiing kids, and
[25:55] Speaker 2: you see the way they behave and it was sort
[25:58] Speaker 2: of embarrassing, Yeah, like they were wild. Yeah then and
[26:05] Speaker 2: the other time, I'm just dealing like with all adults
[26:07] Speaker 2: like you would a theater.
[26:08] Speaker 1: I imagine, like yeah, yeah, totally, You're around.
[26:11] Speaker 2: Adults all the time. So it's like I was better
[26:13] Speaker 2: with adults than I was with people my own age. Yeah,
[26:18] Speaker 2: And so like going into record labels and showcasing, like
[26:20] Speaker 2: I knew how to work a room of adults, and
[26:23] Speaker 2: I knew the schedule of we.
[26:25] Speaker 1: Had is a good thing about that, it's hardly being
[26:29] Speaker 1: able to understand like adult, you know.
[26:32] Speaker 2: Yes, Like that's why I always feel I could disconnect
[26:34] Speaker 2: with kids my own age, because I like my sense
[26:37] Speaker 2: of humor, like adults got it, yeah, but like kids
[26:40] Speaker 2: never got it. And I guess the reference to Glee,
[26:44] Speaker 2: And I said this when I came into Glee to
[26:46] Speaker 2: you guys. But like I had been on tour several times,
[26:51] Speaker 2: I was used to spending days in recording studios eight
[26:54] Speaker 2: to ten hour dance rehearsals like that had been my
[26:57] Speaker 2: life for years before Glee happened.
[27:00] Speaker 1: Totally, I think about like I was actually good with kids,
[27:05] Speaker 1: but that was because I.
[27:06] Speaker 3: Was around a lot of kids.
[27:07] Speaker 4: But I was around a lot of kids who were
[27:08] Speaker 4: around a lot of adults.
[27:10] Speaker 1: So I was surrounded by like the Broadway kids, which
[27:12] Speaker 1: was like Brandon Uranowitz and Christy Carlson Romano and I mean,
[27:18] Speaker 1: you name it. They we were doing it right and
[27:23] Speaker 1: and then doing like Broadway shows with kids were we
[27:26] Speaker 1: were treated with the adults like the adults. And so
[27:30] Speaker 1: even though there were like fifteen kids in the King
[27:32] Speaker 1: and I like we were still but you know, like
[27:36] Speaker 1: it was just it was a mature environment where you
[27:39] Speaker 1: were expected to like hit your mark, know your lines.
[27:43] Speaker 3: Not laugh, I mean.
[27:46] Speaker 2: Schedule like what, oh yeah, if you're going to school,
[27:49] Speaker 2: what is that like? So like you're a child and
[27:51] Speaker 2: then you're going to school in Long Island and do
[27:54] Speaker 2: you have a show eight times a week?
[27:56] Speaker 1: Yes, so there's a certain age where you're to do
[28:01] Speaker 1: two shows a day and do eight shows a week,
[28:03] Speaker 1: and it's pretty young. But there was one kid that
[28:06] Speaker 1: I think couldn't do all of the shows because she
[28:08] Speaker 1: was three in the show and she's our baby. But
[28:14] Speaker 1: the schedule was in rehearsals for six weeks. During the
[28:19] Speaker 1: pre pro we would be doing or like rehearsals, we
[28:21] Speaker 1: would have tutoring, and then during the show when the
[28:26] Speaker 1: show was up and running, my dad bought a minivan
[28:29] Speaker 1: so I could sleep on the way home and I
[28:32] Speaker 1: would go to school. I would come home, i'd do
[28:35] Speaker 1: my homework, we'd get in the car, i'd go do
[28:38] Speaker 1: the show. He would drive me home and then i'd
[28:40] Speaker 1: go to school the next day. And the only day
[28:42] Speaker 1: I didn't go to school sometimes was Wednesdays because I
[28:45] Speaker 1: had matine. So I would do two shows, and my
[28:48] Speaker 1: dad actually would go in with me. Sometimes my mom
[28:51] Speaker 1: would go into but oftentimes my dad would go with me.
[28:53] Speaker 1: And then on Wednesdays he would go and he would
[28:56] Speaker 1: either hang out with the parents while we were literally
[28:59] Speaker 1: in shows all day, or you go to the three
[29:01] Speaker 1: dollar Movie Theater which is now New World Stages.
[29:04] Speaker 4: And these parents.
[29:06] Speaker 1: Really were dedicated.
[29:09] Speaker 2: That is crazy full time job, Like how was he
[29:14] Speaker 2: doing this?
[29:15] Speaker 4: He did. He was able to work from home, so
[29:16] Speaker 4: he was able to work.
[29:19] Speaker 1: And worked from the car because there were cell phones
[29:21] Speaker 1: and pagers and you know, all those things. But he
[29:24] Speaker 1: was able to kind of do both, which was amazing
[29:27] Speaker 1: because otherwise one parent would have to give up their
[29:29] Speaker 1: career and one parent would have to do that. But luckily,
[29:32] Speaker 1: like you know, when I was younger, my dad would
[29:35] Speaker 1: drive us in, my mom would take me upstairs. My
[29:37] Speaker 1: dad would stay in the car and work a little bit,
[29:38] Speaker 1: and then you know, I'd come downstairs done for my auditions.
[29:41] Speaker 1: But it was a grueling schedule and it was tough,
[29:45] Speaker 1: like it was a long those were long days. But
[29:49] Speaker 1: there was nothing I loved more. So it was fine,
[29:51] Speaker 1: Like I didn't mind it, He didn't mind it. It
[29:54] Speaker 1: was a pretty you know, once in a lifetime experience
[29:58] Speaker 1: for us.
[29:59] Speaker 2: But man, that is dedication. It's top.
[30:01] Speaker 1: And then to have a supportive school as well, Like
[30:05] Speaker 1: the kids they were like so supportive. The friends that
[30:08] Speaker 1: I had were mainly supportive, and the teachers were like
[30:13] Speaker 1: my fourth grade teacher loved the idea of me. He
[30:16] Speaker 1: was like I think he was a gay man. I
[30:18] Speaker 1: don't actually know know, but like think who like love theater.
[30:21] Speaker 1: Loved this idea that like he was helping me like
[30:23] Speaker 1: live my dreams and he would like give me my
[30:25] Speaker 1: homework and just like help as much as possible. And
[30:29] Speaker 1: so we were very lucky in that way that I
[30:31] Speaker 1: had a lot of support where it's like you don't
[30:33] Speaker 1: always get that, you know.
[30:35] Speaker 2: I assure you the schools in Texas did not understand
[30:37] Speaker 2: that I was going away for a couple of months.
[30:39] Speaker 1: No, I'm sure that that's actually very difficult. I'm curious
[30:50] Speaker 1: about like kids growing up in the industry now versus then,
[30:53] Speaker 1: Like what do you think the main differences are? Because
[30:55] Speaker 1: I see these kids with like who are maybe parents
[30:58] Speaker 1: run instagrams, but just the idea of like a parent
[31:02] Speaker 1: putting a kid's headshot online and like putting like kids
[31:06] Speaker 1: online like that, I don't understand it. I'm not there,
[31:10] Speaker 1: I my kid is I would never do it, but
[31:13] Speaker 1: like I I don't understand it, and I don't know
[31:16] Speaker 1: if you have to if that's like being that's what's
[31:19] Speaker 1: the chat is or like what this world is now.
[31:23] Speaker 1: But like I can't imagine with the Internet on top
[31:27] Speaker 1: of it, or like the YouTube kids being like sourced out,
[31:31] Speaker 1: et cetera, like how you how people navigate all.
[31:35] Speaker 2: I think the big difference is like before kids only
[31:38] Speaker 2: I guess access or exposure to the public would be
[31:41] Speaker 2: in produced things where you have unions to sort of protect,
[31:46] Speaker 2: whether it's theater, whether it's TV or film or commercials,
[31:49] Speaker 2: Like there are laws that have to be followed for
[31:55] Speaker 2: these kids, right certain hours for schooling whatever, and they're
[31:59] Speaker 2: you know, like if they're in a commercial, this is
[32:02] Speaker 2: a thirty second thing that's going to be seen. I
[32:04] Speaker 2: feel like now because parents can do it online with whatever,
[32:09] Speaker 2: it's like they can document child's whole life and then
[32:12] Speaker 2: the child has no say in it, you know, where
[32:16] Speaker 2: it's like, oh, it's not just that they were in
[32:18] Speaker 2: an episode of a TV show, or they were in
[32:19] Speaker 2: one movie, or they were in a thirty second commercial.
[32:23] Speaker 2: It's like years of their life documented for the public,
[32:27] Speaker 2: and then that kid grows up and has to get
[32:30] Speaker 2: a job, and like you just never know. I think
[32:33] Speaker 2: that's scary to me to have so little agency over
[32:39] Speaker 2: your own Yeah whatever, Yeah, obviously, I think you know,
[32:42] Speaker 2: people have obviously said that about like child actors, like oh,
[32:46] Speaker 2: because the parents wanted the kid to do this, sure,
[32:50] Speaker 2: but still there's still a limit. And again you are
[32:52] Speaker 2: working within businesses that have protections.
[32:55] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and.
[32:57] Speaker 2: Like think about like for SAG actors, like when you're
[33:02] Speaker 2: under eighteen, a portion of your money gets stored in
[33:05] Speaker 2: another account, like bank account that your parents cannot touch. Yeah,
[33:10] Speaker 2: just in case to protect the kid, in case the
[33:14] Speaker 2: Cougan account, in case you know, the parents are stealing
[33:17] Speaker 2: money from their kids.
[33:18] Speaker 3: Well, because that was happening a lot.
[33:19] Speaker 2: Yeah, so I imagine, you know, on social media, there's
[33:22] Speaker 2: no real protections. I know, you know, like you can't
[33:27] Speaker 2: but you can't advertise on kids content under thirteen years old, correct, Yeah,
[33:32] Speaker 2: but there are always around that. Yeah, you can do
[33:35] Speaker 2: end video, I think things, but like.
[33:37] Speaker 1: Yeah, there's at least some protections, you know, regulations, but.
[33:41] Speaker 2: I think it's like it's now left up to like
[33:44] Speaker 2: corporations to do that, and it's like, I don't think
[33:46] Speaker 2: that's necessarily ever a good thing when you're like asking
[33:49] Speaker 2: the corporation who's making the money off of it to
[33:53] Speaker 2: make the rules that would limit how much money they're
[33:55] Speaker 2: actually making.
[33:56] Speaker 1: Protecting children, No, for sure, I think there's like an
[33:59] Speaker 1: added pressure of like to like our parents were like,
[34:02] Speaker 1: you know, trying to help us do this thing in
[34:06] Speaker 1: a safe, hopefully and you know, protected way, Whereas now
[34:10] Speaker 1: it feels like there's just this additional added pressure even
[34:13] Speaker 1: for parents to be like do I do this? Do
[34:15] Speaker 1: I not? Like, how do I navigate this, like putting
[34:19] Speaker 1: my kid out there? Is it hindering their success?
[34:22] Speaker 2: Is it not?
[34:23] Speaker 1: You know, like it's just I think there's an added
[34:26] Speaker 1: piece that it only makes it more difficult for kids
[34:30] Speaker 1: because I think I think a lot of people are like, oh,
[34:35] Speaker 1: these kids, they were you know, their famous at such
[34:37] Speaker 1: a young age, and it's you know.
[34:39] Speaker 4: Or successful early.
[34:42] Speaker 1: But I think there's so many pieces that have to
[34:45] Speaker 1: be protected when a kid is in the industry early
[34:49] Speaker 1: that people don't always think about, right, Like you just
[34:52] Speaker 1: see a kid on TV and assume like it's it's
[34:55] Speaker 1: all great and they're maeding money and they're doing this thing,
[34:57] Speaker 1: but like, imagine what that's growing up. Obviously, like Demi's
[35:03] Speaker 1: documentary that you you know, people of she put out
[35:06] Speaker 1: a few years ago, Try what is it called try Uh?
[35:12] Speaker 2: But she was one of the ones I like when
[35:14] Speaker 2: she moved to La she lived with me with my family,
[35:17] Speaker 2: and like we saw that. I think the other big component,
[35:19] Speaker 2: I think, whether you're starting on whether you're starting on
[35:23] Speaker 2: social media or starting on TV or film or your
[35:26] Speaker 2: or whatever, it is, the foundation from which you come
[35:31] Speaker 2: from has to be strong. And I think a lot
[35:34] Speaker 2: of times when we see young actors or not young
[35:39] Speaker 2: actors sort of spiral out or lose control or there's
[35:44] Speaker 2: usually a direct line to a lack of like real support.
[35:49] Speaker 2: And I mean having people around you who say no
[35:53] Speaker 2: and say no to people for you, especially if you're
[35:55] Speaker 2: a kid, yeah, and who are not affected and who
[35:58] Speaker 2: are not impressed by it, but still support the thing
[36:01] Speaker 2: you want to do, because I think the constant I'm
[36:05] Speaker 2: sure you can speak to this too, of like there's
[36:09] Speaker 2: a group of people who turned out one way and
[36:11] Speaker 2: it was because like their parents were around more yep,
[36:14] Speaker 2: or the like I knew like I was going getting
[36:18] Speaker 2: snuck into a club at sixteen years old, but I
[36:21] Speaker 2: never drank. I never did any drugs, and I was
[36:24] Speaker 2: not impressed. I was like, oh my god, that's Prince.
[36:26] Speaker 2: But it wasn't like, oh, if Prince told me to
[36:28] Speaker 2: do this in the same thing, I wasn't.
[36:30] Speaker 1: Necessarily going to do right right, Like yeah, it was
[36:33] Speaker 1: I think. I think there's also something that you had
[36:39] Speaker 1: said that made me think about like also for kids
[36:42] Speaker 1: at such a young age, not number one the competition aspect,
[36:46] Speaker 1: number two the support aspect, and number three the self
[36:50] Speaker 1: worth aspect of this.
[36:52] Speaker 3: It is just such an external.
[36:55] Speaker 1: Art form in some ways that like we're always looking
[36:58] Speaker 1: for acceptance and validation, validation and to be accepted and
[37:03] Speaker 1: said you know yes to And I think as a
[37:08] Speaker 1: kid growing up, always constantly looking for that and being
[37:13] Speaker 1: rejected often. And then in this industry, I saw somebody
[37:17] Speaker 1: posted this thing recently on Instagram. It was like a
[37:20] Speaker 1: trending thing or whatever they're called. But it was like
[37:25] Speaker 1: it was like we I thought I would. I thought
[37:30] Speaker 1: I would feel it all when I got my accepted
[37:32] Speaker 1: to college. I thought I would feel it all. When
[37:34] Speaker 1: I got my first job, I thought I would feel
[37:36] Speaker 1: it all when I got wait, when I got my
[37:37] Speaker 1: first leading job, you know, my principal role, blah blah blah.
[37:41] Speaker 3: And he just kept going.
[37:41] Speaker 1: It was like it's never going to be enough, Like
[37:43] Speaker 1: you can't wait for that to find the love for yourself.
[37:47] Speaker 1: And I think as a kid, you know, we're always
[37:51] Speaker 1: trying to teach as parents self love and self worth,
[37:55] Speaker 1: and I think we miss that sometimes of like how
[37:57] Speaker 1: they can find that not from external extringic reward and
[38:01] Speaker 1: like external forces, but like really inward. And I think
[38:05] Speaker 1: this is another thing that will perpetuate that feeling of
[38:11] Speaker 1: like looking for that externally. And so it's so important.
[38:14] Speaker 1: I think that when kids go into the industry that
[38:18] Speaker 1: the support system, like you said, is there to reinforce
[38:24] Speaker 1: those things that that's not the end all be all.
[38:27] Speaker 2: Right, I think. I mean good examples are like Billie Eilish,
[38:32] Speaker 2: if you watch her doc and how her mom is
[38:37] Speaker 2: around all the time. Yeah it's not like her mom
[38:40] Speaker 2: was hugely famous, but her mom has grown up around
[38:43] Speaker 2: a lot of successful actors and she's a great improv
[38:46] Speaker 2: actor yea. And so when you're exposed to even that
[38:50] Speaker 2: level of things. You are you know what to look for,
[38:54] Speaker 2: you know what the signs are, you know what to
[38:56] Speaker 2: be impressed or not impressed by, and you know the
[38:58] Speaker 2: power of saying no to things.
[38:59] Speaker 3: Yeah, And so to have.
[39:01] Speaker 2: Somebody who skyrocketed to success at such a young age
[39:07] Speaker 2: have a support system like that, and there's a difference.
[39:11] Speaker 2: There's there's a difference between having a stage parent than
[39:13] Speaker 2: having a supportive parent totally, and like that is fully
[39:17] Speaker 2: a supportive parent who, like you are allowing the kid
[39:20] Speaker 2: to dictate this and allowing the kids to do what
[39:22] Speaker 2: they want. But but within some there's guards reasonable Yeah,
[39:26] Speaker 2: because you're an adult and you have life experience, and
[39:29] Speaker 2: you know, I just.
[39:30] Speaker 3: Like real guidance, right, like real, true guidance.
[39:33] Speaker 2: And I thought that was very, very impressive because I
[39:36] Speaker 2: think the stories we often see in the media are
[39:38] Speaker 2: the opposite. You see people spiraling out and you see
[39:41] Speaker 2: parents taking advantage of their kids, and because it does
[39:43] Speaker 2: happen a lot, totally, but you don't talk about the
[39:46] Speaker 2: ones where it doesn't happen because.
[39:48] Speaker 1: Exactly looking for the attention exactly. Yeah, Well this was
[39:54] Speaker 1: really from a conversation, and we can always come back
[39:56] Speaker 1: to this one and talk more about it, because.
[39:57] Speaker 2: I would also like to see if anybody has questions
[40:00] Speaker 2: about this.
[40:00] Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, we could do like a child factory
[40:04] Speaker 1: in the industry for sure. Well, thanks for joining us
[40:09] Speaker 1: and listening to this fun little charging episode and.
[40:13] Speaker 2: That's what you really missed. Thanks for listening and follow
[40:17] Speaker 2: us on Instagram at and That's what you really miss pod.
[40:20] Speaker 2: Make sure to write us a review and leave us
[40:22] Speaker 2: five stars. See you next time.

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