Speaker 1: Roll that beautiful bean footage does. This is a Wells
Speaker 1: cast with Wells Adams and I heart radio podcast favorite
Speaker 1: But okay, that's how are you doing doing good today?
Speaker 1: I'm so excited about today's episode, and I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1: I mean, I always interview people who I think are
Speaker 1: interesting and cool and I want to hear their story,
Speaker 1: but I very rarely interview people who are actually my friends.
Speaker 1: And I think that we do that for a couple
Speaker 1: of reasons. One, I don't like to ask my friends
Speaker 1: to come on the show because it's like I gotta
Speaker 1: ask for a favor, you know, It's just I don't
Speaker 1: do it. So I don't book this show. I have
Speaker 1: the good people over at my heart booked the show
Speaker 1: for me, and you know, every once in a while,
Speaker 1: the stars will align and I'll get someone on the
Speaker 1: show who is like an actual friend of mine, and
Speaker 1: then it kind of raises the stakes for me because
Speaker 1: I don't want to sound stupid in front of my friends.
Speaker 1: You know, I wanted to think I'm good at this.
Speaker 1: Oh God, they're gonna judge me. But I'm not really
Speaker 1: worried about that because our guest today really is one
Speaker 1: of the most wonderful women I've ever met in the
Speaker 1: entire world. She is the sweetest, the nicest, the most talented,
Speaker 1: and she is a dear, dear friend of my fiancee.
Speaker 1: And by rules of modern day relationships, if so facts so,
Speaker 1: she is now a close friend of mine. Her story
Speaker 1: is crazy. Wasn't the typical like grew up in Calabasas.
Speaker 1: Uncle was a producer, gut her on some show. No,
Speaker 1: she worked hard, started off on a reality show that
Speaker 1: really focused on her singing. I think she kind of
Speaker 1: thought that was gonna be her path until she realized
Speaker 1: that maybe music wasn't her passion and acting was very
Speaker 1: few people I've been able to pivot from American idol
Speaker 1: to lead of a very very popular TV show. She
Speaker 1: was able to do it. Her story is bonkers. She's
Speaker 1: absolutely lovely. Let's get into it. One of my favorite
Speaker 1: people in the world, the star of the bull type,
Speaker 1: my porta sister, Katie Stevens. Here on the Wells Cast, guys,
Speaker 1: is when you are not going to want to stick
Speaker 1: around minute, all right, welcome back to the Wells Cast.
Speaker 1: This very rarely happens one because I don't have a
Speaker 1: lot of friends and uh too because I don't book
Speaker 1: the show myself, and I would never ask my friends
Speaker 1: to be on the show. But I am so excited.
Speaker 1: I think this is the first time ever on the
Speaker 1: show that I'm legitimately friends with this person, Like she
Speaker 1: comes over to our house, I went to her wedding,
Speaker 1: and I cannot tell you how pomped I am to
Speaker 1: have the one and only Katie Stevens on this show.
Speaker 1: How are you? This is so fun. I like watching
Speaker 1: you do what you do. Yeah, you've never actually seen
Speaker 1: me like be professional. Probably well, I mean I've like
Speaker 1: watched you, you know, host carpets. You know, I've listened
Speaker 1: to your podcast, but like to be on it, and
Speaker 1: like watching it is really fun. I think you're the
Speaker 1: only friend of Sarah's that is referred to by both names.
Speaker 1: You are Katie Stevens. Like that's like a common theme
Speaker 1: for like many people, Like many people call me Katie Stevens.
Speaker 1: But I think it's just because like it's easy to say,
Speaker 1: you know, like I still go by even though I'm married,
Speaker 1: I still go by Katie Stevens because like Katie di
Speaker 1: Giovanni is like really hard to say, and like you
Speaker 1: spell that out for anybody and like they don't know
Speaker 1: how to say it weirdly enough to me, I attribute
Speaker 1: it to like the cool kids in school were the
Speaker 1: double name people. Oh well that's weird because I was
Speaker 1: not like a cool kid in school. Well, you have
Speaker 1: blossomed because you're doing pretty good. I feel like this
Speaker 1: is almost a bitter sweet conversation that we get to
Speaker 1: have because I haven't seen you in a while, and
Speaker 1: we get to talk about like your success, but also
Speaker 1: like this show, The Bold Type, which has been like
Speaker 1: this force on free form for so long, is now
Speaker 1: finally coming to an end. Are you relieve that it's
Speaker 1: kind of getting wrapped up or you bumming? It's a mixture,
Speaker 1: It's I mean, bitter sweet is the word that I've
Speaker 1: been using, because you know, it's sad to it's it's
Speaker 1: more so that it's sad to not see those same
Speaker 1: people that you've seen forever. And you know, I remember
Speaker 1: when I found out that it was the last season
Speaker 1: I actually talked to Sarah, but Sarah had done, you know,
Speaker 1: a million more seasons, and I can't even imagine how
Speaker 1: infinitely greater that feeling is. But it is also I
Speaker 1: feel really grateful that you know, five seasons. A lot
Speaker 1: of people don't get five seasons. And then on top
Speaker 1: of that, to go into the final season knowing it's
Speaker 1: the end and getting to like wrap it up. There's
Speaker 1: like some feeling that you get when you're on set
Speaker 1: where you're like, oh, I know this is ending, so
Speaker 1: I'm going to be really intentional and like present with
Speaker 1: all of these people so I can like soak in
Speaker 1: all of these moments. Yeah, five seasons is a rarity
Speaker 1: these days in the entertainment industry, or eleven for Sarah,
Speaker 1: So you have to be pumped about like the run
Speaker 1: of the show. COVID. I feel like played a big
Speaker 1: role in your Guys show, Like you guys were filming
Speaker 1: and then COVID hit, and then you guys had to
Speaker 1: like stop and then like come back. Tell us about
Speaker 1: that experience, because it seems wild. It was the middle
Speaker 1: of a work day. We had like ten days left
Speaker 1: of filming our last two episodes of last season, and
Speaker 1: in the middle of one work day, I had to
Speaker 1: leave early because I was flying to l A for press.
Speaker 1: So I flew into l A. I landed, and my
Speaker 1: team was kind of like, you know this COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: thing is getting, you know, to seem pretty serious. Things
Speaker 1: might cancel, just like kind of be on your toes,
Speaker 1: go through the day. The next morning, I wake up
Speaker 1: and I do glam and everything at like five thirty
Speaker 1: in the morning, and I get a call from my
Speaker 1: publicist at seven being like, every thing has canceled. You're
Speaker 1: here for no reason. And then production was calling because
Speaker 1: they needed me to get back on a plane to
Speaker 1: go back to Montreal in case they were closing the borders.
Speaker 1: And then I landed in Montreal and I was going
Speaker 1: through customs and our producer called me and was like, hey, um,
Speaker 1: you gotta go home tomorrow because everything shutting down. We're
Speaker 1: shutting down production, so go back to your apartment, pack
Speaker 1: up your stuff, and uh, we'll get you on a
Speaker 1: flight in the morning. And so I went back to
Speaker 1: my apartment and in the span of like three hours,
Speaker 1: packed up nine months of living in Montreal and went
Speaker 1: home the next morning. And it was so weird because
Speaker 1: like we had we all were like so confused. So
Speaker 1: the whole cast that night, we like all got together
Speaker 1: and we were like, well, I don't know when we're
Speaker 1: going to see each other again, so I might as
Speaker 1: well burn it down, So we all like drank tons
Speaker 1: of wine and like I made dinner, and then we
Speaker 1: all left and didn't see each other for almost a year.
Speaker 1: Was there a thought that the show wouldn't survive COVID? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that was a that was a big fear,
Speaker 1: especially because we shoot the show in another country. So
Speaker 1: we didn't really know because because some one thing that
Speaker 1: I learned by being up there is you're not following
Speaker 1: United States CDC guidelines like you're following Canadian guidelines. And
Speaker 1: I know that they had closed the borders for a
Speaker 1: really long time. And then thankfully, a couple of months
Speaker 1: before we were supposed to go up and shoot, they
Speaker 1: had opened the borders if you had a work permit,
Speaker 1: so we were thankfully able to like go back there.
Speaker 1: But I mean, the COVID protocols there were so intense.
Speaker 1: We left in the middle of April just now, and
Speaker 1: they were still eight p m. Curfews. All of the
Speaker 1: restaurants were closed. So for the fifteen weeks that we
Speaker 1: were up there, we were just literally thank god we
Speaker 1: all lived in the same apartment building, Me and Megan
Speaker 1: and Asia, because we only saw each other. But if
Speaker 1: I didn't have that, like I wouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: do anything. I would have died. We all know I'm
Speaker 1: very social. Tomorrow night is the beginning of the end.
Speaker 1: Are you going to experience and absorb the show differently
Speaker 1: now that it's the last season? I mean, I I
Speaker 1: actually because I'm I'm in l A. So I mean
Speaker 1: maybe I'll like do watch parties with my friends here.
Speaker 1: But last week two of my girlfriends they were like,
Speaker 1: we want to watch, you know, the premiere episodes since
Speaker 1: we won't be able to be with you on premiere night.
Speaker 1: So the other night I had a bunch of friends
Speaker 1: my friend hosted at her house, and we were there
Speaker 1: with like our husbands, who like, they all are awesome
Speaker 1: and they have watched the show in its entirety like
Speaker 1: with their wives, so like they were really game, which
Speaker 1: was cool because you know, not really their demographic, but
Speaker 1: good sports about it. And so we just watched and
Speaker 1: drank a ton of wine. And I intend to continue
Speaker 1: that and gonna need people around me for the final
Speaker 1: episode because I'll be inconsolable. Probably. Are you happy with
Speaker 1: how it wraps itself up? I am um. The writers
Speaker 1: came to me and they were like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: how we're thinking of ending Jane's story. What do you think?
Speaker 1: And I was really pumped about it, So I'm excited
Speaker 1: for fans to see it. I think that all of
Speaker 1: the girls end up exactly where they're supposed to, and
Speaker 1: so I hope that everybody sees it as the love
Speaker 1: letter that it was intended to be. If you haven't
Speaker 1: watched The Bold Type, you know it's a show that
Speaker 1: like Sarah watches. I mean, I think because she's friends
Speaker 1: with you, it's also like very much like a Sarah show.
Speaker 1: If so facts So I watched the show, and I
Speaker 1: will say that in the same way that Sex and
Speaker 1: the City drew me in, Your Guys Show has done
Speaker 1: the same thing where I find myself like rooting for
Speaker 1: characters and hating characters and it's a really really fun
Speaker 1: ride that I think that Your Guys Show takes you on.
Speaker 1: The most powerful thing about I feel like the show
Speaker 1: is it really is empowering for women. When you get
Speaker 1: offered to do a show like this, Is that like
Speaker 1: the thing that you're thinking about, Oh my god, this
Speaker 1: is going to be really empowering for a lot of
Speaker 1: young women, or is it just need a job a
Speaker 1: little bit of both. I mean when I booked this show,
Speaker 1: I had just the other show I was on, Faking It,
Speaker 1: had just been canceled. So I think that I was
Speaker 1: really lucky that this came around so quickly. I remember
Speaker 1: um having a meeting at free Form because like after
Speaker 1: you basically get fired from another job when something gets canceled,
Speaker 1: you have to go on all these meetings to other
Speaker 1: casting people from different networks and stuff, and it's like
Speaker 1: a really weird and awkward thing because you're like sitting
Speaker 1: in front of people and you're like, please think I'm
Speaker 1: great and put me in something. And I sat down
Speaker 1: at free Form and they were like, we love faking It.
Speaker 1: Here are some shows that we're doing, and they like
Speaker 1: pitched the show originally was called Issues, and they were like,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like Sex in the City meets Devilwares
Speaker 1: product And I was like, wow, two things I really love.
Speaker 1: And then when I read the script, like I wasn't
Speaker 1: expecting to feel so empowered by it, Like it sounded
Speaker 1: just like, oh, that's a fun concept. And I even
Speaker 1: even from the pilot, I couldn't have imagined like where
Speaker 1: the show would go in terms of like talking about
Speaker 1: important issues, but like still being funny and still being lighthearted,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think that we found that kind
Speaker 1: of niche which was really cool. But it definitely was
Speaker 1: the initial part of it was definitely like I need
Speaker 1: a job. Please think I'm right for this. I talked
Speaker 1: to Sara about this a lot. I'm not the head
Speaker 1: of any studio, but I do believe that the trick
Speaker 1: to making a successful show is having all team players
Speaker 1: working on the thing be friends on and off camera.
Speaker 1: I think this comes from like my reality TV world,
Speaker 1: where like authenticity is just so evident. Even if you're
Speaker 1: an amazing actor, I still feel like the audience can
Speaker 1: pick up like whether or not you actually like these people,
Speaker 1: or like it's a true bond, you know with modern
Speaker 1: Sarah like loved Jesse. Tyler can't say more nice things
Speaker 1: about Tyberelle. I had looking ask her mom on the
Speaker 1: show if it was okay to marry here, like it
Speaker 1: was a truly like tight knit crew. And then after
Speaker 1: going to your wedding and meeting your co stars, it
Speaker 1: seems like and I don't really know, I don't really
Speaker 1: know them that well. We went to a beer festival
Speaker 1: after your wedding, but like it seemed like to me
Speaker 1: that you guys really do have like this really tight
Speaker 1: knit bond. I mean, first of all, asking anybody to
Speaker 1: fly from Canada to Nashville, like that's an entire day
Speaker 1: of travel. Like they had to love me to go
Speaker 1: to my wedding, and every single one of them was there,
Speaker 1: and it like was so amazing to have them all there.
Speaker 1: I entirely agree, Like I don't think if we didn't
Speaker 1: like each other, I don't think that the show would
Speaker 1: have done what it did. And it's not to say
Speaker 1: that we don't like bicker like sisters and you know,
Speaker 1: get piste off at each other and like have moments
Speaker 1: where I'm like, I don't want to talk to you
Speaker 1: right now, Like we absolutely do. But so is life.
Speaker 1: When you spend nine months out of a year with
Speaker 1: the same group of people for you know, five years,
Speaker 1: you can always tell. I can always tell when I
Speaker 1: watch a show and I'm like, oh, that actor is
Speaker 1: difficult or you know, and I'm also like, what a
Speaker 1: bad vibe. I Like, I get nervous for whatever is
Speaker 1: next because I'm like what if I get anxiety about
Speaker 1: thinking about what if somebody's like not cool, Like what
Speaker 1: what if I have like a love interest who sucks?
Speaker 1: Or what if I have to play best friends with
Speaker 1: somebody that I can't stand? I like mostly everybody, but
Speaker 1: like I can't say that, like people won't find me annoying,
Speaker 1: or won't you know, not want to be around me,
Speaker 1: or maybe they're not people people. So it does give
Speaker 1: me anxieties. Somebody asked us in an interview, how do
Speaker 1: you feel thinking about the next time you walk on
Speaker 1: a set, it's not going to be with these two people?
Speaker 1: And it didn't register to me until she said that,
Speaker 1: and I was like, got punch. The final season The
Speaker 1: Bold Type. It's on free Form Wednesday's ten pm Eastern.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a pretty form, you can watch
Speaker 1: it on Hulu and I think even YouTube TV. It's
Speaker 1: a truly wonderful show. Most of my demo is female,
Speaker 1: so this is a good show for everyone listening. But
Speaker 1: if you're like me and a guy, I also think
Speaker 1: that you would really really enjoy it, because I really
Speaker 1: enjoy the show. Is there any thought of a movie
Speaker 1: down the road? Oh, We've talked about it a million times.
Speaker 1: I've already been like, hey, Wendy, our showrun around, like
Speaker 1: just like start thinking about writing it. Like we all
Speaker 1: kind of need a couple of years off, but like
Speaker 1: I know that every single person who's a part of
Speaker 1: the show is like super down to do that. And
Speaker 1: I'm like Sex in the City did three of them,
Speaker 1: you can do one, and you guys all like each other.
Speaker 1: So it's Aisha always says that, like we want to
Speaker 1: leave that door open for when we're all struggling to
Speaker 1: collect coins in years that we could be like, hey, um,
Speaker 1: we need jobs. You want to do a type movie?
Speaker 1: I like it? Anything else you want to talk about
Speaker 1: the show before we pivot over to my portion of
Speaker 1: the podcast. I realized this morning that I haven't talked
Speaker 1: about this, but my brother is on the in the
Speaker 1: first two episodes. Yeah, and it's really fun because he's
Speaker 1: been auditioning for the show, and like it was really
Speaker 1: important to him that like he got the role not
Speaker 1: because he was my brother, So I kind of like,
Speaker 1: even though I put in a good word, I like
Speaker 1: kind of like took a step back and so he
Speaker 1: got this role, which was also awesome because it's not
Speaker 1: any scenes with me. He got to like have his
Speaker 1: own experience of it, which was really fun. But it
Speaker 1: was just so exciting because I like got to just
Speaker 1: like chill like a stage mom behind set and just
Speaker 1: be like watching him, And it was just awesome to
Speaker 1: be on set because I've always said I want to
Speaker 1: be like the Jillen Halls and the que Sacks and stuff.
Speaker 1: He's like brothers, sister Duo's what part does he play
Speaker 1: in the show? So he plays a character called Joey
Speaker 1: Falk who at the end of last season, the Alex
Speaker 1: character got called out in an article online and basically
Speaker 1: this guy questioned his like masculinity because he didn't step
Speaker 1: up for his girlfriend in this moment where she was
Speaker 1: being harassed, and so because Alex's feelings were hurt, he
Speaker 1: decided to go on a deep dive of Joey's Instagram
Speaker 1: or Twitter and found like a homophobic tweet from the
Speaker 1: past and like resurfaced it even though it had been
Speaker 1: like eight years ago. It's actually like a really cool
Speaker 1: story that I think, um, you know, not just because
Speaker 1: I'm excited my brother's on the show, but I think
Speaker 1: cancel culture is really crazy right now, and it's kind
Speaker 1: of a story about how, like, yes, there are certain
Speaker 1: situations where there are people that do or to be canceled.
Speaker 1: But if somebody said something, you know, ten twenty years
Speaker 1: ago that was hurtful and that they regret, but they've
Speaker 1: done so many things that are good in the world
Speaker 1: from that point to try to like grow and become
Speaker 1: a better person from that's also a part of the
Speaker 1: equation that needs acknowledging, because if somebody's like doing the work,
Speaker 1: isn't the point of bringing out somebody's flaws that they
Speaker 1: can learn from them and become better. It's a cool
Speaker 1: conversation that I really love that we kind of create
Speaker 1: for people to have on the show. I think it's
Speaker 1: awesome that you guys are tackling that and yeah, what
Speaker 1: an amazingly timely issue. That's awesome for your brother as well,
Speaker 1: so tell him congratulations for me. Okay, we're gonna take
Speaker 1: a quick break. I don't even know if you know
Speaker 1: what this show is, but it's origin stories. I'm just
Speaker 1: fascinated with where people came from and how the hell
Speaker 1: they got here. I want to hear your entire journey
Speaker 1: to getting onto this stupid podcast for those people out
Speaker 1: there that only no Oh Katie from the bold type,
Speaker 1: I feel like You're gonna be shocked to hear what
Speaker 1: happened beforehand. Maybe not, though I don't know you Down
Speaker 1: with that down? All right? Quick? Breat we come back
Speaker 1: Katie Stevens from The Bold Type Here on the Wells Cast.
Speaker 1: Back in the Wells Cast, Star of the Bold Type,
Speaker 1: which airs on free Form Wednesdays at ten pm Eastern.
Speaker 1: You can also watch it on Hulu. The final season
Speaker 1: begins airing tomorrow May six. It is an absolute phenomenal show.
Speaker 1: It's funny, it's got heart. They talk about serious stuff.
Speaker 1: You said it before, which I think is a good
Speaker 1: analogy for it. It's Sex and the City meets Devilwars
Speaker 1: product and it's also really empowering for young women who
Speaker 1: are trying to carve out amazing career in a male
Speaker 1: dominated world. And I think it's just a really, really
Speaker 1: great show. And I'm sad it's ending, but I'm happy
Speaker 1: that it allows me the chance to talk to you.
Speaker 1: I am so excited because I've been friends now with
Speaker 1: you for a couple of years. But I don't really
Speaker 1: know the intricacies of your genesis, like your origin story.
Speaker 1: What part of it do you want to know? I
Speaker 1: want to know all of it. Here's what I know
Speaker 1: about Katie. Katie is Portuguese like me. She can speak
Speaker 1: Portuguese fluently, which I cannot do, which is embarrassing. I
Speaker 1: know you went on a reality TV show, and I
Speaker 1: know then you pivoted over and became this like powerhouse actress.
Speaker 1: And I know that you're like best friends with my
Speaker 1: fiance and your husband is like the coolest and I
Speaker 1: like him a whole lot. I want to hang out
Speaker 1: with him more. So let's go back to the beginning.
Speaker 1: You're from You're from the East Coast, right, Yes, I'm
Speaker 1: from Connecticut. And we talked about your brother earlier. Is
Speaker 1: it only you two or are there are other siblings?
Speaker 1: It's just the two of us. And then I also
Speaker 1: know that since we did our DNA tests, there have
Speaker 1: been no other children that have popped up, So yes,
Speaker 1: two of us. That's like a thing though like that happens,
Speaker 1: it does. Okay, So you were born in Connecticut? Where
Speaker 1: you are you the older of the two or the
Speaker 1: younger of the two. I'm actually the youngest, and like
Speaker 1: everyone's always shocked by that for some reason. And my
Speaker 1: brother will always say, like, I'm older, but she's older. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that I have a sibling. Um, I have
Speaker 1: a couple of friends that are only children and they're
Speaker 1: also thriving. But I feel like when the time comes
Speaker 1: to have children, like, based on how me and my
Speaker 1: brother grew up, I was like, I want my I
Speaker 1: want my kid to have a buddy. Yeah, I'm the
Speaker 1: youngest of five. It's important to have a bunch of
Speaker 1: other assholes around you, if nothing else, to make you
Speaker 1: look a little bit better, because there's always you know,
Speaker 1: there's always one, especially if you're all older than you.
Speaker 1: They all they all like mess up way before you.
Speaker 1: So it's like you watch them make mistakes and then
Speaker 1: it's not that you don't make the same ones, you
Speaker 1: just like get better at hiding it. Yeah, my parents
Speaker 1: have stopped caring. Really by the time I came around,
Speaker 1: Were you always an entertaining child? Were youth putting on
Speaker 1: plays or singing for anyone who would listen? Growing up?
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, my parents when my brother and I
Speaker 1: were really young, they were trying to figure out like
Speaker 1: a summer camp for us to go to because they
Speaker 1: both had like nine to fives and they needed us
Speaker 1: to be at camp from nine to five. So the
Speaker 1: only one that was like all day was enacting camp,
Speaker 1: where it was like two weeks and then at the
Speaker 1: end you put on a play. So my brother was
Speaker 1: the first one to do that. Acting camp we all sang,
Speaker 1: and like karaoke on holidays was big at my house
Speaker 1: and my parents knew I loved to sing and my
Speaker 1: brother sang. But then we all showed up to my
Speaker 1: brother's musical and like we didn't know he was the lead,
Speaker 1: and he was like one of the leads in Oliver,
Speaker 1: and he started singing. My parents were looking at each
Speaker 1: other and looking at me, and we were all like,
Speaker 1: did you know he could do that? And we were
Speaker 1: like no. And then watching my brother do it just
Speaker 1: made me want to do it because I wanted to
Speaker 1: be like my brother, and so I kind of followed
Speaker 1: in his footsteps in auditioning and you know, being in
Speaker 1: the background and singing. My parents always had me singing
Speaker 1: for people, but there was a couple of years where
Speaker 1: when I would sing for people, I would make them
Speaker 1: turn around because I didn't want them to look at me,
Speaker 1: because I think I was just like too nervous. And
Speaker 1: now people ask me like, what would you rather sing
Speaker 1: in front of ten thousand people or like ten, and
Speaker 1: I'm like ten thousand because when you're you're in a
Speaker 1: room of ten people and this must be where I
Speaker 1: got it from. Back then, if you mess up or
Speaker 1: if people don't think you're good, the room is kind
Speaker 1: of small and you can see everybody's face, but like
Speaker 1: ten thousand people, there's like lights, you can't see any buddy.
Speaker 1: You hear them, you don't see them. So it's like
Speaker 1: weirdly less nerve wracking. At sixteen, you went an audition
Speaker 1: for American Idol, Right, Yes, So that's funny because that's
Speaker 1: the dichotomy you're just talking about. You had to sing
Speaker 1: for like just a couple of people, and then you
Speaker 1: had to sing for a lot of people. What was
Speaker 1: that experience like? Now that I'm an actor and I
Speaker 1: go into auditions all the time, and you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: you're hearing somebody through the wall doing the same audition
Speaker 1: that you're about to do. The audition for American Idol
Speaker 1: was kind of like being in the worst audition room
Speaker 1: you've ever been in, because like you're hearing everyone, like
Speaker 1: especially at the stadium part, everyone is just like singing
Speaker 1: out loud. They like don't care and you're hearing all
Speaker 1: these people and you're like, that person is better than me.
Speaker 1: That person is better than me. And then it's it's
Speaker 1: a weird thing that nobody really realized because when you
Speaker 1: watch the show, it kind of makes it look like
Speaker 1: the judges see all ten thousand people that are at
Speaker 1: that stadium, and it's like split up into months of auditions.
Speaker 1: So you do the first one and it's like cattle
Speaker 1: calls of people singing, and you go in front of
Speaker 1: two producers and they're like you, you, and you, you're
Speaker 1: not what we're looking for. You. You're going in the
Speaker 1: back to fill out a questionnaire. And so then I
Speaker 1: made it through that, and then two months later I
Speaker 1: made it through an executive producer around and then I
Speaker 1: made it through to the judges, and then you go
Speaker 1: to Hollywood Week and everyone's really good and it's really scary.
Speaker 1: And then when you start to get to the live shows,
Speaker 1: it's still not that nerve wracking because you're performing in
Speaker 1: front of like a hundred to two hundred people and
Speaker 1: you know that there are millions of people on the
Speaker 1: other end, and and that doesn't really become prevalent until
Speaker 1: you know you're finding out who gets eliminated. And thankfully,
Speaker 1: you know, Twitter wasn't that big, like I think American
Speaker 1: Idol actually created my Twitter account for me. So you
Speaker 1: were like seeing people say like good job, loved you,
Speaker 1: and that was kind of like my first introduction to
Speaker 1: the Twitter verse. Like occasionally I would I would get
Speaker 1: people who would like say something that was like not
Speaker 1: so nice. But I didn't really know enough to look
Speaker 1: at Twitter in that way back then, and I'm thankful
Speaker 1: that I didn't because I can't imagine what those contestants
Speaker 1: have to go through now. But when we started performing
Speaker 1: in front of a lot of people, that was when
Speaker 1: we got to go on tour, and that was like
Speaker 1: the best time of my life I could do that.
Speaker 1: The adrenaline of walking on a stage with arena full
Speaker 1: of people screaming for you is unlike anything that I've
Speaker 1: ever felt in my life. It's cute, but like now
Speaker 1: that I look back, I was like, it's kind of cheesy.
Speaker 1: Like we like all sing cover songs and like we
Speaker 1: do like group numbers. Then we all learned like harmonies
Speaker 1: to sing together. But it was like fun and everybody
Speaker 1: enjoyed the show. But everybody has their own individual kind
Speaker 1: of mini concerts and so like I think I was
Speaker 1: the third or fourth person up in the show and
Speaker 1: I got to come out and you know, perform two
Speaker 1: songs with the band, and you know, all the screens
Speaker 1: are going behind me. And I got to play at
Speaker 1: Mohegan Sun which was like my hometown show and like literally,
Speaker 1: like my whole high school was there, Like it was
Speaker 1: the coolest thing ever. Um. But I think we were
Speaker 1: kind of the last American Idol tour that did a
Speaker 1: lot of shows like we did. I think we did
Speaker 1: something like fifty five cities in three months, which was crazy. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I mean, especially with COVID, there's no concerts.
Speaker 1: But I'm not really sure now what the American Idol
Speaker 1: concerts look like. I've had a lot of people from
Speaker 1: the American Idol universe on this show, and I know
Speaker 1: a bunch of them as well, just from living in
Speaker 1: Nashville as long as they have. And so this question
Speaker 1: gets answered differently by everybody. But when you look back,
Speaker 1: was that a positive experience or one that you could
Speaker 1: like take it or leave it. I think it was
Speaker 1: a positive experience for many reasons. I think the thing
Speaker 1: that I say take it or leave. It was my
Speaker 1: voice and my like knowledge of myself back then. But
Speaker 1: I mean, I would I have a hundred percent would
Speaker 1: not be doing what I'm doing right now had I
Speaker 1: not done that show, because I probably would have, Like
Speaker 1: I was applying to college when I did an American Idol,
Speaker 1: and I was ready to go to college and major
Speaker 1: in like music business and like maybe become a manager
Speaker 1: or an agent to help other people, since I didn't
Speaker 1: know how to help myself. You know. I think it's
Speaker 1: really hard being sixteen and being on the show and
Speaker 1: doing something that you love to do immediately getting judged
Speaker 1: for it after and my comments from the judges were
Speaker 1: things like, we just don't think you know who you are,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, of course I don't know who I am.
Speaker 1: I'm sixteen years old. Did you know who you were
Speaker 1: when you were sixteen? Like I think like the expectation
Speaker 1: of people to like who are coming from the middle
Speaker 1: of nowhere places who have never done anything like this before,
Speaker 1: the expectation for them to know exactly what they want
Speaker 1: to do in music, exactly who they want to be
Speaker 1: as an artist with no prior experience, Like I think
Speaker 1: that I'm still figuring that out for myself. And I'm
Speaker 1: twenty eight, so I feel like that's a never ending
Speaker 1: process for anybody who's creative or in music in any capacity.
Speaker 1: When do you pivot over from doing American Idol to acting?
Speaker 1: I mean, I knew you obviously always did it, but
Speaker 1: when did you make that mental decision to now I'm
Speaker 1: going to do this. So I was doing after idol,
Speaker 1: I was writing songs a lot, I was performing places
Speaker 1: out here in l a UM and I was working
Speaker 1: with somebody and was hit with like a production deal
Speaker 1: that essentially was like if you get signed by a label,
Speaker 1: you know, we get half of your writing, and like
Speaker 1: you're publishing, we would get a percentage if you did
Speaker 1: a movie, if you did a commercial, if you would
Speaker 1: like done any of this stuff. And it was like
Speaker 1: really bad and really sad, and I had just signed
Speaker 1: on with new managers who were like, if you say
Speaker 1: goodbye to this, you know, we'll help you find other stuff.
Speaker 1: And then I said goodbye to that, and then the
Speaker 1: other stuff they were setting me up with was like
Speaker 1: not great, and I felt really discouraged and I kind
Speaker 1: of was in a dark place, and I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm done done with music. I'm quitting.
Speaker 1: I hate it. I hate how I feel doing it
Speaker 1: right now. And I emailed because I was with CIA
Speaker 1: for music through getting signed there through American Idol, and
Speaker 1: I knew they had an acting department. Naive you know,
Speaker 1: seventeen almost eighteen year old me was like, oh, I
Speaker 1: could just email them and get an agent. And so
Speaker 1: I held them and I was like, hey, like, can
Speaker 1: I meet with somebody from the acting department? And they
Speaker 1: were like sure, And so I like went to the
Speaker 1: CIA office and was like immediately overwhelmed. That office is
Speaker 1: like made of marble and like very bougie and crazy.
Speaker 1: And I sat down with um this agent, Aaron Culley,
Speaker 1: and I remember like amping myself up on the way.
Speaker 1: They're being like, Okay, you're not your most confident right now,
Speaker 1: but you're gonna put on your big girl pants and
Speaker 1: you are gonna, you know, pretend that you are. And
Speaker 1: I walked into the meeting and like my opening line
Speaker 1: I had prepared was like, I know, you get a
Speaker 1: lot of singers in here that say they want to act,
Speaker 1: but like, you just tell me what I gotta do,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna do it, Like I'll go to whatever
Speaker 1: classes you want, I'll like do whatever workshops and what like.
Speaker 1: Had this whole like speech prepared and she just looked
Speaker 1: at me and she just goes, Okay, I didn't ask
Speaker 1: to see me act like I could have been tearle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I probably was at that time because I had,
Speaker 1: you know, done musicals and stuff. Then you know, they
Speaker 1: had emailed me a bunch of like acting classes to
Speaker 1: go check out and casting workshops when those were a thing, um,
Speaker 1: And so I just started doing them, and the world
Speaker 1: of acting became less intimidating to me for some reason,
Speaker 1: even though it's still an intimidating thing to be going
Speaker 1: out and getting rejected every day. But yeah, I just
Speaker 1: like got an agent and started auditioning for stuff. What's
Speaker 1: your like credo for success? Do you have one? I
Speaker 1: think it it changes. But it's always been fundamentally that
Speaker 1: there's nothing about this that will change my life in
Speaker 1: terms of my spectrum of happiness. Like I've always been
Speaker 1: a person who's known that, know, if you get auditions,
Speaker 1: you might not get the role. If you get the role,
Speaker 1: it might not go past the pilot. If it goes
Speaker 1: past the pilot, it could end after five seasons, like
Speaker 1: you can't base your happiness and like how far you're
Speaker 1: going to get in this career because at one point
Speaker 1: a job ends and you're kind of back to square one.
Speaker 1: So for me, like I've always just done my best
Speaker 1: in every audition and then I shred my sides when
Speaker 1: I leave, and I don't think about it and I
Speaker 1: make sure that, like my focus then becomes what can
Speaker 1: I do in the meantime to just make myself feel
Speaker 1: creatively fulfilled? And where do I cultivate my happiness outside
Speaker 1: of this? Because I'm like, if I cultivate my happiness
Speaker 1: outside of what this career gives me, then I can
Speaker 1: have happiness way longer than if I'm like basing my
Speaker 1: happiness on like what job is next? So I mean, I,
Speaker 1: you know, have a beautiful house, and I have a
Speaker 1: beautiful husband and a beautiful dog and a wonderful family,
Speaker 1: and I sing and I write and I do all
Speaker 1: of these other things to make myself creatively fulfilled. But
Speaker 1: I don't put all my eggs in that basket. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: I'm running out of time with you, um, and I
Speaker 1: feel like we could just do a whole another episode,
Speaker 1: like we haven't even touched on your husband, who I
Speaker 1: just gotta say he was in Boys Like Girls, which
Speaker 1: I just I mean, it's such an amazing, like weird
Speaker 1: that story. Though, no I don't you want to tell it.
Speaker 1: I can tell it. I have fifteen minutes and it's
Speaker 1: not that long. I saw Boys Like Girls in concert
Speaker 1: at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut when I was fourteen,
Speaker 1: and Paul and I never met then, but then we
Speaker 1: met seven years later in l A. And like, when
Speaker 1: I found out he was in Boys Like Girls, I
Speaker 1: was like, WHOA, I was at your concert when I
Speaker 1: was fourteen. And that's not weird because now I'm of age,
Speaker 1: but it's like a weird serendipitous thing because I had
Speaker 1: always been that like hopeless romantic person going out with
Speaker 1: my friends being like what if my husband's in this room?
Speaker 1: And my friends were like, your husband is not at
Speaker 1: this club. The weird thing is is I like was
Speaker 1: in the same room as my husband and never met him.
Speaker 1: How did he respond to that? I mean, he's like
Speaker 1: the most like even keel, nothing phases him kind of thing.
Speaker 1: So like I make situations weirder than they have to be.
Speaker 1: So when I was like that's not weird. He's like
Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking it was until you said that. I've
Speaker 1: been to here as this house. He's got like a
Speaker 1: cool like little recording studio back house thing. Obviously you're
Speaker 1: a very serious, big time actress. But like I would
Speaker 1: assume like me, like I grew up playing golf, I
Speaker 1: still go play golfs, Like do you go into his
Speaker 1: like little recording student and be like, let me lead
Speaker 1: on a couple of tracks, like let me let me
Speaker 1: feel like I used to feel back in the day
Speaker 1: like I used to you know, when I was like
Speaker 1: heavily songwriting. Um, like before I did the bold Tie,
Speaker 1: I would ask him to like produce my demos. But
Speaker 1: now he's like really big time and producing all these
Speaker 1: records and like barely has time to come eat dinner
Speaker 1: with me, so like to ask him to, like, could
Speaker 1: you do my demos? But it was really fun because
Speaker 1: I was trying to be more creative in the music
Speaker 1: space over Quarantine. So I was like in my office,
Speaker 1: I have my own piano and like my guitars hanging
Speaker 1: on the wall, so I would like be writing stuff.
Speaker 1: And there were like a couple of songs that it
Speaker 1: was fun when we were doing nothing else. He like
Speaker 1: produced them for me and we got to be creative
Speaker 1: in that way when there was nothing else to do.
Speaker 1: That's awesome going forward, what's something that you haven't done
Speaker 1: in your career that you'd like to go do? Oh? Um,
Speaker 1: I want to get into producing. Um. I think the
Speaker 1: Bold Type gave me such a gift in terms of
Speaker 1: even though we weren't producers, creatively, we were leaned on
Speaker 1: by you know, the writers to kind of like have
Speaker 1: our voice is heard and our ideas shared. And you know,
Speaker 1: I just watched how hard everybody who did produce the
Speaker 1: show worked and it's a space that I'm really excited about.
Speaker 1: So I'm working on, you know, getting some projects off
Speaker 1: the ground, which is exciting. But also just like dream
Speaker 1: roles like I would I know, me and Sarah share this?
Speaker 1: Would love to do like a movie musical? Like would
Speaker 1: die to do a movie musical? Would I to do
Speaker 1: a movie musical with Sarah? Why don't you guys do
Speaker 1: this together? You should do it together? Um. There is
Speaker 1: video of me and Sarah very drunk one night, um
Speaker 1: singing a duet from Wicked that will never see the
Speaker 1: light of day because we're not in our best form,
Speaker 1: but um, I do know they're making a wicked film,
Speaker 1: so we should be up for that. And this is
Speaker 1: me putting forth our campaign. You just got to put
Speaker 1: it out in the universe and and then it hopefully
Speaker 1: comes back. I would love that. Before I let you go,
Speaker 1: do you have some time for rapid Fire Questions? I
Speaker 1: love that alright, rapid Fire Questions. Love a game well,
Speaker 1: Rapid Fire Questions with Katie Stevens the lead in The
Speaker 1: Bold Type, which airs Wednesday's ten pm Eastern on free
Speaker 1: Form and Hulu. The beginning of the final season starts tomorrow,
Speaker 1: so don't miss it all right quickly. Now, would you
Speaker 1: rather be rich and sad or poor and happy? Poor
Speaker 1: and happy night in? Or night out night in? If
Speaker 1: you could change your name, what would you change it to? Oh? God, um, Kirby, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the that's what we're looking for. What's the best
Speaker 1: piece of advice you've ever been given? You are enough
Speaker 1: exactly as you are, because there's only one of you,
Speaker 1: that's right, Kirby. What's your favorit? Pizza topic, bacon and pineapple?
Speaker 1: What I know, I'm the weirdo who loves pineapple on
Speaker 1: my pizza. Continue, you're that you're that first? Not every
Speaker 1: time though, Like no judgment, Like it's a mood, Yeah
Speaker 1: it is. It's a vibe for sure. What's your favorite book?
Speaker 1: The subtle art of not giving a fuck? Who's your
Speaker 1: first kiss? Oh god, I'm pretty sure he got arrested,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna not say his name, but not his
Speaker 1: full name. But his name was Will. Yeah, actually that's
Speaker 1: not true. My first kiss was when I was like
Speaker 1: three years old with my best friend Lanna, so m
Speaker 1: starting starting young. Yeah. First concert ever went to Britney Spears.
Speaker 1: First job you ever had, I was a bus girl
Speaker 1: at a restaurant at an airport. Celebrity you've been mistaken for?
Speaker 1: Um uh, I'm blanking on her name, but she plays
Speaker 1: April Kepner on Grace Anatomy and I used to get
Speaker 1: mistaken for her when I had red hair. Last person
Speaker 1: you texted on your phone Megan in Asia. That's not
Speaker 1: even a joke. Who would bail you out of jail?
Speaker 1: Hopefully my husband, but if not, probably Megan Ratia or
Speaker 1: my mom. First CD you ever owned, Shania Twain. Celebrity crush.
Speaker 1: I don't have one because I think It's weird that
Speaker 1: I could potentially ever be in the same room as
Speaker 1: that person and it would make my husband uncomfortable. So
Speaker 1: I guess my husband's my best celebrity crush. Since you
Speaker 1: are a five to a player, what would you rather win?
Speaker 1: An Oscar, A Grammy, a Tony, a sack? What? What
Speaker 1: are all the things in the egot? An Emmy? Of
Speaker 1: all those things, what would you rather win? I mean,
Speaker 1: an Oscar feels like the mecca for what I do,
Speaker 1: but like any yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes yes.
Speaker 1: Katie Stevens, thank you so much for being on the show.
Speaker 1: It's so wonderful to see you, well, to see you.
Speaker 1: This was so fun. I hope we all get to
Speaker 1: hang out soon again together. By the way, we're going
Speaker 1: to be in Nashville in November, so we need to
Speaker 1: hang out. I will be there The bold Type Wednesday's
Speaker 1: ten pm Eastern free Form Hulu. All that stuff where
Speaker 1: people follow you if they want to um stock your
Speaker 1: instant stuff. It literally Instagram because I don't go on
Speaker 1: anything else. So my Instagram is the Katie Stevens because
Speaker 1: there are many people with my name. Is there anything
Speaker 1: that I didn't ask you about that you wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about. You pretty much got it covered, and then
Speaker 1: off off screen we have to discuss planning a trip
Speaker 1: to Portugal to the homeland. Yes we must, Katie, Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. You rock, dude. Thank you. Subscribe to
Speaker 1: Wellcast on I Heart Radio, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the Internet.