WEBVTT - Natanya Ross Meets World 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.960 Danielle were you were you practicing your signature? 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:25.520 Like to see that I do that while we're doing 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.800 the podcast. I just write my name over and over again. 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:31.560 I just love it. It's like she still has a 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.080 crush on Jensen. She's practicing. 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:37.120 Practice. 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:38.760 She wrote a little hard. 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.240 I just think I've ever seen I think, not read 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.600 Lance Bass or Taylor Thomas or any of the others. 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:50.680 At least I love my husband. 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.240 No official Bass. 0:00:56.080 --> 0:01:01.640 Whoa, Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. Yeah. 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:04.640 Well, remember when we got to whatever convention that was 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:05.839 a couple of weeks ago, and I was like, guys, 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.640 I have a new signature. I'm gonna I'm gonna really 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:15.240 take my time. That lasted four signatures before. I was like, no, 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:18.119 I just have a thing now that where I don't 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.560 even really have control over what comes out of me 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.560 with my signature anymore. It's just like the pen touches 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:25.399 the paper and my hand does the same moves over 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:27.680 and over again. And even if I wanted, like, for example, 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.040 I have wanted to stop doing that exclamation point, happy 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.400 face exclamation point that I do at the bottom of 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.000 my name, I've done it ever since I ever started 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.959 signing autographs when I was like eleven or twelve years old, 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:41.120 and I want to stop. 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:42.080 It and I can't. 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:44.520 You know, you can't, You just can Yeah, I can't. 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:45.880 Can just stop. After the I. 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.480 Sign my name and it just happens automatically, and I'm like, oh, 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:51.200 I wanted to. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:51.520 Not do that. 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:52.520 Yeah. 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:52.760 Yeah. 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:54.240 By the end of the con, you can't even tell 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.320 what my name is, like it just says like best wishes, 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:57.480 Wendell Freeman. 0:01:58.640 --> 0:01:59.960 Super fil freed Ale. 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:02.480 Yeah, you just can't. You can't tell anymore. It's just 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:02.800 a blur. 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.720 And my parents we we we were with my parents 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:07.880 a couple of weeks ago, got together and we'd had 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:09.880 like a whole board game weekend in this in this 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:10.440 beach house. 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:11.120 Was so fun. 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:15.320 And my parents have this crazy thing that I don't 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.440 know where they got it, but their glasses like a 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.520 goggles that you put on that turn the world upside down. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.880 It's like a set of mirrors, so you're looking through 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.720 but suddenly your feet are on the ceiling. It's like 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.560 it completely inverts the world right. It makes you like, 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:32.960 it drives you crazy, and what you try and do 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.040 is like try and write something and you can't, Like 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.480 you cannot like you look down, which means looking up 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:40.320 at what you're right. 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.360 It's so confusing, Oh is sign my name? 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.440 It was like I couldn't write like because you try 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.400 and just write correctly and you end up writing upside 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.160 down and backwards. And so then I was like, no, no, no, 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.840 I'm just gonna close my eyes and sign my name 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:54.840 and I could do it perfectly. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.200 So it's like, wow, yeah, it's just automatic. You've got 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:57.440 to try. 0:02:58.160 --> 0:02:59.960 Just thinking about that made me nauseous. 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:02.800 You've got to ask your parents where they got that. 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:04.080 Yeah, it's the coolest thing. 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:05.720 I mean, Indy put it on, could not take it 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.600 off and was just like what God, Yeah, it's so weird. 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:13.440 Oh that's cool. Welcome to pod meets World. I'm Danielle Fischel, I'm. 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.200 Rider Strong, and I'm Wilfredell. 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:19.480 So when you film a seven seasons of a TV show, 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.799 episodes start to blend together a bit, as you may 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.120 have already heard on an almost weekly basis with this podcast, 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.360 and now thirty years later, we have forgotten a lot 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:33.800 of things. But recently, Will and Ryder bumped into this 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.320 week's guest at a convention in Albuquerque, and they couldn't 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.440 be happier to remember the sweetness that is Natanya Ross. 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.520 She appeared in just one episode of Boy Meets World 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.680 as ingrid iverson the girl, Corey and Sean decide to 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.600 riz up for the big Christmas dance and hopes she'll 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:50.520 become more popular. 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:52.200 Thanks. 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.200 Thanks, guys. 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.360 I was hoping you guys were going to notice, and 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.000 in turn, she left quite an impression on the legacy 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.560 of the show, and after visiting us, she went on 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.120 to star in the Freaky Friday TV movie with Shelley 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.280 Long and Gabby Hoffman. She appeared on The Babysitters Club 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.960 and Baywatch, and most notably, she was in almost fifty 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:16.160 episodes of The Secret World of Alex Mack, playing Robin Russo. 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.359 So now all three of us are thrilled to be 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.240 reunited with Natanya to talk not only about her guest 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.880 appearance on Boymet's World and the fact that she's the 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.840 only proof we have that our school did indeed have 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.279 a pool, but also we will chat about her life 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.800 since we work together, and what she's overcome to be 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:38.120 here today. Let's please welcome to the show. Natanya Ross. 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.560 Hi, Hi, Hi, how is everyone? 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:44.400 We're good how are you. 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:47.120 I'm good, I'm good. 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:49.960 We were just discussing right before you came in. How 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.960 you ran into writer and Will at a convention last 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:54.320 year in Albuquerque. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.480 Yes, I did. 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.520 It was us in the Sandloch Crew Hanger. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.840 It was nothing else and the Mighty Ducks and the 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:03.800 and the Mighty Ducks. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.360 We had Jean and Marty and there was nothing else 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:07.760 to do. 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:09.800 Pretty much, it's pretty accurate. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:10.719 I just got. 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:15.640 Booked to do another one in the same place. Yeah, 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:17.160 and I was like, all right, I guess I'll go back. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.720 I mean, the question really is how fast can you 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:20.960 spell Albuquerque? 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:22.520 Not fast at all? 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:24.960 Albl a l b u q u e r q 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:26.719 u e oh, I go home albac. 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:29.440 You practiced that just to be able to do that 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:30.440 pretty much. Party. 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:32.200 Yeah, that's a party track, it is. 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:34.280 It absolutely is. 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:38.599 Okay, So let's start with our most basic question we 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:42.359 like to ask everybody, which is when did you get 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:43.599 into acting as a kid? 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:47.000 Six months old? 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.159 No, really, that might be our youngest ever. 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.120 You might beat Matt Lawrence because he's somewhere in the 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:55.839 first year or year and a half, but you six. 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.200 Months Tell us about that. 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:01.040 Yeah, I don't remember much. 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:02.720 What what do you mean, I want to know all 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.680 my memory, I don't remember much. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:10.240 My mom was just like very determined to make me 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:14.159 into something, which I'm you know, goes into a lot 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:18.520 of ship that happened later on in my life. But yeah, 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.800 six months old, I was a Gerber baby. I was 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:24.360 doing a bunch of commercials, and then I had like 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:29.480 very very very small parts in Crimes and Misdemeanors and 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:34.719 Awakenings with Robert de Niro and Crazy. But then like 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.840 the first I guess real recognizable thing which really still 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.640 trips me out that people even comment on this was 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:41.840 Little Monsters. 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.559 I yes, so you were in Little Monsters, which starred 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.000 Fred Savage and had a cameo by Ben. 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.320 Yeah, I know, crazy and I. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.760 Oh my god, I don't even know if I've actually 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.599 seen it all the way through either. But I was 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:00.520 very were young. 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:01.840 I was six years old, and. 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:06.039 I had this like thirty second little Heart, and that's 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.560 really what kind of kicked everything off. When I think 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.400 my mom and my team at that time, it's so 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:14.520 weird that to have a team at six years old, 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:16.520 but they were like, yeah, let's try and take this 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:18.240 as far as we can take. 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:18.560 It with this. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.320 Let's take this, let's let's. 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:22.120 Take this all the way. 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:24.480 Yeah, six years of investment if paid off. 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:25.679 I'm telling you. 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.280 So, what are your like? Those are some pretty big 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.280 sets to be on as a small kid. What is 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:32.640 what do you what. 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.559 Is like your earliest memory of being on a set? 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:37.520 What do you actually remember where you're like? I know 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.000 I did those jobs because there's evidence of it, But like, 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:44.760 the first one I really remember is, Yeah. 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:48.000 Probably I did like a Juicy juice commercial in Canada. 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.000 I remember that because we had to get on a 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:51.920 plane and we were first class and it was this 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.480 big thing and I loved it so much. But I 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.320 think Little Monsters is probably the first set I really 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.840 remember being on. I couldn't tell you, like too much 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.120 about it, but I have recollections of like what it 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.440 felt like and what it made me feel like and 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.920 what was Yeah, I was really cognizant even at that 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.560 age that this was what I wanted to be doing. 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:17.920 So although I have, you know, a little bit of 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:21.920 a cliche child star story later on in life, I 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.800 was never forced into it. Like I knew that I 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:29.200 loved it even at that age. I just didn't know 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.400 how much I was about to really love it, like 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.600 later on, you know, I just was like I was 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:38.240 like a rambunctious kind of a big personality kid. 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.040 And I was like, yeah, I'm on set. This is great. 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:40.360 You know. 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.679 It didn't like, I think, penetrate my soul the way 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:47.040 it did later on, but I knew I was where 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:47.760 I wanted to be. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:48.480 Wow. 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.200 And so when you then made it to boy Meet's World, 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.360 did Bean remember you Did you guys talk about little 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:55.120 Monsters at all? 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:56.640 I don't think so. 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:01.000 No, No, I don't think I brought that. I was 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.200 nervous on set with you guys, and I came from 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.280 I was already on Alex Mack, so I was integrated 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.320 into a set family too. You know, we were I 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.000 think on season two when I did Alex Mack, when 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.520 I did Boy Meet's World. So I just I remember 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.040 coming in knowing the dynamic that you guys had probably 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:23.040 already built together because I had that too. So I 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.800 was nervous. I was like, I don't remember talking much 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:31.120 to anyone really, but I did talk to Ben the 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:34.040 most for sure, but never about little monsters. 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:34.520 Wow. 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.440 Even later on when we were I don't even think 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:40.080 I brought that up. 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:41.840 I don't think I've. 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:43.080 Never we've never seen little Monsters. 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.360 But I have a question if anybody knows, is it 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.800 called little monsters because the kids are bad, like problem 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.120 child or they're actually monsters? 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.480 I think yeah, it's like a monster under the bed 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:55.520 or something that they've become friends with or something. 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.079 Okay, all right, it's. 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:58.600 Like a main monster too. 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:03.240 Howie Mandel is like, okay, gin monster. I should probably 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:03.880 watched it too. 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:04.800 We should watch it. 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.520 We should watch it of little monsters. 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.200 Oh my gosh, Well you were also I mean, you 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.440 were also on a TGIF show. You were on Billy, 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:20.280 the sitcom with Billy Connolly and Johnny Gillecky, So you 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.280 were all by the time you got to Boy Meets World, 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.040 you are already like a TGIF staple. 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.520 You were already on Alex Mac in second season. 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:38.160 Yeah. 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.800 Okay, So before we get into Boy Meets World, there 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.000 is a movie that you did that I have to 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:48.520 talk to you about because in doing research for this interview, 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.640 I'm not sure this this movie is ever gonna leave 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:53.199 my nightmare. 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.080 So I need all the details. 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:56.240 Okay. 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:02.240 Munchie Strikes Back, the sequel to Munchie and that movie, 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.800 Munchie starred Jennifer Love Hewitt. 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:06.560 So you were in the sequel. 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.720 I want to show you the image of Munchie the 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:16.040 monster in it because it's it's pretty, it's pretty crazy, 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.360 it's a it's a wonderful creature. And this is the 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:24.960 official movie description. He dresses like a lounge singer, oh, 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:29.319 sounds like a stand up comedian and has magic powers. 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:32.720 Oh, my father, how have I never seen that? 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.880 I love his card again and I need to know 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:37.480 every detail about this movie. 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.199 Oh my god, God bless the nineties exactly. 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:42.640 Wow. 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:49.360 Yeah, that was not to say about this movie. 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:53.599 It was like this weird little Roger Korman movie. I 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.040 don't even think I auditioned for it, just kind of 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.280 like came across to us as an offer. And my 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.600 Mom's like, dude, if you knew anything. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:03.719 What was what was the character you played in it? 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:04.400 So? 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:06.400 I played the girlfriend of. 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:08.800 No no, no, no no no. 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:10.560 I was going to be so excited. 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:15.720 Yeah that would be like. 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:17.480 So I mean to kiss. 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:20.440 I was a girlfriend of like the main character and 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.640 his best friend was Munchie. But it was like an 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.240 imaginary like no one else could really see it. And yeah, 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.360 I was just like his little girlfriend in the movie. 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.080 And what was it like with that? Was that puppet 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.000 on set all the time? Did you have to interact 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:34.679 with that puppet? 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.640 The puppet was on set, I didn't have any scenes 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.920 with the puppet. Like the prints of the movie is 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:41.840 like only this kid can see it. 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:44.959 Yeah. I love how Danielle was just assuming it's a puppet. 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.680 Well, it could be a real guy, could be a 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:49.280 real person. 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.240 Just yeah, seriously, he instantly just judged that young actor. 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:54.520 Very nice, Danielle. 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:55.640 Sorry, I have. 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.040 To say, with all the interviews I do, I've never 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.600 once been asked about monkey Man. 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:00.880 You know. 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:03.000 That makes me happy. 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.360 That's that's our special time. 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.240 Yeah, not every podcast kind of hits the level we. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:10.840 Do right to the jugular. 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.320 We try. We try to get the. 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.160 Entirely forgetable nineteen ninety three. 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:20.640 Yeah, no, I want to work with a puppet like that? 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.320 Are you kidding me? That's the puppet is amazing. And 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:25.240 he's wearing a cute card again. I love it. 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:26.880 Okay, card a good look. 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:28.840 It's a great look. I mean, if you're a puppet, 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:29.640 wear a card again. 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:31.839 So there's one thing you learned from this interview, let 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.360 it be that, So after Munchie you then came onto 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:39.120 our set as Ingrid, who was a nerdy wallflower who 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.200 Corey decides to try and make popular. Do you remember 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.200 auditioning for that one or like what was that process? 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:46.640 Like I do. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.720 So I had audition for Boy Meets World a plethora 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:51.560 of times for like all sorts of. 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.600 Like everybody that's the story that seems to be the story. 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.840 Yeah, and this one was like really last minute too. 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.240 They called me in just a couple of days before 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:04.920 this was about to start, So I think I came 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.760 in on a Friday and it was gonna start on Monday, 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:11.200 and and it was like one of those times and 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.320 I have a lot of this where they were like 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.920 the part is yours, Like you're not even auditioning against 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:17.720 anyone else, just go in. They just want to see 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:19.840 you read. And of course I show up and there's 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:21.000 like fifty other girls there. 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:22.200 Of course that happening on. 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.880 Alex mad say that you've already seen it every. 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.800 Other every audition for like the last ten years. So yeah, 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:30.920 I just I went in and read, and I think 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.640 as I was leaving they called my agent and said 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.320 they got it. So then I showed up Monday to 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:38.560 table read with you guys. 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.520 Yeah, and what's crazy to me is the entire episode 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.760 is you I know, like, yeah, you have so much 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:45.080 to do in this episode. 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:46.200 I've forgotten that. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.600 Yeah, yeah, it's so crazy too, because I mean, obviously, 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.120 Alex Mack was such a big thing in the nineties 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:54.720 and that's I think what most of the fan base 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:59.880 still like remains about. But this specific episode, I get DMS. 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:03.960 I mean, it's NonStop about this specific episode. 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:04.800 And and I've. 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.200 Rewatched it, you know, yeah, and I have so many 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.080 thoughts about it. But I understand I think a little 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:16.200 bit more now as an adult, why this episode resonated 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.480 so much with kids at that time. I mean, aside 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:21.480 from the fact that boy Meet's world is so special 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:26.480 to so so so many people, it touched on so 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:30.160 many different things. And as I've rewatched it, it kind 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.920 of like unlocked this core feeling for me that I 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.600 had back then, where like this was very much art 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.840 imitates life for me without any of you guys knowing, 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.440 without me, you know, saying anything like that. I very 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:50.280 much felt like both of these variations of Ingrid, Like 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.160 I very much felt like the nerdy girl, the not 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:58.560 attractive girl, the not popular girl, and then like with 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.520 potentially the promise to like maybe be prettier or whatever. 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.320 And it had been like ingrained in my head for 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:09.080 so long by agents and managers of like, yeah, you're cute, 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.600 but like you're just not that girl, or you're not 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:15.920 the lead girl, you're not the girlfriend, you're not any 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.520 of these things. And Boy Meet's World was kind of 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:22.000 the first time I had the opportunity to like show 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:26.440 both sides, you know. But I distinctly when I was 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.360 in that brown dress thing. 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.920 Whatever that was the worst. 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:36.240 Yeah, and the glasses and the pigtails that I was like, 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.480 it just it made me feel so much like the 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.920 outside was like showing how I really felt inside. 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.640 And I was just kind of like embarrassed to. 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:49.400 Be in that outfit, you know. And and then also 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.840 then when the makeover happens, I was like, am I 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:55.040 even this girl? It was an interesting week for me. 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.800 I will say, Yeah, we recently rewatched it as well, 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.640 and we also had many mixed emotions about it. 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.080 You're you know, sort of thrown into the situation where 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.560 they're going to try to make you like more hot 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.239 for Corey and you never really give any input on 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.199 it before you get the makeover, and then it is 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.480 revealed that you like want to be popular so bad 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:20.280 that you're like down for whatever. 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:21.719 That's the best moment of the episode. 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:22.000 Yeah. 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.199 I think it's like when you grab ben by the 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.200 caller in your life, make me popular popular? 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.760 Yeah, and then it all kind of plateaus when you 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:31.679 jump into the swimming pool at the end and you 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.680 lose your cool friends because of it, and then at 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:39.080 the end you still ditch Corey for a more popular guy. 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:44.160 So I say all of that, like, what looking back 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.840 on the episode, you're talking about when you rewatched it, 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.000 the feelings it brought up for you that were mirroring 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.160 your own life. What now, rewatching it as an adult, 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.080 what do you feel about it now? 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:03.000 I mean, I don't know if it like ages all 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:11.679 that well now you know, And but it's almost it's crazy. 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:13.760 I can almost still kind of tap into that emotion, 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:18.560 you know, where I think there is so much pressure 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.879 on I mean, I couldn't even imagine being like a 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:23.080 teenager now, you know. 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:24.240 I can't imagine. 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.040 And if back in our time, if all of the 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.560 social media and all of the stuff that goes on 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:32.960 now was happening, then I don't know, that I would 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.880 have like survived that back then, you know. But yeah, 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.399 I think, like looking back at it, you know, I 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:45.639 was grateful for that opportunity because it actually for me 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.440 showed some of like my team that I could do 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:54.040 something else than just play this like weird, nerdy, you 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:58.119 know character. So I was really grateful for that. So 0:18:58.200 --> 0:18:59.480 thank you guys for that. 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:01.480 But yeah, it just. 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:05.560 Kind of brought back those feelings of like, like at 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.280 that age, I had to learn very quickly, like you 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:11.560 better get okay with who you are as a human being, 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:13.879 like and you better do it fast, you know. And 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:18.320 unfortunately that didn't happen for me till much later in life. 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.199 But yeah, I mean, but it also brought back, like 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.639 I loved being on that show. I remember being so excited, 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:28.959 you know, that I had gotten the opportunity to do that. 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.640 But you know, it's a mixed bag of uh emotions, right, 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:33.600 It's a mixed back. 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:38.679 So well, do people still recognize you as Ingrid? Do 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:40.440 people talk to you about boy Mes World. 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.680 All the time all the time. It's crazy, Like even 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.119 when I do conventions and there's always a Boymans World 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:54.080 picture on the table. People just love this character, which 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.680 is so special, and sometimes I get confused about it 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.359 because I'm like, I was only on one episode, but 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:01.320 they just love ingrid iverson, so. 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.760 I think it's a great character. It's like I feel like, 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:07.720 but in this second season, it's like, you had your 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:11.439 episode and then Daniel Harris did her sister Teresa episode 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.240 where she played Harley Coiners and you guys like come 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.200 in and the whole episode is about you, and it's 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.200 like they're the best guest stars. 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:21.480 Like we've you know, I've only watched the show. 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:23.680 So far up into the second season, but it seems 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:25.760 like they're the best characters that we had, you know, 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.600 like this, they're great roles and you did you got 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:31.600 to show this range. I'm fascinated by what you were saying, Like, 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:35.639 you know, it's it's so sad that I mean, it 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.199 makes sense, right that actors get categorized, right, Like, when 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:40.120 you're an actor, you get put into a category. You're 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:45.600 like the funny comic relief character, the leading lady, leading lady, 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:48.280 the whatever, and like, but for. 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:52.000 A kid, that that's a different thing to internalize, you know. 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.159 I feel like as an adult you can say it 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.360 because like, uh, there's a there's a famous acting teacher 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:00.639 in La named I think this is I think it's 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:02.440 a Leslie Con thing. You guys know Leslie Con. You 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.919 guy's remember her, and she teaches that. She teaches her 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.359 actors to get up on stage and find their zero, 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.399 which is like what do you present naturally? Like what 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.040 is your presence? Just sort of read to people, And 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.439 so she'll actually have actors get up on stage and 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:18.440 the whole class will be like what you know, and 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:20.359 just say like, Hi, my name is so and so, 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.120 and then the whole class judges that person and says 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.119 like I don't trust her, or I want to go 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:28.720 on a date with her whatever. They're like instinct and 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.160 then like the whole idea is they understand what your 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:33.760 zero is, what you naturally present as, and then work 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:36.640 for that or against that based on the character you're playing. 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:37.880 Whatever. But when you're a. 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:43.680 Kid, like your zero is very hard to object to objectively, 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.040 like remove yourself from, you know, like I, as an adult, 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:48.080 you can say like, oh, yeah, I probably I have 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:50.560 a resting bitch face or whatever it is, and I 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:52.760 can work against that and you can just move beyond it. 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:54.920 But when you're a kid, that's your entire identity. 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:56.720 And I definitely felt that too. 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.159 Like as a kid, whatever it is, whatever parts you 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:02.720 get start to reflect how you feel about yourself, and 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:05.960 it's hard to like turn that off or I don't know, 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:09.080 but yeah, I often wondered if it was if it 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:10.360 was different with child. 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:12.800 Actors out on the West Coast than it was on 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:15.000 the East Coast, because when I moved out here at sixteen, 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:17.760 even when I started Boy Mets World, you know, you're 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:19.920 still auditioning for the things you're auditioning for films or 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:21.199 whatever kind of in between. 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:23.320 And the thing I noticed about LA. 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:25.680 Was that it was always like, oh, man, you were 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:27.760 so great, thank you for coming in. 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:29.520 It was so nice to see you here. 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:31.199 And you walk out like, wow, I did well in 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.280 New York. It was like, no, you're too fat. Sorry, yeah, 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:36.919 so you just you Just by the time I was eleven, 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:38.600 I would walk in and they go, we ask for 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:40.080 a redhead who brought this kid? 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:41.679 No, thank you very much. And I get back on 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:43.480 the bus and I go home and it. 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:47.280 Sounds harsh, but it made my skin so thick that 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.080 I just it just wasn't about me, Like I was 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:54.400 able to completely dissect myself from the fact that they 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:56.640 were looking for something else, and at least they told 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:58.640 me that to my face, even at eleven or twelve, 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:00.719 as opposed to what I would get when I came 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:01.439 out here in LA. 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:03.399 Was like, oh my god, you're so good. It was 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:05.120 so great to have you here. 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:07.840 And then they'd never call you because they didn't like 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:10.320 you from the second you walked in. And so I wondered, 0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:13.840 you know, I wonder mentally, which one is actually makes 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:16.800 you a stronger person and a stronger actor. Is somebody 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:18.960 just kind of saying to you, no, not gonna do 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:20.920 a kid, You're not what we're looking for. Or yeah, 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:23.000 oh my god, it's so great, you're awesome, and then 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:23.720 just not calling. 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:26.679 So I think it depends on the kid, right I mean, 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:29.240 I would guess, but you have to adapt either way. 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:31.520 Either way, being a kid in that situation is difficult, 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:35.320 right like handling that rejection or the acceptance of only 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:37.840 one version of you, right like that that you don't 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:40.159 have the flexibility to be like, oh I can I 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:42.159 can be whoever I want as I grow up, you know, 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:44.280 But you know, and I mean, I think. 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:46.920 All of us in this group were actually pretty lucky. 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:49.760 You know, there are other kids who were like extremely 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:53.199 overweight or very short. You know, they had like a 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:56.640 different look that only was acceptable as a certain type 0:23:56.640 --> 0:23:59.520 of character, right, and that's all they could play for 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:01.720 their entire you know, and that has got to wear 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:02.840 down on you in a way. 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:06.119 Natanya, what do you remember the things you were getting 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:09.399 cast for. What do you remember that telling you about 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:12.040 yourself and who you are? And like do you remember 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:15.160 being like, oh, I guess I'm this, I guess I'm 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:18.080 that because this is what everyone sees me as. 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:25.639 Yes, I did, I very much do so, Like after Munchies. 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:27.400 Yeah, I love you know, I. 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:29.399 Was doing like little episode. 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:30.919 I was doing step by step and just like all 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:33.760 these little guest parks always kind of as like the 0:24:33.840 --> 0:24:39.000 Nerdy Friend or whatever. And then I did like the 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:44.160 middle version of Freaky Friday again the Nerdy Friend, and 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:47.639 like just remembering being on set in the like glasses 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:49.480 and the pigtails and like they just love to put 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:51.080 me in pigtails for whatever reason. 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:53.280 And that was an interesting one too. 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:56.359 I think that's when I really started to like like 0:24:56.440 --> 0:24:58.879 pay attention to it. Because we had Andrew Keegan in 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:00.840 the movie. We had Marlowe all of these people that 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:02.800 were so cool, and I was like, wow, I am 0:25:02.920 --> 0:25:06.040 not that I'm not that cool. And then I got 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:08.159 Alex Mack and. 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:10.800 With Larissa o'linik, another one of our favorites. 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:14.200 Yes, and uh. 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:20.040 So Alex Mack was like an arduous process for me. 0:25:20.640 --> 0:25:23.800 I had gone up for the sister you know quite 0:25:23.800 --> 0:25:25.679 a few times and took it all the way to test. 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:29.119 Same with with Alex the part for Alex. Then they 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:32.280 shot the pilot, recast the entire thing brought me back 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:37.120 saying Sister Alex didn't get it, got the call from 0:25:37.119 --> 0:25:40.399 my agent. They wrote apart just for you. All you 0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:44.040 have to do is go down there. I get down 0:25:44.080 --> 0:25:47.040 there to this same casting office that I had been 0:25:47.080 --> 0:25:49.359 to like ten million times, and I was over it. 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:51.000 At this point. I was like, give it to me 0:25:51.119 --> 0:25:51.800 or not, but I'm. 0:25:51.680 --> 0:25:55.320 Not coming back after this and uh fifty girls there 0:25:55.359 --> 0:25:58.240 of course, but this one I ended up getting. But 0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:04.000 I remember the first episode I filmed, like instantly, you know, 0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:06.640 put me in this kind of weird like like hurt. 0:26:06.680 --> 0:26:11.080 The trajectory of her character and the growth of her 0:26:11.200 --> 0:26:14.720 character ended up being really cool, like something that I 0:26:14.760 --> 0:26:18.119 really leaned into towards the end of the last couple 0:26:18.160 --> 0:26:20.640 of seasons. But at first, you know, I was this 0:26:20.800 --> 0:26:24.520 eleven year old kid and I hadn't. 0:26:24.240 --> 0:26:25.400 Really had puberty yet. 0:26:25.600 --> 0:26:30.600 I had very very pale skin, bright orange hair, which 0:26:31.440 --> 0:26:34.280 you know, that's tough. That's like a tough one growing 0:26:34.400 --> 0:26:37.800 up like that. And I said this on another podcast too, 0:26:37.840 --> 0:26:40.720 when you're eleven years old with bright orange hair, pale skin. 0:26:41.560 --> 0:26:43.800 Just booked this series that we don't know if it's 0:26:43.800 --> 0:26:45.879 gonna make it or not, but it has the potential. 0:26:47.000 --> 0:26:49.639 You don't know that you're just like a few years 0:26:49.680 --> 0:26:52.639 away from like it's gonna be okay, You're gonna be pretty, 0:26:53.000 --> 0:26:55.879 gonna be cool, everything's gonna be fine, but you just 0:26:55.920 --> 0:26:58.399 don't know. And the character was so weird. 0:26:58.560 --> 0:26:59.640 She was so like. 0:27:01.280 --> 0:27:06.760 I've said, she's like the og original alt emo goth 0:27:06.880 --> 0:27:11.000 girl of Nickelodeon. Yeah, and this character there wasn't representation 0:27:11.320 --> 0:27:14.240 of these kind of kids that dressed like this and 0:27:14.320 --> 0:27:19.080 felt like this, and and so again it was one 0:27:19.080 --> 0:27:22.439 more time where I was like, well, no, I've accomplished 0:27:22.440 --> 0:27:24.879 what I wanted to accomplish. I booked a series and 0:27:24.920 --> 0:27:27.640 I'm in. I'm like part of the main cast. I'm 0:27:27.640 --> 0:27:31.200 a series regular and this could really go and I'm 0:27:31.200 --> 0:27:35.159 this weird kid again, you know. And so but I 0:27:35.240 --> 0:27:38.719 had pops throughout where, like I was booking these roles 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:41.920 that weren't like that, like boy, me girl, babysitters club, 0:27:42.000 --> 0:27:44.760 like all of these different things that got me out 0:27:44.760 --> 0:27:48.040 of it a little bit. But even second season of 0:27:48.080 --> 0:27:50.119 Alex Mack, I would like run to my dressing room 0:27:50.200 --> 0:27:52.040 and put on like a little extra eyeliner or a 0:27:52.040 --> 0:27:56.320 little extra clipline something to like, you know, make myself 0:27:56.320 --> 0:27:57.840 feel a little bit better. 0:27:57.920 --> 0:27:59.399 So yeah, I definitely remember that. 0:27:59.480 --> 0:28:01.920 I mean I was I was type cast for sure, 0:28:02.040 --> 0:28:07.880 bad girl, nerdy girl, weird girl, golf girl. 0:28:07.880 --> 0:28:11.040 Right, anything but the main girl, right like that. 0:28:11.520 --> 0:28:15.680 But the main girl except for this really weird movie 0:28:15.760 --> 0:28:19.480 I did in Canada with Chauncey lea party where I 0:28:19.560 --> 0:28:22.719 played his girl. Yeah, and I was like I think 0:28:22.760 --> 0:28:25.840 I was fifteen or sixteen, and so there, you know, 0:28:25.920 --> 0:28:27.639 there was pops of it. There was pops of it. 0:28:27.720 --> 0:28:30.080 Well, don't forget Munchie where you were Munchy's girlfriend. 0:28:30.520 --> 0:28:33.920 No, and there's Munkey strikes back right. 0:28:33.880 --> 0:28:35.200 Right, she too? 0:28:35.520 --> 0:28:40.920 Exactly too, Yeah, I mean the ponytail, the pigtail glasses 0:28:41.000 --> 0:28:42.360 thing was such a ninety stroke. 0:28:42.480 --> 0:28:45.160 Oh yeah, it was such a way. She can't be pretty, 0:28:45.240 --> 0:28:48.400 she's got glasses. Like a minute, she has. 0:28:48.280 --> 0:28:51.440 A pony rail. She can't be pretty, and it is 0:28:51.560 --> 0:28:53.200 just such a thing. Yeah, it was such a thing 0:28:53.200 --> 0:28:54.840 where it was like it. 0:28:54.960 --> 0:28:58.040 Always had me like that until I forced them into 0:28:58.160 --> 0:29:02.320 different hairstyles like second season, where I started to like 0:29:02.920 --> 0:29:06.800 have more of a voice and kind of like advocate 0:29:06.840 --> 0:29:09.480 for myself a little bit more and be like, look, why. 0:29:09.320 --> 0:29:11.280 Is she'd always come on take them out, like we 0:29:11.280 --> 0:29:12.040 can do we. 0:29:12.000 --> 0:29:14.160 Can do better here, you know. And they started to 0:29:14.200 --> 0:29:18.720 listen to me and kind of let me aesthetically lean 0:29:18.800 --> 0:29:20.880 into this character in a way that felt a little 0:29:20.880 --> 0:29:23.120 bit more comfortable. I mean, there were still the nineties 0:29:23.200 --> 0:29:26.520 chokers and out in the very nineties goth outfits and 0:29:26.560 --> 0:29:29.480 all of that, but the hair got a little better, 0:29:29.600 --> 0:29:32.200 like she's an infourd season. I just showed up one 0:29:32.280 --> 0:29:33.720 day to set cut it all off. 0:29:33.560 --> 0:29:35.280 And I was like now what, yeah, now, what are 0:29:35.320 --> 0:29:35.760 you going to do? 0:29:36.280 --> 0:29:38.640 I was so rebellious towards the end of it because 0:29:38.640 --> 0:30:01.200 I'd been put in this box for so long, but yeah. 0:29:51.080 --> 0:29:54.360 Well you have been so open and inspirational talking about 0:29:54.360 --> 0:29:57.280 the struggles you faced in your teens and then it 0:29:57.360 --> 0:30:00.400 really finding its hold in your early twenties with substance abuse. 0:30:01.640 --> 0:30:06.040 It's obviously something very common with young actors who find 0:30:06.080 --> 0:30:09.240 early success, and we were hoping that you could share 0:30:09.320 --> 0:30:13.000 some of that aspect of your story. When did drugs 0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:14.320 and alcohol enter your life? 0:30:15.000 --> 0:30:19.719 So I I was probably like fifteen sixteen years old 0:30:19.760 --> 0:30:22.480 when I started drinking and just you know, smoking weed 0:30:22.520 --> 0:30:24.600 and doing like the things that we do as kids, 0:30:24.640 --> 0:30:27.520 and you know, at these oak Wood parties. 0:30:27.560 --> 0:30:29.000 I know you guys will understand them. 0:30:29.000 --> 0:30:33.040 Reference every weekend, like the second I was done working, 0:30:33.120 --> 0:30:36.320 I would just jam over there and like party all weekend. 0:30:36.320 --> 0:30:40.200 But it was so innocent and young, you know, and 0:30:40.240 --> 0:30:42.840 felt very like experimental and it wasn't a big deal. 0:30:42.920 --> 0:30:46.160 But you know, when it started to get really rough 0:30:46.200 --> 0:30:50.440 for me was around eighteen nineteen years old, and one 0:30:50.480 --> 0:30:52.960 of the best like pieces of advice I could ever 0:30:53.000 --> 0:30:55.880 give is like, really be careful who you surround yourself with, 0:30:56.360 --> 0:31:01.240 you know. And I kind of fell into a little 0:31:01.240 --> 0:31:05.760 bit of a rougher crowd, but all actors, so it 0:31:05.800 --> 0:31:10.000 felt safe. But it was like the next level of 0:31:10.040 --> 0:31:12.760 stuff that like was not going on at Oakwood, And 0:31:14.160 --> 0:31:19.440 you know, I didn't come from a home life that 0:31:19.480 --> 0:31:22.080 had any structure. There was a lot of chaos and 0:31:22.120 --> 0:31:26.200 alcoholism that in the home, and for me, being an 0:31:26.240 --> 0:31:30.760 actor was kind of like the first chapter of my 0:31:30.800 --> 0:31:32.720 life where I was able to like go somewhere and 0:31:32.760 --> 0:31:35.960 become somebody else, right, right, So, like everything that was 0:31:36.000 --> 0:31:38.000 going on at home, like when I was on set, 0:31:38.080 --> 0:31:40.920 that was my safe place. That's like all I had 0:31:40.960 --> 0:31:44.800 for safety. So as I started getting seventeen eighteen years old, 0:31:44.800 --> 0:31:46.800 and I started to look a little bit different, and 0:31:46.840 --> 0:31:49.000 no one could really figure out what box to put 0:31:49.040 --> 0:31:51.479 me in anymore. And I was getting these kind of 0:31:51.520 --> 0:31:54.200 like one off things like Baywatch and nine O two 0:31:54.240 --> 0:31:56.880 and zero and like all of these things. But I 0:31:57.000 --> 0:32:00.880 was growing into more and more a different look, and 0:32:00.920 --> 0:32:03.240 I cut all my hair off and dyed it like jet. 0:32:03.000 --> 0:32:04.640 Black and just rebellious, you know. 0:32:04.680 --> 0:32:06.720 And at a certain point people were like, we're not 0:32:06.760 --> 0:32:08.920 really sure what to do. Like the red hair was 0:32:08.960 --> 0:32:11.800 the thing, and the less parts I got, the more, 0:32:13.040 --> 0:32:16.360 you know, I internalized that and was really with the 0:32:16.400 --> 0:32:21.120 wrong group of people. And yeah, I developed a gnarly 0:32:21.120 --> 0:32:25.920 little heroin addiction, which is you know, which is really crazy, 0:32:25.960 --> 0:32:29.040 Like when I think about how all of that went 0:32:29.120 --> 0:32:33.640 down and like how fast it happened, And now as 0:32:33.640 --> 0:32:38.000 an adult understanding the disease of alcoholism and that it 0:32:38.040 --> 0:32:42.040 was inevitable for me, and it could have been any 0:32:42.080 --> 0:32:45.000 substance really, and this just happened to be the one 0:32:45.000 --> 0:32:47.200 that was introduced to me at a very young age. 0:32:47.320 --> 0:32:50.720 Which again it's like, be careful who you surround yourself with, 0:32:50.760 --> 0:32:53.880 but know that at seventeen, like we don't know that 0:32:53.960 --> 0:32:55.800 at eighteen, when I'm just this young kid, I have 0:32:55.880 --> 0:32:58.560 all this money, I'm like kind of famous, hanging out 0:32:58.600 --> 0:33:00.400 with all these famous people, and someone's like, here, do 0:33:00.400 --> 0:33:03.920 you want to try this? And instantly it takes away 0:33:04.040 --> 0:33:06.600 like every feeling of self doubt you've ever had in 0:33:06.640 --> 0:33:09.360 your entire life. And it instantly takes away all the 0:33:09.400 --> 0:33:14.160 pain of like coming from a very from very tortured 0:33:14.240 --> 0:33:17.600 parents themselves, and it instantly takes away all of these things. 0:33:17.600 --> 0:33:20.200 And it didn't matter anymore if I had had pigtails 0:33:20.240 --> 0:33:23.360 in Alex Mack, or if I had you know, glasses 0:33:23.400 --> 0:33:26.160 and boy Meets World or none of that mattered anymore. 0:33:26.280 --> 0:33:28.800 And yeah, so that was rough. 0:33:28.840 --> 0:33:33.040 So I spent all of my twenties, you know, suffering 0:33:33.800 --> 0:33:38.880 with active addiction, and then figured it out in my thirties, 0:33:38.920 --> 0:33:41.560 and god bless was able to turn around. And I 0:33:41.600 --> 0:33:45.400 know it's like a very cliche child star story. Mom 0:33:45.440 --> 0:33:48.640 steals all the money at eighteen, girl gets strung out 0:33:48.680 --> 0:33:51.400 on heroin blah blah blah blah blah. But also I 0:33:51.440 --> 0:33:55.240 think that what's not talked about enough too is that 0:33:55.680 --> 0:33:57.760 some people do go through that and then make it out. 0:33:58.200 --> 0:34:02.120 Yeah really, you know that to me is like, because 0:34:02.120 --> 0:34:06.520 people are fascinated by this story of a young child 0:34:06.880 --> 0:34:11.760 star that had all this recognition and then is strung 0:34:11.800 --> 0:34:14.920 out on like what you know, we would deem as 0:34:14.960 --> 0:34:17.759 one of the worst things ever to get involved with, 0:34:17.920 --> 0:34:22.080 right and and but what's not talked about more often 0:34:22.520 --> 0:34:24.080 is that some people make. 0:34:23.960 --> 0:34:24.520 It out of that. 0:34:24.719 --> 0:34:28.960 And I'm trying to advocate for those people too, because 0:34:29.000 --> 0:34:31.200 a lot of kids that get fed up like that 0:34:31.400 --> 0:34:35.600 because of you know, whatever it is. I don't want 0:34:35.600 --> 0:34:37.600 to blame it on child acting because I don't know 0:34:37.680 --> 0:34:41.520 that that's really, uh the cause by any means, but 0:34:41.880 --> 0:34:45.400 you know, so, yeah, so when I turned thirty, and 0:34:45.480 --> 0:34:47.560 believe me, I had many bouts in my twenties of 0:34:47.600 --> 0:34:50.160 trying to get clean and going to rehab and like 0:34:50.200 --> 0:34:54.080 trying to figure it out. And at thirty, I just 0:34:54.160 --> 0:34:56.920 I kind of hit like a different kind of spiritual 0:34:56.960 --> 0:35:01.520 bottom that I'd never hit before and really understood that 0:35:01.560 --> 0:35:04.560 if I didn't get this now, that I wasn't gonna 0:35:04.560 --> 0:35:04.880 make it. 0:35:05.120 --> 0:35:05.840 Like I knew that. 0:35:06.560 --> 0:35:12.479 So, yeah, now I'm forty one. Wow, And I spent 0:35:12.560 --> 0:35:15.040 the last decade of my life like figuring out who 0:35:15.080 --> 0:35:17.800 I was and like more importantly than that, being okay 0:35:17.840 --> 0:35:21.200 with who that girl was. Because I haven't acted in 0:35:21.239 --> 0:35:24.200 a long time. I just started acting again and I 0:35:24.280 --> 0:35:27.000 had to like be okay that my identity wasn't about 0:35:27.719 --> 0:35:33.080 being famous anymore or this or that and that, and 0:35:33.120 --> 0:35:35.359 that I had to let I had to learn how 0:35:35.360 --> 0:35:38.759 to trust people that they really liked me for who 0:35:38.800 --> 0:35:42.359 I was, and you know, and I finally figured out 0:35:42.480 --> 0:35:46.160 kind of how to forgive the girl that was in 0:35:46.200 --> 0:35:49.600 her twenties that was just doing the best that she could, yeah, 0:35:50.000 --> 0:35:54.080 without having really had proper guidance or structure, and like 0:35:54.160 --> 0:35:56.600 forgive that girl and tell her that it was okay, 0:35:57.080 --> 0:36:00.000 so that this woman could keep going. 0:36:00.640 --> 0:36:04.960 You know what, an inspirational story. I mean, you know, 0:36:05.000 --> 0:36:07.000 we talk about it even on a very on a 0:36:07.480 --> 0:36:10.719 such a minor, little superficial level, that none of us 0:36:11.520 --> 0:36:14.839 have any real like style or fashion sense because from 0:36:14.880 --> 0:36:17.600 the time we were young, we just handed that over 0:36:17.640 --> 0:36:20.000 to somebody else and just said, Okay, you tell me 0:36:20.040 --> 0:36:22.239 what to wear, and you tell me what's fashionable, you 0:36:22.280 --> 0:36:23.000 tell me what's in. 0:36:23.520 --> 0:36:25.120 And I'm listening to your story. 0:36:25.120 --> 0:36:28.160 And what I'm realizing and thinking about is that for 0:36:28.360 --> 0:36:32.600 child actors, you hand over so much of your identity 0:36:32.640 --> 0:36:33.480 to other people. 0:36:33.960 --> 0:36:36.680 You tell me who I am, you tell me what 0:36:36.840 --> 0:36:37.680 box I check. 0:36:38.040 --> 0:36:41.560 You tell me what because because the roles that I'm 0:36:41.560 --> 0:36:44.759 booking must say something about who I am. And so 0:36:45.040 --> 0:36:50.440 it's so that can be something that is depending on 0:36:50.520 --> 0:36:54.160 which boxes people tell you you're checking. You know, you can't 0:36:54.160 --> 0:36:56.080 expect an eleven year old to have a sense of 0:36:56.160 --> 0:36:59.640 identity or a sense of self. You know, you haven't 0:36:59.640 --> 0:37:03.160 had a check to develop that yet. And so for 0:37:03.320 --> 0:37:06.240 you to have spent your all of your teens being 0:37:06.239 --> 0:37:09.840 told who you were and to be feeling like I 0:37:09.920 --> 0:37:11.719 reject some of that, but I don't know how to 0:37:11.760 --> 0:37:14.759 process it and then to really you know, it makes 0:37:14.800 --> 0:37:17.000 sense that for so many people you deal with it 0:37:17.040 --> 0:37:18.080 by self medicating. 0:37:19.160 --> 0:37:22.080 I think there's also something to chasing the rush. 0:37:22.200 --> 0:37:24.960 You know, you're on stage one night in front of 0:37:25.000 --> 0:37:27.800 an audience and you're popular and important and it matters, 0:37:27.800 --> 0:37:29.279 and then the next day the show is canceled and 0:37:29.320 --> 0:37:31.680 it's gone right, And for some people, they never get 0:37:31.680 --> 0:37:34.799 that rush back, so they look for other places. You know, 0:37:34.840 --> 0:37:37.160 It's that I always said that that being in front 0:37:37.200 --> 0:37:39.080 of the audience was quote unquote like my drug. 0:37:39.120 --> 0:37:39.920 You get this this. 0:37:40.840 --> 0:37:43.759 Rush from being there, from the feeling of being important, 0:37:43.840 --> 0:37:46.120 how fake it is, whether it's real or not, it's 0:37:46.120 --> 0:37:49.000 really you, and all of a sudden, it's gone one 0:37:49.120 --> 0:37:50.080 day and you do it. 0:37:50.120 --> 0:37:51.400 You can to chase it for some people. 0:37:51.440 --> 0:37:54.000 So it's I mean that being said, we also have 0:37:54.040 --> 0:37:56.359 to acknowledge that there's you know, millions of people out 0:37:56.360 --> 0:37:59.360 there that struggle with addiction that aren't in the entertainment industry. 0:37:59.400 --> 0:38:01.960 I know, you know, my one of my oldest friends 0:38:02.160 --> 0:38:05.160 I lost to heroin overdose six six years ago, and 0:38:05.480 --> 0:38:07.840 it's hard to pull out of and you watch the 0:38:07.920 --> 0:38:12.200 decline and it's just to see how well you're doing now. 0:38:12.960 --> 0:38:14.040 I mean, I've seen the descent. 0:38:14.200 --> 0:38:16.560 So to see somebody kind of pull out of it 0:38:16.640 --> 0:38:18.640 and have the life that you do is really a 0:38:18.640 --> 0:38:22.000 testament because you're right, there isn't enough said about the 0:38:22.000 --> 0:38:23.840 people that can pull themselves out of it. But that 0:38:23.920 --> 0:38:26.520 being said, that's a small percentage of people that do. 0:38:26.640 --> 0:38:31.880 I mean, the recidivism rate for especially heroin addiction is brutal. 0:38:32.080 --> 0:38:34.439 You're right, So that's a testament to you as well 0:38:34.520 --> 0:38:36.839 to the strength you found to be able to pull 0:38:36.880 --> 0:38:37.640 yourself out of that. 0:38:37.719 --> 0:38:38.000 Thank you. 0:38:38.080 --> 0:38:38.279 Yeah. 0:38:38.320 --> 0:38:41.320 And I think that I, you know, probably started suffering 0:38:41.320 --> 0:38:45.719 with mental health issues that were undiagnosed, unmedicated when I 0:38:45.800 --> 0:38:50.280 was young, like really young. I always remember like waking 0:38:50.360 --> 0:38:53.279 up feeling really heartbroken and I couldn't quite pinpoint like 0:38:53.360 --> 0:38:55.799 what that meant when my life was so cool on 0:38:55.840 --> 0:38:58.319 the outside to like, you know, I was like, well, 0:38:58.840 --> 0:39:01.560 I just felt things so deeply, and I was just 0:39:01.600 --> 0:39:04.920 continuously told like, you're an EmPATH, You're a deep child. 0:39:05.080 --> 0:39:09.440 You feel the hard you know. And in the nineties, 0:39:09.480 --> 0:39:11.839 we didn't talk about this kind of thing the way 0:39:11.880 --> 0:39:13.560 we're able to talk about it now. And I actually 0:39:13.640 --> 0:39:16.399 work in treatment now, which is such a one ad. 0:39:16.640 --> 0:39:18.480 I mean, it's like if you would ask me at 0:39:18.520 --> 0:39:20.200 twenty years old, if this is what my life would 0:39:20.239 --> 0:39:22.239 look like. But you know, I'm a director in a 0:39:22.280 --> 0:39:25.279 drug and alcohol treatment facility, so I helped getting people 0:39:26.640 --> 0:39:30.640 you know, on a daily if not you know, every 0:39:30.680 --> 0:39:33.600 other day basis, and so, like what Will was saying, 0:39:34.560 --> 0:39:37.360 the rate of people that make it is very low, 0:39:38.040 --> 0:39:41.279 is very very low, And so I guess it kind 0:39:41.320 --> 0:39:43.520 of poses the question to those of us who have 0:39:43.600 --> 0:39:46.359 been blessed and graced enough to like make it through 0:39:46.480 --> 0:39:49.200 that type of a chapter in our lives, like how 0:39:49.200 --> 0:39:50.080 do you maintain that? 0:39:50.120 --> 0:39:50.319 Then? 0:39:50.440 --> 0:39:52.880 Like how do you make sure? And I think for me, 0:39:53.120 --> 0:39:56.040 the secret to the success of it. You know, a 0:39:56.040 --> 0:39:58.440 lot of people obviously want to ask me, like, well, 0:39:58.440 --> 0:39:59.839 how do you do it? Like how do I do it? 0:39:59.880 --> 0:40:02.560 Like what should I do? And I think the best 0:40:02.560 --> 0:40:04.920 thing that's worked for me because my whole life has 0:40:04.960 --> 0:40:08.080 been spent thinking about me. All I do is think 0:40:08.080 --> 0:40:10.160 about me, right, Like how did that make me feel? 0:40:10.280 --> 0:40:11.040 Like how do I look? 0:40:11.160 --> 0:40:11.239 Like? 0:40:11.560 --> 0:40:13.279 What's going on with me? And what can my next move? 0:40:13.320 --> 0:40:13.799 And all of that? 0:40:13.920 --> 0:40:16.279 And the second I like let all of that go, 0:40:16.480 --> 0:40:19.360 and I really understood the concept of the more I 0:40:19.400 --> 0:40:21.919 think about you, the less I think about me, right, 0:40:22.239 --> 0:40:26.000 everything changed, Everything changed for me, you know, And to 0:40:26.520 --> 0:40:28.359 lead with a heart of service and to go out 0:40:28.360 --> 0:40:31.000 into the world and be of service in whatever ways 0:40:31.040 --> 0:40:33.080 you can be, and there's a million ways to do it. 0:40:33.160 --> 0:40:35.000 Sometimes it's just picking up the phone when. 0:40:34.840 --> 0:40:35.920 A friend needs your help. 0:40:36.680 --> 0:40:40.520 Will like continue to sustain that type of like a 0:40:40.640 --> 0:40:46.359 spiritual levity, so to speak, and like pay back kind 0:40:46.360 --> 0:40:48.480 of the karma of like all the things I did 0:40:48.480 --> 0:40:52.279 when I was in my twenties and so anyway, Yeah, 0:40:52.440 --> 0:40:54.640 I listened to the episode you guys did with Danny, 0:40:54.640 --> 0:40:58.319 and it really like I could get emotional thinking about 0:40:58.320 --> 0:41:00.719 it because I really just understood, like I felt that 0:41:00.800 --> 0:41:03.040 on a very deep level, and I thought that was 0:41:03.080 --> 0:41:06.480 really brave, like how open he was about it. And 0:41:06.520 --> 0:41:08.239 I think that the more open we can be and 0:41:08.280 --> 0:41:10.719 the more conversations we can have like this, especially for 0:41:10.760 --> 0:41:14.000 those of us who people have watched our whole lives, right, Like, 0:41:14.080 --> 0:41:16.799 I still have fans that are like I've been you know, 0:41:16.920 --> 0:41:18.279 I had your AOL. 0:41:18.600 --> 0:41:20.920 What I mean, I'm like what you know? 0:41:21.000 --> 0:41:26.719 And first of all, easy, I'm still AOL's careful what 0:41:26.719 --> 0:41:29.160 we're gonna say. 0:41:29.560 --> 0:41:34.080 Watching from like that long, you know, and so although 0:41:34.440 --> 0:41:37.520 it has been made very very shameful thing, it's not. 0:41:38.000 --> 0:41:40.640 It's really not like let's just talk about it, you know, well, 0:41:40.960 --> 0:41:42.560 but he has something, you know. 0:41:42.640 --> 0:41:45.680 That's why nothing, almost nothing helps more than talking about it. 0:41:45.880 --> 0:41:49.160 Just talking about it, because you invariably find half of 0:41:49.160 --> 0:41:51.520 the people you're talking to deal with something as well, 0:41:51.640 --> 0:41:54.000 and there's just that safety and knowing you're not alone, 0:41:54.080 --> 0:41:57.319 that's right, that's kind of can help to start the process. So, yeah, 0:41:57.520 --> 0:41:59.279 any time you talk about it, is it better? 0:41:59.320 --> 0:42:00.279 It really does does. 0:42:00.360 --> 0:42:03.799 Yeah, I want to just really briefly touch on the 0:42:03.800 --> 0:42:06.840 fact because it's it's something a few of our guests 0:42:06.920 --> 0:42:10.279 have mentioned, but we've never really dived too deeply into it. 0:42:11.400 --> 0:42:14.320 What was the situation with your finances been at eighteen? 0:42:15.840 --> 0:42:19.120 How you you you very casually mentioned that your mom 0:42:19.200 --> 0:42:20.120 stole all your money? 0:42:21.640 --> 0:42:23.280 How did what was that situation? 0:42:23.840 --> 0:42:28.600 So this happens way more than We've had a lot 0:42:28.680 --> 0:42:31.200 of guests on air but also off air talk about this. 0:42:31.440 --> 0:42:35.040 We know so many actors, yeah, so many, it's it's 0:42:35.080 --> 0:42:37.840 it is a common common story. 0:42:37.680 --> 0:42:40.319 With child actors. Unfortunately, it's also that this. 0:42:40.280 --> 0:42:42.960 Happens incredible that the parents figure out how to do 0:42:43.040 --> 0:42:46.360 this also, but so we were from New York. We 0:42:46.400 --> 0:42:49.360 moved out here to do that show Billy, and I 0:42:49.400 --> 0:42:52.240 think my mom realized very quickly, like how much actors 0:42:52.239 --> 0:42:55.160 get taxed when she heard how much I was going 0:42:55.239 --> 0:42:56.960 to make per episode and then saw the checks and 0:42:57.000 --> 0:43:00.799 she was like, what the hell. So she incorporated me 0:43:01.200 --> 0:43:03.719 at like ten years old, So I became a ten 0:43:03.800 --> 0:43:06.560 ninety nine as opposed to Natania Ross and all SAG 0:43:06.840 --> 0:43:10.920 checks went to corporation named it Red Hair Blue Eyes. 0:43:10.960 --> 0:43:13.040 Like I want to die inside every time I say 0:43:13.040 --> 0:43:16.560 that out loud. So everything went to Red Hair Blue Eyes. 0:43:16.719 --> 0:43:17.000 Wow. 0:43:17.200 --> 0:43:20.160 Right, And it's not taxed, it's it goes basically, I 0:43:20.160 --> 0:43:21.120 mean a little bit different. 0:43:21.360 --> 0:43:25.000 It's corporate tax through a corporation, so it's it's a lot. 0:43:24.880 --> 0:43:26.480 Better tax at the end of the year. It's a 0:43:26.520 --> 0:43:27.160 whole different thing. 0:43:27.239 --> 0:43:28.000 Yeah, different thing. 0:43:28.040 --> 0:43:30.840 And because of the minor I couldn't be an officer 0:43:30.880 --> 0:43:33.400 of the company. So my mom was able to make 0:43:33.440 --> 0:43:37.000 herself president, vice president, secretary. 0:43:36.719 --> 0:43:38.840 This that herself the salary. 0:43:39.400 --> 0:43:43.520 So until I turned about twenty, actually I was the 0:43:43.560 --> 0:43:46.239 sole breadwinner of the family. So there's that aspect where 0:43:46.239 --> 0:43:48.359 I'm paying all the bills, all of this, all of that, 0:43:48.880 --> 0:43:51.960 and then like beyond right, like there's facelifts happening, and 0:43:51.960 --> 0:43:54.320 there's nails getting done and there's all that kind of stuff. 0:43:54.320 --> 0:43:56.400 But I'm not you know, I'm a kid, and I 0:43:56.400 --> 0:43:58.799 think I'm like, I'm a multi multi multip I you 0:43:58.840 --> 0:43:59.440 have no idea. 0:43:59.480 --> 0:44:02.440 I used to I used to jokingly say, oh, I 0:44:02.480 --> 0:44:04.920 know I make money, it's just somewhere else. 0:44:05.160 --> 0:44:07.360 I never saw it exactly. 0:44:07.600 --> 0:44:12.040 So then I turned eighteen, and I got everything that 0:44:12.120 --> 0:44:14.600 was in the Cougan account because remember I started actually 0:44:14.880 --> 0:44:17.840 six months old, so there was a decent amount there, 0:44:18.760 --> 0:44:20.400 but there was a lot more. 0:44:20.520 --> 0:44:24.000 And uh, it was very The Cougan account is twenty five? 0:44:25.400 --> 0:44:26.040 Is it twenty five? 0:44:26.080 --> 0:44:27.759 I thought, I think it's whatever it is. 0:44:27.800 --> 0:44:29.840 Fifteen, yeah, fifteen, twenteen, fifteen. 0:44:29.920 --> 0:44:31.799 I think at some point it became twenty five, but 0:44:31.880 --> 0:44:33.800 originally fifteen. 0:44:34.520 --> 0:44:38.000 But remember too, once I turned ten years old, nothing 0:44:38.000 --> 0:44:40.279 else was taken for the Cougan account because I was 0:44:40.320 --> 0:44:44.920 now now incorporated a boy, Alex, Matt, all the big ones. 0:44:45.760 --> 0:44:50.440 That nothing went into the Cougan account. So I turn eighteen, 0:44:50.640 --> 0:44:53.120 and now it becomes very easy to tell me, like, well, 0:44:53.160 --> 0:44:55.520 I'm not giving you any money. You have a drug 0:44:55.560 --> 0:45:00.440 problem very and then it's like, well, I need money 0:45:00.480 --> 0:45:03.040 to like get help for this drug problem. And it's 0:45:03.080 --> 0:45:04.960 like all right, I mean, I guess we could try 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:07.759 and move it. And then, you know, I went to 0:45:07.840 --> 0:45:10.799 rehab and I was desperate. You know, I was a 0:45:10.840 --> 0:45:14.279 young kid who was very aware that I had a 0:45:14.320 --> 0:45:17.279 major issue already at like twenty two years old, and 0:45:17.600 --> 0:45:20.480 it had just been a few years before that I 0:45:20.560 --> 0:45:23.160 was acting, and I was working, working actor all the time, 0:45:23.239 --> 0:45:26.200 never stopping, and so I was like, this is it. 0:45:26.239 --> 0:45:28.160 I'm going to try and fix this right now so 0:45:28.200 --> 0:45:31.960 i can get my life back. And you know, when 0:45:31.960 --> 0:45:34.680 you're in a situation like that, you're very vulnerable and 0:45:34.800 --> 0:45:37.239 people all of a sudden start to have power over you. 0:45:37.640 --> 0:45:39.479 And I was told that I could get the help 0:45:39.520 --> 0:45:41.640 that I needed if I signed a power of attorney. 0:45:43.920 --> 0:45:48.800 I did, you know, And while I was that rehab stint, 0:45:48.840 --> 0:45:51.600 while I was in the house I had helped buy 0:45:52.640 --> 0:45:56.000 for my mom, all of the stuff was no longer 0:45:57.000 --> 0:46:00.200 no longer belonged to me. So throughout that decade, I'm 0:46:00.200 --> 0:46:02.480 sure a lot of that goes into like why I 0:46:02.520 --> 0:46:05.520 had to just keep numbing myself to the point of like. 0:46:06.440 --> 0:46:07.200 Being able to think. 0:46:08.880 --> 0:46:11.200 So yeah, I mean it was that was the situation. 0:46:11.360 --> 0:46:12.920 And then, you know, years later, I'd be like, hey, 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:13.520 let me get that. 0:46:13.480 --> 0:46:14.879 Money, and it's like, I don't want money. 0:46:14.880 --> 0:46:16.600 I don't know what money. You're dying. You didn't make 0:46:16.640 --> 0:46:18.120 as much as you thought, And it was just like 0:46:18.239 --> 0:46:21.360 a series of gas lights that just got to the 0:46:21.440 --> 0:46:25.320 point where, you know, even the residuals I would I 0:46:25.320 --> 0:46:27.600 would go on this really weird downward spiral where I 0:46:27.600 --> 0:46:29.879 would say, hey, can I get some of my residuals? Oh, 0:46:29.920 --> 0:46:32.920 you haven't gotten any residuals. I would call SAG and 0:46:33.080 --> 0:46:35.440 they'll list for you the last twenty you got with 0:46:35.480 --> 0:46:38.080 the amounts, and I write everything down and take it back. 0:46:38.880 --> 0:46:41.440 I don't know, and I just I couldn't take it anymore. 0:46:41.600 --> 0:46:44.480 And when I got sober at thirty, like for real, 0:46:44.600 --> 0:46:48.479 for real, got sober at thirty, I had to make 0:46:48.520 --> 0:46:52.399 the decision that if I held onto that for one 0:46:52.440 --> 0:46:56.960 more second, it's like me drinking poison and expecting someone 0:46:56.960 --> 0:47:01.560 else to die right right, And for what reason? If 0:47:01.600 --> 0:47:05.680 she needed it that bad, she can have it, you know, 0:47:06.000 --> 0:47:10.000 she can have it. It's crazy me and my now husband. 0:47:10.040 --> 0:47:12.000 But when he was my boy friend, we moved into 0:47:12.040 --> 0:47:14.120 this apartment and I think it was like the first 0:47:14.120 --> 0:47:17.200 time I had done a change of address in forever, 0:47:17.480 --> 0:47:20.040 like a real proper change of address, and all of 0:47:20.080 --> 0:47:22.719 a sudden, all these residual checks start coming in. Boy 0:47:22.760 --> 0:47:26.480 meets World being one of the best actually, and they 0:47:26.560 --> 0:47:28.960 just started rolling in and I was like, well, look 0:47:29.000 --> 0:47:33.120 at that, right, it's crazy. And but the lesson it 0:47:33.160 --> 0:47:36.680 taught me to and it's probably made me very irresponsible 0:47:36.680 --> 0:47:38.359 with money, to be honest, because I just don't care 0:47:38.360 --> 0:47:40.680 about it because I just can't ever have it, like 0:47:40.800 --> 0:47:43.840 be this thing in my life anymore where I'm so like, 0:47:43.840 --> 0:47:46.319 oh my god, who's doing you know, I'm just like, 0:47:47.000 --> 0:47:48.040 you want money, you can have it. 0:47:48.280 --> 0:47:49.799 Yeah, let's go, let's go on this. 0:47:49.800 --> 0:47:52.200 Vacation, like who cares, Let's just live and have fun 0:47:52.280 --> 0:47:55.920 and not worry about money. So in that sense, I 0:47:56.000 --> 0:47:59.520 think it's done. It's a little irresponsible of me at times, 0:47:59.600 --> 0:48:02.920 for sure, but also, you know, it's taught me that 0:48:03.880 --> 0:48:08.200 the value of what money actually means, and it means, 0:48:08.520 --> 0:48:13.960 you know, fractured relationships. It's different for me than it 0:48:14.040 --> 0:48:16.040 is for most people. But that, Yeah, that's my story. 0:48:16.080 --> 0:48:20.560 It's really crazy to think about it, you know now 0:48:20.640 --> 0:48:24.640 as an adult of like just how much young child 0:48:24.680 --> 0:48:27.560 actors get taken advantage of and unfortunately some of us 0:48:27.560 --> 0:48:28.560 by our own family. 0:48:30.520 --> 0:48:33.239 Natania, I want you to know that that like hearing 0:48:33.280 --> 0:48:36.600 you talk about all of that and the way you know, 0:48:36.719 --> 0:48:38.400 I just want you to know that one of the 0:48:38.400 --> 0:48:41.200 things I'm taking away from your experience is that. 0:48:42.680 --> 0:48:44.080 Money comes and money. 0:48:43.800 --> 0:48:46.799 Goes, and it in your life has not at all 0:48:46.920 --> 0:48:54.319 represented success. You are such a success and you are 0:48:54.440 --> 0:48:57.920 so inspirational, and whether when the money has been there, 0:48:57.960 --> 0:48:59.759 when the money has not been there, it has had 0:48:59.880 --> 0:49:04.239 no bearing on you turning out to be the wonderful 0:49:04.400 --> 0:49:07.879 and amazing person that you are, and so that real 0:49:08.440 --> 0:49:10.799 like you can you can frame it however you want, 0:49:10.840 --> 0:49:13.680 but like I'm looking at it and I say, you 0:49:13.760 --> 0:49:16.440 don't have to have a choke hold on it, because 0:49:17.120 --> 0:49:19.680 ultimately it hasn't it hasn't been what you've had to 0:49:19.760 --> 0:49:22.520 base your life on. And I'm just I'm so proud 0:49:22.560 --> 0:49:25.680 of you, and I'm so inspired by you, and I'm 0:49:25.719 --> 0:49:28.719 so grateful that you came and shared your experiences here 0:49:28.719 --> 0:49:32.160 with us, and thank you also for all the work 0:49:32.160 --> 0:49:35.279 you do with other people who are in, you know, 0:49:35.320 --> 0:49:37.920 the same shoes you were in more than a decade ago, 0:49:38.480 --> 0:49:41.520 and for leading with that heart of service that you 0:49:41.760 --> 0:49:44.360 that you do and the impact that you make on people. 0:49:44.480 --> 0:49:47.120 Because no matter how many times people come up to 0:49:47.160 --> 0:49:49.400 you and remember you from Boy Meets World or Alex 0:49:49.480 --> 0:49:54.000 Mack or Munchie or whatever it is, MUNCHI too, Munchi too, 0:49:54.760 --> 0:49:57.880 the real, like your real impact is going to be 0:49:58.520 --> 0:50:03.080 with those people whose life you have absolutely changed. And 0:50:03.680 --> 0:50:05.600 just thank you so much for being here with us. 0:50:05.840 --> 0:50:08.840 Thank you. This was awesome, so fun. 0:50:09.200 --> 0:50:09.879 So much fun. 0:50:09.960 --> 0:50:13.480 I I'm bummed I wasn't in that Albuquerque. Uh I 0:50:13.520 --> 0:50:19.279 wasn't at that Albuquerque con, but I hope that Let's go. 0:50:19.880 --> 0:50:21.960 It was a genuinely good time. It was like it was. 0:50:22.200 --> 0:50:24.759 It was a pretty empty con, so we just all 0:50:24.800 --> 0:50:25.640 got to hang. 0:50:25.520 --> 0:50:26.839 Out hanging out. 0:50:26.960 --> 0:50:29.520 Yes, we're just all hanging out paper planes across the 0:50:29.520 --> 0:50:30.120 thing and each other. 0:50:30.200 --> 0:50:32.320 And the Sandlog guys are a crazy bunch. 0:50:32.400 --> 0:50:36.759 That was really like to witness their dynamic and like, 0:50:37.120 --> 0:50:38.799 I know, Natanya, you've been around them for a while 0:50:38.800 --> 0:50:40.880 because you know it's just like, oh, this is a 0:50:40.880 --> 0:50:42.800 fun it's a whole, it's a whole Seaton. 0:50:43.520 --> 0:50:45.399 Yeah, well I want to be at the next one. 0:50:45.520 --> 0:50:48.480 So thank you again, Natanya. It was really wonderful talking 0:50:48.480 --> 0:50:50.200 to you and catching up and I hope to see 0:50:50.200 --> 0:50:51.920 you again soon me too. 0:50:51.840 --> 0:50:58.600 Than Bi. Wow, what a life, what a story. 0:50:59.160 --> 0:51:02.759 It's the thing that that amazes me is it would 0:51:02.800 --> 0:51:06.960 be so easy to be horribly bitter right right about 0:51:07.040 --> 0:51:09.760 everything you've been through. I like every oh, this business 0:51:09.800 --> 0:51:12.280 was horrible, my family was horrible, my addiction was horrible. 0:51:12.560 --> 0:51:14.200 And instead she turned it all around, is like no, 0:51:14.200 --> 0:51:15.200 I'm just gonna help other people. 0:51:15.280 --> 0:51:17.600 She's so and she's like, I mean when we saw 0:51:17.600 --> 0:51:18.920 her at the con, she just walked right up to 0:51:18.960 --> 0:51:20.319 us and gave us a big hug and has like 0:51:20.480 --> 0:51:22.520 nothing but positive and just wants to know about our 0:51:22.560 --> 0:51:25.680 life and she's so kind, and yeah, she's not bitter, 0:51:25.760 --> 0:51:28.879 she's not cynical, and she's not even against like it's 0:51:28.880 --> 0:51:31.040 so I mean, it's so impressive that she doesn't even 0:51:31.040 --> 0:51:33.560 blame the industry or child actor dumb now, you know, 0:51:33.560 --> 0:51:35.600 because that can basically be one source of like, well 0:51:35.600 --> 0:51:38.680 then everything's a problem, you know. I'm like no, She's like, no, 0:51:38.760 --> 0:51:40.919 I still like could she wants to get back into acting. 0:51:40.960 --> 0:51:43.680 She's acting like and can talk about it so positively. 0:51:43.840 --> 0:51:46.200 It's like, that's that's really. 0:51:46.280 --> 0:51:49.439 Awesome, hugely inspirational. Yeah, it really is. It's just it's yeah, 0:51:49.440 --> 0:51:50.960 it's really incredible. It really is. 0:51:51.000 --> 0:51:53.759 But man, having your money stolen from your your your 0:51:53.800 --> 0:51:58.080 family is just a story we keep hearing over it. 0:51:58.160 --> 0:51:58.400 I know. 0:51:58.560 --> 0:52:01.000 Yeah, I mean I think what I'm fortunately happens is 0:52:01.080 --> 0:52:03.200 like if a kid is talented, right, whether that be 0:52:03.920 --> 0:52:08.480 acting or sports or whatever, right that that that can 0:52:08.600 --> 0:52:11.600 become just an escape valve for a parent, you know, 0:52:11.719 --> 0:52:15.040 like I can make my entire life better by by 0:52:15.080 --> 0:52:15.600 this kid. 0:52:16.160 --> 0:52:19.960 And you know, like I remember too, like there's this pattern. 0:52:19.719 --> 0:52:23.280 And I you know, I'm not sure this is Natania's 0:52:23.280 --> 0:52:25.279 pattern at all, but there was also a pattern that 0:52:25.320 --> 0:52:28.360 I remember there was a lot of moms in particular, 0:52:28.360 --> 0:52:31.360 but parents, but moms in particular who basically were using. 0:52:31.280 --> 0:52:33.560 Their kid as a child actor to get a divorce. 0:52:34.000 --> 0:52:34.800 Like do you guys remember that. 0:52:34.800 --> 0:52:37.000 It would be like somebody who's like, oh, I've left, 0:52:37.239 --> 0:52:39.200 you know, they moved to LA from wherever they are 0:52:40.040 --> 0:52:41.960 to get away from their husband, and it was just 0:52:42.040 --> 0:52:44.359 like a way to sort of slowly, you know, break 0:52:44.440 --> 0:52:46.520 up with their partner. But it became like, oh, I'm 0:52:46.840 --> 0:52:48.960 I'm here to support my kid's career. But in reality 0:52:49.000 --> 0:52:50.600 it was like, well, you're going through your own stuff 0:52:50.760 --> 0:52:53.480 and your kid, your kids acting career is just an 0:52:53.480 --> 0:52:56.960 excuse for you to break away and like start your 0:52:56.960 --> 0:52:57.640 own life. 0:52:58.280 --> 0:52:58.480 Yeah. 0:52:58.520 --> 0:53:00.360 I hope that that happens less because I remember that 0:53:00.520 --> 0:53:02.000 was like at the oak Wood there would be all 0:53:02.000 --> 0:53:02.560 these moms. 0:53:02.560 --> 0:53:04.640 You'd be like, what was last time you saw your husband? 0:53:05.000 --> 0:53:05.360 Right? 0:53:05.520 --> 0:53:08.319 Yeah, it's yeah, the whole it's so strange, it all. 0:53:08.320 --> 0:53:10.959 It's all just kinds of We've talked about nature versus 0:53:11.040 --> 0:53:13.040 nurture on this podcast a lot, and it all seems 0:53:13.080 --> 0:53:15.879 to kind of come down to the home you grew 0:53:15.960 --> 0:53:18.080 up in, just how you were raised, what you were 0:53:18.120 --> 0:53:19.719 raised around, who you were raised by. 0:53:19.800 --> 0:53:21.719 I mean, it makes a huge difference, it really does. 0:53:21.800 --> 0:53:24.560 So I don't know, Well, I'm glad. 0:53:24.600 --> 0:53:26.759 I'm glad I asked her about that, because, like I said, 0:53:26.800 --> 0:53:30.040 we've had a few people like allude to it or 0:53:30.120 --> 0:53:31.960 mention it, and then we've never really spent the time 0:53:32.000 --> 0:53:36.000 actually talking about how that happens. Uh Man, isn't that 0:53:36.000 --> 0:53:38.279 crazy too that just like the change of address, and 0:53:38.280 --> 0:53:40.839 then all of a sudden the checks started coming to her. 0:53:40.719 --> 0:53:44.239 Start rolling in. What you know, it's pretty incredible. 0:53:45.040 --> 0:53:47.240 Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode 0:53:47.239 --> 0:53:49.319 of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us 0:53:49.320 --> 0:53:51.880 on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us 0:53:51.920 --> 0:53:54.600 your emails pod meets World Show at gmail dot com. 0:53:54.640 --> 0:53:57.319 And we have Merch Merch. 0:53:57.080 --> 0:53:59.520 Too Back in Time or whatever that movie was called 0:53:59.520 --> 0:54:00.880 that you merch. 0:54:00.640 --> 0:54:04.760 Two strike MERGI twos strike two MERG two strikes back. 0:54:04.880 --> 0:54:05.680 That's what it is. 0:54:06.000 --> 0:54:09.480 Yes, and last, but most certainly not least. 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