Speaker 1: You know what's a unique Mother's Day conundrum that? Uh, well,
Speaker 1: you guys do have to deal with that. I take
Speaker 1: it back. I was gonna say you don't have to
Speaker 1: deal with because you're not mothers, but you are. You are, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you have mothers and you are married to women who
Speaker 1: are mothers.
Speaker 2: Wait?
Speaker 3: Do I did I have to get stuff for Sue
Speaker 3: every month? I don't get stuff for Sue on Mother's Day?
Speaker 3: Am I supposed to do?
Speaker 4: Say Happy Mother's Day?
Speaker 5: Probably not?
Speaker 6: Wow?
Speaker 4: Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Did you not say Happy Mother's Day? Today?
Speaker 4: Say happy?
Speaker 1: What about you celebrate the holiday my mom?
Speaker 3: I say to my mom? I say to my mom.
Speaker 3: But it's like, because you know, our kids, our kid,
Speaker 3: but she's thirty five.
Speaker 1: I don't matter. She's still a mother.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 5: I never think about it. I guess you guys don't
Speaker 5: do anything.
Speaker 1: So like, let's say, does Susan spend every Mother's Day
Speaker 1: with LEXI?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 1: Okay, And so let's say they're not spending it together. Huh,
Speaker 1: what do you do for your wife Susan for Mother's Day?
Speaker 5: I let her cook me my favorite meal.
Speaker 1: Will this is not a bit?
Speaker 4: That is a bit? No? I literally never thought about
Speaker 4: it this.
Speaker 3: I've never thought about it where it's like it's mother
Speaker 3: It's oh no, I know Lexi's thirty five. It's like
Speaker 3: do you but you know, I wish my mom a
Speaker 3: happy Mother's Day, send flowers or do something. I worship it.
Speaker 3: I worship my wife every other day. I don't worship
Speaker 3: her any differently on Mother's Day.
Speaker 5: You know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Oh no, your mom's over thirty five, isn't she.
Speaker 5: No, just about she's gonna be thirty five this year.
Speaker 5: We're very excited. It's been the same birthday for seventy years,
Speaker 5: but thirty five.
Speaker 7: No, yeah, no, I mean it's it's definitely like Mother's
Speaker 7: Day changed, meaning, you know, because it just a time
Speaker 7: for me to call my mom.
Speaker 4: And then it was like, oh, time for me.
Speaker 7: To call my mom. But also acknowledge my wife. Yes,
Speaker 7: and like we do something. I usually get a card
Speaker 7: or we do something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, but.
Speaker 7: That makes more sense.
Speaker 5: You've got a little kid, you live together with the kids.
Speaker 5: I mean that, you know. It's like the time I
Speaker 5: met Lexi, she was already twenty one, right.
Speaker 7: But it's about her identity as a mother. It's not
Speaker 7: about my relationship to her being a mother. It's just
Speaker 7: about celebrating motherhood. And you know, yeah she did it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I h My mom has always loved Mother's Day,
Speaker 1: like just loves it. And every year from the time
Speaker 1: I was little, Mother's Day was about she didn't want
Speaker 1: to do anything. She didn't want to she didn't want
Speaker 1: to have to. We've never been a family that's liked
Speaker 1: reservations and crowded restaurants, so it was always breakfast at home.
Speaker 1: But she didn't want to have to make any of it.
Speaker 1: So it was like, this is the day where we
Speaker 1: get to wait on mom, we get to make mom's breakfast,
Speaker 1: we get to make mom coffee, any little thing that
Speaker 1: needs to be done. No, Mom, you sit, you relax,
Speaker 1: let us take care of it. And my dad, you know,
Speaker 1: we'd always we'd have gifts for her. My dad would
Speaker 1: buy her gifts. We as kids would get her things,
Speaker 1: or we'd make her something. And I remember thinking like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fun. It was fun for me as a kid
Speaker 1: to celebrate my parents on their day. And then I
Speaker 1: became a mother and it was like, oh, yeah, I
Speaker 1: get the real emotional weight of this one day. You know,
Speaker 1: parenting is ninety nine percent of the time, so incredibly thankless,
Speaker 1: and yet it's made up of all the little moments
Speaker 1: that most people would never think of. You know, you
Speaker 1: don't get to pick and choose the core memories your
Speaker 1: kids have, and so you never know when you're making one.
Speaker 1: It could be like a small thing. And now, as
Speaker 1: a grown woman who lives not super close to my mother, like,
Speaker 1: I still want to celebrate my mom on Mother's Day,
Speaker 1: but also how do I do that while also refue
Speaker 1: using to lift a finger?
Speaker 5: Exactly?
Speaker 1: You take a mantle now, now, yeah, OK, so it's
Speaker 1: very hard.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, it's it's hard.
Speaker 1: My mom has tried to be very like all come
Speaker 1: to you, don't worry about it, but it's still that's
Speaker 1: hard for me. I still have that feeling of like,
Speaker 1: but sure you've had and she says that, she says,
Speaker 1: I've had forty years of Mother's days. Let's let it
Speaker 1: be about you or you.
Speaker 4: Could do that. I mean.
Speaker 7: The other thing that's ironically happens between me and Alex
Speaker 7: is like our gifts to each other are like getting
Speaker 7: a break from the kid or getting a break away
Speaker 7: from each other. So like, you know, there's a year
Speaker 7: I me and a bunch of dads sent our wives
Speaker 7: off to a Mother's Day brunch, so we all watched
Speaker 7: the kids. So they got a break, you know, but
Speaker 7: it was like we also didn't get to enjoy that.
Speaker 7: And then like Alex has been like, you can go
Speaker 7: to as many movies as you want today, I'll take
Speaker 7: Indy and that would be Father's Day.
Speaker 4: You know, there's been like but it's yeah, the.
Speaker 3: Iron like you don't like Mother's Day. The woman who
Speaker 3: invented Mother's Day, it's a true story. Anna Jarvis, the
Speaker 3: founder of Mother's Day, came to regret and even actively
Speaker 3: oppose the holiday she created. She was distressed by its commercialization,
Speaker 3: which she felt strayed from its original, more personal intent,
Speaker 3: and actively campaign to have the thing she invented or
Speaker 3: rased Wown't that crazy?
Speaker 1: Pretty nuts?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna have to celebrate too. I'm gonna I
Speaker 3: owe a retroactively or mother.
Speaker 1: You oweer a whole bunch of just nice, nice little things.
Speaker 5: But I give her nice little things all the time.
Speaker 5: I enjoy giving her nice things. I like worshiping her
Speaker 5: on a rent just like a regular Wednesday.
Speaker 3: I like to be like, hey, babe, this is for
Speaker 3: you because you're awesome, like as opposed to this is
Speaker 3: the day I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 1: This, right, But same thing with Valentine's Day, Like Valentine's
Speaker 1: Day isn't the day you tell your wife you love her,
Speaker 1: you tell me, never.
Speaker 5: Celebrate at the time, you never celebrate Valentine's Day.
Speaker 3: With birthday, right, it's like, yeah, like that's a personalized
Speaker 3: that's just you and the power of the eleven.
Speaker 5: That's what That's what the birthday is. It's the only birthday.
Speaker 5: Is that count, Let's be honest. So yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Ask for from gen every year, I get a hotel
Speaker 1: room alone for Mother's Day or for a time on
Speaker 1: Mother's Day. No for that for Mother's Day. What my
Speaker 1: gift is, I don't take it on Mother's Day. I
Speaker 1: I as much as I'd like the day alone, I
Speaker 1: feel like it's my my duty, mysage duty. It's my
Speaker 1: duty to spend it with my kids. But my gift
Speaker 1: that I get is a night away at a hotel
Speaker 1: and I then pick another day, maybe sometime in June
Speaker 1: or July, and I go and I go to the spa,
Speaker 1: and I sit in my robe and I order room
Speaker 1: service and I scroll my phone mindlessly and I don't
Speaker 1: have a monitor, and nobody says mom, and it's awright,
Speaker 1: awome pretty awesome?
Speaker 5: Does every day is my Mother's Day?
Speaker 3: Baby, every day is my Mother's Day.
Speaker 1: I also want to acknowledge that this holiday is hard
Speaker 1: for a lot of people. It's hard in our family
Speaker 1: as well, you know, as I'll start crying if I
Speaker 1: talk about it too much. But everyone knows for the
Speaker 1: most part that my mother in law passed a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, and so yeah, it's hard. It's hard
Speaker 1: for a lot of people. And you start getting the
Speaker 1: emails about the holidays, mothers and Father's Day, and you
Speaker 1: know there are people who want to be mothers and
Speaker 1: are trying to become mothers and that's not always an
Speaker 1: easy path. So also acknowledging that it's a difficult holiday
Speaker 1: for many, but sending love to all of you, whether
Speaker 1: you want to be a mother, you are a mother,
Speaker 1: you are not a mother, or your will who just
Speaker 1: is an eleventh brother?
Speaker 4: It's like what a mother? Mother?
Speaker 5: Who's a mother?
Speaker 1: Who's a mother? That works on so many levels, levels,
Speaker 1: so many levels. Welcome to vad meets World. I'm Danielle Fischel,
Speaker 1: I'm right or strong.
Speaker 5: I'm well for Dell.
Speaker 4: That's so funny.
Speaker 1: It would be difficult to describe the landscape of eighties
Speaker 1: family television without the name Punky Brewster. What was only
Speaker 1: a four season show, two on NBC and two in
Speaker 1: syndication propelled its star and her mismatched shoes into a
Speaker 1: pop culture stratosphere that would be hard to describe. In
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, the Los Angeles native achieved a level
Speaker 1: of success that put her on a journey that could
Speaker 1: only be rivaled by Forrest Gump, placing her front and center,
Speaker 1: always with a camcorder in some of the coolest pop
Speaker 1: culture moments of the nineties. She not only possessed talent,
Speaker 1: she was surrounded by it, as seen in her film
Speaker 1: Kid ninety, a documentary made up of her unbelievable home
Speaker 1: movies and now modern day footage hoping to learn more
Speaker 1: about herself in the process, and her newest documentary, The
Speaker 1: Carter's Hurts to Love You, tells the story of a
Speaker 1: Hollywood family ravaged by fame, addiction, and mental illness. Her
Speaker 1: unique voice and her one of a kind experience in
Speaker 1: the business have made her one of the most interest
Speaker 1: and illuminating voices in documentary filmmaking, and now she's talking
Speaker 1: to us. So please welcome to pod meets World, an
Speaker 1: icon of the small screen. It's Sleigh Moonfry. Oh, it's
Speaker 1: so good to see you. I have to admit I
Speaker 1: feel very left out. I had major fomo not being
Speaker 1: at nineties con with you. I know you, I know
Speaker 1: I missed you.
Speaker 2: Guys.
Speaker 1: I know you spent a wonderful weekend together.
Speaker 2: It's fantastic.
Speaker 5: And he didn't want to tell Danielle she actually wasn't invited.
Speaker 1: I know, any other stories you want to tell me
Speaker 1: to make me jealous before we go anything.
Speaker 2: It just it was just a good time.
Speaker 1: Do you do a lot of conventions.
Speaker 6: I only have done a few, but they've been so
Speaker 6: much fun that I'm like, I want to go. I
Speaker 6: know it's it's been so beautiful and people are so
Speaker 6: kind and wonderful, and I just love like spending time
Speaker 6: with people and getting to know them, and it's totally
Speaker 6: emotional and beautiful and hiring and nostalgic and kind of
Speaker 6: like a reunion is the.
Speaker 3: You wouldn't get well, so they wouldn't get to meet
Speaker 3: a whole lot of people at the convention because she's
Speaker 3: she's a hugger. I am, and I mean even more
Speaker 3: than Ryder Strong is a hugger. She has to hug everybody.
Speaker 3: So you'd be there all day and meet six people.
Speaker 5: Is the problem.
Speaker 6: I love people so much, and they were so sweet,
Speaker 6: and I just I love hearing their stories and compensations.
Speaker 7: When we were doing photo ops together, so we did
Speaker 7: a photo op. It was like the TGIF photo op,
Speaker 7: and it was a row of us, Juliel and so
Speaker 7: let who else we were all.
Speaker 4: Matt was there.
Speaker 7: There's a lot of us, and there's a lot of
Speaker 7: people that were in a line. So we were like,
Speaker 7: we just have to move quickly and say hi. So like,
Speaker 7: let's not hug We're just going to like say hi,
Speaker 7: just completely out the window of the second the first
Speaker 7: person went and so I was just.
Speaker 1: Like your day.
Speaker 7: They're like crying and holding each other and talking and
Speaker 7: she's like, where do you want to stand?
Speaker 4: I was like, Oh, this is going to take forever.
Speaker 4: I feel like one of the most empathetic people I've
Speaker 4: ever seen in my life. Like you just pour it out.
Speaker 7: You're just like, oh, and when the love comes to you,
Speaker 7: you just give it right back.
Speaker 6: It's an amazing It was really really touching and I just,
Speaker 6: oh my gosh, I love it. I love hearing the stories,
Speaker 6: and yeah, I think it's a really healing experience too.
Speaker 6: I think people are there's just a really it's it's beautiful,
Speaker 6: it's describable.
Speaker 7: Did you always feel great when people recognized you or
Speaker 7: was there a time where.
Speaker 4: It was like not a great experience where.
Speaker 6: You were I'm literally like, I love Punky so much.
Speaker 6: She is like my superhero part of like me, and
Speaker 6: I feel like they're Punky and everyone and Cherry and everyone.
Speaker 6: So for me, I like love when people connect to
Speaker 6: it and and oh my goodness, there was kids that
Speaker 6: showed up dressed up like Punky like that.
Speaker 2: My heart was so warmed.
Speaker 6: And I think that, honestly, that that Punky's got me
Speaker 6: through some of the best times of my life and
Speaker 6: the hardest times of my life. Like she just really,
Speaker 6: like feel so connected to her. So I'm really touched
Speaker 6: when when when she touches other people, I get very
Speaker 6: excited about it.
Speaker 1: I think about this all the time, and I wonder
Speaker 1: if it's something that strikes you too. I have a
Speaker 1: son who is about to turn six. You were seven
Speaker 1: years old when you were cast as Punky Brewster, and
Speaker 1: an entire network show is now on your shoulders. My
Speaker 1: son cannot remember the jacket he brought to school that
Speaker 1: day at all.
Speaker 5: Like that.
Speaker 1: Just every day I'm like, where's your water bottle, where's
Speaker 1: your jacket? There's always something lost? Yeah, you have you
Speaker 1: can't go out like that? Does it blow your mind
Speaker 1: now when you think back to what you were capable
Speaker 1: of doing. It's seven years old.
Speaker 2: It's wild, I think.
Speaker 6: You know, it's it's it's interesting, like I think that
Speaker 6: the show had and I mean yours as well, Right,
Speaker 6: there's so many layers and heart and emotion and at
Speaker 6: a time in television when you know, we spoke about us,
Speaker 6: you guys right where it's like there's comedy, but you're
Speaker 6: also in tears and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's this connective tissue.
Speaker 6: And so I do realize like that that depth that
Speaker 6: was there is really inspiring to me, just because I
Speaker 6: think also I didn't know where Punky ended and I began,
Speaker 6: So there was this very you know, there was just
Speaker 6: this this incredible spirit that I'm pretty in awe of,
Speaker 6: you know, and just like okay, wow, like if I
Speaker 6: ever feel like I'm going through it, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 6: I gotta like bring in that punky power like survival instincts,
Speaker 6: you know. So yeah, so it's wild. It is pretty
Speaker 6: amazing to see.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I know that we when we go
Speaker 3: back and we watch our show, we're I was seventeen
Speaker 3: essentially when we started, and there's still gaps in our
Speaker 3: memory where we were like, wait, I don't remember this.
Speaker 5: I don't remember that.
Speaker 3: What is it like when you watch yourself at seven?
Speaker 3: I mean, do you do you remember any of it?
Speaker 3: Or is it all just you might.
Speaker 5: As well just be watching a different television show.
Speaker 6: Feelings that will come back, like it's so wild, you know,
Speaker 6: I'll have these feelings where it's like I remember being
Speaker 6: in that you know, the bed that like you know,
Speaker 6: like the wind the wheelbarrow, like it was like a
Speaker 6: wheel and it was so fun and wild and interesting
Speaker 6: and yeah, just there's so many memories of the treehouse
Speaker 6: and it was really fun going back and doing the
Speaker 6: continuation because that was great to then again like be
Speaker 6: able to celebrate and have this amazing moment in time
Speaker 6: all reconnecting.
Speaker 2: It was awesome.
Speaker 1: Well, one thing we don't have in common is that
Speaker 1: Punky Brewster was a worldwide phenomenon. You had a cartoon, toys,
Speaker 1: paper dolls, puzzles, you had your own toothbrush. How did
Speaker 1: you stay grounded through all of that?
Speaker 6: Okay, first of all, it's so wild. So the shoes
Speaker 6: were like unblo believable.
Speaker 2: The doll was so cool. I love a Punky doll.
Speaker 6: And now it's so wild because at the conventions people
Speaker 6: bring these items I've never seen before, so all of
Speaker 6: a sudden it'll be like a therminist or a lunch tailer,
Speaker 6: you know. But the thing is I didn't get a
Speaker 6: piece of any of that, do you know, No, like
Speaker 6: you know, young Girl and a TV show at the time.
Speaker 6: So my point is not so much that I didn't get,
Speaker 6: but I didn't see all of these things.
Speaker 1: Because they weren't clearing it with you.
Speaker 6: They needed to, I don't know, or I didn't have
Speaker 6: in my contract, I guess. But like, well, somebody did
Speaker 6: really well from them. Uh yeah, a lot of people did.
Speaker 6: But what was interesting, what was so beautiful is like
Speaker 6: actually through these conventions has been to like I'll start
Speaker 6: getting emotional so much of the time because I'm like,
Speaker 6: oh my gosh, there was a bandana, there was you know,
Speaker 6: there is a comic book. You know, like all the
Speaker 6: things that I'm seeing for the very first time at
Speaker 6: the age that I am now, And it's just a
Speaker 6: really special, beautiful experience because I suppose, you know, I
Speaker 6: always had a really grounded family and always went to
Speaker 6: summer camp and my friends today or some of my
Speaker 6: best friends from when I was little, growing up from
Speaker 6: two years old eight years old, so I was always
Speaker 6: really grounded, and I and and so it's really beautiful that,
Speaker 6: you know, as we grow up and we have our
Speaker 6: insecurities and our roller coasters of emotions and all these things,
Speaker 6: to like at this moment in time when I can
Speaker 6: appreciate it so much and be in such gratitude as
Speaker 6: I've always been, but like on a whole other level
Speaker 6: where you're like, wow, like this feels like, you know,
Speaker 6: beautiful to be able to have this full circle experience
Speaker 6: and to be able to share it, it's really fun
Speaker 6: and I'd like end up wanting to spend hours decorating
Speaker 6: and you know, and like making it even more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like a really nice victory lap that you
Speaker 1: didn't get to have at the time. That you get
Speaker 1: to have now. It's really great. And similarly to Boy
Speaker 1: Meets World, Punky Brewster did more than just the regular
Speaker 1: fair for kids, you guys touched on drug abuse, the
Speaker 1: Challenger Crash CPR training does it. It means so much
Speaker 1: to us when we are at cons and people come
Speaker 1: up and tell us about those storylines and how you
Speaker 1: know the storylines that we did that touched on alcohol
Speaker 1: abuse or whatever and what they meant to them and
Speaker 1: their families. Is that the same for you? Do people
Speaker 1: come up and it just tell you what an impact
Speaker 1: it made.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 6: I mean the amount of incredible stories from people that
Speaker 6: had grown up in foster care to you know, unconventional families,
Speaker 6: to these really beautiful stories. And then of course there's
Speaker 6: you know, I mean for me, I wanted to be
Speaker 6: an astronaut, so that was you know for me when
Speaker 6: the Challenger having just yeah, acted me so deeply, and
Speaker 6: and so there's all of these different elements.
Speaker 2: The refrigerator I think for everyone.
Speaker 6: Oh yes, that you know that that I think is
Speaker 6: like in people's memories and way, and so I just
Speaker 6: that that's such an amazing feeling to feel like there's
Speaker 6: this touch point that we all get it connect to
Speaker 6: and I think that was one of the most special
Speaker 6: parts of when we all were.
Speaker 2: Doing our shows.
Speaker 6: Right, It's just like that's like, it's just a really
Speaker 6: nostalgic time.
Speaker 1: Do your kids know how cool you are?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Do your kids? Do your kids get it?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: I think some moments they think I'm cooler than others.
Speaker 2: You know, they you know, it's awesome.
Speaker 6: They have been through it and they're amazing, and ultimately
Speaker 6: they've thought Punky was pretty cool. And now on the documentaries,
Speaker 6: they're really supportive around that. Like they come in and
Speaker 6: they edit with me, and they come up with music
Speaker 6: and they film with me, and it's like, it's so
Speaker 6: beautiful that they support me so much, because I really
Speaker 6: don't know what I would do without them being such
Speaker 6: a support system.
Speaker 1: How old are they?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 6: I have an eight year old, okay, eleven year old,
Speaker 6: seventeen year old and a nineteen year old.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, four kids. Crazy, so incredible. Well, you
Speaker 1: made Kid ninety a beautiful documentary with the endless footage
Speaker 1: you took on your one of a kind journey through
Speaker 1: the decade of the nineties, which included touring with House
Speaker 1: of Pain, hanging out on the set of Kids and
Speaker 1: dating teenage heart throbs. Do you think the House of
Speaker 1: Pain documentary could ever be finished?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 6: I mean seriously, you know that is a fantastic question.
Speaker 6: I would love to see that documentary finish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, gotta get everybody on the same on the same game.
Speaker 1: There so much footage.
Speaker 2: So much footage, like endless footage. I have a plethorastalla footage.
Speaker 1: If you had to guess, how many times do you
Speaker 1: think you went to eddabeviks, Oh my god, it was
Speaker 1: the place.
Speaker 6: But I definitely went to Jerry's Deli at least oh yeah.
Speaker 5: So which one, the one, the one with the bowling alley,
Speaker 5: the one, yeah.
Speaker 6: Studio City and for Mosa Cafe at least of that.
Speaker 6: I mean literally, there were definitely like those places in
Speaker 6: the city that we lived at.
Speaker 2: Cafe Fifties I was really into.
Speaker 1: Also, oh yeah, oh I remember Cafe fifties.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: It's not wild, so funny, so many, so many great
Speaker 1: but it's still all my favorite places. Just a bunch
Speaker 1: of a lot of diners.
Speaker 5: And yeah, yeah, you still love that.
Speaker 3: That's that's Danielle daniel Come on, great.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I might have gone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not too long ago.
Speaker 5: Of course, who does it and it's a it's a
Speaker 5: brilliant place.
Speaker 3: But no, I think I told you on the panel
Speaker 3: that you know, I grew up a television junkie and
Speaker 3: Punky Brewster was one of the shows that was in
Speaker 3: the zeitgeist for me of what made me want to
Speaker 3: be an actor. I mean, I saw kids on the
Speaker 3: screen and you just.
Speaker 5: Go that that I need to do that, I have
Speaker 5: to do that, and your show is certainly one of those.
Speaker 3: Again, I think I also told you there was some
Speaker 3: there's still some trauma from the refrigerator episode, from the
Speaker 3: Challenger episode.
Speaker 5: There's a few.
Speaker 3: It's like the smoking episode for different Strokes, which had
Speaker 3: the opposite effect on me, and I was already smoking
Speaker 3: by ten, but I stay out.
Speaker 5: What you do? You stay away from refrigerators. It was
Speaker 5: like they would just get into your head. And this
Speaker 5: was one of these shows as a kid that was
Speaker 5: so unbelievably important to me.
Speaker 3: So I get a chance to say thank you for that,
Speaker 3: because without those shows, I don't think I'd be sitting
Speaker 3: here right now.
Speaker 2: So I love that.
Speaker 6: And I just heard a story yesterday from Cherry which
Speaker 6: I have to get to the bottom of to find
Speaker 6: out if, in truth, something around ice Cube's name may
Speaker 6: have had to do with the refrigerator.
Speaker 2: But we have to find out. I would have just
Speaker 2: been somebody getting me.
Speaker 1: Really excited and cherry.
Speaker 6: Now what if I'm like sharing it and then but
Speaker 6: I have to look this up because that would be
Speaker 6: like one of the coolest things in the entire universe
Speaker 6: if somehow like this that was true. I got like
Speaker 6: got inspired by a Punky Brewster episode that would be like,
Speaker 6: we can't we.
Speaker 5: Got to do.
Speaker 4: I don't remember this episode. I never saw it.
Speaker 5: Surprisingly, Punky Brewster is one of the.
Speaker 7: Few shows I do remember as a kid because I
Speaker 7: didn't I never had television, but I would go to
Speaker 7: my grandmother's house and watch it. And I must have
Speaker 7: somehow got her to tape them or something, because I
Speaker 7: watched a lot of Punky Brewster and was, like Will said,
Speaker 7: it was one of the first where I was like,
Speaker 7: oh my god, that is a kid like I wanted.
Speaker 4: To be you I was.
Speaker 6: And then and then writer and I ended up in
Speaker 6: the Summer Camp movie together.
Speaker 1: Oh we know, Summertime Switch. Oh yeah, yeah, you gotta
Speaker 1: talk about that. I'd love to know your memories about
Speaker 1: that summer in Atlanta? Okay, where were we Jackson Jacks Okay,
Speaker 1: I thought it was Atlanta the.
Speaker 2: First of all.
Speaker 6: I okay, first of all, I remember that. I think
Speaker 6: I had died blonde hair or something like that. But
Speaker 6: that wasn't all of my memories. I feel like I
Speaker 6: was really young on that by myself. I feel like
Speaker 6: I was maybe like seventeen years old.
Speaker 7: There's some yes, but you were older than the rest
Speaker 7: of us, Like that was yes.
Speaker 2: But you guys were like fourteen fifteen and we.
Speaker 4: Still had our parents.
Speaker 7: We still had our parents, and you were by yourself,
Speaker 7: and I remember you were like the cool older teenager
Speaker 7: hanging out there and we.
Speaker 4: All were at the hotel.
Speaker 7: I know you and I didn't get to work together
Speaker 7: that much, but I was so funny because when your
Speaker 7: documentary came out, my mom said to me, she was like, well,
Speaker 7: don't you remember so Lee always had a camera And
Speaker 7: I was like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 4: I didn't remember this.
Speaker 7: She was like, she had the best, awesomest video camera
Speaker 7: that we came you could get back then, and she
Speaker 7: was always filled.
Speaker 4: Me was like, I can't believe you remember that, and.
Speaker 6: By the way, I do think I did find video
Speaker 6: of that time, and I remember there was a really
Speaker 6: cool town that I went to one day.
Speaker 2: There's amazing church, and I have footage of it, and
Speaker 2: I was like, ooh, I did.
Speaker 6: I had my video camera with me, and then I
Speaker 6: would do oh my god, I would do risky. There
Speaker 6: was like you know those teeny tiny honeyweys where it's like,
Speaker 6: oh yeah, I remember this because I found a video
Speaker 6: of it as I was doing Kid ninety, where I
Speaker 6: was full blown, like doing like risky business in the honeywagon.
Speaker 6: Oh my gosh, I think like Jane's smoking.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I was like the wild counselor.
Speaker 3: Oh, by the way, According to Billboard, an ice Cube
Speaker 3: his brother would throw him in. So his brother was
Speaker 3: always getting girls, and he said his brother said to him,
Speaker 3: he's thirteen.
Speaker 5: That refrigerator down the street. I'm going to take you
Speaker 5: down there.
Speaker 3: I'm slamming you in the freezer, and when they pull
Speaker 3: you out, you're going to be an ice cube.
Speaker 1: Okay, oh my god.
Speaker 5: So there you go.
Speaker 2: Because like people knew that.
Speaker 1: Hi, thank you, Wow.
Speaker 2: I think you just made my entire year.
Speaker 6: Oh, I mean that feels like a punky reference.
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, it kind of feels like a punky reference.
Speaker 5: It does, it absolutely does. That's perfect timing too.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna really have to find ice Cube Ether and
Speaker 6: be like, uh, this is this is your this is
Speaker 6: your recorded here on your podcast.
Speaker 2: It's so exciting. Literally I had this conversation, you know.
Speaker 2: But here's the beauty of it, right.
Speaker 6: I love that you guys are here together, right, And
Speaker 6: how funny and beautiful is it that I can say
Speaker 6: I was talking to Cherry yesterday, you know. I think
Speaker 6: that's something that's like so special about so many of
Speaker 6: our relationships is that these are real connections, real love,
Speaker 6: real French. It's real like dynamics, and you see that
Speaker 6: with you guys, you know, Cherry and I have that,
Speaker 6: and I think that's really really special, like yeah, really special.
Speaker 6: And and so as much as we grew up in
Speaker 6: this like very surreal world that we're in, like there's
Speaker 6: so much depth to it and our playground and at
Speaker 6: the same time, like there's a great deal of love there.
Speaker 6: And I just that like just hit me that. I
Speaker 6: was like, oh, I was just talking to her yesterday
Speaker 6: and you guys are like, it's just a.
Speaker 1: Really We've also talked about how even if we'd never
Speaker 1: worked together, anyone who was around and in that same circle,
Speaker 1: there is just a there's a real love and mutual
Speaker 1: respect and like there's a comforting feeling being together where
Speaker 1: there's a shorthand we don't have to try to feel sane.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's weird, just it's like a safe space where
Speaker 3: other people become your safe space.
Speaker 6: It's strength totally, And I think it was such a
Speaker 6: small group of us, right, Like, yeah, and that's why
Speaker 6: sometimes when I talk about you know that there's friends
Speaker 6: that have gone on to have these amazing, beautiful lives
Speaker 6: and then some of my dearest friends who didn't make it.
Speaker 6: You know, it's and like not superficial friends, like really
Speaker 6: true relationship. So it is so layered, and I think
Speaker 6: that's such a universal, you know thing across the board,
Speaker 6: right totally.
Speaker 1: Well, both of your documentaries Kid ninety and now The
Speaker 1: Carter's Hurts to Love you deal with the price of
Speaker 1: adolescent fame. Do you think there's any part of you
Speaker 1: that has some survivor's guilt about it?
Speaker 2: That's such a great question.
Speaker 6: I think that when when I was making Kid ninety,
Speaker 6: I really really had. So I mean that it was
Speaker 6: such a peeling back of the onion because when I
Speaker 6: started it, I wasn't setting out to make a documentary
Speaker 6: that was so personal.
Speaker 2: I thought it was going to be about everyone but me.
Speaker 2: Then it became like really personal experience.
Speaker 6: And I felt like with that, I was like, I
Speaker 6: just I didn't see it, you know, And now I
Speaker 6: was reliving the tapes and the audio and I was like,
Speaker 6: oh my gosh, Like now that I can see it,
Speaker 6: you know, like it it was like a veil lifted, right,
Speaker 6: And so I went through that process and that was,
Speaker 6: you know, really very much a love letter that I
Speaker 6: got to share with with others who we all you know,
Speaker 6: could connect to it. And then I went through another
Speaker 6: experience on a documentary that I've been working on with
Speaker 6: someone that I love deeply, and then again I was like,
Speaker 6: if I could only see it, and then this time
Speaker 6: I was seeing it and at the same time, I
Speaker 6: didn't feel like I could see that person, right.
Speaker 2: So then there's that element, you know.
Speaker 6: And so I think there's always that kind of inner
Speaker 6: part of me that's felt like wanting to do whatever
Speaker 6: I can to you know some kind of you know
Speaker 6: that that's that inner spirit of just wanting to do
Speaker 6: whatever I can to help others, you know.
Speaker 2: And do more.
Speaker 6: And and through that journey, which was so emotional as well,
Speaker 6: I learned like I'm not able to necessarily, you know,
Speaker 6: save someone as much as I want to.
Speaker 2: What I can do is I.
Speaker 6: Can put that into art and into my family and
Speaker 6: into my loved ones and philanthropic work that I do,
Speaker 6: and I can continue to be empathetic and continue to
Speaker 6: help sharing stories and creating a say space for people
Speaker 6: to share their truth and their stories and be an
Speaker 6: instrument for something way bigger than me. And so that's
Speaker 6: what I've really set out to do, and really with
Speaker 6: this experience with the Carters is like, look, I can
Speaker 6: do my best to like provide a safe space, and
Speaker 6: I feel a moral responsibility in that. And so that's
Speaker 6: where it's where it's gone for me. Is that to
Speaker 6: look back and to feel guilt about not being able to,
Speaker 6: you know, save the people I loved that wouldn't you know, wouldn't.
Speaker 2: Help or serve you, Yeah, But to.
Speaker 6: Feel the grief and to really take that grief and
Speaker 6: turn it into art and into light and to love,
Speaker 6: because I was saying, you know, recently, it's like I
Speaker 6: have tried to.
Speaker 2: Work grief away, love grief away.
Speaker 6: You know, and it comes back to, you know, catches
Speaker 6: up with you. I was talking my dear friend Brian
Speaker 6: about this recently and sharn and you know, it's like
Speaker 6: it's just something that sticks with you. Rightly go through
Speaker 6: it and then it can still come and you know,
Speaker 6: sneak up on you. So my dream is to continue
Speaker 6: to create safe spaces for people to share their stories
Speaker 6: and for it to touch people. And that's how I
Speaker 6: best can you know, can heal and not feel that guilt, you.
Speaker 2: Know, And it has snuck up on me a few times, but.
Speaker 6: You know, again it has come with a great deal
Speaker 6: of There's been a lot of loss in life. There's
Speaker 6: been so much joy and so much love and so
Speaker 6: much you know, so much happiness, and there's also been
Speaker 6: a lot of loss.
Speaker 1: You've had so many different experiences and now have documented
Speaker 1: many different cases of the dark instances of the dark
Speaker 1: side of child stardom. Has there been any sort of
Speaker 1: tangible through line or something you can point to specifically
Speaker 1: that feels like a common denominator.
Speaker 2: It's such a great question.
Speaker 6: You know, I think that you know, for me, it's
Speaker 6: interesting because it's like this onion that continues to peel back.
Speaker 2: Because even through this.
Speaker 6: Process with the with the Carters, you know, watching the
Speaker 6: lengths that they went to, and you know, Aaron like
Speaker 6: just you know, just wanting to be loved and being
Speaker 6: such a people pleaser. And I was like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 6: like I can so understand that kind of wanting to
Speaker 6: feel loved. Even you can have a completely stable family,
Speaker 6: parents that love you, and still that desire to want
Speaker 6: to be loved. We all want to be loved, right,
Speaker 6: we all want to feel that that love. And and
Speaker 6: so I do think there's this there is this common thread,
Speaker 6: which is that you know that that we all want
Speaker 6: to be loved and we all want to do our best.
Speaker 6: And I think that, you know, I could see a
Speaker 6: lot of my friends in these journeys and and I
Speaker 6: think when you take those elements of wanting to be
Speaker 6: a people pleaser and you compile it with mental health
Speaker 6: and all of these different dynamics that that can become,
Speaker 6: you know, just bigger than life. And I look at
Speaker 6: so many of our amazing artists and icons that are
Speaker 6: no longer with us, and you you know, you question,
Speaker 6: like to what length, you know, what pushes somebody over
Speaker 6: the edge.
Speaker 1: You know, Well, one part of kid ninety that really
Speaker 1: resonated with me was the focus on your body as
Speaker 1: a child, and how strange it was that we allowed
Speaker 1: this kind of discourse. Do you think we've gotten any
Speaker 1: better with this as a society?
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 6: You know, I had so many insecurities growing up, like
Speaker 6: going through you know, puberty in the public eye, and
Speaker 6: I think it just got so exasperated with you know,
Speaker 6: with social media and literally watching the what has gone
Speaker 6: on through you know, the fact that anyone can be
Speaker 6: behind a screen right now and in social media, and
Speaker 6: so I think it's just gotten amplified so much. And
Speaker 6: I don't think we've really begun to look at what
Speaker 6: this is doing to you know, I mean, haven't even
Speaker 6: begun to scratch the surface of how this is affected
Speaker 6: you know, teens and kids and being a mother and
Speaker 6: seeing it. You know, it's just it's heart wrenching because
Speaker 6: anyone can hide behind a screen and say anything they
Speaker 6: want to anyone, and and so often can be objectified.
Speaker 6: So I think for me, my one of my biggest
Speaker 6: goals is like that we actually have conversations around this,
Speaker 6: that we have these conversations, that we talk about it
Speaker 6: with our families and our loved ones, and not sweep
Speaker 6: but under the rugs, so that we actually know what's
Speaker 6: so that we can better be compassionate and understanding each other.
Speaker 7: It's really interesting the way you answered that question, because
Speaker 7: I think in my mind, you know, just listening to
Speaker 7: how Danielle phrased it, I was like thinking, right, it's
Speaker 7: it must it's gotten better to be a female celebrity
Speaker 7: or an adolescent female celebrity. But actually, what you're saying
Speaker 7: is that we've actually just turned it outward so that
Speaker 7: almost every your average girl is her own celebrity.
Speaker 4: In the public.
Speaker 7: Yeah, And that's like, oh my god, you're right, You're
Speaker 7: so right. It does seem like at least now, like
Speaker 7: I saw Millie Bobby Brown calling out like the way
Speaker 7: that she's been called out for her appearance in a
Speaker 7: way that is like male actors. So I feel like
Speaker 7: the conversation is out there at least like in a
Speaker 7: way that back in the day, like when you guys
Speaker 7: were going through it, you guys being sexualized at a
Speaker 7: young age was totally normal, which is crazy. And then yeah,
Speaker 7: and then conversations around your or your body is it's
Speaker 7: just fair game and a weird episodes about it and
Speaker 7: we had it was crazy that that has gotten better.
Speaker 7: But you're right that in general, this social media landscape
Speaker 7: has made it so that everybody, every teenager kind of
Speaker 7: is a famous person.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 6: I think you're so right. I think that it's so
Speaker 6: amazing that there are conversations and that me the fact
Speaker 6: that we're even talking about this right now shows me
Speaker 6: that there's growth, and that's incredible.
Speaker 2: Seeing the way.
Speaker 6: In which and watching it when working on the carters,
Speaker 6: like seeing the things that were said to this young
Speaker 6: man when he was in such a vulnerable awful, and
Speaker 6: that anyone can say anything male, female, and it's so
Speaker 6: easy to hide behind a screen to just say whatever
Speaker 6: you want and have no accountability, you know, and and
Speaker 6: to go back to the point of just wanting to
Speaker 6: feel loved. Right, So it's like and then whatever endorphins
Speaker 6: and everything, like, oh, people are liking, people are giving
Speaker 6: me positive attention, and what does that look like? Like
Speaker 6: what does that represent to female or male as they're developing.
Speaker 2: I just I think it's so layered, so layered.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I have a question then, because we don't
Speaker 3: focus on it a lot, but we certainly talk about
Speaker 3: it a lot. And I think it's important because we're
Speaker 3: putting a spotlight on some of the negative sides of
Speaker 3: growing up in the entertainment industry, and.
Speaker 5: There are plenty. What was your favorite part about growing
Speaker 5: up as a child.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, so many favorite parties. Like it was
Speaker 6: so funny that my mom the other day's.
Speaker 2: Like, oh my god, are you okay?
Speaker 6: You know, like, because there is like so much emotion
Speaker 6: to like the painful parts. But I'm always like for
Speaker 6: everyone that had like this painful experience, there's so many
Speaker 6: friends that have had these incredibly beautiful lives. I have
Speaker 6: like the most amazing kids, and I'm so thankful, And
Speaker 6: I literally like the sound stage was like our playground,
Speaker 6: and we got to scooter around the lot and we
Speaker 6: got to jump around on our pogo sticks and play
Speaker 6: dress up. Like it was a dream come true in
Speaker 6: so many ways. So that's the thing is I think
Speaker 6: there's it's just the roller coaster of life. There's been
Speaker 6: so much good, Like, yeah, so much good. I have
Speaker 6: the most happy memories of you know, going on fun adventures.
Speaker 2: It was so awesome.
Speaker 6: When I would be working in a different state, my
Speaker 6: mom would ask if I could bring a friend with me,
Speaker 6: and like we would land wherever we were and we'd
Speaker 6: go to like the local carnival. I mean things like
Speaker 6: that that just like these totally special, rarefied, exquisite experiences,
Speaker 6: you know, And I mean I loved boxing. My dad
Speaker 6: was a golden glove boxer. I got to meet Mohammed Ali,
Speaker 6: like I Harry Coke on him, went to like a
Speaker 6: Bruce Springsteen concert with Michael Jackson Elizabeth Taylor, Like these are.
Speaker 4: The most.
Speaker 6: Amazing, colorful mo Like I just have had so much joy,
Speaker 6: like so much joy, so by again, like I think
Speaker 6: it's that polarity, right, Like there's so much to it.
Speaker 1: Well, everyone, you can watch The Carter's Hurts to Love
Speaker 1: You Now on Paramount Plus. My last question for you,
Speaker 1: Slay is what would you like people to come away
Speaker 1: after they watch the documentary? What do you want them
Speaker 1: to come away with at the end of it.
Speaker 2: I love that question.
Speaker 6: I really really hope it encourages us to have deeper
Speaker 6: conversations around mental illness and addiction and destigmatize these conversations
Speaker 6: because I think they're really important to have, and I
Speaker 6: don't think we have to feel shame around them.
Speaker 2: I don't think we have to live in guild.
Speaker 6: I think we have to be able to just be
Speaker 6: more open with each other and check on each other,
Speaker 6: and to know that we're not going through it alone.
Speaker 6: I don't know any family that's not touched in some
Speaker 6: way or another by these issues, So I think I
Speaker 6: think they're really universal, and I hope that it continues
Speaker 6: this conversation in a more universal way, and that as
Speaker 6: much as there's pain in this story, there's also so
Speaker 6: much heart and love and hope because you look at
Speaker 6: the generational patterns and how Angel is really working to
Speaker 6: break the generational cycle and through her strength, you know,
Speaker 6: you see this incredible light, and I hope it provides
Speaker 6: healing for she and Nick and their family and for others,
Speaker 6: and that people watch it and see a part of themselves,
Speaker 6: you know. I think that's been one of the most
Speaker 6: rewarding parts of hearing from people after they've seen it,
Speaker 6: and having them walk into.
Speaker 2: Like being like how am I going to relate to
Speaker 2: this family?
Speaker 6: And then like literally after watching it, going I had
Speaker 6: no idea like this reminded me so much of my
Speaker 6: own family, or this reminded me so much of someone
Speaker 6: I knew, and so that to me is so rewarding
Speaker 6: and special when somebody can connect to some part of
Speaker 6: their own lives through someone's journey.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for being with us. What's
Speaker 1: next for you? Where can people find you? How can
Speaker 1: people support you? Other than watching the documentaries?
Speaker 6: I know you and watch and then you Hulu watched
Speaker 6: Kid ninety and yeah, and there's lots more to come.
Speaker 5: And is Punky streaming anywhere can people watch?
Speaker 6: I think that is streaming on peacock. I would think, okay, okay,
Speaker 6: you can go across all these platforms, every platform with
Speaker 6: me and watch my kids doing all sorts of fun things,
Speaker 6: and you know, and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is Jagger in the industry now?
Speaker 6: Jagger is a phenomenal filmmaker. Yeah, she's she's amazing, poet,
Speaker 6: is phenomenal off at college and dancing and adding social
Speaker 6: justice and anthropology and just mind blowing. And my eleven
Speaker 6: year old's brilliant, and the eight year old. It's just
Speaker 6: so special and amazing, and I just feel like the
Speaker 6: luckiest person in the entire world.
Speaker 5: I love that.
Speaker 3: I would I would like to have one guest come
Speaker 3: on and go, my nineteen year old amazing the eight
Speaker 3: year old, like you never hear that.
Speaker 1: They might turn into something incredibly, So thank you so
Speaker 1: much for being with us. We so appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 7: Bye bye.
Speaker 1: Wow. It's so cool. She's doing such great things with
Speaker 1: you know, her voice and her platform, and yeah.
Speaker 5: She was what I mean, she's on that list for me.
Speaker 3: She's absolutely on that list for me of just watching
Speaker 3: her and going that I need to do that, I
Speaker 3: need to find a way to do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think it was also like because she had an
Speaker 5: unusual name and I had an unusual name. Oh yeah, she.
Speaker 4: Was like this kind of like hippie.
Speaker 7: I was like, oh, that's totally gonna be me someday.
Speaker 1: I just a hit.
Speaker 5: I wanted just a hippie kid, That's all I wanted. Though,
Speaker 5: I mean it was she was.
Speaker 3: She's responsible for I think a young like a whole
Speaker 3: generation of younger actors watching shows like that and Different
Speaker 3: Strokes where the lead was seven, eight, nine years old
Speaker 3: and it just made you go, god, man, I want
Speaker 3: to try that.
Speaker 5: So yeah, she's she's one of the OG's.
Speaker 1: Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Speaker 1: Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on
Speaker 1: Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your
Speaker 1: emails pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com. And
Speaker 1: we've got Merch Merchie.
Speaker 5: I'm trying to trying to do it like Punky, Punky.
Speaker 4: How are you who? Always?
Speaker 3: Oh, Punky Merchie, Punky, that's my best impression, Punky Hunger Punker.
Speaker 1: Pod Meets Worldshow dot com. We love you all, pod dismissed.
Speaker 1: Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted
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Speaker 1: Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo,
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