Man, what's hand him?
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You got Marshaw Be Small Lynch, Doug Hendrickson and Gavin Newsome and you're listening to politickets.
You know to be, you known to be.
It's great to be with my partner Doug Hendrickson, and it's great to be here on a podcast with remarkable, remarkable advocate, activist and actress, singer, songwriter, now director of a remarkable new documentary on Hulu called Child Star. The one and only Demi Levado. Welcome to Politicking.
Thank you, thank you so much.
It is great to have you. And Doug and I
were just talking earlier this morning. We both watched this documentary, and I encourage anyone listening to get out on Hulu and watch this documentary if you care about issues running mental health, you care about issues associated with fame, with celebrity, if you care about just the larger human condition in a world where we're so inundated with social media and we're constantly, constantly being reminded not only of our attributes, but often of our faults and they're reflected back on us.
And you took us on a journey of your life and your history and Child Star, and you brought in a lot of remarkable figures that are well known public figures in part of that journey in a remarkable documentary about not only your life, but their life. Tell us a little bit about the documentary and more over what the inspiration was for it.
Well, the documentary is basically the good, the bad, and the ugly of child stardom. You know, this journey of starting this documentary, it was an idea of mine that I had probably about ten years ago, and I didn't get the ball rolling.
Until about two or three years ago.
I just was fascinated with child stardom, the effects that it has on not only the child star but their families. You know what it's like, and obviously I had a personal connection to it, being a child star myself. So I wanted to explore this and that's kind of how the film came about.
And you were The film begins with your own sort of expression of you know, the celebrity through the sort of lens of looking at Shirley Temple and saying, you know, one day that could be me and looking at her life. I mean, you fell into acting at a remarkably early age, right.
Yes, I was my first audition that I ever went on was I think I was four or five years old, and I ended up booking Barney and Friends when I was about seven years old, and I continued to do commercials and guest starring roles until I booked my first gig on the Disney Channel at fourteen.
At fourteen, Doug, you remember Barney back in the day, did drive you crazy?
Well, it's so I'm so fared up to have you on politics, and I've I've probably seen camp Rock three hundred times with my kids. They listened to Skyscraper all the time to get him through problems and issues and whatnot.
The real story is he doesn't watch it with his kids, But that's a whole other conversation tell the truth.
But no, I love the doc and it's funny Demi. As you know, I'm an NFL sports agent, and I can relate so well to.
It because you also see it in sports.
You have so many parents and whatnot that are getting his kids in early and earlier more than I've ever seen before, and getting him in early, almost like the entertainment business, because I think that there's that situation where they want fame, they want fortune, and these kids are thrown into it, and they're going to private lessons, and they're going to camps, and they're going to all these different things, and I can see it so much of what you went through on the sports lens now now
more than ever in that world.
Wow, that's so interesting.
I've never thought of it from that perspective, but you know, it does take up your entire life when you are pursuing a career in any of these outlets, whether it be through acting or singing or sports. Yeah, it's definitely. That's a really interesting perspective. I never thought of it like that.
And it's interesting with sports we see it. I mean, you see these parents on the sideline, and you wonder, is it the parents that wish they were on the field or is it the kids that wish on the field. For you, was there that sort of dialectic? I mean, did you feel pushed into acting? Did your parents or role models push you or was it something that you were dragging them to support.
Well, what's interesting is my mom used to be a country singer and she opened up for I think it was Reba McIntyre and George Strait and Hank Williams Junior, and she you know, was always singing in the house, and so I grew up around music, and you know, when I saw Shirley Temple on TV, I thought, if she can do it, I want to do it. And so I really was the one that was pushing my parents to help me pursue.
This, and you know it was Yeah. Was I around music a lot and.
Was influenced by my mom, of course, but I really think that I was the one that was pushing.
Do you remember the moment that you felt like a star, you felt like a celebrity, where you went WHOA something's different.
Yes, I was. I think I was about fourteen or fifteen.
I had just shot camp Rock, but it hadn't come out yet, and the way that things were at the time, like blogging and tabloid sites, people already knew that I was Mitchie from Camp Rock, and so I had a little buzz around me going.
But like, I wasn't super familiar.
I hadn't witnessed anything in my career yet.
The movie hadn't come out.
I wasn't aware of my I guess up and coming stature or status. And there was a moment where I went to visit a friend at an autograph signing. He had been on Hannah Montana and was doing an autograph signing and somebody screamed like like that, and I was like, I looked around and was like, oh my gosh, what's going on?
You know, scared wow?
And they said it's samue Levado and I was like what, like me? And that was the moment that I realized my life was going to change forever.
And I imagine that felt great.
At the moment, right, Yeah, it did feel good.
It felt really good because it felt like all the hard work had finally paid off in that moment. And I met my first fan essentially, you know, I.
Didn't have the movie.
The movie wasn't out yet, and I was blown away that she even.
Knew my name.
But yeah, it was like meeting my first fan. It was really a cool experience.
Well, Demie, it's fascinating because I think everybody in the public viewpoints, you know, views your life and any celebrities life is, you know, champagne and roses every day, but they don't understand the loneliness and the stuff you guys go through.
It's in now so much of social media.
You know, when you're walking through somewhere nobody wants to hey, Demi, how you doing, how's everything going to love your movie? They want a picture, They want a selfie that that can put on Instagram. With social media, nobody really wants to know how you're doing or they ask you questions. All they want to bust through the crowd to get to know you or meet you and get a picture.
And that's all I want. It's so it's so bad.
You know what's interesting is when people say, I hate to bother you, but sorry to bother you, but I'm going to ask for an autograph anyways or a picture now now it's pictures.
But you know, it's it's interesting.
It's like this weird dynamic between celebrity and you know, people who aren't celebrities, where they want something from you and they think they know you, but they don't. And I assume that you know exactly what this is like, you know, being in the position that you're in.
But I think with your journey, it's so it's so powerful and poignant at the same time because you have that sort of rush which you talked about of recognition, but you also in the documentary, I remember at one point you were talking about looking out on the audience. And I guess you were singing at the time and you saw an empty seat, yes, and you felt this vulnerability, Yes, that that still happens, and that somehow I'm not good enough. Yes, why is there an empty seat?
Yes?
I remember performing at a concert not too far back, a couple of years ago. I think I was in Dubai and I saw empty seats and the audience and I was on stage, and it took me out of the present moment of performing for my fans because I thought, oh, I'm not good enough to have sold this place out, and it was really discouraging. But you know, that's just something that I've come to accept, that you're not always going to sell out every arena that you play, and
that's okay. It doesn't mean that you are not you know, of valuable human being worthy of love and acceptance.
You know.
That's But I when I was younger.
I confused the two. I confused my brand with who I was. Therefore I equated, you know, validation outside validation with self worth, which was really unhealthy. And I think a lot of young people in the entertainment industry, and especially now on social media, I think they deal with that too.
What's I thought so wonderful and chime in because this was in our conversation it was how honest and raw you've been about your own journey and your own anxieties, your own securities that are universe shared, this sort of imposter syndrome, never feeling good enough, having initial early success, being challenged by that, and looking for validation externally as opposed to internally. When did you decide to be so
expressive and honest. Was there a sort of point or was it a bottoming out where you just felt I have to sort of come out of my shell. It's time for me to sort of let it all out.
I've pretty much always been vulnerable with my fan base. I was bullied in middle school and I decided to be an advocate for anti bullying when I was probably about fifteen sixteen years old.
And by the way, just on that, just forgive me for coming out. But it wasn't just that they were doing a suicide petition.
Yeah, it was really bad.
It was the next level bullying.
It was really bad, and so I wanted to be outspoken for people who had been bullied in school themselves. And I think the point where I realized I needed to be vulnerable with everyone was I had a It was my first time in treatment. I went to treatment when I was eighteen for mental health issues in an eating disorder, and I remember my manager, you know, saying to me, what do you want to How do you
want to navigate this. Do you want to keep it private and not share, you know, your experience with people and just kind of brush it under the rug. Or do you want to use this as an as an opportunity to be a you know, inspiration to others. And I thought, well, if I can help people, then that's what I want to do, and so I've always I've decided to That was like a turning point in my life where I end career, where I thought, being vulnerable.
If it helps people, that's what I want to do.
But I imagine there had to be some pushback to you may have had some or we're all the people around you saying that's go for that, because there's always that friction between you know you're going to be you're taking a big risk here, Yeah, be sacrificing this sort of persona, which is what we're selling to the public. Even in you had some amazing interviews Jojo and others, and you know, just in terms of own sexual identity and issues like that and potentially how that could impact
one's career. But was that was that part of a discussion or was it just when you heard that in that conversation, like, let's do this.
I'm pretty stubborn when I you know, or headstrong when I set my mind to something. That's that's what I do, and and that's what I did as I decided to be outspoken about what I had been through because I knew that it could potentially help save lives.
Yeah, well, Deemmie, I appreciate you brutal honesty.
I mean, it's funny. You know, Gavin and I are a lot older than you. He a little bit more older than me. But in any event, you know, by the way, I remember back in high school, you know, my dad died and back then, there was no counselors even available to.
Hey, go talk to this counselor. It wasn't talked about.
And you fast forward now our partner, Marshawn Lynch, you know, he was you know, the tough guy in the NFL, and he was the guy that you know, ran over people and and and whatnot. But his last press conference he said to all the young people in the NFL and athletes, take care of your chicken and take care of your mentals.
And people are like what and it.
Was so it was so point it take carry of chicken, take carr of money, and take care of mentals. And that's the first time a pro athlete has really talked about the mental health game. And this was really five years ago. And so since five years every NFL team now has their mental health coach. You sports has mental health coaches. It's now really gone fast forward since Marshawan said that, And and for him to say that was big because that kind of changed the culture and sports
where he could come out and say that. And you did the same thing in entertainment business, So kudos to you because thank you. It's a real thing and people just they don't understand it. But when he says it, and you say, people listen.
Well, we're human. Bottom line is we're all human. And even though we are put in positions that are you know, where we're under a magnifying glass for millions of people, at the end of the day, you know, we we're human and we deal with mental health issues just like everyone else. And so it's important that we talk about this because so many people can.
Be helped by it.
I mean, how does like, if you were if you were to have kids and do this, how do you navigate that, you know, the child stardom because you know nowadays with athletes that come out in nineteen twenty and you're trying to preach financial literacy and education and whatnot to them, But you're now doing this with families who have kids, and the whole the thing to starts sooner
or sooner. If you were to do do it all over again, what advice would you give yourself and or family now with a young child that wants to get in entertainment business or music and kind of get rolling.
I think, first and foremost, if I could give myself any advice, give my younger self any advice, one of the main things I would tell my younger self.
Would be it's okay to take breaks.
Taking breaks was something that I didn't think was feasible in my career because I didn't want to lose the momentum and you know of my career, and so I think taking breaks is really important and for me, I don't know the answer to that question because I don't have kids yet. I do want to have kids, and I think that when I do have kids, I want to one I want to say no social media until you're sixteen, which I know people might say, well, good luck.
With that, but I can try, I can dream. And you know, if.
They came to me and said I want a career in the entertainment industry, I would say wait until you're eighteen, just because I didn't have a full childhood and I want that for my kids. And I think that until you're eighteen, you can do all you can to work on your craft, whether that's voice lessons or songwriting or if you want to be an actor, act in school plays. There's other avenues that you can take to pursue your dreams, and.
Then when you're eighteen you can go full force. But that's what I want to do with my kids.
And you know, and I think the movie expresses that beautifully, just through the the lives of Drew Barrymore and her own experiences. I mean, it's always a you know, people read about it. It's one thing to hear Drew talk about at eleven years old using substances. It's you know, to hear the stories of all these other young child stars
at all. They lost their childhood in some respect. They also had some in common which I thought was so interesting, this notion of disassociation, Yes, quite literally, sort of being disassociated from their environment and there's almost this blur in terms of their own experiences and lived life.
Yeah.
So something that you know, I came to learn after talking to the participants in the film was, like you said, this common threat of disassociation, which I personally believe is while fame can be a privilege, I think that it also can be very traumatic, especially to minors, and I think that the disassociation was probably a direct trauma response to the fame and the pressure that was put on all of us as young child performers.
Were any of those conversations in the documentary surprising to you? More revelatory? I mean, these are old relationships people that we that you worked with. There was a lot of honest exchange too, apologies, Yes, how way people felt treated. The interactions also a lot of love. When you had that wonderful conversation with your co star about running into the bathroom, you talked about an eating disorder. Yeah, and she saw you purging and you were expecting to be judged.
Instead you were embraced.
Yes, I was embraced.
Alison is just such an incredible person and they're an advocate as well for kids in the industry. And yeah, there were apologies that needed to be made because I
didn't treat people the way that I do now. You know, I would like to think that I'm a different person than I was when I was seventeen, because because I was struggling so much inside with those mental health issues that we talked about, you know, because I was struggling, I didn't I wasn't the most respectful to everyone around me, and so growing up, you know, I just I had
to learn. I learned that I was suffering, and that you know, it was I learned that I was suffering, and I had to make amends to those people that I didn't treat the best.
I love that, And I mean, you know, Drew Barrymore's obviously I was been an icon and I don't know, did you know her much before the doc? And then is there other people you latched onto in regards to just your story and your life that's been a mentor to you or someone that you've been kind of going through the struggle with.
You know, there hasn't been. I haven't had like a lot of mentors in my life. I've had people that I've been close to and I've I've learned from, but there I didn't really grow up with a mentor in the industry, which I wish that I had. It would have provided a lot of wisdom that I feel like I could have used at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old. Even even now, I would love to have a mentor. I didn't have one. But I did know Drew prior
to her working on this film with me. She I had done her show several times, so I did know her and we were in communication about the film prior to us sitting down and talking, and I was just so grateful for her wisdom and experience and.
What she had to share with us.
You know, Doug and I have between us, He's got three kids, I've got four. He's got two daughters. I have two daughters. I couldn't agree with you more on the till sixteen. I failed. I got till fourteen, Doug. I mean, but I just I can't even imagine everything you went through in the struggles, and you know you were the I mean, you were right there in the vanguard when it was sort of that you mentioned Hannah Montana,
there was this this Disney's blowing up. Yes, and Nickelodeon gets into the picture and they're blowing up a little bit differently. You talk to Keenan Thompson in this documentary about that. But social media now and content creators and YouTube of a case and you know the Jojo comment where she's posting two hundred and forty posts a day about our life. I mean, it does feel like we're
drinking from a fire. Was as parents, but I can't even imagine as children, as young girls in particular, how overwhelming this moment must feel as well.
It must be so difficult. I mean, it was difficult for me to grow up. Social media was just beginning when I was, you know, twelve, thirteen years old.
My Space was a thing.
There was a you know, a couple other blogging sites that were a thing.
But remember, asked Jeeves, No one remembers, asked, I do remember, Yeah, right now, it's kind of the chat gpt of its air like a year old I am me remember that too, Doug.
I did am I old, no, thank you clap back. But yeah, there was, you know, the pressure to look a certain way and to.
Yeah, it was mainly the pressure to look a certain way that was put on a lot of us at that young age. And now you know, people on social media are dealing with that all over again. Prior to I believe that, Like, one of the most triggering things to me was when I grew up there where there were all of these they called it the heroin cheek look, you know, the very frail modey look. And you know, when my body was changing, I got very confused and was like, why don't I look like them? And I
developed an eating disorder. And I just have to wonder how many of how many people are doing the same with the beauty standards today that are enforced through social media. And it's really troublesome.
No question. And not only that, Demi.
The sad thing is, and it's not just for sports entertainment, it's business, it's real estate. Everybody's taught now you've got to build your brand. You got to build you got to build your brand, and no one even knows what that means. But now it's building your brand in everyone's eyes, is building content being social media, social media followers likes TikTok videos, that's all the brand is nowadays.
And so people consume now with trying to do that.
And to your point, in your point, Gavin, with our kids even is that they're all trying to do this, and it's like, wait a minute. If you're the best at what you do, I'll llah you or Marshaan in football, your brand's going to be built. You can't force a brand, you can't create a brand if you're not really worthy of that brand. But so many people now in every industry think I can create the brand on my own visa the social media, and they're going to flame out quickly.
It's a real bad recipe for disaster.
And it's sad because you're right, Gavin, we have kids same age and best friends that.
They deal with this.
But that's what everybody in life teaches you go on social media, Hey, how to build your brand in real estate in five way, how to build your brand is right, And it's a bunch of bullshit. It's really bad, but that's the world we live in now.
I would love to just see so many young people just go outside and put their feet in the grass, you know, get off social media and just try to be present, like live in the present moment. I'd love to see kids playing outside rather than on their phones. They're on YouTube. It's kind of a you know, a pipe dream.
But no, I mean, you go to restaurants now and you see a five year old on their iPad with the rest of the family, not or or worse, you see five family members and every single one of them, yes, a dinner they've ordered. They don't even realize they're eating, and they haven't talked to one another because they're all on their iPhones or on their their devices. But it's I mean, this is serious stuff. And it also connects, Doug to what you asked me a moment ago, and
and the work and the advocacy you have done. And I was honored to be able to sign a bill that you've been have a cating for for some time. And I want to bring us back before I talk about the bill we just signed to a different time in the nineteen twenties and very famous at the time, perhaps the most famous child actor Jackie Coogan, back in the Chaplain days and Cougan was a phenom made a fortune in his day, but was left with what with
nothing because he wasn't protected. And they created a law in California called Cougan's Law, which did what Basically, it.
Takes a percentage of your money and puts it in a trust so that when you turn eighteen, you know you have this amount of money that hasn't been touched by anyone and it's all yours.
When you were you you were a beneficiary. I assume of that in California.
Well, they had it in I believe they have it in Texas, right, And I had it in Texas and for the Barney days and then yes, when I came out to California to work on Disney, and I.
Thought, the only reason I'm bringing this up. It's interesting when you talk to Keenan Thompson, he didn't have that because he was in Florida, right, and they didn't have the benefits of that law. And so he talks about in your documentary going from rags to riches to rags. Yeah, because he wasn't protected. Thus the law we just signed that you've been advocating for in a recognition of this
journey for child stars and content creators. We just amended in California, with your advocacy and your leadership, Coogan's Law to include content creators, to associate it with all online contributions kids are making, to make sure we put aside money in a trust that will be there for them when they turn eighteen.
Yes, yes, you have to think about you know, there's so there's so many there's so much money being made on social media, and how many you have to think about how many kids are unboxing toys or there on TikTok, or they're in their family.
Ryan kid? Is that? Yeah, Doug, you've seen this guy Ryan. Yes, he's one of.
The I mean they give millions of dollars.
Yeah, I mean, we're gonna end up working for this kid. But I mean he's still a kid. But he's a perfect example YouTube sensation. And uh and you know we I mean, I assume his parents are taking care of him. I don't know. I don't want to judge, but now they have to. Now they have to on the basis of the law.
We just yes, which is incredible. And I'm so grateful that you signed that into law.
No, well, I'm grateful for you and in a big part. Again, I'm sorry to keep bragging on this damn documentary. I'm serious.
Oh no, good. You should be so.
Proud of it because you highlight this and you highlight this inequity. But it's also about parents too, and I thought that was really interesting. And Doug Doug and are old friends with Chris Columbus, a good Bay Area kid who's the best. I'm so glad he was in one of the great directors of our time, and you know, did Home Alone and obviously the first few Harry Potters. But you talked to him and it was interesting in the documentary he talked about casting not just.
Kids, but the family.
Yeah, casting parents, casting the broader family members.
Yeah.
So I guess what had happened when Home Alone blew up? Was nobody predicted the success that it would have. You know, with Harry Potter, you kind of you had an inkling because of how huge the books were, but with.
Home Alone, you didn't.
They didn't know that the film was going to be as big as it was. And Macaulay Colchin became a huge star overnight, but he didn't cast the family. He casted Macaulay Colchin, and so I guess there was. There was a lot of turmoil, family turmoil, and so moving forward, he talked about casting the family so that you know, it would provide a good environment for the child when they you know, blew up.
I mean, it's it's so and I just it goes to that whole issue of parents and and and the pressure that that kids must feel, and the pressure of the parents and a lot of I'm sure you've seen it with a lot of your co stars over the years, some very active parents that were pretty I imagine, some very aggressive, some unbelievably loving and supportive.
Yeah, you know, it's interesting because when I was growing up, we were always taught that like, the easier you are to work.
With, the more jobs you get.
And a part of that came with my mom being easy to work with, and so she was very you know, she wanted to be easy to work with so that I would have more jobs.
The whole parents and goes back to the point you were making it just about sports and how parents are living their lives through their kids and the pressure that places on the kids. The same time, I.
Mean, let me ask a question.
When this bill came to mind for you, was it just has this been in the years in the making, or what inspires you to say, you know what, I want to create this bill and I want to figure out how to do it and then the steps you had to take to actually get it on the governor's desk.
Well, I didn't create this bill.
The way that I found out about this bill was through an activist named Chris McCarty who I met while making the film, and.
They told me about this bill.
They had actually been working on legislation that tried to get past in Washington and Washington State, and you know, so that's where I first came. That's why I first heard of this bill. And and yeah, I basically I went on Fallon and I said, Gavin, you gotta sign this.
Was a tagging me Doug on Fallon. She's saying this Newsome guy, we're going to track him down. And I think Fallin also said Newsom's watching or something like Jesus his next level pressure.
We had to get your intention, got it.
I'm like I got, I got all these phone calls.
You get attacked a lot, Gavin, So it's par for the course.
Well, no, this was this is a no brainer. And by the way, there's a component part of this DOUG as well, which is interesting and is if parents that are also monetizing their kids that are doing a lot of the vlogging and they're doing some of the creation, but if they use their kids and their content more than thirty percent of the time, they have to take sixty five percent of those earnings and putting them trust
now as well. So we're trying to protect not just for the children, but also some of the exploitation that may occur in some instances, not all the time, where the parents are frankly taking advantage of those kids' earnings and using the kid as content and not rewarding those kids when they're eighteen.
I mean, this is this is incredible.
Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.
And again it goes back to education, financial literacy and all that.
So, Jimmy, what's next for you? What do you? I mean?
Do you I mean do you see yourself going back on a tour and selling out arenas?
Do you more? Doction the works? You know? More TV shows? What what is? What's inspired you the next?
Acting, directing, singing? Like whatever? I mean, seriously, I met a lot going on, you got a lot going on your activists on mental health.
There's three of us in the podcast. We could use it a fourth. You might want to join a podcast.
Well, you gotta have a podcast. Everyone has a I used.
To have a podcast. See, I used to, and then I don't know what happened with but I moved on to directing.
That's what happens. You've yes, I've got how many albums.
You've you've done, like eight albums or.
Something I've actually done.
I believe it's this next album will be my tenth.
So I've worked on quite a few.
Yeah, and the and the genre keeps changing, the old pop, and then it kind of is it go with your sort of age of is your mindset? I mean, but you keep changing your style a little bit.
I keep changing my style.
I like to keep it fresh, you know.
So the next one reggae or something? What do you got?
I don't know.
You'll have to wait and see what is it coming out?
I don't know when I'm working.
I'm just in the studio right now, so it'll come out when it when it's ready. But I do I will have a movie coming out next year or at some point.
I don't know exactly when it comes out.
But it's called Tow and I'm very excited about it. It's an independent film and I play a.
Pregnant non binary person.
Yes, And the movie is about, uh, this woman who gets her car stolen and then towed, but she was living out of her car and it, you know, we go on the journey of trying to fight for her car back and along the way she meets me, who happens to be pregnant at the time, and we meet in the homeless shelter.
H familiar themes, familiar themes.
I can't tell you, I mean how much I appreciate you in your story. I mean, you've lived ten lives at an early age, and you really have. And you're an incredible mentor to these younger kids and younger generations. And there needs to be more of you that are going to help out, speak out, get around bills that
help these kids out and whatnot. But you have so much to give and so much to offer, and it's just really inspiring what you're doing because it's needed more and hopefully what you're doing will lead to other people doing more things as well, because you know, you are the hope of this generation going forward. We need people like you to keep tackling these issues and keep fighting and battling and being honest and everything you've done, it's been a really really inspiration of who you are as
a person, what you've gone through. Can't even imagine I didn't grow up that way. There to Gavin, but it's really cool to see where you're at today and what you have in front of you.
Thank you. Well, I'm hoping that this now law.
Yeah, I'm hoping that this sets the precedent for other states and hopefully becomes a federal.
Uh, it's law as well beyond me, I mean we we we say about it in in your business, in life, generally, success leaves clues. It's the power of emulation. Once you can prove something, as opposed to assert something that it works, that it sound, that it's viable, then invariably it will be replicated and scaled elsewhere. And I think Coogan's Law was a perfect example of that that came out of California decades ago. And now it's just natural and long
overdue that we've expanded it. But look, and you know, as we close, I just want to build a little bit on what Doug said, the issue of mental health is the issue of our time. If there's any unity agenda that unites everybody in more ways and more days, it's issue of how people are feeling, and it's it's incredibly powerful for someone with your power, your presence, your reach, and your connection to our kids. I mean, I told my kids that we were coming on to see you,
and they're immediately lit up. You dad, got your we got to go out of school, we got to come down, we got to see her. But in fact you can reach them. But with this kind of honesty and transparency, it's not an exaggeration. Quite literally, as you suggested earlier, it can and it does save lives. So kudos to you and maybe more important than anything else, that's the kind of way to live with that kind of status. A celebrity is fleeting of purpose and meaning and mission.
Yes, yes, when people ask me, you know, what would you tell to young child stars today is one take breaks, but two I would also say that you know, fame, fortune is fleeting, just like you said, and what's most important is meaningful, the meaningful connections in your life and because the family and friends are what's going to be there when everything else fades and yourself.
Your mental health, and we are all on borrow time, Demy, and we must live life every day to the fullest because the borrow time may run out soon. So we got to live it and have fun doing it right.
Partner is a stoics use to say, moment may you got to remember. I mean, it's this thing. We all exit the same way, so it's the same precious moment of life. And so it is. It's not as Seneca said, that we don't have that much time in life, is that we tend to waste so much of it on things that don't matter, are not essential. And so as you say, it's about family, it's about relationships, and it's
finding something more important than yourself. And I think what I love about and just closing them is I think that's so so self evident in your journey and in this documentary Child Star, where you really go through that journey of self exploration, and it's a journey that's so familiar because it's the human journey. And that's why again this film is so much more important than it appears. It's not just about acting, it's not just about celebrity.
It's about who we are and it's about uncovering who we can be when we're fully expressive. So really grateful to have you on this podcast, and thank you for being on the journey you're on and being part of our show.
Thank you so much. Thank you both for having me.
Yeah, Demmie, our politic and pod listener podcast is loving what this show is all about, and we appreciate you joining us and keep doing what you're doing.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Demie Levado. Everybody