Hey, guys, welcome to I've never said this before with me, Tommy di Dario. I have interviewed many people throughout my career, but today's guest is one that I've been wanting to chat with for quite some time because I am such a fan of her work. Jennifer Love youw It joins me today and you know and love her from starring in Party of Five, the I Know What You Did, last summer films, The Client List, Ghost Whisper, Heartbreakers, which is one of my all time favorite movies, and currently
the TV series Nine to one one. But now she has a brand new memoir out titled Inheriting Magic, which chronicles her journey through grief and joy and celebrating and making everyday magic. What a gift this book is. It is a gift because it will reconnect you to that beautiful wonder you once had as a kid, that wonder that sometimes fades as the chaos and craziness of life unfolds. The wonder that we all have inside of us, that is just waiting to pour out of our souls. And
today we are celebrating Jennifer's incredible career. We dive into her gorgeous book, and we chat all about her new movie in brand, The Holiday Junkie, and we just have so much fun. We have a whole section where we talk about all sorts of different projects of hers, including Let's Go Bang, one of her early albums that I was obsessed with. And let me tell you, whoever said never meet your heroes, they never met Jennifer Love Hewitt. So let's see if today we can get Jennifer to
say something that she has never said before. Jennifer Love Hewitt, how are you, my friend?
I'm good.
It is so good to see you looking festive and cheerful. It's on brand.
Thank you so much. You know when I tried and give a little a little glitter this.
Morning, well you look fantastic. I am so excited to be talking with you today. So I don't know what your team has or hasn't told you, but you have been one of my number one interviews throughout my entire career, like dead serious, and I'm may youres and hundred and hundreds of people, but I'm like, I need to interview Jennifer Love Hewett because so nice man. Growing up as like a small town kid from New Jersey who was figuring out who I was and was going through some
difficult times. Your art brought me so much joy throughout.
My life and so much thank you.
It really did. I started with I note you did last summer as a teenager, and my cousins and I were we all got into that, and then it's just you know, I followed your career ever since, and I just think you're one of those rare artists that have this beautiful, long career doing art that really connects with who you are as a human. And I think that's why it resonates with so many people who do follow your career. So I'm like just thrilled. I'm sitting here
thinking now, like Heartbreakers is one of my favorite movies. Know, the whole movie from Back to Front. I thought I was Paige growing up, like all of it.
I wanted to be. He was much cooler than me.
Me too, me too. Well, it is, like I said, such a joy, and I'm really excited to have you on the show. We have a lot to celebrate today, Yes, a lot to talk about today because your new memoir, Inheriting Magic is out. Now, are you just pinching yourself?
Yeah, it's wild. It's like I'm trying to stay present in it. But we've been talking about it so much, and you know, obviously trying to get it out there for people been sort of going by so quickly, and then I've been sitting with it for so long that it's like and like, is this really happening right now, Like it's actually out for people to read and hopefully enjoy, And yeah, I'm just I just don't want it to go by so fast. I'm trying to hold onto the moment a little bit.
Yeah. Well, it's a beautiful book. I mean I smiled, I got emotional in certain parts. I love that you open up about your family. But then it's fun. There's recipes, there's DIY inspiration, there's prompts to you know, like self health prompts to just kind of get your brain thinking in a really positive direction. So there's so much goodness in this book. Why did you want to write it?
You know? I think it started off for me as eleven years after my mom passing, realizing that I had never read said anything about her and her passing. And I think it was just because I didn't have the words, Like I just sort of needed to maybe grow into my grief a little bit and understand kind of what was happening and what I was feeling about her. And I became a new mom not too long after she had passed, and so that's a whirlwin, and I just
kind of needed time. And so it really started as me just sort of writing thought pages about who she was and how magical she was to me. And I do remember after she passed, like this odd thought kind of came up for me, like about three days after she passed, where I feared that all the magic I had known in my life was gone because I thought
she was the only soule carrier of that magic. And then kind of sitting in our living room with my new husband and our new little girl that first Christmas, I was like, I can't I can't not have magic, and so I have to find it somehow. And I think her little gift to me that Christmas was to say, it's in here, and you have it, and you've inherited it, and you can take it with you now and make
it your own and be inspired by it. And so it really became I think what got me out of that maybe sad dark place that Christmas and allowed me to sort of find hope and joy and become a magic maker for my family. And it's been just like the most beautiful gift from her.
And in the beginning of the book you so beautifully dedicate it to your kids and your husband and your mom, of course, and you say that she was the one who taught you that magic was even possible. What do you mean by that?
You know, people know magic is cauldrons and spell books and wands and Harry Potter, and you know all of those things. My mom's magic was different. It was really like an intention that she set. If she was throwing a dinner party, or making Christmas or going to a restaurant with her friends. It was never just simple. She was extra in like the best way possible. And that
extra quality in her just people to her. I mean, we would go into a restaurant, even at the height of things for me, we would go into a restaurant and people would care less about who I was for that five minutes. They wanted to know who my mom was and why they were so drawn to her. And she made everybody that she met feel important and special
in some way, and that was her magic. And for me growing up, I believed I could do anything, that anything was possible, and that the world was limitless, and that to me is magical for a kid. And because of that, I said, here, you know, almost thirty six years later, in a job that I love and I believed I could do that. I believed I could reach for it and get it because she instilled that magic in me to kind of do that, and so it was very special.
And what I love about the book too, is it's not just about the big moments in life, right like the Amazing role You book or whatever the case may be, a work accomplishment in any field, it's making the most of the little moments and enjoying those for what they are. And throughout this book you talk about how you make these bestive occasions or seemingly ordinary day extraordinary, right Like It's just really a beautiful mindset that I think is
such an important reminder for everybody right now. And I so connect with you on that. Like even something that came in to mind for me is during the pandemic, my husband and I we got engaged in Paris years ago. We've been married for going on nine years, and it was such a dark time and when that date rolled around. I just turned our living room into a Parisian cafe.
I love that you know that that's what it's about. That really is what it's about. And I do think that. I think that's my biggest hope for the book is that people will because I've talked to people who are like, I am not a magical person, Like I just don't get it, and I'm like, but you can be a magical person because it really is just an intention that you said. It's like you taking that moment and going in all the darkness of the world today, I'm going
to create light for me and my loved one. And that is so tangible, and it's more tangible than we think that it is. And it doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be months planned. You can literally wake up on a Thursday and go, you know what, dinner is going to be weird tonight, Like we're going to make it weird, or we're going to make it special, or we're going to put Christmas lights up in June
for no reason. You know, We're going to do whatever it is that we need to do to create magic in the space that we have on this planet. For the short amount of time that we're here, and it makes it so fun life. I'm so proud of you for doing that. I think that's amazing.
Yeah, yeah, I think you have to enjoy those little moments in life. And I think this it's so cool about this book. It's going to really encourage people to do that. It's also cool because I feel like a lot of people have a difficult time opening up about grief. You know, it's like a very it's an odd topic to talk about because you never know how it will make someone else feel. You don't know how it's going
to make you feel. And I feel like there's kind of a stigma around talking about grief still when in reality, we all go through it, we all experience it, so there shouldn't be And you talk about grieving your mom in the book as well, So what's your relationship today like with grief?
For you, it's a it's a good one, oddly, I really I think writing this book, doing the movie and her honor and sort of. I mean, I've definitely had good days in this press process and not so good moments where like I have to remind myself at the end of the day because I've talked about it so much that like, that's my mom that we're talking about, you know, And so it's like definitely hit me a few times in the last week for sure that I've just been like, why is she not here for this?
I've been so frustrated, you know, or really sad that she's not here to see all this. But then I remind myself that she's watching. You know, she's probably gonna have like the biggest watch party ever in Heaven's Barnes and Noble. It's going to be selling out of that book, you know, in two seconds. So you know, she would be love. I mean, like I said, she was extra, she'd be loving all of this about her and sort of in her honors. So that kind of brings me joy.
But yeah, grief is something I mean, I think the biggest thing that I learned about grief, and I tell this to people all the time, whether they've been through it yet or they're going to go through it at some point, is that it's not an event. It is
a life after that like it is. It is just a thing that comes up any time it feels like it when it wants to however it wants to, and you can't prepare for it, but you have to let it wash over you or wash in you, and then you have to let it back out again and like move forward. And so it is, you know. I think I thought, like in the early days of her passing, that it was going to be this moment in time and then I would be healed and that would be it.
And you know, next June will be thirteen years and I'm still in it. So I think that my relationship with it now is that it is a it's a weird friend that I have that comes to visit me sometimes, and I'm oddly happy to see it when it does, because it's a new level of letting go of something or feeling closer to her, maybe in that moment that I hadn't taken time to feel close to her that day. And then I wish it well and pack its bags pretty quickly and say see your next visit. You know.
So it's a it's a healthy relationship with it now, I would say, but definitely different than it was in the beginning.
And I think you're so right to acknowledge it and in a weird way honor it, but then allow yourself to say, okay, we're good now, see you next time. I think that's right.
Thanks for visiting, right right?
So important, it truly is, yea, and a part of your story that you write about. And I'm not going to give too too much away throughout this book, but this one part I think is so important for people to read and hear. And if there's anything that might persuade someone to say, let me pick this up, because I really needed to hear that. This was a moment that I think is so so critical, at least in
my perspective. And you talked about how when your mother did pass you left and you went away to travel, and she wanted you to go, and you had a commitment and it was unexpected, right, and you were away suddenly and you weren't there, and you were kind of beating yourself up for not having the goodbye that you thought you should should have until you then realized, well, wait a minute, we did actually have our time and
it was the perfect goodbye that she would want. Can you talk to me about that a little bit?
Yeah, I mean we on that day, my gut was like very very much screaming at me, do not go on this trip. But my mom couldn't travel at the time, and she loved to travel, and I was going to Monica, which is a place we had been together, and she was like, I need you to do this, you know, for me, and so I went and in that day we did a lot of things. You know, we talked about my now husband and you know, sort of had
that relationship conversation. There were a lot of things that happened, but one of the things we were doing was planning her big party for you know, sort of how she was going to come out on the other side of all of this and celebrate with her friends and you know, then travel again and you know, sort of do all
of those things. And when that didn't happen and I didn't get that goodbye, I was very angry and it stayed with me for a while until I realized that for my mom and I, what we did best was magic and joy, and we had that that day in sort of the hopefulness of her being okay and what
that was going to be. And the truth is, I don't know that my mom and I would have known how to say goodbye, and so I do ultimately feel like our goodbye was what it was supposed to be and it was supposed to be her letting me go from a distance and me letting her go from a distance. And I know that it wasn't easy for her, and
I definitely know that it wasn't easy for me. But I feel like our last moment was hopeful and was magical and was joyful and I get to keep that with me, and that means a lot.
Wow, to be in a place to have that, you know, mentality, And I'm sure you had to work through a place to get there, you know, But what a beautiful feeling of peace I imagine that is. And I'm getting like a little choked up because I think so many people need to hear that and need to know that sometimes how things unfold or how they're supposed to, you know, I don't I don't believe in coincidences. I don't believe in accidents. I think the universe takes care of you. That's just my mentality.
Same, yeah, And I.
Think that that's a really vulnerable part of you that you put in this book. That is, if there's any reason alone it's to read the book, it's for that. Besides all the fun stuff that you talk about as well, like the moon water, which, by the way, need to do immediately.
Yes, you do. It's really fun. It's really fun, and it will get you to drink water, so it's simply for that purpose too. But there really is there, like there's a there's I feel like there's scientists and people that have come out saying that, like, you can definitely, you can definitely like infuse your body with intentions and good thoughts by you know, taping a word on your water bottle or whatever, and the kids and I just kind of took it to a new level adding the moon.
But yeah, it's really it's really fun. I highly recommend it.
Those little tips and tricks are so exciting for people to live a truly magical life. I love that too. We live in New York City and I'm like, Geo, we need to go find the moon and put a water a Central park or something and make it.
Out of it. Yes, well, maybe don't leave it out overnight in Central Park. Somebody might drink it and then you yeah, no, no, let's try to find a balcony maybe.
Okay, all right, fair enough, please, we'll work on that. We'll work on that. The holiday junkie is something that you've become synonymous alter ego. Yeah, is it is? And I believe you kind of launched that or started that concept back in like twenty thirteen, Is that right?
Yeah?
So what is the holiday Junkie?
So technically I have to give credit to Instagram followers because they were the ones who initially called me a holiday junkie and it sort of stuck with me, and it really is. It is a total other mindset besides magic they go together, but the holiday junkie is truly like who I am? I I like for me and I put it in the book. There's a calendar to follow the holiday junkie, Like where's the normal people in
the world? See five holidays? I see like twenty there are twenty possibilities to put up stuff, to decorate, to go there to like be extra have fun and celebrate not only life, but like you know things. And it's become this brand. I have a card line with these amazing women at twenty twenty one Co and we make holiday Junkie cards. It's expanding in this new year, coming up into sort of some consumer products that they're really
excited about. It's been clothing, it's been you know it's it's a thing, but it's who my friends and family know me as and it is a it is a title that I wear so proud. And it's just like finding all of the little pockets of joy to just celebrate and just be happy. And it's I guess it's also a mindset and an intention. But yeah, happy to be the holiday junkie. And it's a movie that people can watch on the fourteenth, which is exciting.
And you play like a decorator, right I do.
I play a woman who essentially is hired to decorate for Christmas, but also plan a magical itinerary for a family. And then I meet a handsome house manager who also happens to be my really husband and we fall in love at Christmas. And I'm in grief at Christmas because I've just lost my mom and he's in grief because he was left at the altar.
Oh what a t ease, right?
You know? Yes, sign me only sad people at Christmas who just happened to kiss. It's awesome.
Oh I love that. That is so much fun. And you know what, I love that you've embraced the holiday junkie. And again, it's so on Brandon and theme to your book and everything that we're talking about today and enjoying all the little moments in life. I mean, why not with everything life throws you like, why not lean into that?
Yes, yeah, I talk about that a lot with my kids. We talk a lot about how you know, in our house with each other where supportive and we're always kind, and we really shore each other up inside our house because when you step outside, the world is going to do with you what it wants, and that's just the truth. And we can't protect each other from that, even though
we want to. But we can start in our home with the intention of magic, the intention of good and shoring each other up and supporting each other the best that we can so that you know, when we walk out, it doesn't hit us quite as hard as it might hit others. And so we talk about that a lot with our kids, and we try to do that as much as we can. Sometimes we don't succeed, but we try. Well, you do the best we can, right, we try, We really try.
Well.
What a beautiful environment to create in your home? And I noticed that throughout the book you have so many beautiful pictures that you show of your family, and your kids, And I do feel like it's probably one of the more personal moments in your life and career that you have gotten with your family, because rightfully so, you've you've
protected them, you know, so much throughout your life. Why did you feel like this was the right time to start opening up a little bit more about your kids and your family?
That's interesting. Again, it wasn't supposed to necessarily be that. But as I started writing about my mom and our connection and her being a magic maker and sort of passing that on to me and wanting to pass that on to my children, Brian and I both were kind of like, how do we not include them? Like how
does this not become about them? And then in sort of writing it and realizing what my mom had left me, the book really became a chance for me to show them what I'm leaving them, you know, so that one day when I'm not here, which hopefully won't be until I'm like one hundred and twenty, I'm gonna look scary, but I'm really dry for one hundred and twenty. But you know, when I'm not here, they'll have it and they'll be like, oh, that was her magic and what
she left us behind. And I do say in the book that I think that's our job as magic makers. Like people who who can sort of wrap their head around that mindset and that intention are our goal should be to pass that on and leave that for people. And so it really just became a love story that started with my mom and ended with my kids and my husband, and you know, we talked to them about it. We asked them if they were okay with, you know, kind of putting all this out, and of course they
were like, yes, we've been waiting. We need the world to see us. We're wonderful. They were hilarious. My daughter was like, yes, can I be on the cover. I'm like okay, So you know, they were ready. But yeah, it took us a minute to kind of wrap our heads around it. And again, I think it also felt like a safe space because it was me writing about us, it wasn't other people writing about them, and it was us sort of being able to control what we showed
and what we talked about and what we didn't. And it's been really positive so far.
Yeah, it's beautifully done, truly, truly beautifully done. And I couldn't help but think, you know, while reading your story in your background. I know you credit so much of the magic in your life now to your upbringing with
your mom and being the holiday junkie. But from me, when I think about some of the things that I do today, I think about how as a kid I didn't have those moments sometimes, And I wonder for you, as a working actor as a child, right, did you miss out on some of those magical moments in life because of your career that now you want to make sure you know your kids don't miss out on those, and you don't et miss out on those, Like is there anything connected to that being so busy so young?
Oh? One hundred percent. I mean, I think part of the holiday junkie magical part of mine is that kid in me that didn't have a chance to do those things, you know, that was busy trying to be a professional and I was surrounded by adults. I mean, I wasn't. The first high school party I ever went to was a movie called Can't Hardly Wait. I had never been to a high school party or a party at all that wasn't like, you know, the Golden Globes or something like.
It was very random, So I didn't get to experience those things. I didn't sort of get to have those things. And you know, my my daughter says it to me a lot, and so does my my Atticus. I'll always say, Mommy, you're kind of like a kid, and I'm like, I am because there's a part of me that didn't get to be And so I do have fun now with my kids sort of being that way and tapping into that part of myself that maybe didn't get to sort of let go as much or experience some of those things.
And I do think that, you know, my mom made magic for me in the ways that she could, but in sort of the career taking off the way that it did, and you know, that's a train that just kind of moves without you at some point. There was a lot of that that I didn't get to do. So I am doing it now with my own kids, and it's fun.
And that's so funny to think about. When you mentioned can Harley Waite, like you had no idea what a real high school party was. No.
The whole time we were filming and I was like, guys, is this really what high school parties are like? And they would laugh at me and be like no, No, I mean maybe like the best one you've ever been to ever, But yeah, I mean those were all the things I've never been. I've only been to a I'm on a TV show. All the things that I did at those times like I was doing them as my character, so I felt like I was doing them, but they weren't my own experience. So it's really funny to now
go back, and I think about that a lot. With my kids. I think a lot about like, wow, like they're going to go to prom and I'm going to be like, I don't know what that is.
Well, you clearly have to be the chaperone at the prominance, right that would be fun?
Right?
You showping a big ball gown.
They're like, Mom, can you imagine to really get out of here? Oh?
Yeah, well that's super interesting And what a what a wild perspective that I could see, you know, I could see why you want to bring that magic to life for anybody who didn't have something in their in their youth right that they didn't experience for whatever reason, and now wanting to really go hard and to make sure that not only the people around you but yourself, like you get to really enjoy something as well. So that's
that's super cool. Another super cool thing is all the recipes you share, so many delicious things throughout the course of this book. I'm like, oh my god, what am I going to make first? Like, what is what is the number cottail? I was going to say, what's like the number one must have?
I mean, his Christmas cocktail is so good. We only have it that time of year or this time of year, so I'm really excited about it. I'm going to beg him to make me one later since it's a Friday night that I love. The Megan's cookies are delicious. Nana's apple pie I just made for the first time actually holding the book and using it for my daughter's birthday because that's what she wanted, is her birthday cake. So we did that. I mean, they're so good. My Grandma's
chicken and dumplings are amazing. It was really funny. Somebody the other day was like, why are there none of your recipes in there? And I was like, because that's not who I am. Like I am like the Pinterest Instagram girl who's like, somebody else tell me how to cook this and I'll do it great. I love to cook, but I'm not like I don't come up with things
on my own sort of person. And they're like, well, didn't you just want to put that in the book, And I was like no, because then somebody's gonna ask me how to make that. I'll be like, I don't know. I was like, but I'm surrounded by all these amazing people who have these great recipes, so I put theirs in instead. It was very funny.
Yeah, there's enough options for everybody.
We're good, you know we have I'm fine, I'm fine, I make the party, who makes the food?
There? We go? There, we go. Well now, and the spirit of mixing up recipes, we're gonna do a little something called mixing up questions with you. Oh okay, and we're gonna do all sorts of fun, little random questions to touch on some highlights of Jennifer Love Hewett. Okay, okay, are you ready?
I'm I think so. Yeah.
First one, nine one one. The show you're on. People love It went from Fox to ABC. Ratings are stellar. People can't get enough of it. It's coming back in March. I believe there's gonna teas that you've been kidnapped in the show. Is there anything you can tell us about your arc for the second half of the season.
It is the craziest thing I've ever done on nine on one. All I can say the audience is not ready. I was not ready. I was not ready.
Yeah, my voice like if I don't know if you can tell, but my voice is like kind of out. It has been this way since we filmed it.
Really, And did you know this storyline was coming or just totally not?
I did not.
Wow.
Yeah, it's wild, but it was so fun. Oh, I can't wait for people to see it. It was so fun.
Wow.
Okay, that's a good tease. That's a good teas we're ready for it. And another thing when I announced it was my guests people were writing and they love your dynamic with you know, your brother on the show, buck and they think you guys are so much fun. How is playing that for you?
It's great, it's great. I love ol of our We have a great time. And I just think Mattie's a really good sister. I love that she's like sort of his mom ish but all so his cysts and Bucket is such a fun character. He's been through so much and goes through so much and you know, yeah, it's it's really fun for me. I love it.
And there's a lot of speculation out there on that dark web that you think his character might have a little crush on Eddie.
I know.
Well, I had to feed into it because everybody wants it to happen, and so I was like, I'm going to be that person who feeds into this a little bit so that people will go crazy. And they did, and then everybody got mad at me because they're like, don't feed into them.
You were stirring that pot, was.
Stirring it right up. Well, it's fun to stir the pots.
All right, fair, sometimes you have to.
I don't know what's going to happen with them, but I mean I wouldn't. I would be all for it if it happened to me. Just say that there're gonna be worse things to see on TV.
Well, that's true. That's true. That's really funny. You were seeing it and just totally acted off of it. You're like, I'm going to turn the conversation.
Yeah, I was. I mean, I'm a forty five your old mom of three. Sometimes I gotta do something fun, right, Like I want to be in the conversation. So I got in the conversation a little bit, but then people got mad at me because then they were like, well, it didn't happen yet. So she lied to us, and I was like, guys, can't I just drink my morning coffee and stirts hot?
Hello, I'm here for it. I'm here for good, good, good good. You know you said like an Italian. If I didn't know better, I think you were like fully italiant, always wanted.
To be Italian? Can I be like an honorary Italian? Is that a thing that people do?
Yes?
Absolutely, I'm excited.
All right, absolutely, okay, brilliant. I love that answer. Now let's talk about Heartbreakers for a second.
Hi.
In my opinion, I actually met Sigourney Weaver. My friend is Barbara Strausgan's tour director, and he had like a little after party. I mean, who says that, Like I just threw up after saying that myself.
On let me just put that make me jump the floor.
Okay, Like I really just say that. I did. But she was at the after party and we weren't talking, and I said, I have to tell you Heartbreakers is one of the all time greatest movies, and she goes, you know what, I think so too. With a big smile on.
Her face, she said that we had a good time.
It was such a good movie. I feel like at one point there was a rumor that you might be interested in adapting into a television series. Is there a truth to that? Is there still interest?
So there is. We actually went out with it a bunch for a television series, and then sort of the business fell apart with the strikes and all of that stuff. So it's still out there. We do have a great script for it and a pitch for it, and it's still my goal at some point to do Heartbreakers the TV series.
Okay, remind me when we're off this, because I have someone I need you to talk to.
Okay, fantastic.
Okay, So that just came into mind. Okay, good, So there's hope for that. Love it. Where do I want to go next? Okay, let's hit a music question. Oh fine, let's go Bang was like my album of my adolescence.
I'm so sorry for you, and this clearly was.
And this was when I thought I was straight even sorrier for you, blasting it in my sky blue Toyota camera being like yeah.
Yeah, right, That's how I felt. About it too well.
I don't know why you're saying it, because I loved that album. I listened to it on a rebeat back back in the day when CDs were a thing. I love. I love a good CD, and I would play it repeatedly driving around the streets of New Jersey. I think it's time for a follow up to some of your albums. Yeah, Fair Naked of course is a fan favorite, so like, what do we gotta do to get a new album? I know you released songs here and there, beautiful songs like you what are you keeping us waiting for?
You know, I feel like it was a weird time because when I came out with music, I mean it was the time of Britney Spears and Avril Levine and Michelle Branch and like, you know, all these people. When I kind of did Bear Naked, it was like such a such a rush of these incredibly talented people, and I feel like there was a lot of like we just wanted to go back and cry on TV, like
why is she doing music right now? Except for the people who loved it, which I appreciate you being one of those and my grandmother, but you know, I would love to go back to it. I really would. I wouldn't tour or do any of that stuff because you know, I'm in my forties and i'd probably throw my back out and I have three kids. But I would love to make I honestly have thought about this, and I think it's why I'm kind of putting out little songs here and there, just to sort of see what the
temperature is. I'd love to do like, you know, six or eight songs on a little album and just kind of like sneak it out and see what people think of it, so you know, maybe it's coming hopefully.
Okay, I think the world is ready.
I'm working on it.
Love to hear it. Would you ever do Broadway?
Oh my gosh, I would love to do Broadway.
I'm terrified to speak in public, really, yes, And I have been offered stuff before, and I'm the singing part I could totally do.
But the idea of standing in front of an audience and having to like say words, I think I would pass out, Like I would be the first person opening night to pass out on Broadway.
But you're on a set with like three hundred people staring at you.
I know, and I don't know what it is. There's just something about like famously literally like when I would go and do like announcements on award shows and stuff like that, I always they would try to get me to do it by myself, and I would always have to walk on stage with someone and literally right before you walk out on the American Music Awards or something, I would be like, dude, I amrified, Like you got to hold my hand or I have to squeeze your
arm or slat because I was petrified, Like I don't know what it is or why. Maybe something happened to me in another life on a Shakespearean stage perhaps, but I am really scared. If I could get over it, I would love to do Broadway. I really would.
But I always thought, Actually, my cousin and I both think, because we love theater, we love musical theater, we think you'd be an Amazingnessa and wicked.
Oh my god, thank you m hm, so really.
Nice, just like leaving that one there for you in case Nessa.
Have lara ingitis and not be able to talk.
I don't think we're rewriting the show, but okay, fine, I'll be fine, yeah, yeah, but let's just say we'll leave that one there, and maybe you'll feel inspired to reach out to casting.
Give me in the Clash Menagerie where I don't saying.
Oh my god, we just sit there. We have some things to work through for twenty twenty five.
We're gonna work through it for training, and then it'll be fine.
Okay. To be continued on that front. To be continued, Let's do two more fun ones. Let's see is there a movie and a television show of yours that when it comes on you have to watch it or you sometimes feel nostalgic and are like, I want to put it on.
Got Whisper for sure, such an easy watch. Love that show, And yes I am that person who will watch herself in the Ghostwhisper. If I'm flipping channels, then it's on. Movie wise, Heartbreakers probably only because it was like such a swe Heartbreakers to me still feels like a thing
that didn't actually happen. Like the whole time that I was on that movie, I felt like I was a person who had entered like one of those random contests on the radio to like win a part in a movie, right because I would like look around and there would be Gene Hackman and Ray Liotta and Sigourn me, and I'm like, what am I doing here in no clothing? Like? Why am I here? What is happening? Why is my butt gonna be like giant on a screen? In like the first ten minutes of the movie, Like the whole
thing just felt not real. And so whenever it's on or like somebody's like, hey, I want to watch Party, I'm like, yeah, me too, same because I have to remind myself that I actually got the chance to like be in that like I was invited to be in that movie. It was such a wild experience.
And you know what's so interesting about that movie. There's so many there's so much dialogue and so many different choices, both you and Sigourney and everyone makes that I feel like when you watch it, you see different things for the first time, you know.
Yeah, yeah, because we had all of our you know, common like personas, I guess that we had to Yeah, it was, it was. It was wild.
All I know is after I watched that movie, I was walking around saying, may I grab your nuts and salty like on repeat?
Sing it was my favorite thing to say to my mom and grandmother. It makes them really uncomfortable. My grandmother and my mom. By the way, we're there the day that I was attached to Raleiota's crotch for twelve hours, No oh oh yeah, I mean just to make it worse for me. Yeah, it was why my grandmother was like she had this big, big Texas I just She's just like, sweetie, now, what exactly is happening in this part of the movie. But I'd be like, uh, yeah
it was. Oh that movie was wonderful. It really was so fun.
How do you I mean, I know it's your job and you're an actor and this is like what you do, but when you go to a shoot like that and you're like, okay, like for twelve hours, I'm going to be attached to other actors crotch, Like, yeah, how do you prepare for that?
I mean I think I had to like not even think about it because I was I was only twenty two or twenty three when we to that movie. But I will say, like, if you're gonna have to do that with anyone, it should be Rayle Leota because he was the most wonderful, extraordinary man, like just made me feel so comfortable, was so kind, made all of the right jokes about it to like just dissolve the situation.
But also it was like, you know, checking on me and making sure that like mentally I was good physically I was like, it was just you know, and it was so funny with like my mom and my grandmother and you know, apologizing in person and for that being our day of work. He was just great. So you know, I think he had a lot to do with how easy that was. But yeah, I think I just that whole movie. I was just like, I can't even think about what I'm doing right now. It's just wild.
Well, another brilliant performance. We love to see it. And the last mixing it up question, I think you know what's coming.
M hmm, I think you do. I think you do.
So let's see how we handle this one. Okay, Internet detectives, the sleuths if you suse, we have seen that I know what you did last summer has begun production.
It has.
They have also seen that Freddy Prince Junior has been on set. Yeah, it has released some stories saying he's finished filming, which have come into question if they are real or not. Stories. Also, my own sleuth thing has detected that you have went from You've gone from shorter hair to longer hair, looking a little bit more like Julie James. Oh interesting, and you have a little time off before going back to nine one one, So are you possibly preparing to be Julie James again?
I am possibly preparing for that. The hair change had nothing to do with that. I just needed something new. I get very bored with my hair very quickly, and because of some things that are going to be coming up on nine on one, it felt like a good time to sort of change it up. So that's what the hair change is for. I am so close to being able to say something that's exciting, but it has
been very hard to do. And I want to clarify this because so many people have been like like literally the line in the movie, what are you waiting for? Like what is happening right? And it has only been scheduling and then me trying to make sure that if I go back to the franchise, I just don't want
to be the ghost of like nineties past. You know, it's like oooh I am you know, she like dissolves off and like I really want to do something and I want to be there for Julie James fans, and so we have just been trying to figure it out, and I think we're really close to figuring it out, and I will be really I will be as excited as everyone else if I can, if I can say that officially very soon.
Yeah, and that makes sense. You want something like juicy worth going back for Yeah, I just I.
Just wanted to like matter, you know, and not even for like the new fans that I know you did last summer, but for the moms who will be paying for those tickets to take their kids because they loved it the first one. I just want it to feel like, you know, if she comes back, then it means something. But what do we think about this hair? If I did come back, do we feel like this is a good like evolved twenty seven years later.
Julie, I think the hair is perfect for new Julie James. I do, Okay, I really do.
The first thing with this hair that you were the deciding factor.
Okay, oh wow, I love it. You know what I think. I think it's perfect. And what I will say, the last thing I'll say is, presumably with these conversations going on, and you want to come back, if there's a juicy reason to come back.
Four.
I think it seemed to say in the script, perhaps truly is already in there.
Yes, okay, yep, okay, yeah.
Okay, all right, I know I can't get much more out of you. We're going to leave it at that, but we're leaving on a hopeful note.
With this very hopeful.
The one thing I will say is, just like your song in the first one, how do ideal we need? We're going to need another one.
So if that's what I said, it needs to come as another song. I know I'm working on that too. We'll see.
It must be fun for you to hear how excited people are and all the curiosity around you returning. I mean, that movie really does mean so much to people. So aside from like I'm sure always hearing about how people want you to come back, it must be fun to go through this again.
Oh my god, it's amazing. It's amazing. And I said that to them when they came and even talked to us about it, Like what an honor it is twenty seven years later to even be thought of to come back, Because the truth is they could do it without us.
They shouldn't, but they could do it. No, no, no, And it's really nice that they don't want to, you know, so I appreciate that, and I really appreciate that it matters to the fans so much, because that's truly the only people I care about in the circumstance, and so I really want to give them. I want to give them the answer that they want and that I want. And we're yeah, we're very hopeful at this point.
Okay, wait, I have just one more on this. Okay, have you heard anything about possibly Randy returning?
I have heard that, yes, Okay, Because they were besties in the movie, I had to remind myself, if I'm being totally honest, I had to go through both movies and remind myself who had died and who had it because I'm in my forties, so I was like, wait, can that person come back? And then no, oh no, no, oh yeah no that was that one was bloody. But I was like because my first thought was we have to have Jack Black, and then I was like, oh no,
he died. Yeah, so yeah, I had to go. I had to run through real quick and just make.
Sure something you just can't come back from, like Jack Bike. I'm sorry, it just can't happen.
Yeah.
Yeah, people are a little mixed on.
But she's I mean, she was frozen and nice. My head was off. I mean it's pretty I don't know that we can be I don't know we can be confused about that one. But but yes, And then I just heard that there's this whole thing where they think that Sarah and I were fighting or something. Have you heard this? Really? All these things out there? And I was like yeah, and that, like, yeah, it's been really fun.
I've I've really enjoyed going and like trying to read the stuff now and be like, what are people saying about when we did the movie before? You know, now all of that stuff and there somebody somebody the other day was like, yeah, I think Julie made sure that she was killed because girl actresses don't like to work with girl And I was like, what are you I was eighteen, they were not taking script notes from me. Guys,
Like what are you talking about? There were probably friends totally, I mean all of us were like in that experience together kind of you know, figuring it all out and everything, and I root for her and Freddie and like, I think it's the cutest thing in the world that they've been married for one hundred years and have kids and it's like adorable. So yeah, no, it's just been really funny to see all of the stuff that people think.
But yes, I have also heard the Brandy murmer and and yeah, we'll see.
All right, that's a lot of good information. All I know is if you're not in a little crop top running around.
Again, oh god, there will not be a crop top that can. I tell you the funniest story, honestly, my son Atticus when thought it was the most innocent sweet thing, but it killed. It was like I was dead, Like it was really funny. He was watching the movie and he came running out and he was like, Mommy, I just saw the weirdest thing. He was like, there was this stuff up here, and I was like, sweetie, that's where mommy's boobs used to be. Good.
Stop. Stop.
It was like it was so innocent. So so he was so worried about what was up there because he's so used to them being lower. Because I'm in my forties and I sped three children. So I made the joke the other day. I was like, guys, if this happened, like we're gonna have to tie him up over my ears and invite him back up.
For the next movie.
Push up true like Marionette's holding them up as I run through something. Oh my god, it was hilarious. It made me laugh so hard.
It was that's pretty amazing, and then.
Confused as to how they ended up this way. It was very funny.
That might be the headline for the entire interview. Oh god, great, Oh my god, you know I'm serious. That's that's really really really cute. That's really cute. And going off of that and giving you some flowers for a minute. On a serious note, like I said earlier, you've been working your whole career and since you were a kid, and you've done so many different genres and categories and film
and TV and music. Are you to point in your life and in your career where you can look back at everything you've done and say, like, man, I'm pretty proud of me, Like I've I've done it, like I've accomplished my dreams. Because it's so hard for all of us to do that, and not that we sit around doing that, but do you feel like you can look at all of that and say, wow, I genuinely am proud of me.
I do. I do feel proud. I do feel proud, and I feel proud because I think along the way, if you had asked me a million different times, I would have said, I don't know, it might be over tomorrow, Like I don't know, Like I just have always been, you know, worried about that. And so it is really nice to sit now at forty five and be like, yeah, I did that, Like I did what I wanted to do, and I'm still going and I and it's so fun for me that, like I still get nervous to go
to work. I still get worried when things are going to come out, if people are going to like them. I still you know, care about Julie James and like how to make that great for people. And you know, I have not lost my love for this job, like even a little. And that is awesome and I feel like that is a success in itself. And yeah, I am proud of what I've been able to do and hope that I get to continue for a long time.
Oh that's good to hear. I think it's always nice when you can reflect back and have a moment of praise for yourself because none of us do it enough?
You know, I know, don't.
We don't, we don't. I think that's super cool. Well, as we wrap up this conversation, oh boy, here we go the name of the show. Oh you know what's coming. It's called I've never said this before, And the show is born because I cover a lot of red carpets and junkets and you get like three minutes, maybe six minutes if you're lucky, at a junk get to talk
to people. And I just saw this longing in people's eyes, wanting to talk about things a bit more substantial, right, and a bit more a bit more real life, which we've done a lot today already. But I'm wondering, is there anything that comes to mind for you that you've never said before that you wanted to say or share today, whatever that means to you.
Yeah, I think it does sort of fit with what we have been talking about a little bit. I do. I think I've never said out loud before to anyone, maybe other than my husband, and that I have a real fear as a mom about the kind of mom I'm going to be when my kids are teenagers. And it kind of goes back into what we were talking about before in that I just don't have like I never went to high school, like walk down to high school.
I mean I did the school work of high school and I graduated and I but I did it on a set. I never went to a high school party other than can't hardly wait. I haven't had those experiences. And right now I feel like I really thrive as a mom because the kid in me can throw a magical party and it can you know, make a magical movie theater moment or you know, whatever it is. And like the kid in me is thriving as a mom.
But when it comes to being a teenager or a grown up, you know, kind of going into your grown up place as a I really worry, like it panics me a lot that I'm going to fail somehow because I don't have those life experiences. And thankfully my husband does and he was he lived a very normal teenage life.
But I don't want to fail them that way, Like I really want to thrive and be there for them and do that and not like weirdly want to show up at the prom because I never about to go to one, Like I could just see myself like also coming down the stairs and She's all that moment and Autumn being like not now, this is not your time, you know, Like I just want to I just want to be there for them, and I want to I
want to know all the things. But I don't have those life experiences, and it gives me a lot of anxiety.
So how do you calm that? Or can you not?
I can't. I mean, I think I just have to do my best. Yeah, Like I think I'm just gonna have to do my best. And and I think maybe I said it to Autumn the other day because she's eleven now, and you know, we were kind of talking about it, and she was like, what was it like when you were eleven? And I was like, oh boy, here we go. I was at auditions, like I have no I have no reference for her that's going to be helpful. But I told her how I felt inside.
And so I feel like, maybe I'm just going to have to go with my gut and maybe I'm just going to learn a lot. Like I feel like I'm I feel like maybe there's a part of me that's going to go and experience it, maybe for the first time, and I'm going to have to be okay with that. And maybe there will be something beautiful that comes out of it, but it makes me very afraid.
Well, after reading your book and after talking to you for almost an hour, it's clear you know what you're doing, and your family is very lucky to have you, and I think you know it's it's normal to feel all those things. But yeah, something tells me you're going to be just fine. Just don't show up in the prom ball gown. Please wait?
Okay, all right, I won't. Maybe for my fiftieth I'll throw myself a prom How about that?
Oh that would be so cute.
Right you want to call me?
Yes, I am a great you could come from. Oh my god, I love that so much, Jennifer, love you. What a pleasure this is been today. I could talk to you for four more hours. I just I am.
I had such a good sign.
Oh you're you're a brilliant artist. This book is brilliant. Inheriting magic is out now. Where can people grab it?
Barnes and Noble, Amazon, all the all the places, I think, And I'm really really grateful, and I just hope that they love it so much.
And Holiday Junkie is out.
Yes on the fourteenth at eight pm. On Lifetime.
Okay, so read the book, watch the movie, get in the festive spirit, and thank you so much for hanging out.
Thank you so much, thank you, thank you.
I've Never Said This Before is hosted by Me Tommy Didario. This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Puglisi at iHeartRadio and by me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've Never Said This Before is part of the Elvis Duran podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more, rate review and subscribe to our show and if you like this episode, tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy Diderio.