MANDY MOORE: This is Next

have time for. Shoots and Ladders is the big one in our house these days. How about extra snuggles with your babies or your fur babies. There are so many activities, experiences, and things that are only possible when shorter days keep us inside longer and cooler temperatures make that time more inviting. I hope that if you feel a little down or loomy, you can find something to love about this season we're in right now, because that is the best way to

chase away the winner blues. Well. That and walking. If I can get in a good walk every day, even if it's raining, I am so much happier. Maybe this podcast is one of those things you can save her and enjoy I sure hope. So that is my goal, after all, to spread a little joy and a lot of love and a lot of light into some of the dark places of our world. Right now, my guest

today will definitely help too. She's an Emmy, Grammy and Golden Globe nominated actress, singer, and songwriter who became famous at the age of fifteen with her debut pop single

Candy and her platinum albums So Real. After releasing multiple chart toppers, she made the move from stage to screen, starring as Lanta Thomas in the comedy film The Princess Diaries and Jamie Sullivan in the gut wrenching A Walk to Remember and several more in the early to mid two thousand's, But since twenty sixteen, many of us know her as Rebecca Pearson from the hit NBC family drama series This Is Us. That's how I fell in love

with her. I am obviously not alone. I can't wait to ask her a thousand questions about her role on my favorite show of all time, as well as whether the rumors I hear of new music are true. First, they'll let me give proper credit to a star of this show first. One of my podcast sponsors that makes this all possible. Dry Dull Winter Skin got you down. I've discovered a favorite product from Laura Geller that moisturizes and brightens spackle skin perfecting primer in Hydrate or Champagne Glow.

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With me on our new episode of Love Someone. Uh. And I just confessed off the air. Uh. But it's gonna be hard for me to have this conversation without just gushing and drooling because I am such a fan girl. Mandy Moore, Welcome to Delilah's Love Someone. Hello, I'm so

happy to be here. So we've got a lot to cover because you've got music that came out right before COVID that we didn't ever get to connect on You've got music that's about to come out, and you've been a little busy, you know, out with that little TV show that Please tell me they were lying when they said this is the last year. I wish, I wish it wasn't the truth. But yes, we're we're about halfway through with our final season, season six. I hate that

word final, you and me both. I mean, this has just been like the best job I've ever had, and I've been in the industry for twenty one years. It's going to be so challenging to say goodbye to the character. But also, like my friends, I get just like go to work every single day with with like my family, and we've been a family from the very beginning, and the idea that I'm not going to see those faces

every day is just gutting to me. So there was a woman who called into a radio show, not even my radio show, my girlfriend Linda, who was on the air in um Worcester, Massachusetts. A woman called in who had been kicked out of her parents home h as a teenager, and she had had some really hard times and she said, you know, if I had known it was my last night, I would have enjoyed it more. And Lyndash I listened, you know, I was listening to her show and I heard that, and then she shared it.

You know, when we got together and talked about how impactful that was for her, and we kind of made a pact, our little circle of friends that we would face every day based on that phone call. Because you don't know when it's going to be your last. But this girl said, if I know it was my last night at home, I would have enjoyed it more. Goodness,

that is so heartbreaking. Yeah, I mean, isn't that sort of the trick of being human as trying to be as present as possible And it's it's indefinitely hard, Like I I struggle with it every day. But yes, I give you that gift because you know it's your last season, unless, yes, the network decides to get smart and with a good thing. You know, Can I just put a vote as it's up for a vote. So let me let me tell you, Mandy Moore, how I discovered you and fell in love

with you. I had adopted a young boy out of foster care. He was twelve when we got him, and he had had a really really horrible experience. He had been in foster care most of his life, bounced around to eight or ten different homes, and had a pretty tough exterior, And so I thought it would be good to get him involved in our youth group at a church. And so the youth group decided to go see a movie at the local theater. And my tough, really tough

exterior son came home like's not crying that movie? You gotta go see? You what to remember, Mom, but take a lot of tissue. Like he was still crying when he got home, And I'm like, wow, Like what touched him so deeply? I wanted to know? So, like the next day, I call a couple of my dearest friends and we went to see a walk to Remember. I'm so floored. You were like two years older than him or three years older than him at the time you started in that right, How old were your seventeen? I was,

I was sixteen. I turned seventeen in the middle of filming. He will to this day if you ask him what movie touched him the most, it was you and the character you played, and for some reason, just that reality that life's not fair, like he knew, he knew that life wasn't fair, but I don't think he had words to put with it. And I don't know seeing your character and seeing what you faced in the and I know that was a character, but but you played it

so convincingly that it touched my heart. And and so from that moment on, I was a fan girl. And then I went back and and just ever your music, what you had released as a couple of years before, and uh, and and and then I've just followed you all along Princess Diaries and everything. Oh my goodness, I am so flattered. Wow. Yeah, for some reason, that movie in particular, Oh my gosh, it's actually the twentieth anniversary

of that movie this year. It really had just it resonated then and continued somehow to resonate with with folks. I think the idea of, you know, having someone recognize the goodness in you that you may not see in yourself, the idea of being able to change, Like, there's just so many themes I think that like feels so universal to people that they have really just like taken that film to heart. And uh, it's it's fun to watch like younger folks discover it even now. It's it's amazing. Well,

you play a character that that's kind of old. Yes, I do, Like right now, your character and this is Us is seventy right, Yeah, I get to play the matriarch character on the show. Yeah that I I get to play this this woman from her mid twenties to her mid eighties and everything in between. It's it's an incredible um gift to be able to to portray this

woman at so many different junctures of her life. I get to work with all of the actors, all of the different ages of the children portrayed, from like babies to adults. It's it's a dream. Well, you play it so convincingly that when I was doing research for this interview, I was shocked to remember. And I had a traumatic experience a few years ago, so my memory is gone. I'm almost as bad as your character in the movie. But I was shocked to remember that you could be

my child in real life. Now, in in the TV show, you're ten years older than me almost of the day, but in real life, you could be one of my children. And I was like, how do you play a seventy year old woman so convincingly? Oh, you're very kind. I have to say so much of the physical transformation I

think is a huge part of it. I I go through about three and a half hours of prosthetic hair and makeup, um with you know, to sort of go through the aging process to play Rebecca Pearson and her seventies and so I can interact with my adult children. That helps. It also gives me like the you know, the three and a half hours to sort of get

into that frame of mind. I mean, because normally there's something, you know, undoubtedly emotional going on, so just be the time to sort of just zen out and think about who I am, where I am, what I've lived through at this point in my life. And I I love it. So Often people are like, oh my gosh, how do you go through, you know, hours and hours of pir and makeup. I think we've this season alone already done it over twenty times. Um, it's a lot of hours

of my life. But I I really like look forward to that time. Actually, I think it does help me sort of prepare and mentally get in the right frame of mind to approach today's work. But yeah, I think the physical transformation has so much to do with it. I was really nervous initially because I remember the very first scene in the first season for them to sort of really uh give the sums up that this was

going to be something that worked. Instead of potentially hiring an actress who was a little bit older than me to portray the character, um, I had to interact in a scene with ron Cephas Jones, who is quite a bit older than me. He's not quite as old as he was playing, but he's you know, a fair bit older than me. And I was so nervous to have to you know, get made up and do this very

emotional scene with him. But somehow it worked. And now it feels so comfortable to sort of slip on those shoes and and to be that woman at that age and a place in her life, even even though she's in the midst of dealing with dementia and Alzheimer's and and everything that sort of comes along with it. It's a yeah, this this season is a real doozy for all of us. Well for anybody who has not seen

this is us. Um, they're just they're missing out on such such a treat, in such an emotional roller coaster. I told you I have many children that are adopted. So I love the the care with which the adoption stories are threaded throughout. But I have to tell you, it was hard for me to forgive your character there for a while when she didn't tell Randol the truth. I almost broke up with you over that. I was like, how could you, um, how could you hide such a

huge truth from him? But being an adoptive mom and being in the adoption community so much, there are there are times where you ask yourself, you know, is is this a truth that I should share? Or is this something that would hurt my child? Or so I forgave you. No, I had to forgive her as well. I mean, that's the thing about playing a character when you often don't agree with all the choices that they make. And that's such the truth of this show is, you know, the

Pearsons are not a perfect family. They're human, they're fallible. They make choices that we're not all going to agree with the way that they handle their life. But ultimately they're trying to be, you know, the best version of themselves, and they live and they learn and and Repelta is

a seriercely loyal matriarch. She loves her family, She puts her family before everything else, and that was a you know, a particularly challenging part of the character, especially in the beginning, to sort of forgive her and allow myself to like to hold space for her and have grace for this this, you know, what I presumed to be a big mistake, that she had been, this lie she had been living

for you know, over thirty years of her life. But um, but it certainly is fun to sort of take all of the colors of who these people are and sort of flash it on the canvas. Every day. How many days a week do you guys shoot five days a week and months out of the year, long days, long days? Yes, Because I I would watch and I go, did they like shoot this? Because you know, you're in the same room, in the same costume, in the same conversation two years later,

and I'm a detailed person. So I look at all the details. I look at the decorations, I look at the cops that you serve, the tang in. I look at all that because that was my generation. So I'm sitting there going, I remember that. I remember that. I remember that, And then I think, do they like? They go, Okay, we're gonna shoot all of the scenes from the fire all at the same time. I wish we did. It

never happens that way. And the funny thing about our show as well, it's like, no one should ever assume if they're just coming on and they have one line in an episode that that's it. There's very often a chance that they might be brought in and have an

entire episode built around them. Like it's been wild to watch that, And yes, uh, it's so often you think like, okay, we're we're done with that scene, and to three seasons later you'll revisit that exact same time period with the exact same costume and sort of have to you know, sort of file through the filing cabinet and go back to that that particular time and go, Okay, I need to like place myself back there again, because here we are.

It's important. And the kids, the kids have now the first set of kids have aged out, because I see this season it's another set of kids, and yet they're they're they're they're able to get into character as well as the first set of kids. Yeah, at six years old too. It's just unbelievable. We're so lucky. We we have never had a bad apple, like from the very top. Um uh from from our boss who created a show, Dan,

it's sort of a trickle down effect. No, everybody is just fantastic and the kid actors are so much fun. They are also patients. Um. Yeah, I can't say enough good good stuff about everybody. Well, you guys do a phenomenal job. And your character in the show is a young woman who wants to be a singer. You went to California when you went to l A and the record producer said you're great for Pittsburgh. Yeah, it's good.

That line broke my heart, I gotta say, but I love that throughout the storyline you put your career on the back burner so that you can focus on your triplets, on the three kids. Um. And I think a lot of women who do that have a lot of mixed emotions joy to be with their kids, anger or resentment that they, you know, put that part of their life on hold. And um. In real life, you are quite an accomplished singer performer. That was that happened before the

acting happened. Do you ever feel like you had to put your music on hold for for this baby of this is us? Or no, it's it's funny, I think had it. I started off in the music industry, you know, when I was fifteen years old, and that's sort of what opened all of the doors for the Princess Diaries and A Walk to Remember and all of the acting things that subsequently came after that. And there was a period of my life where music was really dormant for about almost a decade or a little over a decade.

And I think it really was the gift of This is Us and Dan Fogelman and our writers that decided to sort of infuse my character's backstory with music because it unlocked something and me again that I really couldn't ignore, which was that music is a huge part of who I am. It's a huge part of my identity, and I missed it and I just needed some way to sort of find, you know, find my way back to

myself for that part of myself. When when when COVID hit, you guys had some challenges with filming everything we did. I read some of the rigamarole you had to go through just to be on the set, just to be able to shoot. And you were pregnant then, yeah, I

was pregnant. I was five months pregnant when we went back um and started season five, and um, it was it sort of felt like the wild West because you know, it was pre vaccines, still sort of understanding what COVID meant, and we were one of the first shows or productions at least in Los Angeles to go back to work. So there were tons of protocol, most of which is still very much in place to this day of you know, the ppe that everybody had to wear, we test multiple

times a week. Um. But yeah, it made it feel a little, um crazier just because I was pregnant. UM. But oddly like once we've sort of gotten the flow of things, I felt safe for being at work than I did pretty much anywhere else besides like being at home, just because there was you know, we were surrounded by folks in masks and shields and so much for cautions

were taken. Um. But it does make things tough in the sense that you know, I remember in the early days, one you know, positive case would potentially shut the whole show down for like a week in a time or something until we started to understand the virus more and

how things spread. But but it's still challenging. I mean, we were just I'm directing an episode this season, and we were just up in San Francisco and one positive case sort of had the trickle effective, like well, this person was around this person and around this person, and it kind of like wiped everybody out and we ended up having to come home a day early. So it's, uh, it's certainly not ideal. It's better now, but um, but yeah, it's it's a strange days to be shooting during this,

this era of of COVID. So, um, how far in advance of shooting an episode, do you guys know what's going to happen in the episode? Like, do you know what happens in this season? Are you? Oh? Yes, how it all ends. We've actually shot part of the very very last episode a couple of seasons ago, so yes, we're we're in the know. I mean, I think it's important for all of us to sort of be able to understand the journey that we're on, like it informs how do you keep it a secret? Like how do

you keep it a secret? If you and I were buddies, if we were friends, there is no way I would let you keep that a secret from me. I would like cook you your favorite foods. I would have a glass of wine give you. My friends know that. Do they ever use that to their advantage? I think in earlier seasons, But at this point everybody's like no, no, no, no, no,

especially my family. My family used to want to know, and now they're they're sort of of of the minds like, no, we want to sort of watch it unfold with everybody else and be surprised. And so yeah, I'm I'm pretty good at at staying tight lipped. Well, I hope it has happy endings, because if I have been married to you guys for six years now and then it ends with you know, it'll make you feel good. I promise. Okay, okay, Well I would watch anyway because I don't have it.

We don't have TV in our house and I don't let my kids have very much screen time at all. But you are my guilty pleasure. Oh well, I am honored. Thank you. So back to music. You had an album that you released like the week that COVID hit. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, good timing there, great timing there. Yeah, I mean who was who was to know what was about to hit us? So I made my first record was called Silver Landing's

first record in over a decade. We were four days away from hitting the road for my first tour since two thousand and seven. I wrote the entire album with my husband. He played on it, he was in my band, and yes, the record came out and the next week the world sort of shut down, so it was wild. We were actually in New York. We did Today's show, we had done Fallon, and it was funny. In between the time that we got to Fallon and and sound checked.

I remember them telling us, like, you guys at the last show with an audience, because starting next week on Monday, like, we're taping without an audience, And I remember all of

us thinking like, wow, that's crazy. We got in right under the wire by the time sound check rolled around, and then the time we started filming, they were like, actually, there's no audience and we're getting like the heck out of Dodge as soon as we're done taping the show, and I remember we performed for a completely empty theater. Jimmy Fallon had already left to go home, and I don't think they none of the crew like they that nobody showed back up to that theater. I thinks for

you know, six eight months or something was crazy. So it was a very strange time and uh yeah, but the silver lining for me was, um, I got to come home and spend some time with my husband, and I got pregnant. So there you go, there you go. That was the silver lining. That was the silver lining. And now you're working on another album that, ma'am, that

is going to be out soon. Yes, sometime this year, I think, probably just in time with the end of of This Is Us and then hopefully we'll be able to pick up, you know, where we left off with the tour in June and July of this year. But I think the idea was trying to find some some way to sort of pour the creative momentum that we had making Silver Landings, making the last album, trying to find a way, um to still feel creative during the pandemic.

And very early on I just decided with my husband Taylor, like, let's just keep writing music and figure out how to record it and make another record and go on the road with it when the world opens back up, and and you know, it just sort of coincided with this idea of like my entire world turning upside down. And becoming new parents and being on the precipice of so

much change. So the records really rooted in that, in the idea of this discovering, this new sense of self and wondering what our life was going to be like and this you know, indescribable love and the immediacy of it all, and um, yeah, so that's I'm super excited for everything that this record is is gonna unlock and open up and hopefully be able to go on the road and be with my husband and with my my son with us, and he'll he'll come with us and it'll be a whole family affair. The best part of

just everything, everything like the unknown. I mean, everyone told us it gets it just keeps getting better, and that is the truth, every phase, every age. Just when you think like it can't get better, um it does. Write a song about that, and then when they're thirteen, listen to it every night. I'm sure that's coming months. He's

only ten months old. He's only he's just starting to like, you know, pull himself up and starting to you know, because he's on the precipice walking and so it's like all the good stuff of the laughing and smiling, and his personality is coming to light, and it's just it's the best. And I feel so lucky that I get to, you know, bring him to work with me most days. And he's just like he's come to work with me

since I was since he was a month old. And he's very confused sometimes when I'm in the prosthetic age makeup, he's like, I joke that he's he calls me Grandma mom because you know, I'm like the grandma and the mom in one. It's very weird. He hears my voice. I know he smells me, but I look entirely different. So um. I don't know. He'll probably have to therapy at some point in his life because of it, but but I feel lucky I get to bring him with me.

I am so grateful to my podcast sponsors, because without them, we would have these wonderful conversations. Hi, it's Delilah. If you have been listening to my voice on the radio four years, then you know that I have been around on the radio four years. Off the radio, I'm taking care of my kids, taking care of my dogs, riding my horses, growing plants in my gardens, and you know what it hurts. It does. My hands hurt, my back hurts, my knees hurt. But when I started taking Omega x L,

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way my hair grows. I killed you not. My hair grows more rapidly when I take my Omega Excel every day. In fact, if I forget to take my Omega XL for a few weeks, oh boy, do I notice a difference. Omega x L dot com forward slash love to place your order and to discover all the wonderful goodness of Omega XL okay outside of your children, and your child and your husband. Happiest moment of your life, um, I would say summiting Mount Kilimanjaro was the happiest day of

my life. It was something I had wanted to do since I was a teenager, and to sort of fully realize this goal that I had had in mind for so long, and to be there and to be present, and it was just this incredibly foggy day. It almost felt like we were in a light installation, all these sort of pastel colors from the sun and being up

on top of this glacier. It was mind blowing. How long did you train for it, Chilly, I didn't really train for it, but we took I believe it was like a seven day adventure of like camping as you as you climb the mountain. I love hiking and I love being in the mountains. So um, this was yeah, just in unbelievable bucket list accomplishment. Um. Definitely the happiest moment. There are lots of tears on the summit. Very fun, very fun. Well, I can't wait to see what other

mountains you're going to climb. Ah, you're very kind. Thank you. That means so much to all of us. Please when the album is ready to be released, UM, I will be back. I'll talk about it anytime. I would love to love to have another chat with you. This is so much fun. You promised me you'd call me back, So we're gonna. We're gonna have that conversation as soon as you're ready to release the music. It has been

such a joy to talk to you. You too, I look forward to chatting again at some point soon, very soon, Mandy Moore, thank you for for joining us, and just be safe, be blessed. I'm gonna I'm enjoying all the moments, soaking it all in. Okay, thank you, Bye, bye, Hunt Bye, thank you. Who What a pleasure it was to share this time with Mandy Moore. She has been a fixture on stage and screen since a very young age, and has matured in both her music and acting skills beautifully.

I watched very little TV, but I fell in love with This Is Us when it first debuted six years ago. Actually, my friend Leslie told me about it and she said, you've got to watch this show because I have um, I have adopted children, and she knew it would resonate with me, and I'm hooked. I will miss the series so much, but I am eager to see and hear what this now season veteran takes on next. She's teased us with the promise of some new music later this year,

so keep your ear to the ground for that. In the meantime, do sit for a minute and ask yourself what beautiful things are unfolding in your life right now that you might be overlooking. It's easy to do when the weather isn't welcoming, when you're eager for spring, when there are COVID shutdowns, when the kids bus schedule has been canceled. Are there birds or squirrels outside your windows? They can entertain me for as long as I let them.

I love watching the wild birds. I love listening to the sound of my children's laughter when you let them go play in the snow. If you have snow in your area, or just go outside and splash in the rain, allow yourself the luxury of a long, hot bath at the end of a long cold day. Nothing else can steal your joy when you stay focused on the goodness. Twinkle lights aren't nearly as sparkly in the sunshine as they are in the dark. Enjoy winter while it's here.

We'll have plenty of opportunity to complain about the heat of summer soon enough. I'll try to keep you company, no matter what the weather is outside, no matter what craziness is going on in our world. Join me on the next episode of Love Someone, and of course nightly on my radio show. Because I love spending time with you. Since you've all been so wonderful and supportive of Love Someone, I was inspired to do more on the podcast platform, So earlier this month, on Valentine's Day, I launched a

new daily podcast called Hey It's Delilah. This one's a little different most days. It will be ten to fifteen minutes long, and it's made up of some of my favorite moments on the radio. It'll be a mixture of listener calls and dedications, Delilah's dilemmas, things that cracked me up, or thoughts I had that I felt worth sharing again. So look for Hey It's Delilah on your favorite podcast

platform and subscribe. It's a little daily dose of Delilah that you can listen to whenever it's convenient for you.