Ask to be sure, ask the questions, ask the important, ask them important questions, and have conversations. Let's have conversations as families, questions with each other. It's so important. Hi, I am so let Moonfry and I am so humbled and honored to be here today with Brian.
Welcome back everybody. If you're hearing my voice, that means you're listening to the podcast. I like to call off the beat and I am your host, Brian Baumgartner, my guest today. Well, it may cause a little bit of a generational divide of sorts with you listeners. For me, people around about my age, let's just call it gen X. She is an icon of nineteen eighties television. I'm talking
about Punky Brewster herself. Solei Moonfry is on the show today. Now, if you don't know Punky, who doesn't know everybody knows Punky? Am I right? It was an absolute smash hit, a total classic, and they even made a reboot a couple of years ago. Now, if you're a bit younger than me, you may not have seen or know that much about Punky. That's fine. Millennials, you may have watched a show called
Sabrina The Teenage Witch on TGIF Friday Nights. Well, Soley was there playing Sabrina's college roommate Roxy or if you're gen Z or maybe Jen Alfa. I don't know if you would listen to this. She is the voice of Jade in the Brats cartoons or Zoe on Proud Family. If you're anyone of any age, I hope that you have seen her relatively new documentary kid ninety, where she documents her early life of stardom and everything that happens. It is a fascinating watch. Basically, what I'm saying is this,
there's a lot to choose from. And on top of her acting career that spans literal generations, she's a mother of four. She also works with GSK and the Ask to Be Sure campaign to help spread awareness about meningitis B and the meningitis B vaccination. Let's talk to her about all of that right now here. She is the utterly delightful solet moonfry, Bubble and Squeak I love it, Bubble and Squeakna Bubble and Squeaker cook.
Get every mole lift over from the night before.
Hi, Sile, how are you? Hi? How are you? I mean I'm better now talking to you.
I love it. I'm so happy to be talking.
To you me as well. Now we have to get this out of the way. This is like the traditional Hollywood I don't know, six degrees of separation. Do you remember us meeting? Tell me remind me when my memory of it is so so scattered. We have been discussing this through our mutual friend, which we'll talk about in a minute. I'm not a Hollywood Hills house party guy at all.
Okay, Oh boy, anything that starts with Hollywood Hills house party is uh.
Because I was there. It had to have been some like Emmy or some awards adjacent. There was a band, There was Demi Moore dancing a lot.
Okay.
I ended up talking to a long time to Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker and you and I met outside at a food truck.
Well, I love a food truck.
Other than that, I don't know why I was there. I don't know who I was with. I don't know anything about it. But anyway, we've met. So it's good to see you again, basically basically.
So nice to connect again. Um, what kind of food truck it was?
No, I don't even remember whose party it was. I don't I don't remember. I don't remember why, or who or anything. It was more like official, It wasn't like red.
So I had a huge kind heart at the time.
You did, and from what I hear about you, you always do. We have been connected by my well in relative terms, new friends doctor Shaka Gilla who who Well, she's my pediatrician.
Well, Saka is one of my favorite people in the world and one of my best friends since I was fourteen years old, and we met at a UB forty concert.
Are you serious it goes back that long?
Yes, that's I mean, literally, it goes back that long. And she and her sister have been such an important part of my life, my whole life and my kids' lives, and they're just amazing.
Wow. I did not know it had been that long. But she started telling me about this thing that you guys have been kind of working on together. Yes, the Ask to Be Sure campaign, which is about bringing awareness to meningitis, the meningitis B vaccine. Shaka was telling me how important this is. Tell me how how you got involved with this campaign? Absolutely?
Well, you know, I learned about meningitis B and I I had no idea, you know. I had the assumption, like so many people, that when the kids are younger, they get vaccinated for it. And what I didn't realize was meningitis BE was totally different. And it was right around the time that my daughter Poet turned sixteen, and of course, as a mother, I want to do everything I can to help protect my kids. Uh So I was really surprised to find out about it, and I
learned so much through the process. Of course, I reached out to one of my best friends, being Shaka, and learned so much about how you know, meningitis is an uncommon but serious illness and that it can be potentially fatal. And I went on this whole journey to ask to be sure and it has been such a learning experience and just really an amazingly eye opening experience.
Now you're talking to someone who is not very specifically not a doctor, but I remember I remember, like when I was a kid, people getting meningitis and this was a very serious thing. But meningitis B is slightly different, right, and.
People are so unaware of it because I think so many people think it's something that kids, you know, get vaccinated for when they're younger, but really it does affect sixteen to twenty three year olds especially, you know, as kids are going out into college, living in closer you know, areas, sharing things, you know, all of that. And so really for me, this has been a journey of asking questions and being able to talk to, you know, my pediatrician
and having this conversation. I think it's important for us to have conversations and to never be afraid to ask, to be short, to never be afraid to ask your doctor, to talk to the pediatrician, and such a learning experience that I was really unaware of. And so it has been quite the journey.
Last year, you partnered with GSK and Lifetime and actually made a short film, which is is not something uncommon for you. We're going to talk about a little bit called I Never Thought to Ask a Mom's Quest for Answers, which was really about educating other moms about meningitis. Be was this your idea?
It was such an incredible experience, you know, it was really holistic, and we teamed up with Lifetime and of course GSK, and it was amazing. My dear friend, one of my best friends, Melissa Joan Hart, and I got to be on the journey together as well as Shaka, and so really it was coming from such an authentic place, you know, and it was such an amazing experience to
be a part of. And you know, it's so incredible to see how also this whole experience inspired, you know, my own kids and my daughter Poet to have an interest in public health going forward in life. And so you know, it has all come from a really authentic place. And I think authenticity is so important and being able to these conversations, it is so important, and so when you watch the documentary, it really is. You know, Melissa is one of my best friends, Shaka doctor you know,
you know doctor Shaka. I mean, she is one of my lifelong friends. So these are real conversations. And it was really so wonderful to team up with GSK on this and this Has to Be Sure campaign and to meet the incredible survivors and families who have lost their children, and the way in which they have touched my heart and left such a blasting effect on our lives has been so profound.
Good for you, Good for you, I mean you you brought up the word authentic. I say this all the time, like work that is borne out of something that is organic and true for you. Is just always better. It's just always better, always well.
Again, everyone has different perspectives in life, right and comes from different experiences. It's so important to have conversations and
to have the courage to have conversations. You know when when speaking with these incredible mothers who had lost their children, you know, you hear about intuition, you hear about mother's instincts, you hear about all of these these things parents, you know, having instincts, And I think so often it's so important to listen to that inner voice and to be able to really ask those important questions in all areas of our lives because we are our children's advocates.
Yeah, you know, you bring up an interesting point. You know, I started in the theater, and you know, one of the things that that I always talked about was that art shouldn't be preachy. That really the central, the central focus of art in and of itself should be asking questions. And that's really what that's really what I love about this. And you know what, I feel like no one should be able to argue. You're not preaching, you're not saying
do this, You're saying, ask questions. Educate yourself, because if you don't know, you can't do anything about it right.
Right, Ask to be sure, ask the questions, ask the important ask the important questions, and have conversations. Let's have conversations as families ends with each other. It's so important.
Yeah, your career is incredible, the diver the diverse projects that you've done. You're an author, You're a photographer. I mean, I'm going to ask you about being a cinematographer. I think you should be if you never thought about that before you started in a well, in a Hollywood family is that I hate that word, but I don't even know what to say. A family in the entertainment business. Your dad was an actor, your mom was an agent and a case.
One was actually a food artist. She was she was a food artist. Yes, so she yes, food She was amazing. My My family incredible, full of artists and activists, and so activism is always run in our blood and just an incredible family of artists. And I started acting very very young. I grew up watching my brothers and my dad, and I was so shy. I actually didn't talk till I was three. And then once I started I didn't stop, and I think acting really helped bring me out of
my shell. And I started acting at five and started Punky at seven, and just wow, what a journey. I mean, just an incredible, incredible journey.
You know. One of the things that I like to focus on here is moments that sort of shaped and change a person that maybe maybe was unexpected early on. I mean, it sounds like you're in this environment. You don't speak to the age of three, that's crazy. Your family is around all these people. I mean I read Muhammad Ali's build a Cherry Coke on you, Yes, you kid, And my dad.
Was a golden glove boxer, so it was really that was quite the highlight.
Oh seriously, so like he was he boxing with him or in the same jail.
So my dad was a golden glove boxer. So meeting Muhammad Ali was like, you know, huge for me. And he had a white suit on, I believe, and my cherry coke went flying out of my hand and all over him, and he was wonderful.
When did you decide, Okay, well, acting is kind of fun, it's getting me out of my shell, but that this was something that you wanted to do, was this. I'm sure it was encouraged at least. Was it pushed by your parents? Was this something that you were driven to do on your own at such an incredibly young age.
My mom actually thought I was so shy that she didn't know that I would ever, you know, like speak when I went in to try it out. But it was something that was so close to my heart. I just I loved it. It was playing make believe, and we really did always have our childhoods as well, you know,
growing up on Punky. It was it was such a wonderful, vibrant experience, you know, we were riding around in scooters and pogo sticks and playing you know, for me, acting was always playing make believe, you know, and so yeah, so I was really fortunate that it was something that
I really, you know, loved and wanted to do. And so my experience, you know, although I definitely had rollercoasters of emotions, and I had an incredibly beautiful, full life, and there was moments of insecurity and pain and all of the things that come along with it, you know, but overall, I really have always held acting so close to my heart.
A couple of your early jobs, which there's a point to this Missing Children, a mother's Story, Invitation to Hell? Who will love my children? It sounds like you started off with some pretty damn dark material. Did you feel comfortable because it was make believe? And I say this like.
My daughter now it's a great question.
Yeah, my daughter now, who's eight, nothing scares her, which is interesting, like very she could not be more sweet. But yeah, I mean she's like doing doodle sketches of like horrible monsters and it's like, isn't this cool? Dad? When you're there, you have to be aware that it's not real. But are you getting support there on set to help you tell this story?
Well, we could have a whole conversation at some point around the physics and matrix of all that is very really, I think is fascinating. Ultimately, I was working with such incredible people and of course had an amazing foundation within my own family. I was working with Anne Margaret and Mayor Winningham were the two women that played you know, my mother and Mayor and one and Ann Margaret and another, so you know the colorizy of people that I was
working with. And George Gains, you know with Punky, I mean, his kindness and love just so exuberant. So I was so fortunate to work with some of the greatest people ever and they were so nurturing. Jeff Goldbloom, you know, played my fallow something. I mean, just the caliber of people and that kindness. You know, there are these moments
in time. For example, Andy Gibb, Oh my gosh, one of my biggest crushes of all time, right, and when you look at the amount of time that we spent together, right, I'll get emotional talking about it. But the impact that people have in our lives last forever, and so ultimately, the kindness that I was shown and the ways in which I was treated as a human being and really seen and heard, that has stuck with me so much.
So I think it is so important, you know what I mean when you have these experiences, and it was certainly something when we went on with Punky that was so important to me, is how we treat each other because it makes such a difference. And I loved scary movies, you know, I had big brothers, like I was obsessed with scary movies. So working with Wes Crave, you know, working with Wes Craven, it was like, oh my god, this is you know, it was a dream come true.
So really, I think it comes down to that point around people, you know, and how we touch each other's
lives and this tapestry. And I think sometimes, you know, people don't realize the impact they have on others, and they can have very different experiences and they can be very painful, and I think, you know, it's a real juxtaposition, like you hear in show business that you know, there's parents that are amazing and loving and wonderful and make sure their kids have a really healthy home life, and then there's other extremes, you know, so and by the way,
you can also be as loving as possible and give your kids everything that they could ever imagined, and still people sometimes get lost, you know. So it interesting and anyone anytime people bring up you know, downfalls and trials and tribulations, I always look at it and go, you know, yes, there are so many deer people that I love that didn't always make it out, you know, in the best way, and then there's so many that have and that have
such flourishing, beautiful lives. And so, you know, I think it's like with anything you know in life.
You know, I've talked to a lot of people here, many of whom like yourself who started much younger, and I just kind of want to hear your perspective on this. You kind of already answered the question, but you know, you think about kids and kids' activities, right, and that's usually like the soccer team, right, or you know, the youth theater or whatever. You know, there is something about your experience. Thankfully you are with a lot of very positive, loving,
nurturing people. But just aside from even that, the ability to go at such a young age and have your ensemble, have your world be people who are so diverse in terms of age and experience and as long as they're good. What a gift that is early on, you know, you're not with the six and seven year old soccer teams.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, my daughter does that too, but having that experience of having you know, older people who, if they're if they're giving and nurturing, that are mentoring you and helping you and helping you to see not just the work but the world in a new way. For me, that's always been a valuable gift, and this was this was not a part of my reality.
I think that you're so spot on with that, and I think people come into this world in their unique ways. My kids are all so uniquely different, right, It's so fascinating to me that you could be born into this. And you know, Poet is just like her activism, her heart for activism, her just mind blowing jagger, her filmmaking, her inspiration, her heart. Lyric, I mean, he is a comedian. He is like literally, he's like a ninety year old
man in a ten year old body. You know, my youngest self, he's you know, he's obsessed with basketball, and it's such a big heart. They each have such big hearts. And you know, my son, Lyric, he gets, you know, on a nightly basis, Hey can I do my comedy? You know, and he's like ready to get up right, And it's like he's a performer and he was born that way and he is who he is. And I want to encourage that, you know, And I really want my children to be able to be who they want
to be. And I think one of the greatest things that we can do in life, one of the greatest gifts is to inspire our kids to follow their passions, you know, and to do it with kindness and heart. It's like the two of the biggest lessons I can pass on to my kids is like, you know, find that thing that you're passionate about, find what it is that inspires you and drives you each and every day, and then go out and also help make a difference
in the world. You know, help make a difference. Be kind, grow up, be kind, be kind in this moment, be kind in the future, and make a difference. Those are so, you know, those are the things that I want to pass on self. Love like it all starts within, you know, and so anyway, so so my point being that, yeah, they are who they are, right, and so I try to encourage it and also encourage the education and all the different things to try to help, you know, them
be as well rounded as possible. And at the same time they're their own people. And so right, I'm trying my best here.
Oh my god, you're such a good mom. I mean everything you're saying I love. I don't have to take notes because I have a recording of this, but I just love everything that you're saying. You mentioned it a few times. We're not going to go through Punky Brewster minute by minute, but there were a couple of stats that I looked at, and I was more curious about
your psychology as a seven year old Punky Brewster. Three thousand young girls tried out, including five hundred and fifty in Los Angeles alone, which is acounding.
It may have been even more than that. I don't know.
Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure what it's like, Yeah, it's like those were the ones reported, but you know, I'm sure it was happening even more. Do you remember how many auditions? Was it like fifty?
There was a lot and then there was a story that you know, when I went in for one of the one of the final auditions, someone did say they had already gotten it. So I think my mom was like, Okay, let's head out. I was like, I'm still going in. You know. It was a great deal of competition out there, But I just I connected to Punky so much. And I'll be really honest. You know, she was my superpower,
my superhero, you know, and she still is. And it's so wild because it makes me emotional just thinking about it, because through my best moments, through my most difficult moments, it's like she's like that superhero that like pulls me through it, you know, and so it's why I have such an affinity, you know, and I think, like I'm
so I'm in such gratitude. Like any time anywhere that someone says what Punky means to them, it's like it's like the greatest gift in the world, you know, one of the greatest gifts in the world.
And so for me, I say that all the time. That's so crazy as a.
Mom, you know, as at the time, you know, my mom was a single mom raising us, and you know, my dad and she stayed friends, but they weren't together, you know, and all those things. And I think through Punky like she became you know, my escape into this superhero part of ourselves and gave me so much courage, you know, and and still does today. I mean, in the last years, you know, with my family and all of the different you know, trials and tribulations that we
went through, Like I totally have leaned into Punky. You know, Punky is that super power for me.
You know, Usually you have a you know, a show or a movie and they start auditioning and you realize it's very important for the network and the studio, and you auditioned more and more it sounds like pretty early on because I was going to ask, at what moment was it like, no, this is mine? Like this is me pretty early.
I feel like from the moment that, like, it's interesting. I haven't thought of it in that way really necessarily for so long, but like, there was never a moment that Punky didn't feel like a part of me, you know what I'm saying, Like, yeah, she was me, I
was her, like it just it was so interconnected. And it's interesting because now years later, as I've been so grateful to work with incredible foster youth at different times and stuff, I realized, you know, my mom was a foster youth, and so I think there's like, you know, something around the generational you know, patterns that connect us through our DNA lines, and perhaps there was a part of that that I've actually been thinking about now at this stage in life, as I reflect, I'm like, oh,
that's so fascinating, Like my mom was in a youth home at an early age because she had lost her mom, and you know, and it's so interesting because for so many years that wasn't something that I really thought about, but I can understand the parallels. You know what I mean in a deeper way now, and so I think that it makes a lot of sense that it always felt like such a part of me and so much of the heart of what I felt.
You mentioned George Gaines. I freaking loved George Gaines. I mean, I loved George Gaines and his performance at Tootsie is. I mean, it's just it's outstanding. It's so nice for me to hear that he because I read somewhere else you've said nice things about him that you considered him your acting mentor that he was giving to you behind the scenes as well.
Absolutely, you know, he he always treated me, you know, as an equal, and so to have the career that he had and to show up in that way where he listened and he was engaged and he was kind and here you were running wild.
You know.
I remember him giving me these beautiful, you know, leather diaries from the time I was really young, and he knew I loved to write, and you know, that kindness, that heart, I mean, it just it sticks with you forever.
Punky becomes well, to say it becomes huge is like an understatement. The show and specifically you become a pop culture phenomenon. Up here, here, Here were some of the here were some of the things we dug up. Appearing in parades, Okay, getting thousands of letters from fans a week,
judging puppies for a dog food company. Well, really you remember that, leading anti drug marches and becoming involved with Just Say No campaign, which ties into you talking about wanting to get back and be an activist as well as an artist. You know, it sounds like you loved the work. How did your young brain deal at that time with all of that?
I mean, you know, so much of it was such an adventure, Like I I how amazing to be able to go to the White House, into the Eastering role and travel.
Yeah, that was awesome.
I mean there's just so many highlights throughout life, you know that have been so colorful and amazing. And also, you know, it's interesting. My best friend Torri has been my best friend since I was two years old, and so many of these memories are actually with she and I going to these places. So my mom would do this thing where it was like.
Your plus one, Yeah you're plus one your.
Best friend, and so yes, so we traveled all over the world together and be like here we go to New York and here and there. So that quality of like of having you know, that essence of childhood as well. It was so amazing because it was such a full life. You know. We went to New York and would be like, Okay, I'm taking the girls to like the nearest you know, the nearest place where there's a fair going on.
You know.
So it really was so fun. And then every summer I went to summer camp. I went to summer camp from the time I was five to seventeen. I went back to become a counselor, like and I went to the same camp like I pretended to get in. Yeah, and so I went to this camp, Cottontown Ranch. I went there my whole life. So I really did have these childhood experiences. And there was a great deal of innocence there. And even with my friends that I grew up with that were in the business, there was a
great deal of innocence for so many of us. And just the joy and the playing and having fun and hanging out. And of course we went on to have wilder times, but really there was a great deal of love and innocence around us and childhood and play and yeah, it was just it was so much fun.
I pitched a show one time, I want to talk. I want to Talk to Torri. At some point nobody bought it. It was like it was literally my own family destination. But I maintained I'm steadfast and its ability that the show it was called plus one, and so it would the idea.
It was really a plus one let's get real.
Wait, sit again, But I was.
Really her plus one. Let's get real, because I mean, the gift that shocks me is, oh, my goodness, the best.
Well that's very generous, no, but I mean just that experience of watching and being a part of I don't know, I think.
You know, we actually have these hard tarts. We talk, you know, every day, however, many times a day, and you know, we talk about just like what it is when you want each other to win, and friendships and family where it's like, I mean, I look at the people in my life and I'm so blessed to have such a beautiful family and such incredible friends. And it's interesting as I've gotten older, you know, as it's gotten more expansive. Also, I feel like my my, my, my crew,
you know, is pretty intimate. You know, the people that I really that's most and love most, but there's something that we have where it's like I just it's like I want to see the people I love succeed, you know, and I want to be talking about love and life and joy and how we're making the world better and you know, all of those things. I'm so grateful for that.
You know, you're eleven or twelve years of age and the show ends, you're feeling at that time about that journey? Are you ready for it to end and move on to other things?
I was ready for like the next chapter, which was exciting. I love Punky so much. I went on to do a pilot and then you know, the pilot didn't go and then I started developing rapidly, you know, which we
explore in the documentary Kid ninety for sure. And yes, what was really interesting and really took a lot to digest was once I started going through puberty and all of that and and just this the insecurities that come along with being a tween teen and then just having them magnified so much so I would say those teen years were definitely some of my most insecure moments.
Right well, I mean that makes sense, and having that played out you know, it's hard enough to have those years play out in your junior high school right when now you're playing you know, it's playing out across the country. I want to talk about I am going to talk about kid ninety and just a little bit, but I want to know your experience as a kid journalist, Like what, at what point did you decide you were going to pick up a camera and you were going to just
start filming things around you. Did you want to be a cinematographer, were you interested in framing shots, or was like what was the impetus at that moment to just start filming.
I kept a diary from the time I was about five. Okay, then I got an audio recorder when I was about ten, and I started recording via audio, and then I dove into the video camera. And I love documenting this incredible, colorful world around me. And I realize now, really I was a teen journalist and I thought the world around me was so colorful and incredible. And I started documenting our lives and I never put that camera to It came everywhere with me, I carried it everywhere. I just thought, Wow,
what a colorful world. I think it also acted as a protective device when I was going through such a here phase in life, because it was like, now I can be behind the camera, so I can you know what I mean? It was like, now I'm the one behind the lens. So I started filming my friends and our worlds and went on to continue doing it. And ultimately, when we talk about sole purpose, you know, and purpose in life, that journalistic side of me, the director in me,
all of those elements existed. They were the tapestry of those early years. And to have been able to go on to continue that, it's super interesting because for many years, you know, I've had such an incredible life, and of
course I love acting and love it so much. You know, I tried so many different things for so many years, you know, and then when I went back and went through all the tapes that had been sitting in tupperware and peeling back the layer, you know, it was like this spark inside of me reignited and I had really associated that more with youth, and it was like, oh, this is my purpose, like you know, in so many ways, like my children, my faith, my inner being, my relationship
with source, all of those elements, you know, so fundamentally important the philanthropic work that I love to do, and my art, the art that I get to create and do is so important to me, and I feel like it just reignited me in such a meaningful way and my goodness to do what I love. I just I love it. And I think that's one of the reasons why I was so grateful that Kid ninety connected to people, because for me, it was like I wanted them to feel like it was their story too, or that you know,
they were able to see themselves in some way. And I think that's one of the greatest parts about being a documentarian is when you can be you know, most genuine and allow people to have a shared experience.
You know, if you guys haven't seen a Kid ninety out a couple of years ago, it is fascinating you revisit your past, you explain why you started or what happened when you start looking at the tapes. Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Charlie Sheen, Mark Paul Gosler, my neighbor now by the way. For you as you're watching it, it's so exciting and also like it's got to be like
for you going through it. So many years later now in a totally different which is what I love about it, going through it at such a different time in your life. You see the like you must have felt like some awkwardness or like some like, oh my gosh, I got that shot. That's beautiful. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that or I said that or whatever. What was the biggest thing that surprised you?
Oh? The whole experience was completely life changing. It changed my entire life. The process of the documentary changed everything for me in so many ways. It changed, It changed so much because it was it was going back and discovering, you know, that teenage girl inside all of the dreams, all of the things, all of the people, you know, I mean just I mean, it was such an exploration, you know, ultimately, I think, you know, something that was so perfect. I mean, there were so many profound parts
of it. But it's so interesting because when we're in the moment, right, we're not always able to see or hear things, you know, the way that they really are. And I've found this even for recent months and years, right. But it was really interesting because I had never gone through the videos at length, you know, I had never gone through all the audios, you know, so here I was like living with this treasure trove of all of
these memories. And I'll use this example, which is, you know, I love talking about love, right And And an example is that I was watching this footage of myself with someone who I was just crazy about as a teenager, right crazy about, and I'm looking at it and I'm like, am I And I now I've already gone and visited them and this whole thing. And I turned to this incredible person who I'm editing with, and I go, am I trying to put in a love story here? And she goes so like, do you see the way you
guys are looking at each other? And at this point in the edit, Bay, I had watched the footage at least ninety nine times, and it was the hundredth time that I not only saw the way I was looking at that person, but the way they were looking back at me. And I was like, oh, my goodness. If we go through the world with these blinders on, you know, so often where we aren't able to see all the different perspectives, what are we missing? And in that moment,
and again I get emotional about it. I was like, oh my god, I have always loved people so much. I didn't realize how much love I had back. And it was a level of realizing the love around me in such a deep way, you know, and the insecurities of teen you know, teenage nests and teen years and new people like you, do they not like you? You know,
all the things that stick with you. The story you tell yourself, whatever you know, experiences you had, and whatever you know that twelve year old me told myself from that or your house. My house got toilet paper by a group of kids that I just wanted to be friends with. And what did I tell myself, you know, or whatever it was, you know, or the person that picked on you or chased you down and said they were, you know, going to be you up, whatever it was.
And there was many of those moments, you know. But what was it that, you know, or my development, or what the world was saying about me, what my friends were saying, whatever it was, it's not about them. It's it's that idea that like things happened for us and not to us, you know. But it was like all of those stories, realizing that those were just stories and that we were all going through our experiences and that we were all going through our pain and our trials
and tribulations, and those insecurities started to strip away. And now here I am, you know, forty years old or something, and to be at that stage in life and going, oh, my goodness, like wow, I can see like my own self love, I can discover my worth in another way, my value. It just again it became like a superpower, you know, without you know, ego, you know about like righteousness or any of that, but just like, oh, I can actually feel a deeper level of love. Does that
make sense right? No, It's so easy to get wrapped up and just pain of the past or experiences and allow those to define us. And I think it was for me a really important lesson in stripping all that away and being who and who am I today? Who is the version of me today? And I want to be my best person today? And of course we all have choices and take different paths and can make mistakes and all those things. But it's like, how do I show up in a room today?
It's beautiful because it's real. So I don't want to be reductive of this, but I do have to tell you and I have no idea how familiar you are with the television show at the office, but I was struck watching it. That really what Greg Daniels was trying to create on that show. There is a similarity. And let me explain why it's scripted, the cameras are directed.
All of that is true. However, the idea that these are characters who, in our case, were filmed for ten years and never seeing the end result, never seeing how your portrayed over that extended period of time. It's one of the reasons Greg said, when the characters in the show finally see this documentary that's been filmed for some reason about a paper company for ten years, the show ends because now they adjust how they are perceived because
they see how they're perceived through another person's lens. And so I'm not at all trying to be reductive, but when I watched it, I was like, Oh my god, this is like a live, real version because so much time passed and you have this whole new perspective as you're watching it again, and certainly for you seeing it again and seeing yourself from so many years ago, it just must have been just an incredible thing.
It was so incredible and I really believe it's been fundamental in my journey and who I am today, every minute of it, Starting from the time that I started writing that dollar five years old.
I'm like, wow, I mean it's crazy. Well, your first directorial view is at twenty two years of age, I mean Wild Horses. You also wrote it with.
It it was actually nineteen at that time.
You were nineteen. Oh, it was twenty two when it came out.
I don't it actually never came out.
Oh, it never came out.
No, it's sitting it's sitting somewhere. We go, we gotta go dig it out.
Really, Yeah, I didn't know that that's a whole Well, that's a whole other episode that you and I have to sit up. Well, that's that's a whole other episode. What was the impetus behind that? Again? Was that just an extension of wanting to be behind the camera?
Absolutely? And I was.
I was.
I had gone off to school and I had this idea, and I came back and I was like, I want to make this and they were like, great, go write it in a week and I did, which is crazy because it's something that only, you know, an eighteen year olds would do. You know it right exactly, and I did, and it was like a blessing and it ended up, you know, we ended up making it. And then I fell in love during that journey and that ended up becoming the person that I was married to and having
four beautiful children with. And so it was just like this incredible, wow life path. And then I did this. I had an amazing experience with my father who had Alzheimer's, and we drove a cross country and made this documentary Sonny Boy, which at some point I will share, but yeah, I mean just And then I love I love making art and creating, and I love directing, I love producing, I love all of it. I love all of it. I love creating.
What about voiceover? I love it. I love oh I love it well.
And I've had such a it's so great. And I've had the honor of being part of Proud Family for so many years as Zoe, who is my other superpower hero that I lead in too often, and Brats Brats absolutely so wild.
I get so much joy creating characters through the voice.
Absolutely you could just do my goodness.
Oh well, thank you, that was nice. Uh. The reboot Punky Brewster happened during uh, well, this little thing some people like to call COVID. Were you excited to revisit that?
SI thrilled. I was thrilled. And it was so special. And we did the pilot before COVID, and then COVID hit and it was it was such a surreal experience. It was Oh, Punky, I love it so much, and really it was such a special continuation and the people were so wonderful and the response was incredible, and really just it was really really special and so wonderful and just a beautiful experience that I held so close to my heart.
You've said before, and you said it almost in this way earlier today that you've never known where Punky ended and you began because of you were alike and she was your superpowers. You mentioned after revisiting her. You still feel that way.
Absolutely, And you know, and the way in which we were in this parallel journey, the person that I've been married to for so many years and I were going in different directions Punky and her husband, I mean, it was just like whoa you know. I mean, it was definitely a place for me to put creative energy into, you know.
Good for you. I am well. I'm a bigger fan of yours now than I was before. You continue to do incredible work giving back on issues that are important to you. I do want to ask or remind people again to go check out ask the Number two Be Sure campaign. Will put it in the description here so that all of you parents out there can be educated about meningitis.
B thank you so much for having me and letting me share and being so kind and such an amazing listener.
And oh please, Shaka is the best. She is. I think she's the best pediatrician in the world, but maybe I just think that because she's mine.
Yeah. And Shaka is also one of the best human feeds.
Yes, and I love how much you value that for real.
Yeah.
Best to you. Thank you so much.
And Melissa of course for coming on.
Yes and tell her I said hello. I'll harass her at some point here and get her on the program. Solet moon fry. Thank you to honor to be here.
Thank you so much, Brian, and thank you for raising awareness with us. Best to be Sure, So.
Leigh, thank you so much for being here. That was such a treat. I learned so much about you, primarily that you have a huge heart and you care about not just your kids and your family, but your whole community. God bless you. It was such a pleasure come back anytime. As for me, so Leay probably won't be back next week, but I will, so come back and join me please. Until then, guys, have a great week. Off. The Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside
our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern is Ali Amir Saheed. Our theme song Bubble and Squid performed by the one and only Creed Bratton