July 14, 2022 • 37 mins
Jennie and Tori are going 902 1 on 1 with Michael Anthony Rawlins aka Jordan Bonner.
Michael shares so many amazing details from his time on the show. He originally auditioned for another character, becoming Andrea's boyfriend, why he wasn't the father of Andrea's baby, and continually being recognized as Jordan Bonner.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's with Jenny Garth and Tori Spelling. Today, you guys,
we have an exciting Nino to one on one we
have with us Uh, the actor who portrayed Jordan Bonner,
(00:22):
who was Andrea's love interest, to name one of his
roles on the show, UM, played by Michael Anthony rawlins.
I'm looking at this um head shot of Michael and
he is so handsome. Yes he is. I'll take that.
Oh high. You can hear us, I can hear just fine,
(00:45):
I can see you just fine. First of all, let
me make a toast. Oh time, Where are you right now?
I'm in my living room? But where I'm in l A?
Are you in l A? I is gonna say it's
five o'clock somewhere. But okay, this is actually a prop
(01:05):
but it looks like water actually doesn't like a good prop. Um.
But let that not put a damper on the cheers.
I just want to make a touch to the original
nine O two one O G crew. Hey, cheers, cheers.
So nice to have a little drink of water with you. Yes,
(01:27):
that was water too. We UM were thrilled to have
you here because you started on our show when you
were young, just like us, and you've gone to have
this great, really fruitful career doing so many great roles
on television and films, and it's just nice to see that.
You know, thank you, thank you. When you start this journey,
(01:51):
you never know where it's gonna lead to. So m
just be able to stay in the game and have
some longevity is uh beautiful thing. So what was the
tell it talk us through the process of when you
audition you got the part of Jordan's Bonner because you
had already done like episodes of TV for other shows, right, Yeah,
(02:13):
I had some. I've done some other shows, but nothing
that had the profile of your show. Like I remember
that season three, if I'm not mistaken, weren't you all
to recover sial boxes? We had a sereal box. Yes,
it was crazy, honey, shrunk my own h what's the
(02:35):
one with the banney cheerio is with the b and
we did a commercial we were on Yeah. Um, so
it was definitely the highest profile GA that I had
booked to that point. And I remember when I got
the audition, I got the call back and I went
(02:57):
in and I think Jack Bender was the direct there
of the first episode because I was always supposed to
do one wow, and it ended up being six episodes, right, yeah, yeah,
and uh, he gave me an adjustment in the callback,
(03:18):
I think he said. I think he said, just bring
it down because the way I was reading Jordan is
he was upset with the way his high school had
been depicted as a high school that was in the hood.
And uh, I brought it down. He said, thank you.
(03:41):
And I remember getting a call from my manager a
couple hours later and she said, okay, you're You're on
the short list, but you have to be approved by
Aaron Spelling himself. And I was like, really, I'm going
to be united by Aaron Spelling? What? And then she
called back, I think it was that night or earlier
(04:04):
the next day, and said I had to roll. So
were you so excited, like like, that's a good call
to get no matter what show it's on, it was.
It was exciting my I think my manager was standing
at my My manager at the time was really cool.
I think it was the first time I saw her
actually get up and like jump around in her office.
(04:29):
Even then, once you got the part, you still thought
it was for one episode or did they know then
they were no, they didn't don't know that until after
we shot. It was in the camp. Then my agent
called and said, yeah, they're bringing you back, and it
was gonna be um, but they ended up being six.
And I don't know if you guys know this, but
(04:49):
they were actually talking about bringing me back the following season.
So one day I came to set and you know,
Gabrielle and I were dating on the show, and she
came up to me. She said, hey, Michael, and she
was kind of somber, and I was like, hey, Gabby,
what's up. She said, I gotta tell you something. I said,
(05:10):
what she goes on pregnant. I said, congratulations, and she
said yeah, they don't want you to be the father.
And I was like, okay, so they're gonna write it
into the show. She's like yeah, And I said, okay, Hey,
it's nice stopped me gap my career by good luck
(05:32):
with your baby, right so, And I think that was
around the I'm not sure wearing a season. I think
it was like the fourth and fifth episode. So I
knew that any top of me coming back the phone
the season, that's a that's a bad break right there.
You got dealta a dud deal because the baby into
(05:57):
the show, like they used her pregnant. See that's right,
that's right. And Jesse I think his name was Jesse, Yes,
the character. Yeah, yes, you know, all my friends are like, dude,
that could have been you. I was like, I know,
leave me alone. I'm going to be crying. I loved
(06:17):
the character of Jordan Bonner, Like, yeah, we all the
character of Jesse was cool, but like that would have
been really cool, like to continue that storyline and you're
the father and to to focus on you know what
you did so beautifully already for the show. What's such
an important pivotal role on the show by you know,
sort of representing all the the racial inequities that were
(06:41):
happening in in the you know, the storylines at that time.
You you played all of that so beautifully, and it
would have been so impressive to like expand that and
let that. Yeah, that would lay out great story and
no offense to gap. But I can't. That's kind of
shocking that she delivered that information, right, Yeah, I'm like
outside the makeup trailer probably like like yes, I think
(07:05):
we're in the sound stage, but you know, Daddy and
I actually stayed in touch over the years, and I
think because we were dating on the show, she felt
like I think I remember saying something in the fact
that I wanted you to hear it from me because
you boyfriend and girlfriend on the show, and I know
(07:25):
how this can, you know, affect someone, and I just
wanted you to hear it from me. So I think
she was it was like a caretaker thing for her
and gotten to know her a little bit over the years.
I haven't seen her now in a few years, but
we would bump into each other and hook up. I've
been to her home and her family. Um, that's who
(07:47):
she is, you know. So it was unfortunate to hear.
But I actually when they called me, when my rets
called me to tell me, I was like, yeah, I
kind of knew. They're like, why do you tell us?
I was like, I was kind of hoping it wouldn't manifest,
but you know, so, but these are the kinds of
(08:08):
things that we deal with them, this crazy roller coaster
called the Hollywood career. We we've had Gab on our
show a couple of times now and we are very
close with her, and she told us something that kind
of rocked our worlds, which was, uh, that you guys
were love interests. It was going somewhere, and we loved it.
(08:31):
We were both Tory and I were both because we're
watching the show back. So when that episode came out,
you guys started to like flirt and you're both at
the Yale party. We got getting really excited that that
was about to happen. But she said that that the producers,
when they started to go a different direction, they wouldn't
even let you guys kiss, and she felt that it
(08:52):
was a racial thing like that they weren't going to
go there. And she told us that when we were
doing pH now to know, she was like, there was
a couple of things that happened that wouldn't have happened nowadays.
But then it was like she wasn't allowed to wear
a Jewish cross, she wasn't allowed to kiss the black man,
Like yeah, she kept pointing things out that we were like, what,
(09:12):
we didn't know this was happening at the time, right right.
I remember her talking to me about the cross, sorry,
not a Jewish cross. That made no sense coming from
the Jewish girl here a Jewish star. She wasn't allowed
to wear a Jewish star, she wasn't allowed to kiss
the black Man on camera and it just blew our minds. Yeah,
it surprised me because to your dad was known as
(09:33):
an innovator. I mean, I think, if I'm not mistaking
in revitation for introducing the first situation a couple on TV,
it was the mon Squad yapp So I was I
was huge. He was so proud of that and wanted
to always continue that. So all I could think of,
And you know my dad, My dad was Jewish, so
(09:55):
you would have loved a Jewish her on camera, like
not just crosses and representing you out our our heritage.
But like, I can only think that the network at
the time just wasn't into it. It had to have
been that, I wonder. I wish I could go back
and ask my dad, like, what was the fight there?
Which again those things because it was Fox and they
were also known for beating breaking them all exactly. They
(10:17):
brought us in a would be in color like they
were the edgy new for network. It just makes no
sense to us. Did we know so you heard that too? Yeah? Yeah, um,
like was it actually in the script and then didn't
happen or never even made it into the script? The kiss?
I think I have my script somewhere because I remember
(10:38):
asking you guys to sign them, so it's kind of
keep safe for me that I've held on to. I
don't remember seeing that in the script. I just remember
Gabby when she stopped me to me, I saw her
take off the cross like she got the cross, and
we had a conversation about it. But I don't remember
there being at kids, you know. I just I think
(11:00):
the closest we got physically on the show was we
actually held hands. I think that's the closest we got
on the show, and we I think in a couple
of scenes we were standing show on the shoulder, but
nothing remotely over. Wow. Yeah, if you could go back
(11:22):
in time, what would you tell the writers and the
producers if you had, if you had the opportunity, I
would say, let's be ahead of the diversity postion to
do it now, you know, um, be on the forefront. Uh.
It was what you know, it wasn't so outside the
(11:47):
box to have inter racial people dating at that time,
you know, to your dad had already done it in
the seventies. Yeah, so come on, guys, Yeah, you know none.
Tuno was a young show. Your target demo was young
(12:08):
if anybody's going to embrace that storyline, it would have
been a youth. The youth is always leading the revolution,
so I think it would have been embrace. I remember
(12:28):
at the time though, that there was a lot of
fan backlash with nine O, two and O because people
are saying there's no diversity, it's an all white cast
of main characters. And I remember my dad being so
deeply hurt by that because that that was always his thing,
Like he was so into diversity and pushing it and
pushing the limits when it wasn't even done on TV, so,
(12:51):
you know, and they kept saying it was you know,
they never said like, oh, could it be you know,
the network, it was always Aaron Spelling doesn't put people
on the show, and it's like, that's not true. That's
what they do, you know. The season before season two,
I actually auditioned to play via Vivica Fox's brother for
(13:14):
that family was Richard rown Tree. Right, Oh, that was
the first time I read for the casting director whose
name escapes me. You remember who cast the show? Was
it Joanna right at the time, Jore No, it wasn't.
I didn't read for Joe anyway. I think she did
the original casting cast and came after. Anyway, I remember
(13:38):
going in and uh, I read she brought me back
for producers and then I didn't get it. But what
I heard happened was that Richard Rowntree wanted more money
if they were like they were supposed to recur they
only ended up doing right, They inevitably wanted them, yeah,
(14:00):
as to fold them into the main cast, right right.
But from what I understand, Richard Rowntree wasn't getting the
love he thought he deserved, and Spike he thought he deserved.
And that's what torpedo that story. Like, I could be wrong,
I think I agree with him the same, but that's
what I understand. And so when I came back to
(14:23):
read for season for the character in season three, I
remember it was a guest star. So there were like
four scenes. They were like twelve pages, and it was
on a Monday, and I spent the weekend working on it.
When I got there, the Castle rector said, so we're
just gonna do one scene, and I was like, I
(14:45):
hate right, and it still happens, But I was said
to myself, I was having this internal battle and I
was like, am I gonna stand up for myself right now,
or am I just gonna do the scene? And I said,
you know, uh, she picked the scene. It would be
one thing if she said pick a scene and you
could pick the scene that you thought best showcase your character.
(15:07):
She picked the scene, and I said, her name is Diane.
Her first name is Diane. It just came to me.
I can't remember her last name, but she said, I said, Diane.
I said, I think the character is better showcased in
this scene and she said really. I said, yeah, I
think that's where the meat is. And she said, well,
why don't you do the scene I asked you to do,
and then if you do well, you can have the entree.
(15:29):
And I was like, Earl, it's called Mike bluff, so
I was about to have that coming either, so I
didn't see she picked. She said, okay, Michael, you get
your entrede today. See I wanted to do which is
the scene where me and Brandon meet for the first time,
(15:53):
And I thought that was clearly the best scene out
of before. And I did it and she goes, I
want you to come back and producers, and I came
back and I got the role. But yeah, it's interesting
just how I guess I was destined to be on
the show because I have a vision for this. Oh,
I'm glad you you spoke up. That's not good to know.
(16:16):
It's one of those moments in your career as an
actor if you take a stand, if you're not afraid
to take a stand, it cannot only make a change,
but it empowers you. And you know, when you're starting
off in this business and you've done a few things,
but you haven't done a lot. You're trying to take
your career to the next step, to the next level.
(16:36):
It's moments like those that can end up defining your career,
you know. And after that audition, I would walk in
the room with much more confident and feel like I
belong instead of doing my best work in the rear
view mirror in my car the way home. Yes, yeah, wow,
that's a good lesson for actors out there everywhere. Really
(17:01):
find your voice when you need it for so short
a period of time, so you know, take the Like
that was the first time I took the room. As
they say, because you are here in class, take the room.
It's your time. Take the room. And I really hadn't
felt like I've taken the room until that moment. That's
when I took the room for the first time. I
(17:23):
hope I ever have another audition, because I'm going to
take the room. Take it. I've never taken a room
in an audition. I'm the worst audition. I don't know
about you, guys, but she always says that clearly not
so much. So next time I'm thinking of you. Okay,
was this one of those auditions have you ever had?
(17:44):
I mean we've had them, Like the auditions where you're like, oh,
this is my part, I'm getting it, and you do
get it. You're like, see, I was right, I knew it,
and the ones where they were like, amazing, do you
want me to change anything? No, it was perfect. You're like,
I'm not getting this, Like did you feel that when
I when I left the callback, I felt like I
(18:04):
had done a good job. But I've been doing it
long enough to know that that really didn't mean anything
because a lot of times when I feel like I
hit it out of the park, crickets, when I stunk
up the room. Yeah, they want a book, what exactly
is There's no rhyme or reason. It's what they have
(18:25):
in their minds, what they want and sometimes that that comes.
That happens where some an actor comes in and changes
their minds like you did that and that's awesome. Oh
thank you, that's so good. So um, what is good you?
What's going on for you now? Like tell us where
you are and what you're doing? Tell you what's taking
(18:46):
up the majority of my time right now? If you
can see my T shirt, it says dead ever. So
I have a fourteen year old who has followed in
my footsteps. He actually wee last week just wrapped a
movie called Heart of a Lion, which is a sony
picture about the Xbox and champion George Foreman. Oh gosh, wow,
(19:11):
yeah he George Foreman as a kid. That's amazing. It's
being directed or was directed by George Tillman, who's known
for Soul Food, They Hate You Give, Notorious b I G.
And his mom is being played by Sonya son from
The Wire and The Shy talk about intense. Um, so
(19:34):
it's liked you better bring your a game because your
mom don't play. Oh wow, were you nervous because you
had to be with him on set? Right? Or did
he have somebody else? I'm more nervous for him than
he is for himself. You know, Um, when it's a
big audition, I'm like, I'm the one that needs to
calm down and breathe. He's fine. So you are what
(19:57):
do they call it, what you're stage teach? Now? I
guess I am, yeah, I mean, you know, he's uh.
He started. We lived in Chicago for five years from
twenty nineteen and that's where he really got started. He
had an agent here in l A before we left,
and he was auditioning a little bit, but when we
(20:18):
got to Chicago he really took off. He started doing theater.
He did uh Last Stop on Market Street, which is
the world premiere in the Chicago Children's Theater. And he
started on stage, interestingly enough, at the good Man in
Chicago doing the four yeth anniversary at a Christmas Carol,
and it was really surreal because he played. One of
(20:40):
the roles he played was Turkey Boy, which is a
little English kid that comes on at the end and
has a scene with Scrooge. So you have to do
a British accent. And I was born in one of England,
so at that age I had that accent. So seeing
the poor child on stage doing a British accent at
the same age that you were when you had that accent.
(21:02):
It was like it was one of those moments. I
was just like, I got goose bumps. You're so proud.
I love it. I am I and I'd be proud
of him regardless. I mean, he just he just got
an award. I think it's called the President's Award for
Outstanding Achievement that I didn't even know existed, along with
(21:24):
being a Distinguished Honished student for grade eight. Um, he's
got a four point on g p A. I never
had a four point I feel shamed right now. You're hilarious. Yeah,
(21:46):
he's a good kid. I got lucky. He's a good kid.
His name is Kai Katie I and he just goes
by his first name. That's it. That's all he needs
to go by. I love it. Wow, I'm kind gratulations.
Thank you. I'm still in the game, you know, I'm still,
like most of the rank and file members of the
(22:07):
screen actors, still playing the auditional game. I had one
today actually, and my son, ensuring Love, had an audition
for nine one one two. It's do tomorrow and it's
for the same episode. But we don't we don't have
any scenes together. Oh that'd be really fun if you
got it. Like one of these days, can we just
work together? Are you auditioning from your home like we
(22:30):
all are? Will we ever, Jenny, will we ever get
to go in the room and actually take the wak
the room. I think it's gonna be a lot easier
for me to take my living room than their office room.
So I'm happy with the way. Yeah, so happy about
self tapes because I was like, oh good, I don't
have to worry about the nerves are screwing up, Like
I'll actually just do good work. But I missed the
(22:52):
room a little bit. I missed the power, you know,
like seeing people respond and laugh, the energy laugh like
you know something exactly. Yeah, I feel the same as you, Tori.
I'm like, I like you like the control. Like I've
been doing some writing and directing two of short films
and some of them have been in festivals, one won
(23:14):
one an award, And so if you have aspirations beyond acting,
you love the control of your audition. But I told myself,
I said, you know, I don't know. I think self
taping is here to stay. I mean, we were doing
it before COVID, but I think it's here to stay
in a bigger way. But I think if you're like
(23:36):
shortlisted for a series or leading the film, you're gonna
have to go in the room. You know, let's help. Yeah. Um,
And I said, don't get too comfortable, because I think
at some point down the road it's gonna be a
mix of the two where you're going in the room.
Sometimes the self tape like a hybrid. Yeah, I like
a hybrid exactly. And going in the room is it's uh,
(24:00):
especially I haven't done in a while. You know, we
can be I'm anticipating like having dry mouths. You know,
you get cotton mouths when you're really nervous, when you
can't talk. But the energy, I think is what we
all missed the most. You know. It's like doing theater,
that energy you get. Like when we moved to Chicago,
(24:21):
I hadn't done theater in six years, and the first
show I was so nervous in the wings. Like when
I was younger doing theater, they would hold me back
in the wings to go, you're not on yet, flow
your role, And now doing theater all these years later,
they're like, you know that's your cue. Go, So yeah,
(24:44):
I'm kind of looking forward to going back in the
room sometimes, but I think I like the kind of
hybrid situation that we're in now. You know, sometimes you're
at home sometimes during the room, So I guess you
have to wait and see how you get it. Yea,
(25:05):
m m. So Jordan was on the show for six episodes,
which for recurring like that was a big deal, like
six episodes, and do you feel like, what was like
do you still get recognized as Jordan Bonner? And back then,
what was it like when people like when he became
so big on the show, what was it like the
fan reaction when you would go out, I got recognized
(25:30):
for some We did that so probably through like two
thousands and early two thousand's, I would say, I mean
early twenty tenths, like for a long time, and people,
you know, nine two and oh fans were rabid, so
(25:52):
they would be like Jordan Bonner, hands up, and it
was and they would tell you about the episode or
one of the six episodes and give you the storyline
like they were serious. And it was like that for
at least twenty years after doing the show. It's just
the last few years and you know, I am proudly
(26:16):
bald now, so I'm not rocking the flattop anymore. So
it's kind and I have facial hair that's gray, so
if I shave it, though I tend to get people
will still pick me up. And I've noticed you. You
look the same to me, thank you. Um. But yeah,
(26:37):
at the time when it aired, yeah, I got recognized
a lot more than I had ever been in my career.
And I remember my my dad coming to town and
we were at remember Mrs Gouches before it was wiled
by Whole food Oh my god, yes, god, Mrs that
was like that, sor And I remember you never picked
(26:59):
to that place. You made me go there to get brags. Yeah. Yeah,
they had all the good stuff and we were very
upset that they were being bottled by Whole Foods. I
remember signing a petition to stop it from happening. It
didn't work. It didn't work. We didn't get it done.
Corporate America. What are you gonna do? But um, I
(27:20):
was saying, Mrs cootch is one time with my dad
and a few people were pointing in whispering, and I
knew it was happening, but because they didn't approach me
or anything, I just kept it moving. And my dad said,
don't you see those people pointing at you and talking
to you what I said or pointing at you? And
I said, yeah, that I do. He goes so soon
(27:43):
as you go over and talking to me about saying, well,
if I did that, we wouldn't get anything done. I
love the fans, but if they come up and they
acknowledge you, that's when you haven't exchange. But I'm not
going out of my kna go hey, do you guys
reckon as me? Right? Yeah, that that would be a
(28:03):
little weird, but it must have been for you guys,
like it was huge. So how did you guys deal
with it? I mean it's always different, Like every it
seems like every encounter has a different energy about it,
like a different way to handle it. Right, Like there's
those fans that you have to give them your undivided
(28:25):
attention and time because they are so passionate and so devoted,
and we we love those fans and our show has
a lot of them, thank goodness. Seel Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean that's why I think for us it just
became such a constant way of life, Like I know
(28:48):
for me, like people would see like your dad seeing
that people were seeing you. I wouldn't have seen it.
It just kind of in order to have a normal life,
like I would just navigate and I didn't even see it.
It was like, you know, white noise. Yeah, and then
people would be like, oh my god, those people are
freaking out. I'd be like what people Like, I didn't
even notice it. And then when I did, like, of course,
(29:09):
I would like be with them and say like hi,
and and give them hugs. But in order to do
your daily routine, you kind of just had to like
go through life and not be like, oh my god,
oh my god, everyone's looking at me. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I think um. Somebody told me early on. I can't
(29:30):
remember who they were talking about specifically, but they said,
this person is one of the biggest stars in the
world and they just they do their own grocery shopping.
They don't have any bodyguards or anything. And he said,
I think the people that, unless it's a very unique situation,
the people that don't have bodyguards and just go about
(29:51):
their lives in a in a regular way are fine.
It's like the bigger you make of it, the bigger
it becomes. Like you can attract all that madness if
you don't navigate that space careful. Very true. I didn't
know that was even an option back then, to have
(30:11):
somebody else do your grocery shopping, or to have a bodyguard,
like we had bodyguards on set in our real life,
Like we didn't just have a bodyguard as we went
and did our errands during the day, and we didn't
have instat cart or like things like that. So yeah,
you just had to write like you did your own
grocery shopping, Like what was the alternative? You had to
put your armor on and go out into the world. Yeah, yeah,
(30:34):
we had. There were times. There were like times when
it was harder than than other times, and you had
to kind of adapt and be flexible and give yourself
a little a little break because it was challenging for
sure at times, and it still can be like even
you know, just going out sometimes you gotta like psych
(30:55):
yourself up. I mean I do, I have to psych
myself up to go. I'm going out in the world.
And because I live my life like I'm just a
normal person. I'm a mom, I have dogs, I run
my house like I have to do all the things
like we're normal people. But when you go out and
then you get recognized, you're like, wait, what, I'm not
normal like that. It's confusing messaging. Yeah. Yeah, and when
(31:17):
when you have kids, I think it's even trickier. It is,
especially when they're little because they don't understand. Like one
of mine were smaller, they'd be like, we were just
we're here to have fun. We want to go, you know,
do this and be at Chuck E Cheese and like
people were wanting to talk to me and they're like,
come on, and those are the bands like you can't, yeah,
(31:37):
be rude. Yeah, they don't get it at their kids. Yeah. Yeah.
I remember getting escorted to set one day. There was
a knock on my door. Um, it might have been
an episode the second or third episode I did. There's
a knock on my door and I opened the door
to the trailer and there were two bodyguards standing there
and they were like. I was like, hey, they're like
(32:00):
here to escort you to set. And I was like,
I think you're ever wrong. Trailer. Jason's trailer's right there,
and they're like, well, you're seen as with Jason and
he's gonna need an escort to set. And I was
like okay, And I really didn't clue in yet until
I came out of my trailer and then we stopped
in his trailer, and then the four of us walked
the set and we were shooting at the high school
(32:23):
and there were girls on the feds. It was like
being inside of Beatles footage. They were screaming and crying
and I was like, oh my god to see it
up close. And I remember turning to Jason and I said,
so this is your life and I will never forget this.
His shoulders went up like this. He just he just
(32:45):
kind of sighed. We went yeah, and I was like, whoa,
that's a lot of weight. You could feel the weight
on him, the weight of celebrity, And in that moment,
I said to myself, you know, I don't need to
be crazy famous. I just want to work. I'd rather
(33:05):
not deal with all of that and just kind of
be one of those actors that people see and recognize,
but they don't know who you are. They don't know
what you see. When they're just like, hey, there's that actor.
What's his name, what's he been in? But they don't know,
so you can kind of roll anonymously, you know what
I'm saying, but I will never forget that moment. Yeah,
(33:25):
I mean I think it's still happening today, like you know,
a famous the Beast, and there's no there's no like
nobody tells you how to deal with it, and nobody
tell us how to deal with it. And I think,
like now, because of the Internet and because we have
so much exposure to everything, we know, like people that
(33:46):
are coming up now know what it's going to be like.
But back then, nobody warned us. Nobody warned Jason and
Luke what was going to happen to their lives on
that level. And we just I'm so grateful and proud
of everybody for making it out alive, you know, just
getting through it and and and I think everybody dealt
with it pretty well. Yeah. Yeah, it's uh, it's tricky
(34:10):
and you you know, going in that it's that it
could happen. But like you said, there's one book, so
we should make one. We should write a book. You should.
How does yeal of fame? Celebrity now is even crazier
with social media. It's not snill, it's next level. I
(34:34):
mean I've had the conversation with my son and just
told him like he did a movie. His first movie
was Timmy Failure. Mistakes were made and it came out
on Disney Plus as one of their initial original movies.
And so he dealt with it at school because everybody
was like, oh my god, there's from Timmy Failure and uh,
(34:58):
he said, Daddy, you were right, And he said, and
where kids that came up to me and talked to
me and wanted to be my friend who never talked
to me before, you know, ignored me, even kids in
my own class. And I said, yeah, it's one of
the downsides that you have to deal with. So you know,
keep your friends closer and enemies closer. You know, you'll
(35:20):
know who's genuine and who's not. But I think it's
a trickier thing, so hard for kids to navigate than
for adult It's still hard. I still don't sometimes make
the right choice and don't realize because you want people
to like you for you, and you forget like, oh,
I just went into it and I even thought, of
(35:40):
course they like me for me, and then you're like, oh,
there's that. I forgot that part of it. Yeah. Yeah,
so it's hard. So good chatting with you, Mike, so
great to see your face. We could do this for
at I love it. It's our favorite thing to do, right.
(36:01):
We're very appreciative that you came on today with us,
and the fans will be so happy to get to
see you and hear what we're talking about with you. Well,
I'm honored that you guys reached out. I'm glad you did.
It's good to see you and hopefully in some uh
when the world returns to his access, maybe we can
(36:21):
see each other person or something. I know it's true.
We're gonna set that you and your son get to
be in a project together. Would be fabulous. Yes, yes, yes,
all body parts crossed. But I'm definitely gonna channel. I'm
gonna take I'm gonna take the room my next opportunity
because of you. Thank you. So good to see you, Jenny. Good,
(36:47):
good to see you. Thank you back at you. Bye,
It's with Jenny Garth and Tori Spelling. Today, you guys,
we have an exciting Nino to one on one we
have with us Uh, the actor who portrayed Jordan Bonner,
(00:22):
who was Andrea's love interest, to name one of his
roles on the show, UM, played by Michael Anthony rawlins.
I'm looking at this um head shot of Michael and
he is so handsome. Yes he is. I'll take that.
Oh high. You can hear us, I can hear just fine,
(00:45):
I can see you just fine. First of all, let
me make a toast. Oh time, Where are you right now?
I'm in my living room? But where I'm in l A?
Are you in l A? I is gonna say it's
five o'clock somewhere. But okay, this is actually a prop
(01:05):
but it looks like water actually doesn't like a good prop. Um.
But let that not put a damper on the cheers.
I just want to make a touch to the original
nine O two one O G crew. Hey, cheers, cheers.
So nice to have a little drink of water with you. Yes,
(01:27):
that was water too. We UM were thrilled to have
you here because you started on our show when you
were young, just like us, and you've gone to have
this great, really fruitful career doing so many great roles
on television and films, and it's just nice to see that.
You know, thank you, thank you. When you start this journey,
(01:51):
you never know where it's gonna lead to. So m
just be able to stay in the game and have
some longevity is uh beautiful thing. So what was the
tell it talk us through the process of when you
audition you got the part of Jordan's Bonner because you
had already done like episodes of TV for other shows, right, Yeah,
(02:13):
I had some. I've done some other shows, but nothing
that had the profile of your show. Like I remember
that season three, if I'm not mistaken, weren't you all
to recover sial boxes? We had a sereal box. Yes,
it was crazy, honey, shrunk my own h what's the
(02:35):
one with the banney cheerio is with the b and
we did a commercial we were on Yeah. Um, so
it was definitely the highest profile GA that I had
booked to that point. And I remember when I got
the audition, I got the call back and I went
(02:57):
in and I think Jack Bender was the direct there
of the first episode because I was always supposed to
do one wow, and it ended up being six episodes, right, yeah, yeah,
and uh, he gave me an adjustment in the callback,
(03:18):
I think he said. I think he said, just bring
it down because the way I was reading Jordan is
he was upset with the way his high school had
been depicted as a high school that was in the hood.
And uh, I brought it down. He said, thank you.
(03:41):
And I remember getting a call from my manager a
couple hours later and she said, okay, you're You're on
the short list, but you have to be approved by
Aaron Spelling himself. And I was like, really, I'm going
to be united by Aaron Spelling? What? And then she
called back, I think it was that night or earlier
(04:04):
the next day, and said I had to roll. So
were you so excited, like like, that's a good call
to get no matter what show it's on, it was.
It was exciting my I think my manager was standing
at my My manager at the time was really cool.
I think it was the first time I saw her
actually get up and like jump around in her office.
(04:29):
Even then, once you got the part, you still thought
it was for one episode or did they know then
they were no, they didn't don't know that until after
we shot. It was in the camp. Then my agent
called and said, yeah, they're bringing you back, and it
was gonna be um, but they ended up being six.
And I don't know if you guys know this, but
(04:49):
they were actually talking about bringing me back the following season.
So one day I came to set and you know,
Gabrielle and I were dating on the show, and she
came up to me. She said, hey, Michael, and she
was kind of somber, and I was like, hey, Gabby,
what's up. She said, I gotta tell you something. I said,
(05:10):
what she goes on pregnant. I said, congratulations, and she
said yeah, they don't want you to be the father.
And I was like, okay, so they're gonna write it
into the show. She's like yeah, And I said, okay, Hey,
it's nice stopped me gap my career by good luck
(05:32):
with your baby, right so, And I think that was
around the I'm not sure wearing a season. I think
it was like the fourth and fifth episode. So I
knew that any top of me coming back the phone
the season, that's a that's a bad break right there.
You got dealta a dud deal because the baby into
(05:57):
the show, like they used her pregnant. See that's right,
that's right. And Jesse I think his name was Jesse, Yes,
the character. Yeah, yes, you know, all my friends are like, dude,
that could have been you. I was like, I know,
leave me alone. I'm going to be crying. I loved
(06:17):
the character of Jordan Bonner, Like, yeah, we all the
character of Jesse was cool, but like that would have
been really cool, like to continue that storyline and you're
the father and to to focus on you know what
you did so beautifully already for the show. What's such
an important pivotal role on the show by you know,
sort of representing all the the racial inequities that were
(06:41):
happening in in the you know, the storylines at that time.
You you played all of that so beautifully, and it
would have been so impressive to like expand that and
let that. Yeah, that would lay out great story and
no offense to gap. But I can't. That's kind of
shocking that she delivered that information, right, Yeah, I'm like
outside the makeup trailer probably like like yes, I think
(07:05):
we're in the sound stage, but you know, Daddy and
I actually stayed in touch over the years, and I
think because we were dating on the show, she felt
like I think I remember saying something in the fact
that I wanted you to hear it from me because
you boyfriend and girlfriend on the show, and I know
(07:25):
how this can, you know, affect someone, and I just
wanted you to hear it from me. So I think
she was it was like a caretaker thing for her
and gotten to know her a little bit over the years.
I haven't seen her now in a few years, but
we would bump into each other and hook up. I've
been to her home and her family. Um, that's who
(07:47):
she is, you know. So it was unfortunate to hear.
But I actually when they called me, when my rets
called me to tell me, I was like, yeah, I
kind of knew. They're like, why do you tell us?
I was like, I was kind of hoping it wouldn't manifest,
but you know, so, but these are the kinds of
(08:08):
things that we deal with them, this crazy roller coaster
called the Hollywood career. We we've had Gab on our
show a couple of times now and we are very
close with her, and she told us something that kind
of rocked our worlds, which was, uh, that you guys
were love interests. It was going somewhere, and we loved it.
(08:31):
We were both Tory and I were both because we're
watching the show back. So when that episode came out,
you guys started to like flirt and you're both at
the Yale party. We got getting really excited that that
was about to happen. But she said that that the producers,
when they started to go a different direction, they wouldn't
even let you guys kiss, and she felt that it
(08:52):
was a racial thing like that they weren't going to
go there. And she told us that when we were
doing pH now to know, she was like, there was
a couple of things that happened that wouldn't have happened nowadays.
But then it was like she wasn't allowed to wear
a Jewish cross, she wasn't allowed to kiss the black man,
Like yeah, she kept pointing things out that we were like, what,
(09:12):
we didn't know this was happening at the time, right right.
I remember her talking to me about the cross, sorry,
not a Jewish cross. That made no sense coming from
the Jewish girl here a Jewish star. She wasn't allowed
to wear a Jewish star, she wasn't allowed to kiss
the black Man on camera and it just blew our minds. Yeah,
it surprised me because to your dad was known as
(09:33):
an innovator. I mean, I think, if I'm not mistaking
in revitation for introducing the first situation a couple on TV,
it was the mon Squad yapp So I was I
was huge. He was so proud of that and wanted
to always continue that. So all I could think of,
And you know my dad, My dad was Jewish, so
(09:55):
you would have loved a Jewish her on camera, like
not just crosses and representing you out our our heritage.
But like, I can only think that the network at
the time just wasn't into it. It had to have
been that, I wonder. I wish I could go back
and ask my dad, like, what was the fight there?
Which again those things because it was Fox and they
were also known for beating breaking them all exactly. They
(10:17):
brought us in a would be in color like they
were the edgy new for network. It just makes no
sense to us. Did we know so you heard that too? Yeah? Yeah, um,
like was it actually in the script and then didn't
happen or never even made it into the script? The kiss?
I think I have my script somewhere because I remember
(10:38):
asking you guys to sign them, so it's kind of
keep safe for me that I've held on to. I
don't remember seeing that in the script. I just remember
Gabby when she stopped me to me, I saw her
take off the cross like she got the cross, and
we had a conversation about it. But I don't remember
there being at kids, you know. I just I think
(11:00):
the closest we got physically on the show was we
actually held hands. I think that's the closest we got
on the show, and we I think in a couple
of scenes we were standing show on the shoulder, but
nothing remotely over. Wow. Yeah, if you could go back
(11:22):
in time, what would you tell the writers and the
producers if you had, if you had the opportunity, I
would say, let's be ahead of the diversity postion to
do it now, you know, um, be on the forefront. Uh.
It was what you know, it wasn't so outside the
(11:47):
box to have inter racial people dating at that time,
you know, to your dad had already done it in
the seventies. Yeah, so come on, guys, Yeah, you know none.
Tuno was a young show. Your target demo was young
(12:08):
if anybody's going to embrace that storyline, it would have
been a youth. The youth is always leading the revolution,
so I think it would have been embrace. I remember
(12:28):
at the time though, that there was a lot of
fan backlash with nine O, two and O because people
are saying there's no diversity, it's an all white cast
of main characters. And I remember my dad being so
deeply hurt by that because that that was always his thing,
Like he was so into diversity and pushing it and
pushing the limits when it wasn't even done on TV, so,
(12:51):
you know, and they kept saying it was you know,
they never said like, oh, could it be you know,
the network, it was always Aaron Spelling doesn't put people
on the show, and it's like, that's not true. That's
what they do, you know. The season before season two,
I actually auditioned to play via Vivica Fox's brother for
(13:14):
that family was Richard rown Tree. Right, Oh, that was
the first time I read for the casting director whose
name escapes me. You remember who cast the show? Was
it Joanna right at the time, Jore No, it wasn't.
I didn't read for Joe anyway. I think she did
the original casting cast and came after. Anyway, I remember
(13:38):
going in and uh, I read she brought me back
for producers and then I didn't get it. But what
I heard happened was that Richard Rowntree wanted more money
if they were like they were supposed to recur they
only ended up doing right, They inevitably wanted them, yeah,
(14:00):
as to fold them into the main cast, right right.
But from what I understand, Richard Rowntree wasn't getting the
love he thought he deserved, and Spike he thought he deserved.
And that's what torpedo that story. Like, I could be wrong,
I think I agree with him the same, but that's
what I understand. And so when I came back to
(14:23):
read for season for the character in season three, I
remember it was a guest star. So there were like
four scenes. They were like twelve pages, and it was
on a Monday, and I spent the weekend working on it.
When I got there, the Castle rector said, so we're
just gonna do one scene, and I was like, I
(14:45):
hate right, and it still happens, But I was said
to myself, I was having this internal battle and I
was like, am I gonna stand up for myself right now,
or am I just gonna do the scene? And I said,
you know, uh, she picked the scene. It would be
one thing if she said pick a scene and you
could pick the scene that you thought best showcase your character.
(15:07):
She picked the scene, and I said, her name is Diane.
Her first name is Diane. It just came to me.
I can't remember her last name, but she said, I said, Diane.
I said, I think the character is better showcased in
this scene and she said really. I said, yeah, I
think that's where the meat is. And she said, well,
why don't you do the scene I asked you to do,
and then if you do well, you can have the entree.
(15:29):
And I was like, Earl, it's called Mike bluff, so
I was about to have that coming either, so I
didn't see she picked. She said, okay, Michael, you get
your entrede today. See I wanted to do which is
the scene where me and Brandon meet for the first time,
(15:53):
And I thought that was clearly the best scene out
of before. And I did it and she goes, I
want you to come back and producers, and I came
back and I got the role. But yeah, it's interesting
just how I guess I was destined to be on
the show because I have a vision for this. Oh,
I'm glad you you spoke up. That's not good to know.
(16:16):
It's one of those moments in your career as an
actor if you take a stand, if you're not afraid
to take a stand, it cannot only make a change,
but it empowers you. And you know, when you're starting
off in this business and you've done a few things,
but you haven't done a lot. You're trying to take
your career to the next step, to the next level.
(16:36):
It's moments like those that can end up defining your career,
you know. And after that audition, I would walk in
the room with much more confident and feel like I
belong instead of doing my best work in the rear
view mirror in my car the way home. Yes, yeah, wow,
that's a good lesson for actors out there everywhere. Really
(17:01):
find your voice when you need it for so short
a period of time, so you know, take the Like
that was the first time I took the room. As
they say, because you are here in class, take the room.
It's your time. Take the room. And I really hadn't
felt like I've taken the room until that moment. That's
when I took the room for the first time. I
(17:23):
hope I ever have another audition, because I'm going to
take the room. Take it. I've never taken a room
in an audition. I'm the worst audition. I don't know
about you, guys, but she always says that clearly not
so much. So next time I'm thinking of you. Okay,
was this one of those auditions have you ever had?
(17:44):
I mean we've had them, Like the auditions where you're like, oh,
this is my part, I'm getting it, and you do
get it. You're like, see, I was right, I knew it,
and the ones where they were like, amazing, do you
want me to change anything? No, it was perfect. You're like,
I'm not getting this, Like did you feel that when
I when I left the callback, I felt like I
(18:04):
had done a good job. But I've been doing it
long enough to know that that really didn't mean anything
because a lot of times when I feel like I
hit it out of the park, crickets, when I stunk
up the room. Yeah, they want a book, what exactly
is There's no rhyme or reason. It's what they have
(18:25):
in their minds, what they want and sometimes that that comes.
That happens where some an actor comes in and changes
their minds like you did that and that's awesome. Oh
thank you, that's so good. So um, what is good you?
What's going on for you now? Like tell us where
you are and what you're doing? Tell you what's taking
(18:46):
up the majority of my time right now? If you
can see my T shirt, it says dead ever. So
I have a fourteen year old who has followed in
my footsteps. He actually wee last week just wrapped a
movie called Heart of a Lion, which is a sony
picture about the Xbox and champion George Foreman. Oh gosh, wow,
(19:11):
yeah he George Foreman as a kid. That's amazing. It's
being directed or was directed by George Tillman, who's known
for Soul Food, They Hate You Give, Notorious b I G.
And his mom is being played by Sonya son from
The Wire and The Shy talk about intense. Um, so
(19:34):
it's liked you better bring your a game because your
mom don't play. Oh wow, were you nervous because you
had to be with him on set? Right? Or did
he have somebody else? I'm more nervous for him than
he is for himself. You know, Um, when it's a
big audition, I'm like, I'm the one that needs to
calm down and breathe. He's fine. So you are what
(19:57):
do they call it, what you're stage teach? Now? I
guess I am, yeah, I mean, you know, he's uh.
He started. We lived in Chicago for five years from
twenty nineteen and that's where he really got started. He
had an agent here in l A before we left,
and he was auditioning a little bit, but when we
(20:18):
got to Chicago he really took off. He started doing theater.
He did uh Last Stop on Market Street, which is
the world premiere in the Chicago Children's Theater. And he
started on stage, interestingly enough, at the good Man in
Chicago doing the four yeth anniversary at a Christmas Carol,
and it was really surreal because he played. One of
(20:40):
the roles he played was Turkey Boy, which is a
little English kid that comes on at the end and
has a scene with Scrooge. So you have to do
a British accent. And I was born in one of England,
so at that age I had that accent. So seeing
the poor child on stage doing a British accent at
the same age that you were when you had that accent.
(21:02):
It was like it was one of those moments. I
was just like, I got goose bumps. You're so proud.
I love it. I am I and I'd be proud
of him regardless. I mean, he just he just got
an award. I think it's called the President's Award for
Outstanding Achievement that I didn't even know existed, along with
(21:24):
being a Distinguished Honished student for grade eight. Um, he's
got a four point on g p A. I never
had a four point I feel shamed right now. You're hilarious. Yeah,
(21:46):
he's a good kid. I got lucky. He's a good kid.
His name is Kai Katie I and he just goes
by his first name. That's it. That's all he needs
to go by. I love it. Wow, I'm kind gratulations.
Thank you. I'm still in the game, you know, I'm still,
like most of the rank and file members of the
(22:07):
screen actors, still playing the auditional game. I had one
today actually, and my son, ensuring Love, had an audition
for nine one one two. It's do tomorrow and it's
for the same episode. But we don't we don't have
any scenes together. Oh that'd be really fun if you
got it. Like one of these days, can we just
work together? Are you auditioning from your home like we
(22:30):
all are? Will we ever, Jenny, will we ever get
to go in the room and actually take the wak
the room. I think it's gonna be a lot easier
for me to take my living room than their office room.
So I'm happy with the way. Yeah, so happy about
self tapes because I was like, oh good, I don't
have to worry about the nerves are screwing up, Like
I'll actually just do good work. But I missed the
(22:52):
room a little bit. I missed the power, you know,
like seeing people respond and laugh, the energy laugh like
you know something exactly. Yeah, I feel the same as you, Tori.
I'm like, I like you like the control. Like I've
been doing some writing and directing two of short films
and some of them have been in festivals, one won
(23:14):
one an award, And so if you have aspirations beyond acting,
you love the control of your audition. But I told myself,
I said, you know, I don't know. I think self
taping is here to stay. I mean, we were doing
it before COVID, but I think it's here to stay
in a bigger way. But I think if you're like
(23:36):
shortlisted for a series or leading the film, you're gonna
have to go in the room. You know, let's help. Yeah. Um,
And I said, don't get too comfortable, because I think
at some point down the road it's gonna be a
mix of the two where you're going in the room.
Sometimes the self tape like a hybrid. Yeah, I like
a hybrid exactly. And going in the room is it's uh,
(24:00):
especially I haven't done in a while. You know, we
can be I'm anticipating like having dry mouths. You know,
you get cotton mouths when you're really nervous, when you
can't talk. But the energy, I think is what we
all missed the most. You know. It's like doing theater,
that energy you get. Like when we moved to Chicago,
(24:21):
I hadn't done theater in six years, and the first
show I was so nervous in the wings. Like when
I was younger doing theater, they would hold me back
in the wings to go, you're not on yet, flow
your role, And now doing theater all these years later,
they're like, you know that's your cue. Go, So yeah,
(24:44):
I'm kind of looking forward to going back in the
room sometimes, but I think I like the kind of
hybrid situation that we're in now. You know, sometimes you're
at home sometimes during the room, So I guess you
have to wait and see how you get it. Yea,
(25:05):
m m. So Jordan was on the show for six episodes,
which for recurring like that was a big deal, like
six episodes, and do you feel like, what was like
do you still get recognized as Jordan Bonner? And back then,
what was it like when people like when he became
so big on the show, what was it like the
fan reaction when you would go out, I got recognized
(25:30):
for some We did that so probably through like two
thousands and early two thousand's, I would say, I mean
early twenty tenths, like for a long time, and people,
you know, nine two and oh fans were rabid, so
(25:52):
they would be like Jordan Bonner, hands up, and it
was and they would tell you about the episode or
one of the six episodes and give you the storyline
like they were serious. And it was like that for
at least twenty years after doing the show. It's just
the last few years and you know, I am proudly
(26:16):
bald now, so I'm not rocking the flattop anymore. So
it's kind and I have facial hair that's gray, so
if I shave it, though I tend to get people
will still pick me up. And I've noticed you. You
look the same to me, thank you. Um. But yeah,
(26:37):
at the time when it aired, yeah, I got recognized
a lot more than I had ever been in my career.
And I remember my my dad coming to town and
we were at remember Mrs Gouches before it was wiled
by Whole food Oh my god, yes, god, Mrs that
was like that, sor And I remember you never picked
(26:59):
to that place. You made me go there to get brags. Yeah. Yeah,
they had all the good stuff and we were very
upset that they were being bottled by Whole Foods. I
remember signing a petition to stop it from happening. It
didn't work. It didn't work. We didn't get it done.
Corporate America. What are you gonna do? But um, I
(27:20):
was saying, Mrs cootch is one time with my dad
and a few people were pointing in whispering, and I
knew it was happening, but because they didn't approach me
or anything, I just kept it moving. And my dad said,
don't you see those people pointing at you and talking
to you what I said or pointing at you? And
I said, yeah, that I do. He goes so soon
(27:43):
as you go over and talking to me about saying, well,
if I did that, we wouldn't get anything done. I
love the fans, but if they come up and they
acknowledge you, that's when you haven't exchange. But I'm not
going out of my kna go hey, do you guys
reckon as me? Right? Yeah, that that would be a
(28:03):
little weird, but it must have been for you guys,
like it was huge. So how did you guys deal
with it? I mean it's always different, Like every it
seems like every encounter has a different energy about it,
like a different way to handle it. Right, Like there's
those fans that you have to give them your undivided
(28:25):
attention and time because they are so passionate and so devoted,
and we we love those fans and our show has
a lot of them, thank goodness. Seel Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean that's why I think for us it just
became such a constant way of life, Like I know
(28:48):
for me, like people would see like your dad seeing
that people were seeing you. I wouldn't have seen it.
It just kind of in order to have a normal life,
like I would just navigate and I didn't even see it.
It was like, you know, white noise. Yeah, and then
people would be like, oh my god, those people are
freaking out. I'd be like what people Like, I didn't
even notice it. And then when I did, like, of course,
(29:09):
I would like be with them and say like hi,
and and give them hugs. But in order to do
your daily routine, you kind of just had to like
go through life and not be like, oh my god,
oh my god, everyone's looking at me. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I think um. Somebody told me early on. I can't
(29:30):
remember who they were talking about specifically, but they said,
this person is one of the biggest stars in the
world and they just they do their own grocery shopping.
They don't have any bodyguards or anything. And he said,
I think the people that, unless it's a very unique situation,
the people that don't have bodyguards and just go about
(29:51):
their lives in a in a regular way are fine.
It's like the bigger you make of it, the bigger
it becomes. Like you can attract all that madness if
you don't navigate that space careful. Very true. I didn't
know that was even an option back then, to have
(30:11):
somebody else do your grocery shopping, or to have a bodyguard,
like we had bodyguards on set in our real life,
Like we didn't just have a bodyguard as we went
and did our errands during the day, and we didn't
have instat cart or like things like that. So yeah,
you just had to write like you did your own
grocery shopping, Like what was the alternative? You had to
put your armor on and go out into the world. Yeah, yeah,
(30:34):
we had. There were times. There were like times when
it was harder than than other times, and you had
to kind of adapt and be flexible and give yourself
a little a little break because it was challenging for
sure at times, and it still can be like even
you know, just going out sometimes you gotta like psych
(30:55):
yourself up. I mean I do, I have to psych
myself up to go. I'm going out in the world.
And because I live my life like I'm just a
normal person. I'm a mom, I have dogs, I run
my house like I have to do all the things
like we're normal people. But when you go out and
then you get recognized, you're like, wait, what, I'm not
normal like that. It's confusing messaging. Yeah. Yeah, and when
(31:17):
when you have kids, I think it's even trickier. It is,
especially when they're little because they don't understand. Like one
of mine were smaller, they'd be like, we were just
we're here to have fun. We want to go, you know,
do this and be at Chuck E Cheese and like
people were wanting to talk to me and they're like,
come on, and those are the bands like you can't, yeah,
(31:37):
be rude. Yeah, they don't get it at their kids. Yeah. Yeah.
I remember getting escorted to set one day. There was
a knock on my door. Um, it might have been
an episode the second or third episode I did. There's
a knock on my door and I opened the door
to the trailer and there were two bodyguards standing there
and they were like. I was like, hey, they're like
(32:00):
here to escort you to set. And I was like,
I think you're ever wrong. Trailer. Jason's trailer's right there,
and they're like, well, you're seen as with Jason and
he's gonna need an escort to set. And I was
like okay, And I really didn't clue in yet until
I came out of my trailer and then we stopped
in his trailer, and then the four of us walked
the set and we were shooting at the high school
(32:23):
and there were girls on the feds. It was like
being inside of Beatles footage. They were screaming and crying
and I was like, oh my god to see it
up close. And I remember turning to Jason and I said,
so this is your life and I will never forget this.
His shoulders went up like this. He just he just
(32:45):
kind of sighed. We went yeah, and I was like, whoa,
that's a lot of weight. You could feel the weight
on him, the weight of celebrity, And in that moment,
I said to myself, you know, I don't need to
be crazy famous. I just want to work. I'd rather
(33:05):
not deal with all of that and just kind of
be one of those actors that people see and recognize,
but they don't know who you are. They don't know
what you see. When they're just like, hey, there's that actor.
What's his name, what's he been in? But they don't know,
so you can kind of roll anonymously, you know what
I'm saying, but I will never forget that moment. Yeah,
(33:25):
I mean I think it's still happening today, like you know,
a famous the Beast, and there's no there's no like
nobody tells you how to deal with it, and nobody
tell us how to deal with it. And I think,
like now, because of the Internet and because we have
so much exposure to everything, we know, like people that
(33:46):
are coming up now know what it's going to be like.
But back then, nobody warned us. Nobody warned Jason and
Luke what was going to happen to their lives on
that level. And we just I'm so grateful and proud
of everybody for making it out alive, you know, just
getting through it and and and I think everybody dealt
with it pretty well. Yeah. Yeah, it's uh, it's tricky
(34:10):
and you you know, going in that it's that it
could happen. But like you said, there's one book, so
we should make one. We should write a book. You should.
How does yeal of fame? Celebrity now is even crazier
with social media. It's not snill, it's next level. I
(34:34):
mean I've had the conversation with my son and just
told him like he did a movie. His first movie
was Timmy Failure. Mistakes were made and it came out
on Disney Plus as one of their initial original movies.
And so he dealt with it at school because everybody
was like, oh my god, there's from Timmy Failure and uh,
(34:58):
he said, Daddy, you were right, And he said, and
where kids that came up to me and talked to
me and wanted to be my friend who never talked
to me before, you know, ignored me, even kids in
my own class. And I said, yeah, it's one of
the downsides that you have to deal with. So you know,
keep your friends closer and enemies closer. You know, you'll
(35:20):
know who's genuine and who's not. But I think it's
a trickier thing, so hard for kids to navigate than
for adult It's still hard. I still don't sometimes make
the right choice and don't realize because you want people
to like you for you, and you forget like, oh,
I just went into it and I even thought, of
(35:40):
course they like me for me, and then you're like, oh,
there's that. I forgot that part of it. Yeah. Yeah,
so it's hard. So good chatting with you, Mike, so
great to see your face. We could do this for
at I love it. It's our favorite thing to do, right.
(36:01):
We're very appreciative that you came on today with us,
and the fans will be so happy to get to
see you and hear what we're talking about with you. Well,
I'm honored that you guys reached out. I'm glad you did.
It's good to see you and hopefully in some uh
when the world returns to his access, maybe we can
(36:21):
see each other person or something. I know it's true.
We're gonna set that you and your son get to
be in a project together. Would be fabulous. Yes, yes, yes,
all body parts crossed. But I'm definitely gonna channel. I'm
gonna take I'm gonna take the room my next opportunity
because of you. Thank you. So good to see you, Jenny. Good,
(36:47):
good to see you. Thank you back at you. Bye,
Hosts And Creators
Tori Spelling
Jennie Garth
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