May 31, 2021 • 40 mins
Wells goes BOLD when he hangs out with star of The Bold Type Katie Stevens! She and Wells are ACTUAL friends, so Katie reveals some secrets you haven’t heard before!
Find out how Katie pivoted from American Idol to a starring role on a huge TV show.
And you HAVE to hear the unbelievable story of everything that came BEFORE American Idol!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Roll that beautiful bean footage does. This is a Wells
cast with Wells Adams and I heart radio podcast favorite
But okay, that's how are you doing doing good today?
I'm so excited about today's episode, and I'll tell you why.
I mean, I always interview people who I think are
(00:21):
interesting and cool and I want to hear their story,
but I very rarely interview people who are actually my friends.
And I think that we do that for a couple
of reasons. One, I don't like to ask my friends
to come on the show because it's like I gotta
ask for a favor, you know, It's just I don't
do it. So I don't book this show. I have
the good people over at my heart booked the show
(00:43):
for me, and you know, every once in a while,
the stars will align and I'll get someone on the
show who is like an actual friend of mine, and
then it kind of raises the stakes for me because
I don't want to sound stupid in front of my friends.
You know, I wanted to think I'm good at this.
Oh God, they're gonna judge me. But I'm not really
worried about that because our guest today really is one
(01:03):
of the most wonderful women I've ever met in the
entire world. She is the sweetest, the nicest, the most talented,
and she is a dear, dear friend of my fiancee.
And by rules of modern day relationships, if so facts so,
she is now a close friend of mine. Her story
is crazy. Wasn't the typical like grew up in Calabasas.
(01:28):
Uncle was a producer, gut her on some show. No,
she worked hard, started off on a reality show that
really focused on her singing. I think she kind of
thought that was gonna be her path until she realized
that maybe music wasn't her passion and acting was very
few people I've been able to pivot from American idol
to lead of a very very popular TV show. She
(01:51):
was able to do it. Her story is bonkers. She's
absolutely lovely. Let's get into it. One of my favorite
people in the world, the star of the bull type,
my porta sister, Katie Stevens. Here on the Wells Cast, guys,
is when you are not going to want to stick
around minute, all right, welcome back to the Wells Cast.
(02:16):
This very rarely happens one because I don't have a
lot of friends and uh too because I don't book
the show myself, and I would never ask my friends
to be on the show. But I am so excited.
I think this is the first time ever on the
show that I'm legitimately friends with this person, Like she
comes over to our house, I went to her wedding,
(02:37):
and I cannot tell you how pomped I am to
have the one and only Katie Stevens on this show.
How are you? This is so fun. I like watching
you do what you do. Yeah, you've never actually seen
me like be professional. Probably well, I mean I've like
watched you, you know, host carpets. You know, I've listened
to your podcast, but like to be on it, and
(02:58):
like watching it is really fun. I think you're the
only friend of Sarah's that is referred to by both names.
You are Katie Stevens. Like that's like a common theme
for like many people, Like many people call me Katie Stevens.
But I think it's just because like it's easy to say,
(03:19):
you know, like I still go by even though I'm married,
I still go by Katie Stevens because like Katie di
Giovanni is like really hard to say, and like you
spell that out for anybody and like they don't know
how to say it weirdly enough to me, I attribute
it to like the cool kids in school were the
double name people. Oh well that's weird because I was
(03:40):
not like a cool kid in school. Well, you have
blossomed because you're doing pretty good. I feel like this
is almost a bitter sweet conversation that we get to
have because I haven't seen you in a while, and
we get to talk about like your success, but also
like this show, The Bold Type, which has been like
this force on free form for so long, is now
(04:03):
finally coming to an end. Are you relieve that it's
kind of getting wrapped up or you bumming? It's a mixture,
It's I mean, bitter sweet is the word that I've
been using, because you know, it's sad to it's it's
more so that it's sad to not see those same
people that you've seen forever. And you know, I remember
(04:23):
when I found out that it was the last season
I actually talked to Sarah, but Sarah had done, you know,
a million more seasons, and I can't even imagine how
infinitely greater that feeling is. But it is also I
feel really grateful that you know, five seasons. A lot
of people don't get five seasons. And then on top
of that, to go into the final season knowing it's
(04:44):
the end and getting to like wrap it up. There's
like some feeling that you get when you're on set
where you're like, oh, I know this is ending, so
I'm going to be really intentional and like present with
all of these people so I can like soak in
all of these moments. Yeah, five seasons is a rarity
these days in the entertainment industry, or eleven for Sarah,
(05:05):
So you have to be pumped about like the run
of the show. COVID. I feel like played a big
role in your Guys show, Like you guys were filming
and then COVID hit, and then you guys had to
like stop and then like come back. Tell us about
that experience, because it seems wild. It was the middle
of a work day. We had like ten days left
(05:26):
of filming our last two episodes of last season, and
in the middle of one work day, I had to
leave early because I was flying to l A for press.
So I flew into l A. I landed, and my
team was kind of like, you know this COVID nineteen
thing is getting, you know, to seem pretty serious. Things
(05:46):
might cancel, just like kind of be on your toes,
go through the day. The next morning, I wake up
and I do glam and everything at like five thirty
in the morning, and I get a call from my
publicist at seven being like, every thing has canceled. You're
here for no reason. And then production was calling because
they needed me to get back on a plane to
(06:07):
go back to Montreal in case they were closing the borders.
And then I landed in Montreal and I was going
through customs and our producer called me and was like, hey, um,
you gotta go home tomorrow because everything shutting down. We're
shutting down production, so go back to your apartment, pack
up your stuff, and uh, we'll get you on a
flight in the morning. And so I went back to
(06:29):
my apartment and in the span of like three hours,
packed up nine months of living in Montreal and went
home the next morning. And it was so weird because
like we had we all were like so confused. So
the whole cast that night, we like all got together
and we were like, well, I don't know when we're
going to see each other again, so I might as
(06:50):
well burn it down, So we all like drank tons
of wine and like I made dinner, and then we
all left and didn't see each other for almost a year.
Was there a thought that the show wouldn't survive COVID? Yeah,
I mean that was a that was a big fear,
especially because we shoot the show in another country. So
we didn't really know because because some one thing that
(07:12):
I learned by being up there is you're not following
United States CDC guidelines like you're following Canadian guidelines. And
I know that they had closed the borders for a
really long time. And then thankfully, a couple of months
before we were supposed to go up and shoot, they
had opened the borders if you had a work permit,
so we were thankfully able to like go back there.
(07:34):
But I mean, the COVID protocols there were so intense.
We left in the middle of April just now, and
they were still eight p m. Curfews. All of the
restaurants were closed. So for the fifteen weeks that we
were up there, we were just literally thank god we
all lived in the same apartment building, Me and Megan
and Asia, because we only saw each other. But if
(07:56):
I didn't have that, like I wouldn't be able to
do anything. I would have died. We all know I'm
very social. Tomorrow night is the beginning of the end.
Are you going to experience and absorb the show differently
now that it's the last season? I mean, I I
actually because I'm I'm in l A. So I mean
(08:17):
maybe I'll like do watch parties with my friends here.
But last week two of my girlfriends they were like,
we want to watch, you know, the premiere episodes since
we won't be able to be with you on premiere night.
So the other night I had a bunch of friends
my friend hosted at her house, and we were there
with like our husbands, who like, they all are awesome
(08:37):
and they have watched the show in its entirety like
with their wives, so like they were really game, which
was cool because you know, not really their demographic, but
good sports about it. And so we just watched and
drank a ton of wine. And I intend to continue
that and gonna need people around me for the final
episode because I'll be inconsolable. Probably. Are you happy with
(09:01):
how it wraps itself up? I am um. The writers
came to me and they were like, hey, this is
how we're thinking of ending Jane's story. What do you think?
And I was really pumped about it, So I'm excited
for fans to see it. I think that all of
the girls end up exactly where they're supposed to, and
so I hope that everybody sees it as the love
(09:23):
letter that it was intended to be. If you haven't
watched The Bold Type, you know it's a show that
like Sarah watches. I mean, I think because she's friends
with you, it's also like very much like a Sarah show.
If so facts So I watched the show, and I
will say that in the same way that Sex and
the City drew me in, Your Guys Show has done
(09:43):
the same thing where I find myself like rooting for
characters and hating characters and it's a really really fun
ride that I think that Your Guys Show takes you on.
The most powerful thing about I feel like the show
is it really is empowering for women. When you get
offered to do a show like this, Is that like
(10:04):
the thing that you're thinking about, Oh my god, this
is going to be really empowering for a lot of
young women, or is it just need a job a
little bit of both. I mean when I booked this show,
I had just the other show I was on, Faking It,
had just been canceled. So I think that I was
really lucky that this came around so quickly. I remember
(10:25):
um having a meeting at free Form because like after
you basically get fired from another job when something gets canceled,
you have to go on all these meetings to other
casting people from different networks and stuff, and it's like
a really weird and awkward thing because you're like sitting
in front of people and you're like, please think I'm
(10:45):
great and put me in something. And I sat down
at free Form and they were like, we love faking It.
Here are some shows that we're doing, and they like
pitched the show originally was called Issues, and they were like,
it's kind of like Sex in the City meets Devilwares
product And I was like, wow, two things I really love.
And then when I read the script, like I wasn't
(11:05):
expecting to feel so empowered by it, Like it sounded
just like, oh, that's a fun concept. And I even
even from the pilot, I couldn't have imagined like where
the show would go in terms of like talking about
important issues, but like still being funny and still being lighthearted,
and you know, I think that we found that kind
(11:28):
of niche which was really cool. But it definitely was
the initial part of it was definitely like I need
a job. Please think I'm right for this. I talked
to Sara about this a lot. I'm not the head
of any studio, but I do believe that the trick
to making a successful show is having all team players
(11:49):
working on the thing be friends on and off camera.
I think this comes from like my reality TV world,
where like authenticity is just so evident. Even if you're
an amazing actor, I still feel like the audience can
pick up like whether or not you actually like these people,
or like it's a true bond, you know with modern
(12:09):
Sarah like loved Jesse. Tyler can't say more nice things
about Tyberelle. I had looking ask her mom on the
show if it was okay to marry here, like it
was a truly like tight knit crew. And then after
going to your wedding and meeting your co stars, it
seems like and I don't really know, I don't really
(12:30):
know them that well. We went to a beer festival
after your wedding, but like it seemed like to me
that you guys really do have like this really tight
knit bond. I mean, first of all, asking anybody to
fly from Canada to Nashville, like that's an entire day
of travel. Like they had to love me to go
to my wedding, and every single one of them was there,
(12:51):
and it like was so amazing to have them all there.
I entirely agree, Like I don't think if we didn't
like each other, I don't think that the show would
have done what it did. And it's not to say
that we don't like bicker like sisters and you know,
get piste off at each other and like have moments
where I'm like, I don't want to talk to you
right now, Like we absolutely do. But so is life.
(13:14):
When you spend nine months out of a year with
the same group of people for you know, five years,
you can always tell. I can always tell when I
watch a show and I'm like, oh, that actor is
difficult or you know, and I'm also like, what a
bad vibe. I Like, I get nervous for whatever is
next because I'm like what if I get anxiety about
(13:36):
thinking about what if somebody's like not cool, Like what
what if I have like a love interest who sucks?
Or what if I have to play best friends with
somebody that I can't stand? I like mostly everybody, but
like I can't say that, like people won't find me annoying,
or won't you know, not want to be around me,
or maybe they're not people people. So it does give
(13:59):
me anxieties. Somebody asked us in an interview, how do
you feel thinking about the next time you walk on
a set, it's not going to be with these two people?
And it didn't register to me until she said that,
and I was like, got punch. The final season The
Bold Type. It's on free Form Wednesday's ten pm Eastern.
If you don't have a pretty form, you can watch
it on Hulu and I think even YouTube TV. It's
(14:21):
a truly wonderful show. Most of my demo is female,
so this is a good show for everyone listening. But
if you're like me and a guy, I also think
that you would really really enjoy it, because I really
enjoy the show. Is there any thought of a movie
down the road? Oh, We've talked about it a million times.
I've already been like, hey, Wendy, our showrun around, like
(14:42):
just like start thinking about writing it. Like we all
kind of need a couple of years off, but like
I know that every single person who's a part of
the show is like super down to do that. And
I'm like Sex in the City did three of them,
you can do one, and you guys all like each other.
So it's Aisha always says that, like we want to
leave that door open for when we're all struggling to
(15:04):
collect coins in years that we could be like, hey, um,
we need jobs. You want to do a type movie?
I like it? Anything else you want to talk about
the show before we pivot over to my portion of
the podcast. I realized this morning that I haven't talked
about this, but my brother is on the in the
first two episodes. Yeah, and it's really fun because he's
(15:28):
been auditioning for the show, and like it was really
important to him that like he got the role not
because he was my brother, So I kind of like,
even though I put in a good word, I like
kind of like took a step back and so he
got this role, which was also awesome because it's not
any scenes with me. He got to like have his
own experience of it, which was really fun. But it
(15:51):
was just so exciting because I like got to just
like chill like a stage mom behind set and just
be like watching him, And it was just awesome to
be on set because I've always said I want to
be like the Jillen Halls and the que Sacks and stuff.
He's like brothers, sister Duo's what part does he play
in the show? So he plays a character called Joey
(16:13):
Falk who at the end of last season, the Alex
character got called out in an article online and basically
this guy questioned his like masculinity because he didn't step
up for his girlfriend in this moment where she was
being harassed, and so because Alex's feelings were hurt, he
decided to go on a deep dive of Joey's Instagram
(16:35):
or Twitter and found like a homophobic tweet from the
past and like resurfaced it even though it had been
like eight years ago. It's actually like a really cool
story that I think, um, you know, not just because
I'm excited my brother's on the show, but I think
cancel culture is really crazy right now, and it's kind
of a story about how, like, yes, there are certain
(16:57):
situations where there are people that do or to be canceled.
But if somebody said something, you know, ten twenty years
ago that was hurtful and that they regret, but they've
done so many things that are good in the world
from that point to try to like grow and become
a better person from that's also a part of the
equation that needs acknowledging, because if somebody's like doing the work,
(17:21):
isn't the point of bringing out somebody's flaws that they
can learn from them and become better. It's a cool
conversation that I really love that we kind of create
for people to have on the show. I think it's
awesome that you guys are tackling that and yeah, what
an amazingly timely issue. That's awesome for your brother as well,
so tell him congratulations for me. Okay, we're gonna take
(17:44):
a quick break. I don't even know if you know
what this show is, but it's origin stories. I'm just
fascinated with where people came from and how the hell
they got here. I want to hear your entire journey
to getting onto this stupid podcast for those people out
there that only no Oh Katie from the bold type,
I feel like You're gonna be shocked to hear what
(18:05):
happened beforehand. Maybe not, though I don't know you Down
with that down? All right? Quick? Breat we come back
Katie Stevens from The Bold Type Here on the Wells Cast.
Back in the Wells Cast, Star of the Bold Type,
(18:26):
which airs on free Form Wednesdays at ten pm Eastern.
You can also watch it on Hulu. The final season
begins airing tomorrow May six. It is an absolute phenomenal show.
It's funny, it's got heart. They talk about serious stuff.
You said it before, which I think is a good
analogy for it. It's Sex and the City meets Devilwars
(18:50):
product and it's also really empowering for young women who
are trying to carve out amazing career in a male
dominated world. And I think it's just a really, really
great show. And I'm sad it's ending, but I'm happy
that it allows me the chance to talk to you.
I am so excited because I've been friends now with
(19:10):
you for a couple of years. But I don't really
know the intricacies of your genesis, like your origin story.
What part of it do you want to know? I
want to know all of it. Here's what I know
about Katie. Katie is Portuguese like me. She can speak
Portuguese fluently, which I cannot do, which is embarrassing. I
know you went on a reality TV show, and I
(19:32):
know then you pivoted over and became this like powerhouse actress.
And I know that you're like best friends with my
fiance and your husband is like the coolest and I
like him a whole lot. I want to hang out
with him more. So let's go back to the beginning.
You're from You're from the East Coast, right, Yes, I'm
from Connecticut. And we talked about your brother earlier. Is
(19:53):
it only you two or are there are other siblings?
It's just the two of us. And then I also
know that since we did our DNA tests, there have
been no other children that have popped up, So yes,
two of us. That's like a thing though like that happens,
it does. Okay, So you were born in Connecticut? Where
(20:14):
you are you the older of the two or the
younger of the two. I'm actually the youngest, and like
everyone's always shocked by that for some reason. And my
brother will always say, like, I'm older, but she's older. Yeah,
I love that I have a sibling. Um, I have
a couple of friends that are only children and they're
also thriving. But I feel like when the time comes
(20:37):
to have children, like, based on how me and my
brother grew up, I was like, I want my I
want my kid to have a buddy. Yeah, I'm the
youngest of five. It's important to have a bunch of
other assholes around you, if nothing else, to make you
look a little bit better, because there's always you know,
there's always one, especially if you're all older than you.
They all they all like mess up way before you.
(20:58):
So it's like you watch them make mistakes and then
it's not that you don't make the same ones, you
just like get better at hiding it. Yeah, my parents
have stopped caring. Really by the time I came around,
Were you always an entertaining child? Were youth putting on
plays or singing for anyone who would listen? Growing up?
I mean, yeah, my parents when my brother and I
(21:20):
were really young, they were trying to figure out like
a summer camp for us to go to because they
both had like nine to fives and they needed us
to be at camp from nine to five. So the
only one that was like all day was enacting camp,
where it was like two weeks and then at the
end you put on a play. So my brother was
(21:41):
the first one to do that. Acting camp we all sang,
and like karaoke on holidays was big at my house
and my parents knew I loved to sing and my
brother sang. But then we all showed up to my
brother's musical and like we didn't know he was the lead,
and he was like one of the leads in Oliver,
and he started singing. My parents were looking at each
(22:04):
other and looking at me, and we were all like,
did you know he could do that? And we were
like no. And then watching my brother do it just
made me want to do it because I wanted to
be like my brother, and so I kind of followed
in his footsteps in auditioning and you know, being in
the background and singing. My parents always had me singing
for people, but there was a couple of years where
(22:27):
when I would sing for people, I would make them
turn around because I didn't want them to look at me,
because I think I was just like too nervous. And
now people ask me like, what would you rather sing
in front of ten thousand people or like ten, and
I'm like ten thousand because when you're you're in a
room of ten people and this must be where I
(22:47):
got it from. Back then, if you mess up or
if people don't think you're good, the room is kind
of small and you can see everybody's face, but like
ten thousand people, there's like lights, you can't see any buddy.
You hear them, you don't see them. So it's like
weirdly less nerve wracking. At sixteen, you went an audition
for American Idol, Right, Yes, So that's funny because that's
(23:12):
the dichotomy you're just talking about. You had to sing
for like just a couple of people, and then you
had to sing for a lot of people. What was
that experience like? Now that I'm an actor and I
go into auditions all the time, and you know, sometimes
you're hearing somebody through the wall doing the same audition
that you're about to do. The audition for American Idol
(23:33):
was kind of like being in the worst audition room
you've ever been in, because like you're hearing everyone, like
especially at the stadium part, everyone is just like singing
out loud. They like don't care and you're hearing all
these people and you're like, that person is better than me.
That person is better than me. And then it's it's
a weird thing that nobody really realized because when you
watch the show, it kind of makes it look like
(23:54):
the judges see all ten thousand people that are at
that stadium, and it's like split up into months of auditions.
So you do the first one and it's like cattle
calls of people singing, and you go in front of
two producers and they're like you, you, and you, you're
not what we're looking for. You. You're going in the
back to fill out a questionnaire. And so then I
(24:17):
made it through that, and then two months later I
made it through an executive producer around and then I
made it through to the judges, and then you go
to Hollywood Week and everyone's really good and it's really scary.
And then when you start to get to the live shows,
it's still not that nerve wracking because you're performing in
front of like a hundred to two hundred people and
(24:41):
you know that there are millions of people on the
other end, and and that doesn't really become prevalent until
you know you're finding out who gets eliminated. And thankfully,
you know, Twitter wasn't that big, like I think American
Idol actually created my Twitter account for me. So you
were like seeing people say like good job, loved you,
(25:04):
and that was kind of like my first introduction to
the Twitter verse. Like occasionally I would I would get
people who would like say something that was like not
so nice. But I didn't really know enough to look
at Twitter in that way back then, and I'm thankful
that I didn't because I can't imagine what those contestants
have to go through now. But when we started performing
(25:25):
in front of a lot of people, that was when
we got to go on tour, and that was like
the best time of my life I could do that.
The adrenaline of walking on a stage with arena full
of people screaming for you is unlike anything that I've
ever felt in my life. It's cute, but like now
that I look back, I was like, it's kind of cheesy.
Like we like all sing cover songs and like we
(25:48):
do like group numbers. Then we all learned like harmonies
to sing together. But it was like fun and everybody
enjoyed the show. But everybody has their own individual kind
of mini concerts and so like I think I was
the third or fourth person up in the show and
I got to come out and you know, perform two
songs with the band, and you know, all the screens
(26:09):
are going behind me. And I got to play at
Mohegan Sun which was like my hometown show and like literally,
like my whole high school was there, Like it was
the coolest thing ever. Um. But I think we were
kind of the last American Idol tour that did a
lot of shows like we did. I think we did
(26:29):
something like fifty five cities in three months, which was crazy. Yeah, yeah,
I'm not sure. I mean, especially with COVID, there's no concerts.
But I'm not really sure now what the American Idol
concerts look like. I've had a lot of people from
the American Idol universe on this show, and I know
(26:50):
a bunch of them as well, just from living in
Nashville as long as they have. And so this question
gets answered differently by everybody. But when you look back,
was that a positive experience or one that you could
like take it or leave it. I think it was
a positive experience for many reasons. I think the thing
that I say take it or leave. It was my
(27:11):
voice and my like knowledge of myself back then. But
I mean, I would I have a hundred percent would
not be doing what I'm doing right now had I
not done that show, because I probably would have, Like
I was applying to college when I did an American Idol,
and I was ready to go to college and major
in like music business and like maybe become a manager
(27:34):
or an agent to help other people, since I didn't
know how to help myself. You know. I think it's
really hard being sixteen and being on the show and
doing something that you love to do immediately getting judged
for it after and my comments from the judges were
things like, we just don't think you know who you are,
(27:56):
And I'm like, of course I don't know who I am.
I'm sixteen years old. Did you know who you were
when you were sixteen? Like I think like the expectation
of people to like who are coming from the middle
of nowhere places who have never done anything like this before,
the expectation for them to know exactly what they want
to do in music, exactly who they want to be
(28:16):
as an artist with no prior experience, Like I think
that I'm still figuring that out for myself. And I'm
twenty eight, so I feel like that's a never ending
process for anybody who's creative or in music in any capacity.
When do you pivot over from doing American Idol to acting?
(28:38):
I mean, I knew you obviously always did it, but
when did you make that mental decision to now I'm
going to do this. So I was doing after idol,
I was writing songs a lot, I was performing places
out here in l a UM and I was working
with somebody and was hit with like a production deal
that essentially was like if you get signed by a label,
(29:02):
you know, we get half of your writing, and like
you're publishing, we would get a percentage if you did
a movie, if you did a commercial, if you would
like done any of this stuff. And it was like
really bad and really sad, and I had just signed
on with new managers who were like, if you say
goodbye to this, you know, we'll help you find other stuff.
(29:22):
And then I said goodbye to that, and then the
other stuff they were setting me up with was like
not great, and I felt really discouraged and I kind
of was in a dark place, and I was like,
you know what, I'm done done with music. I'm quitting.
I hate it. I hate how I feel doing it
right now. And I emailed because I was with CIA
(29:45):
for music through getting signed there through American Idol, and
I knew they had an acting department. Naive you know,
seventeen almost eighteen year old me was like, oh, I
could just email them and get an agent. And so
I held them and I was like, hey, like, can
I meet with somebody from the acting department? And they
(30:05):
were like sure, And so I like went to the
CIA office and was like immediately overwhelmed. That office is
like made of marble and like very bougie and crazy.
And I sat down with um this agent, Aaron Culley,
and I remember like amping myself up on the way.
They're being like, Okay, you're not your most confident right now,
(30:30):
but you're gonna put on your big girl pants and
you are gonna, you know, pretend that you are. And
I walked into the meeting and like my opening line
I had prepared was like, I know, you get a
lot of singers in here that say they want to act,
but like, you just tell me what I gotta do,
and I'm gonna do it, Like I'll go to whatever
classes you want, I'll like do whatever workshops and what like.
(30:51):
Had this whole like speech prepared and she just looked
at me and she just goes, Okay, I didn't ask
to see me act like I could have been tearle. Yeah,
and I probably was at that time because I had,
you know, done musicals and stuff. Then you know, they
had emailed me a bunch of like acting classes to
go check out and casting workshops when those were a thing, um,
(31:16):
And so I just started doing them, and the world
of acting became less intimidating to me for some reason,
even though it's still an intimidating thing to be going
out and getting rejected every day. But yeah, I just
like got an agent and started auditioning for stuff. What's
(31:36):
your like credo for success? Do you have one? I
think it it changes. But it's always been fundamentally that
there's nothing about this that will change my life in
terms of my spectrum of happiness. Like I've always been
(31:56):
a person who's known that, know, if you get auditions,
you might not get the role. If you get the role,
it might not go past the pilot. If it goes
past the pilot, it could end after five seasons, like
you can't base your happiness and like how far you're
going to get in this career because at one point
(32:18):
a job ends and you're kind of back to square one.
So for me, like I've always just done my best
in every audition and then I shred my sides when
I leave, and I don't think about it and I
make sure that, like my focus then becomes what can
I do in the meantime to just make myself feel
(32:38):
creatively fulfilled? And where do I cultivate my happiness outside
of this? Because I'm like, if I cultivate my happiness
outside of what this career gives me, then I can
have happiness way longer than if I'm like basing my
happiness on like what job is next? So I mean, I,
you know, have a beautiful house, and I have a
beautiful husband and a beautiful dog and a wonderful family,
(33:02):
and I sing and I write and I do all
of these other things to make myself creatively fulfilled. But
I don't put all my eggs in that basket. Unfortunately,
I'm running out of time with you, um, and I
feel like we could just do a whole another episode,
like we haven't even touched on your husband, who I
just gotta say he was in Boys Like Girls, which
(33:24):
I just I mean, it's such an amazing, like weird
that story. Though, no I don't you want to tell it.
I can tell it. I have fifteen minutes and it's
not that long. I saw Boys Like Girls in concert
at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut when I was fourteen,
and Paul and I never met then, but then we
(33:46):
met seven years later in l A. And like, when
I found out he was in Boys Like Girls, I
was like, WHOA, I was at your concert when I
was fourteen. And that's not weird because now I'm of age,
but it's like a weird serendipitous thing because I had
always been that like hopeless romantic person going out with
my friends being like what if my husband's in this room?
(34:09):
And my friends were like, your husband is not at
this club. The weird thing is is I like was
in the same room as my husband and never met him.
How did he respond to that? I mean, he's like
the most like even keel, nothing phases him kind of thing.
So like I make situations weirder than they have to be.
So when I was like that's not weird. He's like
I wasn't thinking it was until you said that. I've
(34:32):
been to here as this house. He's got like a
cool like little recording studio back house thing. Obviously you're
a very serious, big time actress. But like I would
assume like me, like I grew up playing golf, I
still go play golfs, Like do you go into his
like little recording student and be like, let me lead
on a couple of tracks, like let me let me
feel like I used to feel back in the day
(34:53):
like I used to you know, when I was like
heavily songwriting. Um, like before I did the bold Tie,
I would ask him to like produce my demos. But
now he's like really big time and producing all these
records and like barely has time to come eat dinner
with me, so like to ask him to, like, could
you do my demos? But it was really fun because
(35:15):
I was trying to be more creative in the music
space over Quarantine. So I was like in my office,
I have my own piano and like my guitars hanging
on the wall, so I would like be writing stuff.
And there were like a couple of songs that it
was fun when we were doing nothing else. He like
produced them for me and we got to be creative
in that way when there was nothing else to do.
(35:38):
That's awesome going forward, what's something that you haven't done
in your career that you'd like to go do? Oh? Um,
I want to get into producing. Um. I think the
Bold Type gave me such a gift in terms of
even though we weren't producers, creatively, we were leaned on
by you know, the writers to kind of like have
(35:59):
our voice is heard and our ideas shared. And you know,
I just watched how hard everybody who did produce the
show worked and it's a space that I'm really excited about.
So I'm working on, you know, getting some projects off
the ground, which is exciting. But also just like dream
roles like I would I know, me and Sarah share this?
(36:20):
Would love to do like a movie musical? Like would
die to do a movie musical? Would I to do
a movie musical with Sarah? Why don't you guys do
this together? You should do it together? Um. There is
video of me and Sarah very drunk one night, um
singing a duet from Wicked that will never see the
light of day because we're not in our best form,
(36:42):
but um, I do know they're making a wicked film,
so we should be up for that. And this is
me putting forth our campaign. You just got to put
it out in the universe and and then it hopefully
comes back. I would love that. Before I let you go,
do you have some time for rapid Fire Questions? I
love that alright, rapid Fire Questions. Love a game well,
(37:08):
Rapid Fire Questions with Katie Stevens the lead in The
Bold Type, which airs Wednesday's ten pm Eastern on free
Form and Hulu. The beginning of the final season starts tomorrow,
so don't miss it all right quickly. Now, would you
rather be rich and sad or poor and happy? Poor
and happy night in? Or night out night in? If
(37:28):
you could change your name, what would you change it to? Oh? God, um, Kirby, Yeah,
that's the that's what we're looking for. What's the best
piece of advice you've ever been given? You are enough
exactly as you are, because there's only one of you,
(37:49):
that's right, Kirby. What's your favorit? Pizza topic, bacon and pineapple?
What I know, I'm the weirdo who loves pineapple on
my pizza. Continue, you're that you're that first? Not every
time though, Like no judgment, Like it's a mood, Yeah
it is. It's a vibe for sure. What's your favorite book?
(38:11):
The subtle art of not giving a fuck? Who's your
first kiss? Oh god, I'm pretty sure he got arrested,
so I'm gonna not say his name, but not his
full name. But his name was Will. Yeah, actually that's
not true. My first kiss was when I was like
three years old with my best friend Lanna, so m
starting starting young. Yeah. First concert ever went to Britney Spears.
(38:35):
First job you ever had, I was a bus girl
at a restaurant at an airport. Celebrity you've been mistaken for?
Um uh, I'm blanking on her name, but she plays
April Kepner on Grace Anatomy and I used to get
mistaken for her when I had red hair. Last person
you texted on your phone Megan in Asia. That's not
(38:57):
even a joke. Who would bail you out of jail?
Hopefully my husband, but if not, probably Megan Ratia or
my mom. First CD you ever owned, Shania Twain. Celebrity crush.
I don't have one because I think It's weird that
I could potentially ever be in the same room as
(39:18):
that person and it would make my husband uncomfortable. So
I guess my husband's my best celebrity crush. Since you
are a five to a player, what would you rather win?
An Oscar, A Grammy, a Tony, a sack? What? What
are all the things in the egot? An Emmy? Of
all those things, what would you rather win? I mean,
an Oscar feels like the mecca for what I do,
(39:40):
but like any yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes yes.
Katie Stevens, thank you so much for being on the show.
It's so wonderful to see you, well, to see you.
This was so fun. I hope we all get to
hang out soon again together. By the way, we're going
to be in Nashville in November, so we need to
(40:02):
hang out. I will be there The bold Type Wednesday's
ten pm Eastern free Form Hulu. All that stuff where
people follow you if they want to um stock your
instant stuff. It literally Instagram because I don't go on
anything else. So my Instagram is the Katie Stevens because
there are many people with my name. Is there anything
(40:23):
that I didn't ask you about that you wanted to
talk about. You pretty much got it covered, and then
off off screen we have to discuss planning a trip
to Portugal to the homeland. Yes we must, Katie, Thank
you so much. You rock, dude. Thank you. Subscribe to
Wellcast on I Heart Radio, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you
get your podcasts. It's the Internet.
Roll that beautiful bean footage does. This is a Wells
cast with Wells Adams and I heart radio podcast favorite
But okay, that's how are you doing doing good today?
I'm so excited about today's episode, and I'll tell you why.
I mean, I always interview people who I think are
(00:21):
interesting and cool and I want to hear their story,
but I very rarely interview people who are actually my friends.
And I think that we do that for a couple
of reasons. One, I don't like to ask my friends
to come on the show because it's like I gotta
ask for a favor, you know, It's just I don't
do it. So I don't book this show. I have
the good people over at my heart booked the show
(00:43):
for me, and you know, every once in a while,
the stars will align and I'll get someone on the
show who is like an actual friend of mine, and
then it kind of raises the stakes for me because
I don't want to sound stupid in front of my friends.
You know, I wanted to think I'm good at this.
Oh God, they're gonna judge me. But I'm not really
worried about that because our guest today really is one
(01:03):
of the most wonderful women I've ever met in the
entire world. She is the sweetest, the nicest, the most talented,
and she is a dear, dear friend of my fiancee.
And by rules of modern day relationships, if so facts so,
she is now a close friend of mine. Her story
is crazy. Wasn't the typical like grew up in Calabasas.
(01:28):
Uncle was a producer, gut her on some show. No,
she worked hard, started off on a reality show that
really focused on her singing. I think she kind of
thought that was gonna be her path until she realized
that maybe music wasn't her passion and acting was very
few people I've been able to pivot from American idol
to lead of a very very popular TV show. She
(01:51):
was able to do it. Her story is bonkers. She's
absolutely lovely. Let's get into it. One of my favorite
people in the world, the star of the bull type,
my porta sister, Katie Stevens. Here on the Wells Cast, guys,
is when you are not going to want to stick
around minute, all right, welcome back to the Wells Cast.
(02:16):
This very rarely happens one because I don't have a
lot of friends and uh too because I don't book
the show myself, and I would never ask my friends
to be on the show. But I am so excited.
I think this is the first time ever on the
show that I'm legitimately friends with this person, Like she
comes over to our house, I went to her wedding,
(02:37):
and I cannot tell you how pomped I am to
have the one and only Katie Stevens on this show.
How are you? This is so fun. I like watching
you do what you do. Yeah, you've never actually seen
me like be professional. Probably well, I mean I've like
watched you, you know, host carpets. You know, I've listened
to your podcast, but like to be on it, and
(02:58):
like watching it is really fun. I think you're the
only friend of Sarah's that is referred to by both names.
You are Katie Stevens. Like that's like a common theme
for like many people, Like many people call me Katie Stevens.
But I think it's just because like it's easy to say,
(03:19):
you know, like I still go by even though I'm married,
I still go by Katie Stevens because like Katie di
Giovanni is like really hard to say, and like you
spell that out for anybody and like they don't know
how to say it weirdly enough to me, I attribute
it to like the cool kids in school were the
double name people. Oh well that's weird because I was
(03:40):
not like a cool kid in school. Well, you have
blossomed because you're doing pretty good. I feel like this
is almost a bitter sweet conversation that we get to
have because I haven't seen you in a while, and
we get to talk about like your success, but also
like this show, The Bold Type, which has been like
this force on free form for so long, is now
(04:03):
finally coming to an end. Are you relieve that it's
kind of getting wrapped up or you bumming? It's a mixture,
It's I mean, bitter sweet is the word that I've
been using, because you know, it's sad to it's it's
more so that it's sad to not see those same
people that you've seen forever. And you know, I remember
(04:23):
when I found out that it was the last season
I actually talked to Sarah, but Sarah had done, you know,
a million more seasons, and I can't even imagine how
infinitely greater that feeling is. But it is also I
feel really grateful that you know, five seasons. A lot
of people don't get five seasons. And then on top
of that, to go into the final season knowing it's
(04:44):
the end and getting to like wrap it up. There's
like some feeling that you get when you're on set
where you're like, oh, I know this is ending, so
I'm going to be really intentional and like present with
all of these people so I can like soak in
all of these moments. Yeah, five seasons is a rarity
these days in the entertainment industry, or eleven for Sarah,
(05:05):
So you have to be pumped about like the run
of the show. COVID. I feel like played a big
role in your Guys show, Like you guys were filming
and then COVID hit, and then you guys had to
like stop and then like come back. Tell us about
that experience, because it seems wild. It was the middle
of a work day. We had like ten days left
(05:26):
of filming our last two episodes of last season, and
in the middle of one work day, I had to
leave early because I was flying to l A for press.
So I flew into l A. I landed, and my
team was kind of like, you know this COVID nineteen
thing is getting, you know, to seem pretty serious. Things
(05:46):
might cancel, just like kind of be on your toes,
go through the day. The next morning, I wake up
and I do glam and everything at like five thirty
in the morning, and I get a call from my
publicist at seven being like, every thing has canceled. You're
here for no reason. And then production was calling because
they needed me to get back on a plane to
(06:07):
go back to Montreal in case they were closing the borders.
And then I landed in Montreal and I was going
through customs and our producer called me and was like, hey, um,
you gotta go home tomorrow because everything shutting down. We're
shutting down production, so go back to your apartment, pack
up your stuff, and uh, we'll get you on a
flight in the morning. And so I went back to
(06:29):
my apartment and in the span of like three hours,
packed up nine months of living in Montreal and went
home the next morning. And it was so weird because
like we had we all were like so confused. So
the whole cast that night, we like all got together
and we were like, well, I don't know when we're
going to see each other again, so I might as
(06:50):
well burn it down, So we all like drank tons
of wine and like I made dinner, and then we
all left and didn't see each other for almost a year.
Was there a thought that the show wouldn't survive COVID? Yeah,
I mean that was a that was a big fear,
especially because we shoot the show in another country. So
we didn't really know because because some one thing that
(07:12):
I learned by being up there is you're not following
United States CDC guidelines like you're following Canadian guidelines. And
I know that they had closed the borders for a
really long time. And then thankfully, a couple of months
before we were supposed to go up and shoot, they
had opened the borders if you had a work permit,
so we were thankfully able to like go back there.
(07:34):
But I mean, the COVID protocols there were so intense.
We left in the middle of April just now, and
they were still eight p m. Curfews. All of the
restaurants were closed. So for the fifteen weeks that we
were up there, we were just literally thank god we
all lived in the same apartment building, Me and Megan
and Asia, because we only saw each other. But if
(07:56):
I didn't have that, like I wouldn't be able to
do anything. I would have died. We all know I'm
very social. Tomorrow night is the beginning of the end.
Are you going to experience and absorb the show differently
now that it's the last season? I mean, I I
actually because I'm I'm in l A. So I mean
(08:17):
maybe I'll like do watch parties with my friends here.
But last week two of my girlfriends they were like,
we want to watch, you know, the premiere episodes since
we won't be able to be with you on premiere night.
So the other night I had a bunch of friends
my friend hosted at her house, and we were there
with like our husbands, who like, they all are awesome
(08:37):
and they have watched the show in its entirety like
with their wives, so like they were really game, which
was cool because you know, not really their demographic, but
good sports about it. And so we just watched and
drank a ton of wine. And I intend to continue
that and gonna need people around me for the final
episode because I'll be inconsolable. Probably. Are you happy with
(09:01):
how it wraps itself up? I am um. The writers
came to me and they were like, hey, this is
how we're thinking of ending Jane's story. What do you think?
And I was really pumped about it, So I'm excited
for fans to see it. I think that all of
the girls end up exactly where they're supposed to, and
so I hope that everybody sees it as the love
(09:23):
letter that it was intended to be. If you haven't
watched The Bold Type, you know it's a show that
like Sarah watches. I mean, I think because she's friends
with you, it's also like very much like a Sarah show.
If so facts So I watched the show, and I
will say that in the same way that Sex and
the City drew me in, Your Guys Show has done
(09:43):
the same thing where I find myself like rooting for
characters and hating characters and it's a really really fun
ride that I think that Your Guys Show takes you on.
The most powerful thing about I feel like the show
is it really is empowering for women. When you get
offered to do a show like this, Is that like
(10:04):
the thing that you're thinking about, Oh my god, this
is going to be really empowering for a lot of
young women, or is it just need a job a
little bit of both. I mean when I booked this show,
I had just the other show I was on, Faking It,
had just been canceled. So I think that I was
really lucky that this came around so quickly. I remember
(10:25):
um having a meeting at free Form because like after
you basically get fired from another job when something gets canceled,
you have to go on all these meetings to other
casting people from different networks and stuff, and it's like
a really weird and awkward thing because you're like sitting
in front of people and you're like, please think I'm
(10:45):
great and put me in something. And I sat down
at free Form and they were like, we love faking It.
Here are some shows that we're doing, and they like
pitched the show originally was called Issues, and they were like,
it's kind of like Sex in the City meets Devilwares
product And I was like, wow, two things I really love.
And then when I read the script, like I wasn't
(11:05):
expecting to feel so empowered by it, Like it sounded
just like, oh, that's a fun concept. And I even
even from the pilot, I couldn't have imagined like where
the show would go in terms of like talking about
important issues, but like still being funny and still being lighthearted,
and you know, I think that we found that kind
(11:28):
of niche which was really cool. But it definitely was
the initial part of it was definitely like I need
a job. Please think I'm right for this. I talked
to Sara about this a lot. I'm not the head
of any studio, but I do believe that the trick
to making a successful show is having all team players
(11:49):
working on the thing be friends on and off camera.
I think this comes from like my reality TV world,
where like authenticity is just so evident. Even if you're
an amazing actor, I still feel like the audience can
pick up like whether or not you actually like these people,
or like it's a true bond, you know with modern
(12:09):
Sarah like loved Jesse. Tyler can't say more nice things
about Tyberelle. I had looking ask her mom on the
show if it was okay to marry here, like it
was a truly like tight knit crew. And then after
going to your wedding and meeting your co stars, it
seems like and I don't really know, I don't really
(12:30):
know them that well. We went to a beer festival
after your wedding, but like it seemed like to me
that you guys really do have like this really tight
knit bond. I mean, first of all, asking anybody to
fly from Canada to Nashville, like that's an entire day
of travel. Like they had to love me to go
to my wedding, and every single one of them was there,
(12:51):
and it like was so amazing to have them all there.
I entirely agree, Like I don't think if we didn't
like each other, I don't think that the show would
have done what it did. And it's not to say
that we don't like bicker like sisters and you know,
get piste off at each other and like have moments
where I'm like, I don't want to talk to you
right now, Like we absolutely do. But so is life.
(13:14):
When you spend nine months out of a year with
the same group of people for you know, five years,
you can always tell. I can always tell when I
watch a show and I'm like, oh, that actor is
difficult or you know, and I'm also like, what a
bad vibe. I Like, I get nervous for whatever is
next because I'm like what if I get anxiety about
(13:36):
thinking about what if somebody's like not cool, Like what
what if I have like a love interest who sucks?
Or what if I have to play best friends with
somebody that I can't stand? I like mostly everybody, but
like I can't say that, like people won't find me annoying,
or won't you know, not want to be around me,
or maybe they're not people people. So it does give
(13:59):
me anxieties. Somebody asked us in an interview, how do
you feel thinking about the next time you walk on
a set, it's not going to be with these two people?
And it didn't register to me until she said that,
and I was like, got punch. The final season The
Bold Type. It's on free Form Wednesday's ten pm Eastern.
If you don't have a pretty form, you can watch
it on Hulu and I think even YouTube TV. It's
(14:21):
a truly wonderful show. Most of my demo is female,
so this is a good show for everyone listening. But
if you're like me and a guy, I also think
that you would really really enjoy it, because I really
enjoy the show. Is there any thought of a movie
down the road? Oh, We've talked about it a million times.
I've already been like, hey, Wendy, our showrun around, like
(14:42):
just like start thinking about writing it. Like we all
kind of need a couple of years off, but like
I know that every single person who's a part of
the show is like super down to do that. And
I'm like Sex in the City did three of them,
you can do one, and you guys all like each other.
So it's Aisha always says that, like we want to
leave that door open for when we're all struggling to
(15:04):
collect coins in years that we could be like, hey, um,
we need jobs. You want to do a type movie?
I like it? Anything else you want to talk about
the show before we pivot over to my portion of
the podcast. I realized this morning that I haven't talked
about this, but my brother is on the in the
first two episodes. Yeah, and it's really fun because he's
(15:28):
been auditioning for the show, and like it was really
important to him that like he got the role not
because he was my brother, So I kind of like,
even though I put in a good word, I like
kind of like took a step back and so he
got this role, which was also awesome because it's not
any scenes with me. He got to like have his
own experience of it, which was really fun. But it
(15:51):
was just so exciting because I like got to just
like chill like a stage mom behind set and just
be like watching him, And it was just awesome to
be on set because I've always said I want to
be like the Jillen Halls and the que Sacks and stuff.
He's like brothers, sister Duo's what part does he play
in the show? So he plays a character called Joey
(16:13):
Falk who at the end of last season, the Alex
character got called out in an article online and basically
this guy questioned his like masculinity because he didn't step
up for his girlfriend in this moment where she was
being harassed, and so because Alex's feelings were hurt, he
decided to go on a deep dive of Joey's Instagram
(16:35):
or Twitter and found like a homophobic tweet from the
past and like resurfaced it even though it had been
like eight years ago. It's actually like a really cool
story that I think, um, you know, not just because
I'm excited my brother's on the show, but I think
cancel culture is really crazy right now, and it's kind
of a story about how, like, yes, there are certain
(16:57):
situations where there are people that do or to be canceled.
But if somebody said something, you know, ten twenty years
ago that was hurtful and that they regret, but they've
done so many things that are good in the world
from that point to try to like grow and become
a better person from that's also a part of the
equation that needs acknowledging, because if somebody's like doing the work,
(17:21):
isn't the point of bringing out somebody's flaws that they
can learn from them and become better. It's a cool
conversation that I really love that we kind of create
for people to have on the show. I think it's
awesome that you guys are tackling that and yeah, what
an amazingly timely issue. That's awesome for your brother as well,
so tell him congratulations for me. Okay, we're gonna take
(17:44):
a quick break. I don't even know if you know
what this show is, but it's origin stories. I'm just
fascinated with where people came from and how the hell
they got here. I want to hear your entire journey
to getting onto this stupid podcast for those people out
there that only no Oh Katie from the bold type,
I feel like You're gonna be shocked to hear what
(18:05):
happened beforehand. Maybe not, though I don't know you Down
with that down? All right? Quick? Breat we come back
Katie Stevens from The Bold Type Here on the Wells Cast.
Back in the Wells Cast, Star of the Bold Type,
(18:26):
which airs on free Form Wednesdays at ten pm Eastern.
You can also watch it on Hulu. The final season
begins airing tomorrow May six. It is an absolute phenomenal show.
It's funny, it's got heart. They talk about serious stuff.
You said it before, which I think is a good
analogy for it. It's Sex and the City meets Devilwars
(18:50):
product and it's also really empowering for young women who
are trying to carve out amazing career in a male
dominated world. And I think it's just a really, really
great show. And I'm sad it's ending, but I'm happy
that it allows me the chance to talk to you.
I am so excited because I've been friends now with
(19:10):
you for a couple of years. But I don't really
know the intricacies of your genesis, like your origin story.
What part of it do you want to know? I
want to know all of it. Here's what I know
about Katie. Katie is Portuguese like me. She can speak
Portuguese fluently, which I cannot do, which is embarrassing. I
know you went on a reality TV show, and I
(19:32):
know then you pivoted over and became this like powerhouse actress.
And I know that you're like best friends with my
fiance and your husband is like the coolest and I
like him a whole lot. I want to hang out
with him more. So let's go back to the beginning.
You're from You're from the East Coast, right, Yes, I'm
from Connecticut. And we talked about your brother earlier. Is
(19:53):
it only you two or are there are other siblings?
It's just the two of us. And then I also
know that since we did our DNA tests, there have
been no other children that have popped up, So yes,
two of us. That's like a thing though like that happens,
it does. Okay, So you were born in Connecticut? Where
(20:14):
you are you the older of the two or the
younger of the two. I'm actually the youngest, and like
everyone's always shocked by that for some reason. And my
brother will always say, like, I'm older, but she's older. Yeah,
I love that I have a sibling. Um, I have
a couple of friends that are only children and they're
also thriving. But I feel like when the time comes
(20:37):
to have children, like, based on how me and my
brother grew up, I was like, I want my I
want my kid to have a buddy. Yeah, I'm the
youngest of five. It's important to have a bunch of
other assholes around you, if nothing else, to make you
look a little bit better, because there's always you know,
there's always one, especially if you're all older than you.
They all they all like mess up way before you.
(20:58):
So it's like you watch them make mistakes and then
it's not that you don't make the same ones, you
just like get better at hiding it. Yeah, my parents
have stopped caring. Really by the time I came around,
Were you always an entertaining child? Were youth putting on
plays or singing for anyone who would listen? Growing up?
I mean, yeah, my parents when my brother and I
(21:20):
were really young, they were trying to figure out like
a summer camp for us to go to because they
both had like nine to fives and they needed us
to be at camp from nine to five. So the
only one that was like all day was enacting camp,
where it was like two weeks and then at the
end you put on a play. So my brother was
(21:41):
the first one to do that. Acting camp we all sang,
and like karaoke on holidays was big at my house
and my parents knew I loved to sing and my
brother sang. But then we all showed up to my
brother's musical and like we didn't know he was the lead,
and he was like one of the leads in Oliver,
and he started singing. My parents were looking at each
(22:04):
other and looking at me, and we were all like,
did you know he could do that? And we were
like no. And then watching my brother do it just
made me want to do it because I wanted to
be like my brother, and so I kind of followed
in his footsteps in auditioning and you know, being in
the background and singing. My parents always had me singing
for people, but there was a couple of years where
(22:27):
when I would sing for people, I would make them
turn around because I didn't want them to look at me,
because I think I was just like too nervous. And
now people ask me like, what would you rather sing
in front of ten thousand people or like ten, and
I'm like ten thousand because when you're you're in a
room of ten people and this must be where I
(22:47):
got it from. Back then, if you mess up or
if people don't think you're good, the room is kind
of small and you can see everybody's face, but like
ten thousand people, there's like lights, you can't see any buddy.
You hear them, you don't see them. So it's like
weirdly less nerve wracking. At sixteen, you went an audition
for American Idol, Right, Yes, So that's funny because that's
(23:12):
the dichotomy you're just talking about. You had to sing
for like just a couple of people, and then you
had to sing for a lot of people. What was
that experience like? Now that I'm an actor and I
go into auditions all the time, and you know, sometimes
you're hearing somebody through the wall doing the same audition
that you're about to do. The audition for American Idol
(23:33):
was kind of like being in the worst audition room
you've ever been in, because like you're hearing everyone, like
especially at the stadium part, everyone is just like singing
out loud. They like don't care and you're hearing all
these people and you're like, that person is better than me.
That person is better than me. And then it's it's
a weird thing that nobody really realized because when you
watch the show, it kind of makes it look like
(23:54):
the judges see all ten thousand people that are at
that stadium, and it's like split up into months of auditions.
So you do the first one and it's like cattle
calls of people singing, and you go in front of
two producers and they're like you, you, and you, you're
not what we're looking for. You. You're going in the
back to fill out a questionnaire. And so then I
(24:17):
made it through that, and then two months later I
made it through an executive producer around and then I
made it through to the judges, and then you go
to Hollywood Week and everyone's really good and it's really scary.
And then when you start to get to the live shows,
it's still not that nerve wracking because you're performing in
front of like a hundred to two hundred people and
(24:41):
you know that there are millions of people on the
other end, and and that doesn't really become prevalent until
you know you're finding out who gets eliminated. And thankfully,
you know, Twitter wasn't that big, like I think American
Idol actually created my Twitter account for me. So you
were like seeing people say like good job, loved you,
(25:04):
and that was kind of like my first introduction to
the Twitter verse. Like occasionally I would I would get
people who would like say something that was like not
so nice. But I didn't really know enough to look
at Twitter in that way back then, and I'm thankful
that I didn't because I can't imagine what those contestants
have to go through now. But when we started performing
(25:25):
in front of a lot of people, that was when
we got to go on tour, and that was like
the best time of my life I could do that.
The adrenaline of walking on a stage with arena full
of people screaming for you is unlike anything that I've
ever felt in my life. It's cute, but like now
that I look back, I was like, it's kind of cheesy.
Like we like all sing cover songs and like we
(25:48):
do like group numbers. Then we all learned like harmonies
to sing together. But it was like fun and everybody
enjoyed the show. But everybody has their own individual kind
of mini concerts and so like I think I was
the third or fourth person up in the show and
I got to come out and you know, perform two
songs with the band, and you know, all the screens
(26:09):
are going behind me. And I got to play at
Mohegan Sun which was like my hometown show and like literally,
like my whole high school was there, Like it was
the coolest thing ever. Um. But I think we were
kind of the last American Idol tour that did a
lot of shows like we did. I think we did
(26:29):
something like fifty five cities in three months, which was crazy. Yeah, yeah,
I'm not sure. I mean, especially with COVID, there's no concerts.
But I'm not really sure now what the American Idol
concerts look like. I've had a lot of people from
the American Idol universe on this show, and I know
(26:50):
a bunch of them as well, just from living in
Nashville as long as they have. And so this question
gets answered differently by everybody. But when you look back,
was that a positive experience or one that you could
like take it or leave it. I think it was
a positive experience for many reasons. I think the thing
that I say take it or leave. It was my
(27:11):
voice and my like knowledge of myself back then. But
I mean, I would I have a hundred percent would
not be doing what I'm doing right now had I
not done that show, because I probably would have, Like
I was applying to college when I did an American Idol,
and I was ready to go to college and major
in like music business and like maybe become a manager
(27:34):
or an agent to help other people, since I didn't
know how to help myself. You know. I think it's
really hard being sixteen and being on the show and
doing something that you love to do immediately getting judged
for it after and my comments from the judges were
things like, we just don't think you know who you are,
(27:56):
And I'm like, of course I don't know who I am.
I'm sixteen years old. Did you know who you were
when you were sixteen? Like I think like the expectation
of people to like who are coming from the middle
of nowhere places who have never done anything like this before,
the expectation for them to know exactly what they want
to do in music, exactly who they want to be
(28:16):
as an artist with no prior experience, Like I think
that I'm still figuring that out for myself. And I'm
twenty eight, so I feel like that's a never ending
process for anybody who's creative or in music in any capacity.
When do you pivot over from doing American Idol to acting?
(28:38):
I mean, I knew you obviously always did it, but
when did you make that mental decision to now I'm
going to do this. So I was doing after idol,
I was writing songs a lot, I was performing places
out here in l a UM and I was working
with somebody and was hit with like a production deal
that essentially was like if you get signed by a label,
(29:02):
you know, we get half of your writing, and like
you're publishing, we would get a percentage if you did
a movie, if you did a commercial, if you would
like done any of this stuff. And it was like
really bad and really sad, and I had just signed
on with new managers who were like, if you say
goodbye to this, you know, we'll help you find other stuff.
(29:22):
And then I said goodbye to that, and then the
other stuff they were setting me up with was like
not great, and I felt really discouraged and I kind
of was in a dark place, and I was like,
you know what, I'm done done with music. I'm quitting.
I hate it. I hate how I feel doing it
right now. And I emailed because I was with CIA
(29:45):
for music through getting signed there through American Idol, and
I knew they had an acting department. Naive you know,
seventeen almost eighteen year old me was like, oh, I
could just email them and get an agent. And so
I held them and I was like, hey, like, can
I meet with somebody from the acting department? And they
(30:05):
were like sure, And so I like went to the
CIA office and was like immediately overwhelmed. That office is
like made of marble and like very bougie and crazy.
And I sat down with um this agent, Aaron Culley,
and I remember like amping myself up on the way.
They're being like, Okay, you're not your most confident right now,
(30:30):
but you're gonna put on your big girl pants and
you are gonna, you know, pretend that you are. And
I walked into the meeting and like my opening line
I had prepared was like, I know, you get a
lot of singers in here that say they want to act,
but like, you just tell me what I gotta do,
and I'm gonna do it, Like I'll go to whatever
classes you want, I'll like do whatever workshops and what like.
(30:51):
Had this whole like speech prepared and she just looked
at me and she just goes, Okay, I didn't ask
to see me act like I could have been tearle. Yeah,
and I probably was at that time because I had,
you know, done musicals and stuff. Then you know, they
had emailed me a bunch of like acting classes to
go check out and casting workshops when those were a thing, um,
(31:16):
And so I just started doing them, and the world
of acting became less intimidating to me for some reason,
even though it's still an intimidating thing to be going
out and getting rejected every day. But yeah, I just
like got an agent and started auditioning for stuff. What's
(31:36):
your like credo for success? Do you have one? I
think it it changes. But it's always been fundamentally that
there's nothing about this that will change my life in
terms of my spectrum of happiness. Like I've always been
(31:56):
a person who's known that, know, if you get auditions,
you might not get the role. If you get the role,
it might not go past the pilot. If it goes
past the pilot, it could end after five seasons, like
you can't base your happiness and like how far you're
going to get in this career because at one point
(32:18):
a job ends and you're kind of back to square one.
So for me, like I've always just done my best
in every audition and then I shred my sides when
I leave, and I don't think about it and I
make sure that, like my focus then becomes what can
I do in the meantime to just make myself feel
(32:38):
creatively fulfilled? And where do I cultivate my happiness outside
of this? Because I'm like, if I cultivate my happiness
outside of what this career gives me, then I can
have happiness way longer than if I'm like basing my
happiness on like what job is next? So I mean, I,
you know, have a beautiful house, and I have a
beautiful husband and a beautiful dog and a wonderful family,
(33:02):
and I sing and I write and I do all
of these other things to make myself creatively fulfilled. But
I don't put all my eggs in that basket. Unfortunately,
I'm running out of time with you, um, and I
feel like we could just do a whole another episode,
like we haven't even touched on your husband, who I
just gotta say he was in Boys Like Girls, which
(33:24):
I just I mean, it's such an amazing, like weird
that story. Though, no I don't you want to tell it.
I can tell it. I have fifteen minutes and it's
not that long. I saw Boys Like Girls in concert
at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut when I was fourteen,
and Paul and I never met then, but then we
(33:46):
met seven years later in l A. And like, when
I found out he was in Boys Like Girls, I
was like, WHOA, I was at your concert when I
was fourteen. And that's not weird because now I'm of age,
but it's like a weird serendipitous thing because I had
always been that like hopeless romantic person going out with
my friends being like what if my husband's in this room?
(34:09):
And my friends were like, your husband is not at
this club. The weird thing is is I like was
in the same room as my husband and never met him.
How did he respond to that? I mean, he's like
the most like even keel, nothing phases him kind of thing.
So like I make situations weirder than they have to be.
So when I was like that's not weird. He's like
I wasn't thinking it was until you said that. I've
(34:32):
been to here as this house. He's got like a
cool like little recording studio back house thing. Obviously you're
a very serious, big time actress. But like I would
assume like me, like I grew up playing golf, I
still go play golfs, Like do you go into his
like little recording student and be like, let me lead
on a couple of tracks, like let me let me
feel like I used to feel back in the day
(34:53):
like I used to you know, when I was like
heavily songwriting. Um, like before I did the bold Tie,
I would ask him to like produce my demos. But
now he's like really big time and producing all these
records and like barely has time to come eat dinner
with me, so like to ask him to, like, could
you do my demos? But it was really fun because
(35:15):
I was trying to be more creative in the music
space over Quarantine. So I was like in my office,
I have my own piano and like my guitars hanging
on the wall, so I would like be writing stuff.
And there were like a couple of songs that it
was fun when we were doing nothing else. He like
produced them for me and we got to be creative
in that way when there was nothing else to do.
(35:38):
That's awesome going forward, what's something that you haven't done
in your career that you'd like to go do? Oh? Um,
I want to get into producing. Um. I think the
Bold Type gave me such a gift in terms of
even though we weren't producers, creatively, we were leaned on
by you know, the writers to kind of like have
(35:59):
our voice is heard and our ideas shared. And you know,
I just watched how hard everybody who did produce the
show worked and it's a space that I'm really excited about.
So I'm working on, you know, getting some projects off
the ground, which is exciting. But also just like dream
roles like I would I know, me and Sarah share this?
(36:20):
Would love to do like a movie musical? Like would
die to do a movie musical? Would I to do
a movie musical with Sarah? Why don't you guys do
this together? You should do it together? Um. There is
video of me and Sarah very drunk one night, um
singing a duet from Wicked that will never see the
light of day because we're not in our best form,
(36:42):
but um, I do know they're making a wicked film,
so we should be up for that. And this is
me putting forth our campaign. You just got to put
it out in the universe and and then it hopefully
comes back. I would love that. Before I let you go,
do you have some time for rapid Fire Questions? I
love that alright, rapid Fire Questions. Love a game well,
(37:08):
Rapid Fire Questions with Katie Stevens the lead in The
Bold Type, which airs Wednesday's ten pm Eastern on free
Form and Hulu. The beginning of the final season starts tomorrow,
so don't miss it all right quickly. Now, would you
rather be rich and sad or poor and happy? Poor
and happy night in? Or night out night in? If
(37:28):
you could change your name, what would you change it to? Oh? God, um, Kirby, Yeah,
that's the that's what we're looking for. What's the best
piece of advice you've ever been given? You are enough
exactly as you are, because there's only one of you,
(37:49):
that's right, Kirby. What's your favorit? Pizza topic, bacon and pineapple?
What I know, I'm the weirdo who loves pineapple on
my pizza. Continue, you're that you're that first? Not every
time though, Like no judgment, Like it's a mood, Yeah
it is. It's a vibe for sure. What's your favorite book?
(38:11):
The subtle art of not giving a fuck? Who's your
first kiss? Oh god, I'm pretty sure he got arrested,
so I'm gonna not say his name, but not his
full name. But his name was Will. Yeah, actually that's
not true. My first kiss was when I was like
three years old with my best friend Lanna, so m
starting starting young. Yeah. First concert ever went to Britney Spears.
(38:35):
First job you ever had, I was a bus girl
at a restaurant at an airport. Celebrity you've been mistaken for?
Um uh, I'm blanking on her name, but she plays
April Kepner on Grace Anatomy and I used to get
mistaken for her when I had red hair. Last person
you texted on your phone Megan in Asia. That's not
(38:57):
even a joke. Who would bail you out of jail?
Hopefully my husband, but if not, probably Megan Ratia or
my mom. First CD you ever owned, Shania Twain. Celebrity crush.
I don't have one because I think It's weird that
I could potentially ever be in the same room as
(39:18):
that person and it would make my husband uncomfortable. So
I guess my husband's my best celebrity crush. Since you
are a five to a player, what would you rather win?
An Oscar, A Grammy, a Tony, a sack? What? What
are all the things in the egot? An Emmy? Of
all those things, what would you rather win? I mean,
an Oscar feels like the mecca for what I do,
(39:40):
but like any yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes yes.
Katie Stevens, thank you so much for being on the show.
It's so wonderful to see you, well, to see you.
This was so fun. I hope we all get to
hang out soon again together. By the way, we're going
to be in Nashville in November, so we need to
(40:02):
hang out. I will be there The bold Type Wednesday's
ten pm Eastern free Form Hulu. All that stuff where
people follow you if they want to um stock your
instant stuff. It literally Instagram because I don't go on
anything else. So my Instagram is the Katie Stevens because
there are many people with my name. Is there anything
(40:23):
that I didn't ask you about that you wanted to
talk about. You pretty much got it covered, and then
off off screen we have to discuss planning a trip
to Portugal to the homeland. Yes we must, Katie, Thank
you so much. You rock, dude. Thank you. Subscribe to
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