Soleil Moon Frye

Soleil Moon Frye checks in to talk about the Peacock TV reboot of 'Punky Brewster' and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Come on Mario a little bit. It's up here on
Mario Lopez joining me now on Zoom, the star of
the Punky Brewster Show on Peacock, My buddy, so late
moon Fry, welcome to the show. So good to see you,
think you. I love you. It makes me so happy
when I get to see your smiling face that has
not changed. Well you. I'm so happy and proud of you,

(00:23):
and you look amazing. And what is this incredible place
you're talking to me from? Is this your Is this
your home? Yeah? Yeah, it's actually been in my family
since the sixties. Is that right? Yeah, and fixed it
up over many years and and so yeah, so that's
where it's very impressive. Very it looks like very very clean,

(00:45):
like you don't have kids running around there, you know
what it's like. I I painted the floor so it's
like my zen sanctuary. Yeah. No, I love it. I
love it. We'll congrat hide out sometimes exactly. I get you.
I get you. Um, congratulations on the show. I've seen
the trailer and it looks awesome and such warm, family
friendly vibes there and and obviously, um you're now on

(01:07):
the parental front. So for those not familiar where Punky's at?
Where are we twenty five years later? So Punky is
newly single, raising her kids, and her ex, Freddie Prince Jr.
And she still have all this chemistry because they still
love each other like crazy, but it's kind of like
one of those things where they're better apart than they

(01:29):
were together. So it's very interesting family dynamic. And a
young girl comes along who reminds her so much of herself,
and it's really about coming of age all over again
for her and the different coming of ages of everyone involved,
and how she rediscovers her Punky power. And you know,
I always said like I didn't know where Punky ended

(01:51):
and I began. And it's like, through through Punky discovering
her Punky power, I'm discovering my soul a Punky power.
I love it. I love it. It's all some liminal um.
He was like life imitating art, art imitating life. I mean,
Punky was a foster child, correct as I remember. So,
how how did that affect your character as a mother?

(02:11):
You know it? It was so incredible. I always said
that if I was like eighty eight and people still
called me Punky, I would be so proud because the
stories that we were able to deal with in such
an authentic way. You know the fact that she was
abandoned by her father, abandoned by her mother in a
shopping center, found Henry, and that they really became this family.

(02:32):
You know. So often there's the family that we're born into,
and there's the family that we choose, and the people
that would come up over the years and share their
stories of coming through the foster system, being adopted or
not having a family. You know, people opened up throughout
the years, and so for me it was so important
and for all of us involved to maintain that integrity

(02:53):
and that authenticity. Um. And and so you know, we
deal with a lot of the fix that we you know,
that are going on in the world through healing and laughter,
you know what I mean. Because life is messy and
there's course down and it's a roller coaster, and so
it's really about that messiness and that perfectly imperfect Yeah no,
and how to navigate it. You're right, Um, Sherry Johnson's

(03:16):
back from the original series. She looks great to have
have you you don't changed one bit? Yeah right, we
both look you both look amazing. Um. Had had you
stayed in touch with her throughout the years. Part of
this it's so funny because we were so tight our
whole lives, and then it was like we turned and
then we just went on our own paths, and it's
like we didn't even realize that, like so many years

(03:39):
had gone by the moment we saw each other again,
it was like not a day had gone by. Elevators. Yeah,
and like she came out of the elevators, I just
burst into tears, and it's like it's like we telepathically,
we're connected over there those years, you know what I mean.
I just feel so blessed. I love her so much.
It's so cool. That's so cool. And we're big fans

(03:59):
of w W over here and I saw that Charlotte
Flair and Alexa Bliss they're gonna have candles on the show, right,
What can you tell me about that? They are amazing
and like they were throwing down and I was like, like,
I was so nervous. I was like, this is like whoa,
this is like hardcore. So yeah, it was very It
was very fun working with them, and I love you

(04:21):
know the fact that you know, in the original we
would have these amazing um people that would come and guests,
and Marvin Hagler would come, my dad, that's right, mar that.
So my dad was a Golden Glove champion. And so
I always love boxing boxing that I mean, I'm looking
at your shirt just going, oh, yeah, you know I
love boxing, and so carrying on that tradition. I really

(04:45):
I love that we're still doing that. Oh that's so cool.
I totally remember that episode. That's funny. And what about
your own kids? So leg how do they know? So
I have a four one that just turned seven, twelve
going on twenty eight, and and fifteen going on. Oh
my gosh, wait that's three and four. So there's a four. Yeah,

(05:08):
so with four kids, right, so the one, the howld
the the youngest? Oh four literally four? I thought I
thought you meant four kids now four year old? Got it.
It's funny because you went from youngest to oldest. And
most people always when the talk about the kids, they
go from oldest to youngest. That's interesting. There's so many
kids running around. I don't know. Yeah, that's I love

(05:28):
that big old family. That must be. I always wanted
to have like a hundred kids, and my mind was like, yeah,
I mean, you know, you might want to you know,
start a home at some point for all those kids.
It's so funny. Um, I remember back in the day
you you guessed it on say by the bell and
what do you do? What do you remember about that
time when you were a guest? Do you want me
to be honest? Yeah? Well now I do what happened? Um? Well,

(05:53):
I remember we mouse around? Do we look up back
in the day? No? Right? Do we kids? Okay? Maybe? Shoot,
I can't remember. I mean I do remember this with
you at some point, okay, okay, So I just had
to be really, do you want to get I was
like when you said that my old damn? Did we

(06:15):
you don't remember? Mario? No, no, no, I thought I'm kiddy.
I was testing you, yes, Mario Lopez, as you were.
I'm just king. It was very innocent. Yes, of course.
So I remember that about the show because maybe it
happened around the same time. Mark Paul was like one
of my first childhood love. So I remember that, you know,

(06:36):
Mark Paul and he had worked on Punky and so
I remember like just being like, oh my gosh, this
is a dream. I get to like Mark Paul over
here and Mario over here. This is great. And then
of course Dustin, who was so sweet because I was
playing Screeches girlfriend rested in peace, much love over there,
and Elizabeth and Timmy and just everybody being so sweet.
And also it was like I think it was the

(06:58):
same sound stage I had done Punky on, so that
was very real, And it was probably one of the
most awkward stages in my life because it was like,
you know, I was going through puberty. So there's a
lot I remember about you. Yeah, sort of a fun,
funky time in our life. I remember that. This is
a fun fact that I was not aware of this.

(07:19):
So you made a sitcom pilot with one of my
all time favorites, Rodney Dangerfield. Oh my god, tell me
about that? And was he as cool in person? It
was so cool and yeah, and I feel like I
remember him just being completely Rodney dangerous, like everything you
would think about Rodney dangers that life. Yeah, it was like,

(07:42):
I tell you, that's awesome. That is so cool. Now
this is for our countdown here, what music do you
think Punky Rooster would be listening to these days? So,
so Punky has like I think she's toward a bit
and like she was a photographer, she is a photographer,
so she was probably traveling the world culture listening to

(08:04):
some punk rock and maybe some Remote Yes and Pixies.
As she got older, violent funds, I think she grew
into that stage. And then there's like the Punky that
it's obsessed with eighties music, Madonna of course, and you
know all of in prints and so so I think
Punky's got a very eclectic music taste. I can roll

(08:27):
with Punky. I like that. I'm not sure in the
house music, well, there was like that slight stage in
my life where I went through that. But I think
Punky went through an evolution of of being on the
road with different bands and hip hop of course. I
feel that. I feel that because I love how many
hip hop artists have shared their love for punkys and
rappers and like athletes. I love it. It's awesome. My

(08:49):
cousin has um. She's probably my favorite female cousins. She's
so cool. Her Instagram handle is Drunkie Brewster Party, so
that's so amazing. It was like one of the big
conversations was, you know, like because we have cocktails on
the show, right, and I'm like, well, I'm a beer girl,
and so Punky's gotta be a beer girl. So it's

(09:11):
so funny because Cherry's like the wine girl and I'm like,
I don't even know how many times in this season,
like I kicked back a beer. That's so funny. Oh
you know what I wanted to ask you to What
was my cardboard cutout doing on your show? Oh my god? Okay,
so you know we did this like interview thing where
we weren't able to all physically be together because of
COVID got it, and so I had so you were

(09:34):
there in cardboard because I know you so well. It
was like all of the chemistry was still there even
in cardboard. I love it. I love it, and the
kiss it was the best. Um. All right, before I
let you go, Silamon put you on the spot. Quick questions,
quick answers. Okay, you can ask me anything. The best
show you're currently binge watching. So here's the thing. I

(09:56):
actually have not been watching TV so much during Quarantine.
I've been doing a lot of reading and digesting as
much information as I can. Uh uh, Carl Young, I'm
like constantly man and his symbols. I absolutely love. Um.
I've been just drinking up books like crazy. Wow. Good

(10:19):
for you. Uh, so yeah, some old poetry. I mean
just yeah, I'm just drinking. I like it. I like
it song you know all the words too? Oh wow?
I mean probably it would probably be well, uh Daddy
Alex like right, we don't love that. I would say

(10:46):
there's some Madonna songs that I definitely know the lyrics to,
and uh, Prince for sure. Okay, okay, who is your
celebrity crush growing up? There were so many Mario like
I explore on the the documentary that I can't wait
for you to see. Well, of course your dear friend Mark,
who I was, you know, completely crushed out on for

(11:09):
so long ago. I didn't know that. Okay, so wait
a minute, hold on what is this? He just kind
of rolled through that. What's his documentary? Kid ninety? Can
you talk about it? Or yeah? So kid ninety? Yeah
you may make an appearance in it, by the way, fantastic.
Can you know about this? So oh, I can't wait
for you to see it. It premiers on Hulu on
March twelve. Great and um, And essentially I had carried

(11:32):
a video camera with me everywhere I went, as you
might remember, and wrote in my diaries, kept out my
voicemail messages, and the last years have been this journey
of going through these hundreds of hours of footage and
audio tapes and tape recordings. And it was meant to
be about everyone but me, and it's essentially become this
personal coming of age story of both my teen self

(11:54):
and adults. Oh that is so cool. I can't wait
to see it. And then I didn't reviews with friends
like Mark Paul and Brian Green and Stephen Dorff Arquet
and Fault Getty and just childhood friends and yes, oh
that sounds awesome. Right on. What's your go to cocktail? Well,
I'm pretty open to beer. I love him, I love

(12:15):
him Odello. So, by the way, I think you have
some cocktails you make, so I would appreciate you sending
them over. Tequila, love tequila. I'm gonna sound like suter,
like a girl after my own tequila. And I also
love a vodka soda, not altogether, just like I like

(12:36):
a beer at sunset. And then you know, I like
to you know, it's like like I like to explore.
You don't discriminate when it comes to libations. I love it.
And last question, who plays you in the sole Moon Forest? Story,
ah me, because I think I say that genuinely because like, really,

(12:56):
this documentary is like my coming of age story. And
I didn't want to do an interview. I kept like
pushing it off, and then eventually I did and it
was like me peeling away the onion. And so it's
it's it's my story, but it's all of our stories.
I hope people watch it and like are able to
look at their own lives through that perspective of the lens.

(13:18):
You know, well, I'm definitely gonna watch it, and I'm
so happy for you can now now in the future Jagger,
my daughter who looks exactly like me, you know, like,
you know, if it was like a you know, scripted
got it, got it? Yeah, okay, Jagger, nice keep it
in the Fani keep thinking, don't you feel like with
with Saved by the But I don't know if you
feel the same way. But with Punky, I feel like
it's like a continuation because it's like we're growing up.
It's not like there's other people playing you know, yeah, yeah, reimagining, sure, revisiting. Yes,

(13:41):
I'm exactly the same thing. So I'm looking forward to
checking it out. You should to watch Punky Brewster Thursday
on Peacock so they thanks so much for checking in.
I love you, thank you for your constant support and
just how I just adore you. I'm your biggest fan.
The twenty five Punky Brewster. Check it out, check it out.

(14:02):
I'll see you later, I love You'll see you in
a little bit, okay with Mario Lopez