Latest / I Choose Me with Jennie Garth / Danielle Fishel Chooses Boundaries; Why Her Colleagues Are Not Her Friends, And Why It’s OK!

Transcript

Danielle Fishel Chooses Boundaries; Why Her Colleagues Are Not Her Friends, And Why It’s OK! · I Choose Me with Jennie Garth

0:01
Speaker 1: You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Welcome
0:09
Speaker 1: to I Choose Me, the podcast about making choices that
0:12
Speaker 1: put yourself first. I'm pretty sure Danielle Fischel is what
0:16
Speaker 1: comes up in the dictionary when you look up putting
0:19
Speaker 1: yourself first. We have seen her as a nineties teen phenomenon.
0:25
Speaker 1: She is a director, now commanding sets behind the lens,
0:29
Speaker 1: mom of two active boys, dancing queen, and now a
0:33
Speaker 1: prolific podcaster. Danielle has chosen herself time and time again,
0:38
Speaker 1: and you won't believe all that she has done to
0:41
Speaker 1: get there. Hello, Hello, how are you beauty? Wearing the red?
0:49
Speaker 2: Red's my favorite color? I can tell I have so
0:53
Speaker 2: much red, and I every now and then I'll think like, no,
0:57
Speaker 2: don't wear red, because now my friends have started being
0:59
Speaker 2: like and of course the niels and red, and I'm like,
1:01
Speaker 2: oh man, it's really that noticeable.
1:03
Speaker 1: I'm that girl. I'm the girl that always wears red.
1:06
Speaker 1: It looks great on you, so and it's happy. It's
1:08
Speaker 1: happy color and it works perfectly. Because I just saw that.
1:12
Speaker 1: You and Lance pass are the hosts of Christmas in
1:16
Speaker 1: July for KVC.
1:18
Speaker 2: We are co cheer captains.
1:20
Speaker 1: Okay, nobody better to be a cheer captain than you
1:23
Speaker 1: and Lance.
1:23
Speaker 2: I love this, right, I mean, yeah, two people who
1:26
Speaker 2: look great and red. So that's why they picked us.
1:30
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Yeah, we You and I. We cross
1:33
Speaker 1: paths in the QBC hallways.
1:35
Speaker 2: I know, it's wonderful. We cross paths in the iHeart hallways.
1:39
Speaker 2: We cross paths in the QVC hallways. We just we
1:42
Speaker 2: are like ships passing in the night.
1:44
Speaker 1: I love this. This is a new thing because before this,
1:48
Speaker 1: before the podcast world, and before we both started on QVC,
1:51
Speaker 1: we never ever ever really saw each other, I know,
1:54
Speaker 1: around town.
1:55
Speaker 2: Now I get to compliment your clothes every time I
1:58
Speaker 2: see you.
1:59
Speaker 1: Ah, I love that. Thank you. It's so fun seeing you.
2:03
Speaker 2: You always look so fantastic and put together, and I'm
2:06
Speaker 2: always like where'd you get that? What is that? And
2:08
Speaker 2: You're like it's mine. I'm like, oh my gosh, I
2:10
Speaker 2: need to be shopping on qbcmore obvious girl.
2:13
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, you just finished recapping all seven seasons of
2:18
Speaker 1: Boy Meets World. I know what did you? Because I
2:24
Speaker 1: am not there yet. I'm very excited for when we
2:27
Speaker 1: do get to the very last episode and like how
2:30
Speaker 1: that's going to feel. How did it feel for you
2:32
Speaker 1: when you when you were at the last episode.
2:35
Speaker 2: When we finished Boy Meets World in nineteen ninety nine,
2:40
Speaker 2: I was so ready for it to be over, and
2:44
Speaker 2: at the same time, I was also very sad, like
2:47
Speaker 2: it was obvious that it was the closing of such
2:50
Speaker 2: a chapter, and it felt very much like, who knows
2:54
Speaker 2: if I'm ever going to see these people again, Who
2:57
Speaker 2: knows if we'll ever like what will this feel like
3:01
Speaker 2: in the future. I had no idea, So there was
3:03
Speaker 2: a lot of sadness, even though I was relieved that
3:07
Speaker 2: the show was over. With the podcast ending, the podcast
3:11
Speaker 2: has brought us so much closer, and here we are,
3:15
Speaker 2: thirty plus years into our friendship. I have no doubt
3:19
Speaker 2: I will know these people for the rest of my life.
3:23
Speaker 2: So there is a lot less sadness this time around.
3:27
Speaker 2: There is actually a lot of joy in the sense
3:30
Speaker 2: that because it was our first time watching all of
3:33
Speaker 2: the episodes, I really understand why the show is so beloved.
3:38
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's like I'm hearing myself. This is
3:41
Speaker 1: exactly my realization from the recap podcast that I do.
3:47
Speaker 1: It's crazy, this like amazing opportunity to to become a
3:52
Speaker 1: fan of your own show.
3:53
Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly how I feel, because you are.
3:56
Speaker 1: Sitting around watching it. Nope, you were making it. You
4:00
Speaker 1: were busy making it and trying to figure out what life,
4:02
Speaker 1: how to have a life around that.
4:04
Speaker 2: Correct. And I only ever saw the show through my
4:08
Speaker 2: character's lens, and now that I'm watching it with forty
4:12
Speaker 2: five year old eyes, and I'm able to be like,
4:15
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, what a beautiful parent story, what a
4:18
Speaker 2: beautiful lesson there for that character. Whereas like when we
4:21
Speaker 2: were going through the week, I was just thinking about
4:22
Speaker 2: what I had to say, what I had to do.
4:24
Speaker 2: It wasn't even really paying attention to what the lessons
4:26
Speaker 2: of the show were. And how I get to appreciate it.
4:29
Speaker 2: From every POV I.
4:31
Speaker 1: Know, I always say like, yeah, I never knew it
4:33
Speaker 1: was happening in the rest of the episode because I
4:35
Speaker 1: would literally go through the script and read my lines
4:38
Speaker 1: and worry about my scenes and not focus at all
4:41
Speaker 1: on the other scenes because I was on my job.
4:43
Speaker 2: Blah blah, my life exactly.
4:47
Speaker 1: Oh well, congrats on finishing that. And I can definitely
4:51
Speaker 1: relate to that feeling of like, wow, I get it now,
4:55
Speaker 1: and also just like a newfound sort of level of
4:59
Speaker 1: pride in what you were a part of.
5:03
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, what an honor to you know. It's like
5:06
Speaker 2: there are so few shows, of all the shows that
5:09
Speaker 2: have ever been on the air, there are so few
5:11
Speaker 2: shows that anyone would care to talk about thirty years later,
5:16
Speaker 2: and yet the two like look at us that this
5:19
Speaker 2: opportunity was ours and that we get to still talk
5:23
Speaker 2: about it and relive it, and that it at least
5:25
Speaker 2: for me in our situation. The memories are so overwhelmingly
5:31
Speaker 2: a majority positive that it's a delight to go back
5:35
Speaker 2: through them. And even if there are moments where it's like, well,
5:39
Speaker 2: that could have been a better week, or that could
5:41
Speaker 2: have been a better experience. No one goes through seven
5:45
Speaker 2: plus years of their life without having moments where you go, huh,
5:49
Speaker 2: I wish I would have done that differently, or I
5:50
Speaker 2: wish that could have been done, you know, in a
5:53
Speaker 2: different way. But overwhelmingly I have seven years of incredible
5:57
Speaker 2: memories that I just get to relive every week through
5:59
Speaker 2: the podcast.
6:00
Speaker 1: So you think you're do you think now that you've
6:02
Speaker 1: finished it, you do you think you'll ever watch it again?
6:05
Speaker 2: I can't wait to watch it again.
6:07
Speaker 1: The thirty time.
6:08
Speaker 2: Well, no, this will be a second time. A second time,
6:10
Speaker 2: but we have been very strict with ourselves about like
6:13
Speaker 2: the rules where we didn't allow ourselves to watch ahead. No,
6:17
Speaker 2: we only watched right before we were going to record
6:20
Speaker 2: the episode. So now I kind of and we of
6:22
Speaker 2: course had to watch them in order. So now I'm
6:25
Speaker 2: excited to watch them almost Like we talked today about
6:29
Speaker 2: it being like a roulette wheel, pick a couple episodes
6:32
Speaker 2: from every season and then spin it and see what
6:35
Speaker 2: you land on, and then just jump in and watch
6:37
Speaker 2: that one and see what you've done.
6:40
Speaker 1: I mean, really, what a cool thing to have, you
6:44
Speaker 1: know that, to be able to do yeah, really.
6:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was twelve to nineteen twelve.
6:51
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you whole you were.
6:52
Speaker 2: So like, those are some higher entire teams are on
6:59
Speaker 2: tape for.
7:00
Speaker 1: Me to watch, and it's going to be so cool
7:02
Speaker 1: for when your kids are that age. I know they're
7:05
Speaker 1: gonna love it.
7:07
Speaker 2: I'm excited for that.
7:08
Speaker 1: I told my daughter I was talking with you today,
7:11
Speaker 1: and she got so excited. She said, not only did
7:15
Speaker 1: she love you in the original show, but she loved
7:17
Speaker 1: you even more in.
7:20
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, because I was the mom on Girl Meets World. Yeah, yeah,
7:24
Speaker 2: that's so sweet. Your daughter was a big Dancing with
7:26
Speaker 2: the Stars fan too, Right.
7:28
Speaker 1: Well, I have three so okay, maybe they were when
7:31
Speaker 1: I was on it. I don't know that they watch
7:33
Speaker 1: it with other seasons and they were little, so I
7:36
Speaker 1: don't know what they were thinking. But you finished one podcast.
7:40
Speaker 1: Now you're moving on to another podcast, speaking of Dancing
7:43
Speaker 1: with the Stars with your friend, my friend Val, we're.
7:48
Speaker 2: Recapping Dancing with the Stars, the next pro so Dancing
7:53
Speaker 2: with the Stars New Sister show where the thing I
7:58
Speaker 2: love about it and one of the things I love
8:00
Speaker 2: about having Val there with me, aside from the fact
8:03
Speaker 2: that now everyone will get to appreciate his hilarity in
8:06
Speaker 2: his personality, is that you know, they were all tasked,
8:12
Speaker 2: not everyone, but a bunch of the pros were asked
8:14
Speaker 2: to go and appear on the show to help mentor
8:17
Speaker 2: these future contestants or future pros, and VAL's like, this
8:22
Speaker 2: is my future competition. In just a few short weeks,
8:26
Speaker 2: the season kicks into high gear and now I'm going
8:29
Speaker 2: to be against this person for a mirror Ball trophy.
8:33
Speaker 2: And it is pretty interesting that, like you have to
8:36
Speaker 2: teach your competition. Yeah, is he teaching on the new
8:41
Speaker 2: He's not. He's not teaching on the new show.
8:43
Speaker 1: I'm glad that he like put a boundary down and
8:45
Speaker 1: said no, yeah, he's not doing that.
8:48
Speaker 2: But there are there are other Dancing with the Stars
8:50
Speaker 2: pros who are going to show up throughout the season.
8:53
Speaker 2: Derek is was one of the guest judges. So the
8:56
Speaker 2: way it works basically is Shirley Ballast and Mark Ballast
9:00
Speaker 2: are the permanent judges on the show. It's hosted by
9:04
Speaker 2: Robert Irwin, and then the third judge is a rotating
9:08
Speaker 2: former pro. So then after Derek Kuff was in the
9:12
Speaker 2: first week, Brandon Huff is the second guest judge. So
9:16
Speaker 2: that's how we're going to get to see more of
9:18
Speaker 2: the current pros.
9:19
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I caught a little bit of on the
9:22
Speaker 1: TV the other night and my husband's like, oh, I'm
9:24
Speaker 1: in let's watch this. Oh I love that.
9:26
Speaker 2: I love that.
9:27
Speaker 1: So we'll be excited to listen to your new podcast,
9:30
Speaker 1: Stepping on Toes. That's going to be fun. Everyone's gonna
9:33
Speaker 1: love it.
9:34
Speaker 2: Thank you.
9:34
Speaker 1: Okay, I know that after Boy Meets World ended, you
9:39
Speaker 1: decided to go to college and you studied something that
9:43
Speaker 1: I love that you did this psychology. H Did you
9:47
Speaker 1: choose to just completely go off camera and submerse yourself
9:52
Speaker 1: in that college experience?
9:56
Speaker 2: I did, but not right when Boy Meets World ended.
9:59
Speaker 2: So Boy Meets World end? Did the last episode aired
10:02
Speaker 2: in the year two thousand and I that's the time
10:05
Speaker 2: I should have gone to school, But I didn't. I
10:07
Speaker 2: had been I had spent seven years working full time
10:12
Speaker 2: and going to school, and I so badly just wanted
10:16
Speaker 2: a break, just to do nothing, to do nothing. And
10:20
Speaker 2: of course I could have spent those seven years that
10:22
Speaker 2: I was on Boy Meets World also learning how the
10:25
Speaker 2: entertainment industry worked, and I should have known that you
10:28
Speaker 2: really have to strike while the iron is hot, but
10:32
Speaker 2: that just escaped me, and I was like no, And
10:34
Speaker 2: I like basically took two to three years off. And
10:36
Speaker 2: then when I was finally like, all right, I'm ready
10:39
Speaker 2: to work again, no one cared. No one cared, No
10:42
Speaker 2: one wanted to book me for anything brutal. It was
10:45
Speaker 2: like who are you? Or people would let me come
10:48
Speaker 2: in an audition, but then they just would want to
10:49
Speaker 2: talk about Boy Meets World. And I could tell you
10:52
Speaker 2: have no intention of treating me seriously for this role
10:55
Speaker 2: at all, and so really I went to college at
10:59
Speaker 2: twenty seven then, Oh, and it was I was very scared.
11:04
Speaker 2: I was still very recognizable, but now I felt old.
11:09
Speaker 2: And I was going to school as this. You know,
11:11
Speaker 2: I was starting in a junior college where people are
11:14
Speaker 2: seventeen eighteen years old and I'm going to be next
11:18
Speaker 2: to them in math class. And I was so nervous
11:21
Speaker 2: about it. But I had really decided that the entertainment
11:26
Speaker 2: industry gave way too much control and power over to
11:30
Speaker 2: other people about whether or not I could have a job,
11:33
Speaker 2: and I just wanted some sort of sense of control
11:37
Speaker 2: over my own livelihood and my own future. And psychology
11:41
Speaker 2: had always interested me as an actor, somebody who studies
11:44
Speaker 2: people and learns mannerisms and figures out what certain tells
11:49
Speaker 2: are and all of that. I was like, psychology could
11:51
Speaker 2: probably be interesting, and then I fell in love with it.
11:55
Speaker 1: Oh that's so amazing. I secretly always wanted to do that.
12:00
Speaker 1: I can't imagine like sitting in the classroom, though. Can
12:03
Speaker 1: you've gone on the line and done it.
12:05
Speaker 2: I know you wouldn't think that I should have done that.
12:08
Speaker 2: I mean, at this point, this was nearly twenty years ago,
12:10
Speaker 2: there was some online settle of it, but not a ton.
12:14
Speaker 2: And you know, I started at a junior college. I
12:16
Speaker 2: got my associate's degree at a junior college, and then
12:20
Speaker 2: I transferred to kel State Fullerton and I got my
12:24
Speaker 2: bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in communication. And
12:29
Speaker 2: then I was full send. I was super into it,
12:32
Speaker 2: and I applied for my master's and I was going
12:35
Speaker 2: to be a marriage and family therapist, so that that
12:38
Speaker 2: was my intention. I enrolled it. I applied and got
12:42
Speaker 2: accepted to Chapman University, and I was that's it, I'm
12:45
Speaker 2: going to be I'm going to do this. I'm going
12:46
Speaker 2: to get my ten thousand hours and then I'm going
12:48
Speaker 2: to open my own practice. And the week I got
12:51
Speaker 2: my acceptance letter to Chapman is the week I got
12:54
Speaker 2: the phone call to do Girl Meets World.
12:55
Speaker 1: Why is it always like that?
12:57
Speaker 2: First of all, I know, always you want a job, vacation,
13:00
Speaker 2: or make new plans.
13:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then when it rains, it pours. But how
13:05
Speaker 1: did you Was it an easy decision for you?
13:08
Speaker 2: It wasn't an easy decision at all. At this point,
13:10
Speaker 2: I had been completely off camera for a long time.
13:15
Speaker 2: I had not been I just that wasn't my world.
13:20
Speaker 2: I had been inundated with school and was so excited
13:24
Speaker 2: about this new passion of mine. And I knew that
13:27
Speaker 2: I was going to be just as happy being as
13:29
Speaker 2: a therapist as I ever could have been staying in
13:31
Speaker 2: the entertainment industry. And I had worked so hard, and
13:34
Speaker 2: I also loved Chapman, and I was so excited that
13:37
Speaker 2: I got accepted there because it's a really competitive it's
13:40
Speaker 2: a competitive school, and so I was. It was a
13:43
Speaker 2: difficult decision, but one thing that even the school because
13:47
Speaker 2: then I called and talked to my counselor at Chapman
13:49
Speaker 2: and kind of told her my dilemma, and even she
13:52
Speaker 2: said to me, well, Danielle, Chapman is always going to
13:57
Speaker 2: be here school. It doesn't matter how old you are,
14:01
Speaker 2: it will always be here. It does sound like doing
14:04
Speaker 2: this show, though, is not something that you'll have another
14:09
Speaker 2: chance at. This feels like a once in a lifetime opportunity.
14:12
Speaker 2: And of course, when I talked about it with my
14:14
Speaker 2: mom and I talked about it with my dad, they
14:16
Speaker 2: had both said the same thing, Well, you know, you
14:18
Speaker 2: can always go back to school. And of course, I,
14:20
Speaker 2: being a super type a person, thought like what if
14:23
Speaker 2: I could do them both. What if I could do
14:25
Speaker 2: the show and still go to school. If I only
14:27
Speaker 2: take one night class, that way, I can still still
14:30
Speaker 2: be inching toward it. But I found out that the
14:33
Speaker 2: Girl Meets World was going to be shooting in downtown,
14:35
Speaker 2: LA and Chapman is in Orange, and so even the
14:38
Speaker 2: night classes, which start at seven pm, there's no way
14:41
Speaker 2: for me to guarantee I'd ever be able to make
14:43
Speaker 2: it to a seven pm class when you're working on
14:45
Speaker 2: a show, especially as an adult, when you know the
14:47
Speaker 2: hours can be a lot longer. So I ended up,
14:51
Speaker 2: you know, making the decision that and it was sad.
14:54
Speaker 2: I just felt sad when I chose it, But also
14:56
Speaker 2: I felt like it was the right thing for me
14:57
Speaker 2: to do. And then because I went and did Girl
15:00
Speaker 2: Meets World, that's where I got the opportunity to direct
15:02
Speaker 2: for the first time.
15:03
Speaker 1: I mean, that's amazing. I really do want to dig
15:06
Speaker 1: into that, but I do. I'm still in the psychology thing.
15:08
Speaker 1: Do you think that going to school like that and
15:12
Speaker 1: going deep into those studies, do you think that made
15:15
Speaker 1: you a stronger actor?
15:19
Speaker 2: Maybe? I mean, I definitely feel like it made me
15:22
Speaker 2: a stronger person and it made me. It made me
15:28
Speaker 2: you know what, Yes, I do think it made me
15:29
Speaker 2: a better actor because it definitely made me a better listener.
15:33
Speaker 2: And being a good actor is so much about listening
15:37
Speaker 2: to what is happening in the moment, listening to the
15:39
Speaker 2: person you're acting with and picking up and noticing changes
15:44
Speaker 2: in their delivery and how that then, of course affects
15:48
Speaker 2: how you say something. So yeah, I do, I think
15:51
Speaker 2: it made me a better actor. It made me a
15:53
Speaker 2: better person.
15:54
Speaker 1: I loved it, Okay, you guys as much as I
16:00
Speaker 1: adored Topanga back in the day. It is so amazing
16:03
Speaker 1: to hear from the real life, grown up Danielle Fischel.
16:08
Speaker 1: She exudes confidence and fun and it starts in the
16:12
Speaker 1: morning when she puts on her favorite color red, just
16:15
Speaker 1: like I choose comfort every day, which is why I
16:19
Speaker 1: created Me by Jenny Garth with QBC. It is a
16:22
Speaker 1: collection designed to help women feel confident, comfortable, and effortlessly
16:27
Speaker 1: stylish at every stage of life. So please head over
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Speaker 1: to QBC dot com and explore Me by Jenny Garth.
16:35
Speaker 1: All of our newest collections can also be found by
16:38
Speaker 1: following us on Instagram at Me by Jennie Garth. I'll
16:42
Speaker 1: see you there. Do you think that because you were
16:48
Speaker 1: on this trajectory, you had this goal in mind, you
16:51
Speaker 1: had something that you were passionate about. Do you think
16:54
Speaker 1: that helped you sort of step into more of an
16:56
Speaker 1: adult role in your own life? And then therefore, because
17:00
Speaker 1: I know that you grew up in the nineties on,
17:06
Speaker 1: you know, in the industry like me, and we had
17:08
Speaker 1: a lot of messaging about being selfless and being the
17:11
Speaker 1: trooper and being malleable and making everybody happy, just to
17:15
Speaker 1: keep the peace and make everything keep going smoothly. But
17:18
Speaker 1: you've turned that around now and you know, basically the
17:23
Speaker 1: ultimate I choose me moment of choosing to be treated
17:27
Speaker 1: like an adult and having to stand up for yourself.
17:30
Speaker 1: Even when during the production of Girl Meets World, did
17:35
Speaker 1: you find that people were they wanted you to be
17:38
Speaker 1: the old Danielle or they wanted you to be the
17:42
Speaker 1: old Tapanga. Yes, and you had to fight for your
17:46
Speaker 1: you know, position, your wisdom, your growth very much.
17:50
Speaker 2: So I had been a real go with the flow,
17:54
Speaker 2: not ruffle any feathers, be so easy to work with, right,
18:00
Speaker 2: you know, a consummate professional. And essentially what that meant
18:05
Speaker 2: is that you know the producers felt like they could
18:08
Speaker 2: tell me to do whatever they wanted me to do,
18:10
Speaker 2: and I would never push back. And when we got
18:14
Speaker 2: to Girl Meets World, I think I had been so
18:17
Speaker 2: used to in my personal life going away from that
18:23
Speaker 2: that then when we went to the set and I
18:26
Speaker 2: was now a new person, an adult, a grown up
18:29
Speaker 2: who had thoughts and opinions of her own and wasn't
18:33
Speaker 2: incredibly shy about sharing them. Never. I also, I want
18:38
Speaker 2: to make it clear, I was never like in front
18:41
Speaker 2: of groups of people chastising somebody else's decisions. It was
18:45
Speaker 2: more like, when something would happen that I felt uncomfortable with,
18:49
Speaker 2: I would then make time to go in and talk
18:52
Speaker 2: to the people who I felt uncomfortable with and say,
18:55
Speaker 2: can I talk to you about something? This makes me
18:57
Speaker 2: feel uncomfortable? And the response was, well, she's gone crazy,
19:05
Speaker 2: Oh she has. Have you seen what's going on with her?
19:10
Speaker 2: This is gone crazy. She's got rules and boundaries about
19:17
Speaker 2: the way we're allowed to talk to her and to
19:20
Speaker 2: touch her and to interact with her. It's shocking.
19:26
Speaker 1: She's so difficult.
19:27
Speaker 2: Now, Yes, she's difficult, And I was. There was a
19:33
Speaker 2: part of me that was like, am I am I?
19:36
Speaker 2: Difficult maybe, and having to then decide okay, well, I
19:43
Speaker 2: guess if this is difficult, the alternative doesn't make me
19:48
Speaker 2: feel like I can live with myself. So I guess
19:51
Speaker 2: I just have to be difficult, and and that has
19:55
Speaker 2: to be okay with me. I guess I am a
19:57
Speaker 2: difficult person, even though I didn't think any of the
20:00
Speaker 2: things I was asking for or requesting was difficult. But
20:05
Speaker 2: I did also take a step back and say, am I,
20:10
Speaker 2: you know, inserting myself into a conversation about something that
20:14
Speaker 2: maybe doesn't involve me. Maybe, unless it's protecting a kid
20:18
Speaker 2: from something, maybe I need to mind my own business
20:22
Speaker 2: if it doesn't actually pertain to me. And so there
20:26
Speaker 2: were times where I thought, you know, maybe I overstepped
20:28
Speaker 2: a little there. But I was also I had a
20:31
Speaker 2: producer credit on the show.
20:33
Speaker 1: But this is brilliant because they still tried to keep
20:36
Speaker 1: you in the box, yes, for when you tried to
20:40
Speaker 1: step out of the box. Yeah, naturally, instinctually you were
20:47
Speaker 1: seen as difficult. Yes, how did you overcome that? I mean,
20:51
Speaker 1: because even hearing you say, well, maybe I was difficult
20:55
Speaker 1: strikes a weird chord in me, because I'm like, no,
20:58
Speaker 1: you're just standing up for yourself and as a woman,
21:02
Speaker 1: and you know what you want and what you don't want.
21:05
Speaker 2: Now yeah, oh, I'm not saying that I agree with it.
21:08
Speaker 2: I'm saying at the time I was tying they made
21:10
Speaker 2: me feel like, gosh, maybe I am I. And of course, yes, yes,
21:16
Speaker 2: where you doubt yourself and I definitely doubted myself a lot,
21:21
Speaker 2: and yet you know, the things that kept coming up
21:24
Speaker 2: were just all more of the same. It was like, Okay,
21:27
Speaker 2: here's where you guys do that thing that you do
21:30
Speaker 2: that I'm telling you is not cool and is not
21:34
Speaker 2: the way anyone wants to be treated, but especially a woman.
21:38
Speaker 2: And so you know, it was it was a difficult
21:42
Speaker 2: time and I felt very isolated. I felt it was
21:47
Speaker 2: it was a difficult work time. And then I also
21:50
Speaker 2: went through a divorce while I was on the show,
21:52
Speaker 2: So it was my life at home was feeling broken
21:57
Speaker 2: and isolating, and my time at work felt broken and isolating,
22:03
Speaker 2: and so I mean, I it was difficult. And then
22:09
Speaker 2: when the divorce happened, I went right back to that
22:13
Speaker 2: therapy mindset, which was it would be so easy for
22:19
Speaker 2: me to point the finger and to say this marriage
22:23
Speaker 2: didn't work out because you and you and you. And
22:25
Speaker 2: that's not to say that there was not a part
22:28
Speaker 2: of it that of course involved my ex husband. Sure,
22:32
Speaker 2: but if I looked at all the different relationships in
22:35
Speaker 2: my life and the men I was in those relationships with,
22:39
Speaker 2: they're actually pretty different people. So is it is it
22:44
Speaker 2: always them? Or is there one common denominator that I
22:48
Speaker 2: need to get to the bottom of What is it
22:51
Speaker 2: in me that makes me choose this specific you know,
22:55
Speaker 2: whether it's a type of person or these relationships that
22:59
Speaker 2: then don't work out. And I at that point kind
23:03
Speaker 2: of like pulled myself off social media. I stopped, you know,
23:08
Speaker 2: even thinking about dating. I was like, I just need
23:10
Speaker 2: to get to the bottom of me and what is
23:14
Speaker 2: wrong with my picker? And then I spent probably about
23:19
Speaker 2: two solid years reading every self help book and in
23:24
Speaker 2: therapy and doing all the things that one can do.
23:28
Speaker 1: Isn't this the interesting journey of a woman? Yeah? I mean,
23:32
Speaker 1: you're basically telling my story too. You know, when something fractures,
23:40
Speaker 1: we it's automatic for us to just play the victim,
23:44
Speaker 1: and that doesn't end up feeling good, no, And then
23:49
Speaker 1: we have to pull up our big girl pants and
23:53
Speaker 1: do the work. Yep. And then you you reach this
23:57
Speaker 1: level of freedom because you realize you're capable of holding
24:02
Speaker 1: yourself accountable in any situation, and you're able also to
24:06
Speaker 1: step back and look at it from different perspectives, from
24:09
Speaker 1: their perspective, your perspective. And I'm sure that that even
24:14
Speaker 1: helped you at work, like being this new you know woman,
24:20
Speaker 1: this new boss lady like that. You are very You've
24:25
Speaker 1: been in the business a long time, You're very seasoned,
24:28
Speaker 1: you're very intelligent. You know, you have so much going
24:32
Speaker 1: for you. But to be kept in that box must
24:35
Speaker 1: have been just like excruciating.
24:38
Speaker 2: It was. It was excruciating, And I also I tried
24:41
Speaker 2: to you know, I knew everyone was hearing about me,
24:44
Speaker 2: Like I knew everyone was talking about me behind my back,
24:47
Speaker 2: and that can that can obviously make it really hard
24:50
Speaker 2: to even leave your dressing room because you're like, oh
24:52
Speaker 2: my gosh. But I actually enjoyed that because I looked
24:58
Speaker 2: at it like every interaction and I have with every
25:01
Speaker 2: person on this set is a chance to show them
25:04
Speaker 2: who I really am, not what is being said about me.
25:09
Speaker 2: And eventually people who have experiences with someone and they're
25:15
Speaker 2: all positive experiences are is going to be like I
25:18
Speaker 2: don't know why this narrative exists, that that's not my experience,
25:22
Speaker 2: that's not at all what I and so I looked
25:24
Speaker 2: at it like, my nature is to be respectful, it's
25:30
Speaker 2: to be kind, it's to be professional. It's I'm always
25:33
Speaker 2: going to show up on time. I'm always going to
25:35
Speaker 2: know my lines, I'm always going to help other people out,
25:38
Speaker 2: I'm always going to be considerate, I'm always going to
25:40
Speaker 2: be friendly. And so when I do that, that's just
25:46
Speaker 2: that's my chance to show who I am. And so
25:49
Speaker 2: that's what kept me going.
25:50
Speaker 1: Was this a little game, a little bit of like, yeah,
25:54
Speaker 1: let me change this narrative one by one.
25:57
Speaker 2: One person by person, situation by situation, and you know,
26:01
Speaker 2: and showing up enough times. We did like seventy eight
26:04
Speaker 2: episodes of Girl Meets World, and so you know, that's
26:07
Speaker 2: plenty of time to make it clear on a set
26:11
Speaker 2: the kind of actor and the kind of professional that
26:13
Speaker 2: you are. And you know, I don't think there are
26:17
Speaker 2: many people who worked with me on that show who
26:19
Speaker 2: would have a bad thing to say. Certainly are there
26:22
Speaker 2: are times, and there were experiences where someone could have
26:26
Speaker 2: something bad to say, but the overwhelming majority of it
26:29
Speaker 2: would be people who I know would be that you know,
26:32
Speaker 2: had interactions with me the way they would have interactions
26:34
Speaker 2: with me.
26:35
Speaker 1: Now, what do you think it took to find that
26:39
Speaker 1: strength or give yourself that permission to be that woman?
26:44
Speaker 2: That's a really good question. I think part of my
26:47
Speaker 2: work that I was doing with myself was questioning a
26:50
Speaker 2: lot of the decisions that are maybe things you've never
26:54
Speaker 2: actually even decided for yourself. It's just like, you know,
27:00
Speaker 2: something even as simple as like whether you're a hugger
27:04
Speaker 2: or not. You know, like I come from a very
27:07
Speaker 2: huggy family. My family's from Malta, which is, you know,
27:11
Speaker 2: close to Italy. We're hugging people, and I remember thinking, well,
27:19
Speaker 2: I hug all my family, I hug my friends. Now
27:22
Speaker 2: I just hug people at work and that's just who
27:25
Speaker 2: I am. And you know, you see people. It still happens.
27:27
Speaker 2: You see people, and people go to give you a hug,
27:28
Speaker 2: and they go, I'm a hugger, and you're not even
27:30
Speaker 2: really asking, like, well, what if that brother person is
27:32
Speaker 2: not a hugger? Like what about them? And there were
27:36
Speaker 2: a couple of moments where I was questioning some of
27:38
Speaker 2: those things because we would be on set and say,
27:42
Speaker 2: we would, you know, shoot the show until about eight
27:44
Speaker 2: or nine pm, and then at the end of the show,
27:47
Speaker 2: everybody would start hugging. And now it's going to take
27:49
Speaker 2: twenty minutes to get out of here because you gotta
27:51
Speaker 2: hug the camera guys, and you gotta hug craft service,
27:54
Speaker 2: and you gotta hug the writers, and you gotta, you know,
27:56
Speaker 2: hug all these people. And then we'd turn around and
27:59
Speaker 2: we'd have a read the next day at eight am.
28:02
Speaker 2: It's not even been it's barely been twelve hours since
28:04
Speaker 2: we've wrapped, if that, and now you gotta hug everybody hello.
28:09
Speaker 2: And I at some point I was like, why am
28:12
Speaker 2: I hugging so many people all the time? I'm just
28:18
Speaker 2: hugging everyone. And it occurred to me, does my dad
28:23
Speaker 2: hug everyone? As the president of this company that he
28:26
Speaker 2: works at? Does my dad walk in and go good
28:29
Speaker 2: morning Jill, good morning Steven? And I thought, no, the
28:34
Speaker 2: thought of that is comical to me that in any
28:38
Speaker 2: other profession, could you imagine walking in and feeling like,
28:43
Speaker 2: to start the day, I've got to walk around and
28:45
Speaker 2: give my hugs.
28:46
Speaker 1: If I know when I leave then people are gonna
28:48
Speaker 1: talk badly about marathons.
28:50
Speaker 2: Something, they're going to think something's weird. And when I
28:54
Speaker 2: start once that once, that box and that veil of
28:58
Speaker 2: that decision of like, I guess I never when did
29:02
Speaker 2: I decide that I will just hug the world at
29:05
Speaker 2: all times? Or is that just something that's like ingrained
29:08
Speaker 2: in that I've never actually even decided that. And you
29:11
Speaker 2: know what, I'm going to decide now not to do that.
29:16
Speaker 1: I am so proud of you.
29:18
Speaker 2: I said, I would like I would like to change this.
29:23
Speaker 2: I would like for people to not hug me. I
29:26
Speaker 2: just you can fistbump me, we can say hello, I'd
29:29
Speaker 2: love to have a conversation. How's your weekend? Great, good
29:32
Speaker 2: to see you.
29:32
Speaker 3: Yeah.
29:33
Speaker 2: When I'm done for the night, I want to look
29:34
Speaker 2: around and say bye everyone. It's great working with you,
29:37
Speaker 2: and I want to leave. But so much of what
29:40
Speaker 2: we're told about being on a set is you're a family.
29:43
Speaker 2: No we're not. No, we're not.
29:45
Speaker 1: This is a job.
29:46
Speaker 2: You might be a chosen family member of mine if
29:50
Speaker 2: we connect and bond that way, but you will not
29:54
Speaker 2: tell me that you are my family. I decide that
29:58
Speaker 2: you don't tell me who my new family is. I
30:00
Speaker 2: decide who's important enough to me to be family, and
30:03
Speaker 2: so I kind of just started saying, like, I don't
30:07
Speaker 2: want to do this. And that was one of the
30:08
Speaker 2: very first things that just.
30:10
Speaker 1: I this is so important for people to hear because
30:15
Speaker 1: you're you're sort of by whether it's by society or
30:19
Speaker 1: by your just the environment that you're in, the people
30:22
Speaker 1: around you, you become something or you embody something, and
30:28
Speaker 1: it you just start doing it because they're doing it
30:31
Speaker 1: and because of what's expected of you, and that you'd
30:35
Speaker 1: had that moment at that time, and did that work
30:38
Speaker 1: to ask yourself those questions, Am I really a hugger?
30:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, to this extent, to the extent of, you know,
30:45
Speaker 2: every time I see someone at work, even though we're
30:47
Speaker 2: doing season after season, how many hugs do I need
30:51
Speaker 2: to give? And so, yeah, it was like that was
30:54
Speaker 2: one of the case. Once I thought of that one,
30:56
Speaker 2: it was like, how many other decisions have I know,
31:00
Speaker 2: actually made that. If I just questioned myself a little bit,
31:03
Speaker 2: I might be like, that's weird, Yeah, that is weird.
31:06
Speaker 2: Why why do I do that? Why? Why why do
31:09
Speaker 2: we even feel the need to do that. I had
31:11
Speaker 2: that entire conversation with myself about two pieced bathing suits.
31:16
Speaker 2: I was like, why why do men get to wear
31:22
Speaker 2: long shorts and I have to wear the tiniest piece
31:28
Speaker 2: of fabric because I'm near water. I don't understand it.
31:34
Speaker 2: It's not a problem for them to wear shorts in
31:36
Speaker 2: the water. Why would it be weird for me to
31:38
Speaker 2: wear shorts in the water.
31:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I always wonder that, Like why do men get
31:42
Speaker 1: to wear no shirts and women have to wear shirts?
31:46
Speaker 2: Correct?
31:46
Speaker 1: Like it just it doesn't seem.
31:48
Speaker 2: They have nipples too?
31:50
Speaker 1: Or who told women they have to wear high heels?
31:53
Speaker 1: I know, like, I know what monster did this to us?
31:59
Speaker 2: Well, you know, wearing high heels originated because it made
32:03
Speaker 2: our bodies look better. The position of your feet leaning forward,
32:09
Speaker 2: your chest is out, your butt is out. It's all
32:12
Speaker 2: about maintaining balance and so literally, heels were designed by
32:15
Speaker 2: a man, most likely too, because it accentuated the parts
32:21
Speaker 2: of a woman that they wanted to accentuate. And somewhere
32:26
Speaker 2: along the line, we decided that if you are going
32:28
Speaker 2: somewhere fancy, you have to wear heels.
32:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've decided I'm no longer a heel wearer. Oh
32:34
Speaker 1: I love that unless I'm getting paid Gosh, that is
32:38
Speaker 1: so smart. Yeah, no, it's not even an option for me.
32:45
Speaker 2: Dancing with the Stars is looking for a new pro,
32:48
Speaker 2: and since last season I came in eighth place, I'm
32:51
Speaker 2: basically an expert.
32:52
Speaker 3: Easy there. I've spent my entire life in the ballroom,
32:55
Speaker 3: So maybe you could use some help.
32:57
Speaker 2: I'm daniel Fishel.
32:58
Speaker 3: And I'm Vouch mccofsky.
33:00
Speaker 2: You have a new podcast called Stepping on Toes with
33:02
Speaker 2: Danielle and Val.
33:03
Speaker 3: Every week we're breaking down Dancing with the Stars the
33:05
Speaker 3: next pro to find out who I'll be sharing the
33:08
Speaker 3: ball and with next season.
33:09
Speaker 2: I'll be asking the questions every fan is thinking.
33:11
Speaker 3: And I'll take you behind the choreography of judging, the
33:14
Speaker 3: performances and what it takes to compete in front of millions.
33:17
Speaker 2: Plus We'll be joined by some very special guests.
33:20
Speaker 3: It's time to crown a new Dancing with the Stars pro.
33:23
Speaker 3: So let us be your guys to this once in
33:25
Speaker 3: a lifetime opportunity.
33:26
Speaker 2: Do you think I could win?
33:28
Speaker 3: No?
33:28
Speaker 2: Listen to Stepping on Toes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
33:31
Speaker 2: Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
33:48
Speaker 1: I am so curious about you stepping behind the camera
33:53
Speaker 1: as a director because that's a major sort of big choice,
33:57
Speaker 1: a big I choose me career pivot. Really, Huh, when
34:01
Speaker 1: did you start directing, first.
34:03
Speaker 2: Of all on Girl Meets World?
34:05
Speaker 1: Okay, so it makes sense. Yeah. Do you think that
34:09
Speaker 1: directing was a way of reclaiming something that had been
34:12
Speaker 1: taken from you as a young actress, that sort of
34:16
Speaker 1: the ability to call the shots or making sure that
34:19
Speaker 1: people treated you as if you knew what you were doing.
34:24
Speaker 2: It was actually I felt like it was my way
34:27
Speaker 2: of giving back to my young Danielle self two that
34:32
Speaker 2: I could empower those kids the same way our directors,
34:39
Speaker 2: because we had wonderful directors on Boy Meets World, and
34:42
Speaker 2: they really empowered us. And I was not necessarily seeing
34:49
Speaker 2: that from we had great directors on Girl Meets World,
34:52
Speaker 2: but they were definitely directors who had been in the
34:55
Speaker 2: game for a long time, knew the shorthand wanted to
34:59
Speaker 2: get in and wanted to get out. And you know,
35:01
Speaker 2: we had a lot of green actors on the show.
35:06
Speaker 2: And I remember the first moment of thinking, like, not
35:12
Speaker 2: I want to direct, because honestly, we had so few
35:14
Speaker 2: women directors on Boy Meets World. I don't even think
35:17
Speaker 2: being a director was something that I thought was even
35:19
Speaker 2: possible for myself. It was never even anything that came
35:22
Speaker 2: into my mind. But I do remember very specifically one
35:25
Speaker 2: moment really early on at the beginning of the series,
35:29
Speaker 2: where the kids were all standing in the living room
35:32
Speaker 2: set and I was with them, and one of the
35:34
Speaker 2: kids was going to open the front door, and they
35:37
Speaker 2: opened the front door and then turned themselves a little
35:39
Speaker 2: square to camera, and the director walked in and grabbed
35:43
Speaker 2: her by the elbow and just adjusted her body out
35:46
Speaker 2: to camera and then walked back off and continued the scene.
35:50
Speaker 2: And I remember seeing her face like and then they
35:57
Speaker 2: were like okay. The director's like great, all right, let's
35:59
Speaker 2: move on, and walked away. And I went over to
36:01
Speaker 2: her and I said, are you confused why he moved
36:04
Speaker 2: you like that? She was like, yeah, I don't understand,
36:08
Speaker 2: Like I was, I don't get it. And I was like, okay,
36:11
Speaker 2: So she had only done single camera work. It's like,
36:15
Speaker 2: this is where the cameras are going to be. You
36:17
Speaker 2: have to start paying attention to which of these four
36:19
Speaker 2: cameras is yours? And if you're like this, what part
36:22
Speaker 2: of the camera is you know which camera could even
36:24
Speaker 2: see you? Probably none of them and so started kind
36:27
Speaker 2: of so if you angle yourself this way, you could
36:29
Speaker 2: be on this camera. You were teaching them, and in
36:33
Speaker 2: that moment my thought was, I hope, I hope I'm
36:37
Speaker 2: not stepping on anyone's toes. And yet then immediately after
36:41
Speaker 2: I was like, but someone should be someone should explain this.
36:44
Speaker 2: This is this is the one oh one of becoming
36:48
Speaker 2: an actor on a Disney like this is it, this
36:49
Speaker 2: is where the time is. I still never thought that
36:52
Speaker 2: means I should be a director. It just I just
36:54
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, well, at least they have me to
36:56
Speaker 2: if we're when things come up that they don't understand,
36:59
Speaker 2: I can help explo this to them. And then thankfully
37:03
Speaker 2: Ben asked to direct, and we had most Favored Nations contracts,
37:09
Speaker 2: so they were like, oh, Ben's gonna direct, so we
37:12
Speaker 2: have to offer it to you, and I was like yes.
37:16
Speaker 2: I just immediately said yes, without even knowing what I
37:19
Speaker 2: was getting into. But it felt like an opportunity to
37:21
Speaker 2: like say yes now and figure it out later. And
37:24
Speaker 2: I had no idea whether I was going to like
37:26
Speaker 2: it or not, but I just loved it right off
37:30
Speaker 2: the bat.
37:31
Speaker 1: You're clearly very good at it because you've directed over
37:35
Speaker 1: fifty episodes at least. Yes, all kinds of different shows, all.
37:39
Speaker 2: Kinds of different shows, Disney shows, bots of Disney shows,
37:42
Speaker 2: Versus Lopez for NBC, Shifting Gears for ABC.
37:45
Speaker 1: Amazing. That is just that I think that this is
37:49
Speaker 1: such a cool you know, kind of look at me
37:53
Speaker 1: grow kind of into this incredible, multifaceted, multi talented woman.
37:58
Speaker 1: You're a business woman, your director, your podcast hosts, you're
38:03
Speaker 1: a great host of other things. You're an actress. Like
38:07
Speaker 1: it's it's so fun as you get older to be
38:10
Speaker 1: able to like open up the onion, you know, and
38:15
Speaker 1: just like or the rose kind of that feeling of
38:18
Speaker 1: just like an opening and being so beautiful and proud
38:22
Speaker 1: of all of these different parts of yourself. And that
38:24
Speaker 1: only comes with age and with doing like personal work
38:29
Speaker 1: on yourself to get that confidence, to know where that
38:32
Speaker 1: confidence lives in your body. Yes, yes, I mean so
38:37
Speaker 1: many of us start, you know, any any industry, profession, career, whatever,
38:42
Speaker 1: at like the entry level, and somewhere we often feel like,
38:47
Speaker 1: even when we're promoted, we aren't respected at that, you know,
38:52
Speaker 1: as we go climb that ladder, we're not. We're kind
38:55
Speaker 1: of stuck in where we started yep, And I think
38:59
Speaker 1: it's just really interesting that that you kind of broke
39:03
Speaker 1: that and I, you know, do you have any suggestions
39:05
Speaker 1: for somebody listening out there who has felt that way
39:09
Speaker 1: like I'm being treated like the old me and I
39:13
Speaker 1: would like to be treated like this new version of me.
39:16
Speaker 2: Yes, I do. I think, for one thing, honesty about
39:22
Speaker 2: where you are in your journey goes a long way.
39:26
Speaker 2: When I first started directing, I really was able to go,
39:31
Speaker 2: what are my strengths? What are the things I bring
39:35
Speaker 2: to the table, maybe better than anyone else does, And
39:39
Speaker 2: I'm going to really figure out how to express that
39:43
Speaker 2: in a in a concise sentence like this is why
39:46
Speaker 2: I'm an asset and here are these reasons, and then
39:50
Speaker 2: what are my areas that I could choose? I could
39:55
Speaker 2: be a sponge about and say, this person who's been
39:58
Speaker 2: doing it for longer can teach me a lot about that,
40:01
Speaker 2: and I would love to and not being afraid to say,
40:05
Speaker 2: can I can I pick your brain about something? Can
40:08
Speaker 2: I learn from you? Can I ask your opinion? Your
40:10
Speaker 2: advice would mean a great deal to me, And so
40:13
Speaker 2: I would go onto a you know, being a director,
40:16
Speaker 2: especially now like we used to have house directors where
40:19
Speaker 2: you'd get the whole season or maybe even two seasons. Now,
40:22
Speaker 2: you are lucky if you get to come in for
40:24
Speaker 2: two episodes back to back, and then you disappear and
40:26
Speaker 2: somebody else comes back in, and if you're very lucky,
40:28
Speaker 2: maybe they ask you back for one more in that season.
40:31
Speaker 2: So you're regularly the new person on the set, and
40:34
Speaker 2: yet you're also the top of the food chain.
40:36
Speaker 1: You're in charge of everything.
40:38
Speaker 2: You're in charge of everything, and you're the only one
40:40
Speaker 2: who doesn't know how anything works. So that's a situation
40:44
Speaker 2: where if you walk in with the ego of directors
40:48
Speaker 2: here and all the people who work for you are
40:53
Speaker 2: not going to feel inclined to support you to the
40:56
Speaker 2: best of their ability. But if you walk into a
40:59
Speaker 2: new situation and you quickly figure out you know, I
41:04
Speaker 2: can see why you're good at what you do, and
41:06
Speaker 2: I respect, I want respect you, and two would love
41:09
Speaker 2: to learn from you. Being able to express those things
41:12
Speaker 2: and say those things and make everyone feel like they
41:15
Speaker 2: are a part of the same team goes so far.
41:20
Speaker 2: And that's the kind of collaborative, positive work environment I
41:25
Speaker 2: want to show up in every day. And it's absolutely
41:29
Speaker 2: the kind of work environment I want to set when
41:31
Speaker 2: I walk onto a set, and I want to like,
41:34
Speaker 2: if everyone's going to be feeling how I feel today,
41:37
Speaker 2: We're going to feel calm, We're going to feel confident,
41:40
Speaker 2: and we're going to feel worthy and respected.
41:43
Speaker 1: And I make.
41:44
Speaker 2: Sure I try to make sure everyone there knows that
41:50
Speaker 2: that's how I feel about them. And I feel like
41:52
Speaker 2: that's just a recipe, and if someone is not reciprocating
41:55
Speaker 2: that to you, it's also okay to express that. You know,
41:58
Speaker 2: I feel like you know you're you're not maybe you're
42:03
Speaker 2: not happy I'm here. Is there something going on? Can
42:05
Speaker 2: we talk about it? Because I look forward to coming
42:08
Speaker 2: to work every day, and you know, just open dialogue
42:12
Speaker 2: and honesty goes a long way communication.
42:14
Speaker 1: That's where your communication degree comes in.
42:16
Speaker 2: Exactly a minoring communication, thank god.
42:20
Speaker 1: And I remember, I think it was a GMA interview
42:23
Speaker 1: that you were doing back when you were diagnosed with
42:28
Speaker 1: breast cancer and you decided to At first, you kind
42:32
Speaker 1: of wanted it to keep it private, is my understanding,
42:34
Speaker 1: but you changed your mind and you decided to go
42:37
Speaker 1: public with it and you which I think was very
42:41
Speaker 1: brave and a very noble decision because I'm sure it
42:44
Speaker 1: helps so many people, so many people. And you actually
42:48
Speaker 1: said something that really perfectly aligns with the I Choose
42:51
Speaker 1: Me podcast when what I'm all about. You said, is
42:55
Speaker 1: being selfless actually the virtue we think it is or
42:59
Speaker 1: is it really harming us? I think it's really harming us,
43:03
Speaker 1: this idea of putting everyone else before yourself when it
43:07
Speaker 1: comes to my health. I'm going to be selfish. Yes,
43:11
Speaker 1: I love that. Yes, that's perfect messaging for women out
43:15
Speaker 1: there and men.
43:17
Speaker 2: It really is. I think about it now when I
43:20
Speaker 2: think about, you know, going to the gym, which used
43:24
Speaker 2: to be the bane of my existence, like, oh gosh,
43:27
Speaker 2: I have to work out. And now you know, I
43:30
Speaker 2: take a medication every day for my cancer medication, and
43:34
Speaker 2: I will take it for five years. And one of
43:37
Speaker 2: the side effects is that it can cause joint instability
43:42
Speaker 2: and muscle weakness and all these things. And so my
43:46
Speaker 2: oncologist said, when I was you know, I knew I
43:50
Speaker 2: was going to be taking it. I knew the side
43:52
Speaker 2: effects were pretty bad, and I wanted to have success
43:55
Speaker 2: on it because it really drastically lowers your chance of recurrence.
43:59
Speaker 2: And so I had a meeting with him before I
44:00
Speaker 2: started and I said, what can I do to set
44:05
Speaker 2: myself up for success?
44:06
Speaker 1: Here?
44:06
Speaker 2: What are all of the things that in preparation for
44:09
Speaker 2: this medication? What can I do? And he said, well,
44:13
Speaker 2: I tell this to all my patients, but not all
44:15
Speaker 2: of them, you know, take heed. But the number one
44:18
Speaker 2: most important thing you could do would be to start
44:20
Speaker 2: working out regularly and to just make weightlifting and exercise
44:25
Speaker 2: a part of your everyday life because that will help against,
44:29
Speaker 2: you know, counteract the joint instability and the muscle weakness.
44:32
Speaker 2: And I heard him say that, and I thought, Okay,
44:35
Speaker 2: then that's what I'm going to do. And I have
44:38
Speaker 2: made that commitment to myself, and even when it's going
44:42
Speaker 2: to mean I have to say no to someone because sorry,
44:45
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be able to do that thing
44:46
Speaker 2: that you've just asked me to do because I have
44:48
Speaker 2: an appointment with myself at the gym, or I have
44:53
Speaker 2: that one that's my one hour that I'm going to
44:56
Speaker 2: get to work out for the day or for you
44:58
Speaker 2: know whatever. I no longer feel bad, it's it's just no,
45:03
Speaker 2: I'm not willing to put myself and to put my
45:06
Speaker 2: health on the back burner in order to keep the
45:08
Speaker 2: peace or go with the flow or be the trooper.
45:13
Speaker 1: I'm just not and you've done it. So I love
45:16
Speaker 1: this circle story is just so inspiring. You've really just
45:21
Speaker 1: sort of embraced the whole nineties nostalgia with your podcasts
45:26
Speaker 1: that you've done, the documentary, your book, all that. You're
45:30
Speaker 1: very You're a very smart business person. Thank you. You
45:35
Speaker 1: know in all of those choices, what do you see
45:38
Speaker 1: yourself choosing next? Like what is out there that you
45:42
Speaker 1: want to conquer next?
45:43
Speaker 2: Or well tried. The things that Dancing with the Stars
45:47
Speaker 2: gave me was this realization. I thought for sure my
45:52
Speaker 2: on camera work was behind me. I thought, for sure,
45:57
Speaker 2: that's it. I'm a full time director. Now I'm a producer.
46:00
Speaker 2: I'm gonna just focus on that. And I was very
46:03
Speaker 2: happy with that. But then being on Dancing with the
46:05
Speaker 2: Stars and being on camera, even doing something that's so
46:09
Speaker 2: out of my comfort zone like dancing, I realized that
46:13
Speaker 2: maybe I'm not done in front of the camera. So
46:17
Speaker 2: I'm now back open to hosting opportunities and even doing
46:23
Speaker 2: scripted stuff. So that is kind It's funny that my
46:28
Speaker 2: next I Choose me moment might actually be a going
46:31
Speaker 2: back to the thing I started doing when I was ten. Yeah,
46:35
Speaker 2: but after Boy Meets World, for most of the time
46:38
Speaker 2: I thought that's it on cameras, just not for me.
46:42
Speaker 2: And now I'm like, maybe it is.
46:43
Speaker 1: That's just the beauty of staying open and staying curious.
46:47
Speaker 1: And then, you know, your advice that you gave to
46:49
Speaker 1: people in their own careers was spot on about, you know,
46:53
Speaker 1: not being afraid to ask questions and creating that kind
46:57
Speaker 1: of group effort mentality. You know, we're all in this together.
47:02
Speaker 1: I think so good for people that are listening. I
47:05
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you before I let you go. I
47:08
Speaker 1: always ask this question, what, Danielle Fisher, what was your
47:13
Speaker 1: last I choose me moment?
47:16
Speaker 2: My last I Choose me moment? I mean doing Dancing
47:20
Speaker 2: with the Stars was a big one. I had to
47:25
Speaker 2: not had to, I chose to say for the next
47:32
Speaker 2: however many weeks. I am lucky enough to be on
47:35
Speaker 2: this show. I am going to be my number one priority.
47:40
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean my kids are not a priority. Doesn't
47:43
Speaker 2: mean that my kids are not important, but I have
47:46
Speaker 2: I'm lucky enough to have a full time nanny, and
47:48
Speaker 2: I'm lucky enough to have a very involved husband who
47:52
Speaker 2: works from home. They were going to be taken care of.
47:55
Speaker 2: Since I had kids, other than doing Dancing with the Stars,
47:59
Speaker 2: I have never had time where I just was able
48:02
Speaker 2: to be like, nothing else on the calendar today is
48:07
Speaker 2: going to impact me except for my schedule, when my
48:11
Speaker 2: rehearsals are, when my shooting schedule is, when my fittings are,
48:15
Speaker 2: when I need to get that spray tan. That's the
48:18
Speaker 2: number one on the call sheet for these next few
48:21
Speaker 2: weeks is mama, And that's it. I have not done.
48:24
Speaker 2: I had never done that, and thankfully everyone in my life,
48:30
Speaker 2: including my children, and it was hard for everyone, everyone
48:34
Speaker 2: was supportive of it. It wouldn't have been possible if
48:37
Speaker 2: my husband was feeling negatively about it, or if my
48:42
Speaker 2: kids were. Even though they missed me. Every day that
48:45
Speaker 2: I came home, my kids would say, Mommy, let's watch
48:49
Speaker 2: your videos. Let's watch They wanted to watch rehearsal footage.
48:52
Speaker 2: They wanted to know what my dances were, they wanted
48:54
Speaker 2: to see my costumes. They were so excited for me
49:00
Speaker 2: that it just made making a selfish choice feel so
49:07
Speaker 2: rewarding and fulfilling. And then I did it again for
49:12
Speaker 2: going on the Dancing with the Stars tour. I went
49:14
Speaker 2: on a full month of tour.
49:18
Speaker 1: Are you out of your mind?
49:19
Speaker 2: Woman, I'm out of my mind. I'm out of my mind.
49:21
Speaker 2: And it was amazing. I went for a full month
49:25
Speaker 2: of I, you know, sleeping on a bus. But that
49:31
Speaker 2: meant I got to, you know, wake up when I
49:34
Speaker 2: naturally woke up, not at five thirty am because it's
49:36
Speaker 2: time to get the kids lunches made.
49:38
Speaker 1: Uh.
49:39
Speaker 2: And so again it was.
49:40
Speaker 1: You went on Dancing with the Stars tour vacation. I did?
49:44
Speaker 1: I did.
49:44
Speaker 2: I was like, listen, I'm yes, I'm dancing two hours
49:47
Speaker 2: a night and you know all, but this is a
49:49
Speaker 2: very it's a true vacation from normal life.
49:52
Speaker 1: I knew that I would love hearing all of this
49:54
Speaker 1: about you, because you're just your energy is always contagious.
49:59
Speaker 1: I'm so glad we are not only iHeart sisters, but
50:02
Speaker 1: PUTC sisters and Dancing with the Stars sisters. Sure that
50:06
Speaker 1: our paths are going to cross often. And I just
50:10
Speaker 1: I say thank you so much for being here. Would
50:12
Speaker 1: you be willing to do a little bonus episode of us?
50:14
Speaker 2: Of course?
50:15
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, okay, very exciting. Everybody, stay tuned for that.
50:18
Speaker 1: Thank you, Danielle, Thank you