Latest / I Choose Me with Jennie Garth / I Choose ... to be a Producer of Presence with Alison Sweeney

Transcript

I Choose ... to be a Producer of Presence with Alison Sweeney · I Choose Me with Jennie Garth

0:01
Speaker 1: You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Welcome
0:08
Speaker 1: to I Choose Me, a podcast about the choices we
0:12
Speaker 1: make to move forward in our careers and our lives
0:15
Speaker 1: with courage and perseverance. My guest has been in this
0:19
Speaker 1: industry as long as I have, and we once played sisters.
0:24
Speaker 1: You guys. Alison Sweeney went on to grow up on
0:28
Speaker 1: the legendary set of Days of Our Lives, host a
0:30
Speaker 1: reality show, write best selling novels, and is now executive
0:34
Speaker 1: producing and starring in beloved Hallmark films like Romance at Hope,
0:39
Speaker 1: Ranch and Sugar and Vice, a Hannah Swinson Mystery. Alison
0:44
Speaker 1: Sweeney is not just stepping into her new career chapters,
0:47
Speaker 1: she's producing them. Let's get into it, Okay, this is
0:50
Speaker 1: so fun to reunite with you. When do we last
0:53
Speaker 1: see each other, because I know, I remember we work
0:56
Speaker 1: together on a brand New Life in like nineteen eighty eight.
1:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's right, eighty eight, eighty h
1:05
Speaker 2: eighty seven, yeah, yeah.
1:06
Speaker 1: But we've seen each other.
1:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, We've seen each other at events over the years.
1:11
Speaker 3: I feel like, you know, those like Halloween. I think
1:15
Speaker 3: I saw you when my kid, my son was. I
1:18
Speaker 3: have a funny picture of my son when he was
1:19
Speaker 3: one year old at one of those Universal folloween you know,
1:24
Speaker 3: day time things, and I mean into you there, maybe
1:29
Speaker 3: at Brooks House one time, I don't know, lots of
1:31
Speaker 3: times over the years.
1:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been good. It's been good because I feel
1:34
Speaker 1: like I've seen you grow up. Because when you did
1:36
Speaker 1: that show, you were like, how ten.
1:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, twelve, twelve or thirteen, I think, oh.
1:41
Speaker 1: My gosh, and I was like fifteen. Yeah, I was
1:45
Speaker 1: your older sister, and I don't know why, but I
1:47
Speaker 1: still feel like I'm your older sister.
1:49
Speaker 2: I love that. I mean it's just fun. You feel
1:51
Speaker 2: like family. I had run into the Toms quite a
1:54
Speaker 2: bit over the years. Do you remember David, Yes, of course.
1:57
Speaker 2: Were we twin brothers or was he meant to be young?
2:00
Speaker 1: Were younger?
2:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, he was younger and his sister Heather was on
2:05
Speaker 4: Young and the Restless, And it's just funny, like, no matter,
2:08
Speaker 4: even though that show didn't last very long, we still
2:10
Speaker 4: it just I still felt like we were a family.
2:13
Speaker 1: I know. I just had the opportunity to have Barbara
2:16
Speaker 1: on the pod and it was bananas out. She came
2:23
Speaker 1: to my house Barbara Eaton came to my house, looked incredible,
2:28
Speaker 1: sharp as a whip, Yeah, funny, amazing, just the way
2:32
Speaker 1: I remembered her, And it just got me thinking back to,
2:36
Speaker 1: you know, everything that she taught me on that set,
2:38
Speaker 1: because that was my very first job. Was it your
2:40
Speaker 1: first show?
2:41
Speaker 2: No, I had. I had done commercials before that, but
2:44
Speaker 2: that was the like and and and then I had
2:46
Speaker 2: done a series that didn't get picked up where we
2:49
Speaker 2: did a couple episodes, but that was the first time. Like,
2:52
Speaker 2: do you remember that we traveled? Was it the pilot episode?
2:55
Speaker 2: But we got to go to la Quinka?
2:57
Speaker 1: Yes, we got to go to brings. I remember that.
3:00
Speaker 2: Was so cool I felt and somehow I feel like
3:03
Speaker 2: maybe I got pushed in a pool or I had
3:05
Speaker 2: a scene in a swimming pool. I just remember, like,
3:08
Speaker 2: I felt so cool that we were all location doing
3:12
Speaker 2: you know, fun stuff. Yeah.
3:14
Speaker 1: I loved talking with her and just reminiscing and hearing
3:17
Speaker 1: stories from her that I'd never heard before. Yeah, so
3:19
Speaker 1: that was incredible. Since I remember you as young Allison,
3:23
Speaker 1: little twelve year old Alison, what would you tell younger Allison?
3:28
Speaker 2: Now, I mean, I think the obvious thing I would say, Actually,
3:33
Speaker 2: because the reason I remember that bathing suit scene is
3:36
Speaker 2: how mortified I was, even at twelve years old, to
3:39
Speaker 2: be in a bathing suit. And I think every woman
3:42
Speaker 2: girl relates to that feeling, and so I would I
3:47
Speaker 2: would love to say to her like, hey, it's gonna
3:49
Speaker 2: be okay. Don't everyone feels the way you feel, so
3:53
Speaker 2: don't you don't have to be ashamed or feel bad
3:56
Speaker 2: about how you look. But I don't think even if
3:58
Speaker 2: I had said that to myself, I would it would
4:01
Speaker 2: have listened. So I don't know that that would have
4:03
Speaker 2: been an effective way to use my time. I know.
4:06
Speaker 1: I mean we both have you know, your daughter Megan
4:09
Speaker 1: is seventeen, right, yes, so we all have like young
4:13
Speaker 1: adult girls. I have three of them, but my gosh,
4:17
Speaker 1: just I wish they could hear our messages, like things
4:20
Speaker 1: that we wish we could have done differently. But I
4:22
Speaker 1: tell them and it's like in one air and out
4:25
Speaker 1: the other.
4:25
Speaker 2: No, yeah, I think you have to go through it.
4:27
Speaker 2: I think you have to live it. And now I
4:29
Speaker 2: feel so, you know, the confidence I have comes from
4:34
Speaker 2: it being earned, you know, And I think maybe part
4:37
Speaker 2: of growing up is that feeling. I mean, you know,
4:39
Speaker 2: hopefully with that you can help your kids keep it
4:41
Speaker 2: within a healthy range. But I think it does have
4:44
Speaker 2: to be each person has to get there themselves. Yes,
4:49
Speaker 2: I sort of think that has to be the way.
4:50
Speaker 1: It is so true. I mean I was the same way.
4:52
Speaker 1: So I just I'm excited to learn about everything that
4:56
Speaker 1: you've got going on, because you have just been like
4:59
Speaker 1: NonStop working since you were twelve. You have not one
5:03
Speaker 1: but two movies premiering right now, Romance Hope, r Aunt
5:07
Speaker 1: and Sugar and Vice A Hannah s Winson Mystery. Ooh,
5:11
Speaker 1: you're busy.
5:12
Speaker 2: And it's funny about the hannahs Winson because you know,
5:16
Speaker 2: I when I did the very first I played Handa
5:18
Speaker 2: for the first time, I never thought I would be
5:21
Speaker 2: here making, you know, premiering the thirteen movies of this character.
5:26
Speaker 2: You know. I mean, I think that's true of anyone
5:28
Speaker 2: who gets the series. I'm sure you felt that, or
5:31
Speaker 2: I should ask you when you did nine. It two
5:32
Speaker 2: an out where you're like, oh, yeah, this is gonna go,
5:34
Speaker 2: this is gonna be no big time.
5:36
Speaker 1: I don't know anything, Yeah, and you just have no idea.
5:40
Speaker 2: You sort of like not to compare the d just record,
5:44
Speaker 2: I do cute little movies, but it just, you know,
5:47
Speaker 2: you were like, you're like an I, but it's it's
5:50
Speaker 2: just you just have no idea what the audience is
5:52
Speaker 2: going to love and respond to, and so you just
5:55
Speaker 2: kind of go and you do it, and you look
5:56
Speaker 2: around and you have fun with the crew and you
5:59
Speaker 2: get to know people little bit, and then you get
6:01
Speaker 2: to do it again, and then you go again, and
6:04
Speaker 2: the next thing you know, here you are ten years later,
6:06
Speaker 2: still playing this character. And I just feel so blessed.
6:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, you say it in Romance of the Hope. It's
6:13
Speaker 1: kind of more of a deeply personal story for you
6:16
Speaker 1: that you've brought your own family kind of story into it.
6:19
Speaker 1: What parts of yourself did you see reflected in Hope?
6:23
Speaker 2: Well, so, I mean sort of more deep deeply. U.
6:28
Speaker 2: The arch the arc of my character is a woman
6:31
Speaker 2: who drops her kid off at college and is deciding
6:35
Speaker 2: to tackle like her dream job, do something she's always
6:40
Speaker 2: wanted to do and sort of always felt so responsible
6:42
Speaker 2: raising our kid that she kind of waited until she
6:46
Speaker 2: could do this. And now she's buying a ranch and
6:49
Speaker 2: she's going to be a horsewoman and have a ranch
6:51
Speaker 2: and like do the whole thing.
6:52
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to bring her I know exactly, you know.
6:57
Speaker 2: And then when we were doing the development with the scrap,
7:00
Speaker 2: I really wanted to make sure it wasn't some kind
7:02
Speaker 2: of the trope was not going to be that like, oh,
7:05
Speaker 2: she's not good at it. No, she's a smart lady
7:08
Speaker 2: who like figured it out and did all the research
7:10
Speaker 2: and she knows and she loves sources, and she's not
7:12
Speaker 2: afraid of hard work. And so she tackles this new
7:15
Speaker 2: you know, she bought this ranch that's always been her
7:18
Speaker 2: dream and she's doing it. But I wanted the story.
7:22
Speaker 2: I really wanted to help the story be that you
7:26
Speaker 2: don't have to do everything yourself. That it isn't actually
7:30
Speaker 2: like some big child, you know. I feel my daughter
7:32
Speaker 2: and I laugh about it all the time, but I
7:34
Speaker 2: bring in all the grocery bags in one trip, like
7:38
Speaker 2: I really will, like almost hurt myself trying to make
7:40
Speaker 2: it happen. And I don't want help from anyone, and
7:43
Speaker 2: it's inexplicable. I don't I don't know why I do it.
7:46
Speaker 2: And now my daughter does it, and I look at
7:48
Speaker 2: her sometimes and I'm thinking like did I did you
7:50
Speaker 2: see me do that? And now you have to like
7:52
Speaker 2: I don't know where that comes from, but I thought
7:54
Speaker 2: this movie was a good opportunity to just sort of
7:56
Speaker 2: have that be the lesson, like that it's nice, it's
7:58
Speaker 2: okay to ask for help, it's okay to share a
8:01
Speaker 2: responsibility and a task, and it's okay to be to
8:05
Speaker 2: go at it as a team and to include your
8:07
Speaker 2: community or your family or your you know, loved one.
8:10
Speaker 2: And and I thought that was a really fun message.
8:14
Speaker 2: But then the family part is really my mother's name
8:17
Speaker 2: is Hope, and her my grandmother was Hope. And you know,
8:20
Speaker 2: we all loved we all grew up with horses. We're
8:22
Speaker 2: a big horse ranch family. This is sort of a
8:25
Speaker 2: dream we would all have. And uh and then.
8:28
Speaker 1: My daughter, Yeah, your daughter, this is her debut, her premiere.
8:35
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, and okay, she is my She was my
8:38
Speaker 2: age when I booked Days of Our Lives, so she
8:41
Speaker 2: was sixteen when she played this part. So I sort
8:43
Speaker 2: of had this very meta like, oh, my gosh, I
8:45
Speaker 2: know here she is doing a movie with me.
8:47
Speaker 1: Has she always wanted to be an actress? Did you know?
8:49
Speaker 1: Early on in she's.
8:51
Speaker 2: A performer for sure. She loves you know, the spotlight.
8:55
Speaker 2: She's good at the school plays and stuff like that. Sure,
8:58
Speaker 2: she's going to be an actor. I think you and
9:01
Speaker 2: I both know you have. I sort of tell people,
9:04
Speaker 2: I don't know how you phrase it, but like you
9:06
Speaker 2: have to not want to do anything else, like to
9:09
Speaker 2: make this into to make being an actor work, it
9:12
Speaker 2: has to be more important to you than anything because
9:15
Speaker 2: there's so much heartache and so much rejection and so
9:18
Speaker 2: much you know, it doesn't go your way.
9:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, how did you set her up for success? Because
9:24
Speaker 1: my daughter did a movie with me when she was
9:27
Speaker 1: seventeen as well, and I was I couldn't say enough
9:31
Speaker 1: to her about what to think about as she moved forward,
9:35
Speaker 1: if she if she moved forward and as a for
9:37
Speaker 1: her career. But I was worried about all the rejection
9:40
Speaker 1: and you know, all the because that's affected me for
9:44
Speaker 1: sure in my life. And I'm sure you have relatable
9:47
Speaker 1: stories as well.
9:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's such a it's people don't. I
9:53
Speaker 2: think people don't. It's hard to explain to people how
9:56
Speaker 2: that makes you feel, especially because you have to really
9:59
Speaker 2: give of yourself to get to do the audition. You know,
10:02
Speaker 2: you have to fall in love with that those sides
10:04
Speaker 2: and be so on board and really believe like you're
10:08
Speaker 2: the right person for it, and then to hear to
10:11
Speaker 2: not even ever hear back.
10:12
Speaker 1: It's just yeah, that's the new normal.
10:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's crushing.
10:17
Speaker 1: How about like comparison. You know, I grew up on
10:20
Speaker 1: a set as a young adult that was you know,
10:23
Speaker 1: kind of mentally very difficult for me and challenging just
10:26
Speaker 1: because I was you know, a young girl, a teenager basically,
10:30
Speaker 1: And the comparisons and working with other co stars that
10:35
Speaker 1: aren't you know, the most the easiest people to work with,
10:39
Speaker 1: like all of the pitfalls of the business along the way,
10:43
Speaker 1: how do you prepare for them?
10:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just have to say. And by the way,
10:49
Speaker 2: she probably won't, you know, I don't know what she'll do.
10:52
Speaker 2: Who knows. I'm excited for her to do whatever she wants.
10:54
Speaker 2: But I think it's you know, very important to say
10:57
Speaker 2: to anyone in that position that you have to be
11:02
Speaker 2: who you are and not let other people change you,
11:05
Speaker 2: not allow yourself. That's and I suppose that would be
11:09
Speaker 2: true of you know, even friendship groups or any job
11:13
Speaker 2: you have. Is when you find yourself in a toxic
11:16
Speaker 2: environment or one person can be difficult, you have to
11:20
Speaker 2: not you have to stay true to who you are.
11:22
Speaker 2: And my dad said that to me when I faced
11:25
Speaker 2: a difficult situation one time in a work environment. Is
11:28
Speaker 2: he said, you have to behave in a way that
11:30
Speaker 2: you can go to sleep at night and close your
11:32
Speaker 2: eyes and be okay with how you handled yourself and
11:35
Speaker 2: no one else can do that for you. That's you.
11:38
Speaker 2: And I just remember thinking like it faced with lots
11:41
Speaker 2: of difficult challenges in my life and decisions and ways
11:44
Speaker 2: I handled situations. Is like, you know, even if it
11:47
Speaker 2: needs an apology afterwards, is I need to go home
11:49
Speaker 2: tonight and I have to lay my head down on
11:51
Speaker 2: the pillow and be okay with how this day went.
11:54
Speaker 2: And I feel that was a great life lesson.
11:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're in this similar timeframe in your life as
12:06
Speaker 1: I am. And both of these projects that we were
12:08
Speaker 1: talking about are women stepping into new chapters in their lives,
12:12
Speaker 1: one through reinvention hope and then one through intuition and
12:16
Speaker 1: problem solving. So how do you feel like those themes
12:20
Speaker 1: sort of mirror what's where you are personally right now
12:23
Speaker 1: as a woman.
12:25
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think that I do feel there's a
12:30
Speaker 2: lot of intuition I am trusting more about myself now
12:35
Speaker 2: than I ever did before. I think we are inherently
12:39
Speaker 2: intuitive people, but it does also come from experience and
12:43
Speaker 2: wisdom and life lessons. So the more you experience, the
12:47
Speaker 2: more you take in kind of sizing up what's around
12:52
Speaker 2: you and the people around you. The more information, more
12:55
Speaker 2: data you're putting into your intuition so that you can
12:58
Speaker 2: trust it more. And what I love about playing the
13:02
Speaker 2: character of Hannah is that she is someone who is
13:06
Speaker 2: looking outward. She is very aware of everything that happens
13:10
Speaker 2: around her, and we focus on that in the storytelling
13:13
Speaker 2: and in the cinematography of her. Note even at the
13:16
Speaker 2: beginning of the movie, there's always clues before the you know,
13:20
Speaker 2: we end the first act usually with the murder, but
13:24
Speaker 2: there's plenty of clues that go into it before that
13:26
Speaker 2: even happens. And my character, yes, exactly that my character
13:30
Speaker 2: notices about people's behavior, and sometimes it's not to do
13:34
Speaker 2: with the murder. Like what I loved about this premise
13:37
Speaker 2: is that she also along the way solves other people's
13:40
Speaker 2: little situations like oh, a couple misunderstood each other and
13:45
Speaker 2: got in a fight, or you know whatever, Like it
13:47
Speaker 2: can be anything, but sometimes she puts those things together
13:50
Speaker 2: Oh that person needed didn't know that this happened, and
13:54
Speaker 2: she solves that along the way too, because she's so
13:56
Speaker 2: intuitive and she's also very aware and conscious of the
14:00
Speaker 2: people in her life. And I really liked I really
14:04
Speaker 2: like that about this character. And the story is that,
14:06
Speaker 2: and we lay that out in the movie and also
14:09
Speaker 2: the way we film it that she notices someone walk
14:12
Speaker 2: in and she notices their purse, so she notices that
14:15
Speaker 2: they are limping, or she notices, you know, something, and
14:18
Speaker 2: then later it makes sense and she's able to do
14:21
Speaker 2: the math on that.
14:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. It sounds like she's very present
14:24
Speaker 1: in the moment of wherever she is. Does that reflect
14:26
Speaker 1: on you as a woman playing that character? Do you
14:29
Speaker 1: take that home with you?
14:31
Speaker 2: I love that. That's such a good point. Yes, I
14:33
Speaker 2: do feel part of the whole challenge I had when
14:36
Speaker 2: I was on Days of Our Lives and you know,
14:39
Speaker 2: now a parent, and then I agreed to host The
14:41
Speaker 2: Biggest Loser, which was basically like two full time jobs
14:44
Speaker 2: and you know, trying to be a mom. One of
14:47
Speaker 2: the things I really tasked myself with was being present
14:50
Speaker 2: with whatever I'm doing right there. If I'm at work
14:53
Speaker 2: and I'm not acting in my scene because I'm thinking
14:55
Speaker 2: about how I'm not making my kids lunch or whatever,
14:59
Speaker 2: like then I'm not doing anything. Now I've ruined both jobs,
15:03
Speaker 2: you know, and so I really sort of tasked to myself.
15:06
Speaker 2: And in fact, I think it makes it's funny because
15:08
Speaker 2: now I'm realizing now I might have to break this
15:10
Speaker 2: habit because I'm bad at planning trips and planning out
15:13
Speaker 2: things in the future because I really live in like
15:16
Speaker 2: what what do I need to do today? And where
15:19
Speaker 2: am I and how do I be present in what's
15:21
Speaker 2: happening right now? And then people are like, hey, let's
15:24
Speaker 2: go to dinner a week from now, and I'm like, oh,
15:26
Speaker 2: that's a long beto.
15:28
Speaker 1: I'm not there yet. I need like night before, you know,
15:33
Speaker 1: day before plants.
15:34
Speaker 2: It's rough.
15:35
Speaker 1: It's rough when you're doling so many things, and it's
15:37
Speaker 1: not like now your kids are a little bit, they're
15:40
Speaker 1: older and you don't have to be with them as much.
15:42
Speaker 1: How old is your son?
15:44
Speaker 2: My son is turning twenty one.
15:46
Speaker 1: Tom, Wow, congrats? Yeah, so I know you're an empty
15:50
Speaker 1: nester basically.
15:51
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah. And by the way, the second she got
15:54
Speaker 2: the driver's license, like she was out of here, like
15:56
Speaker 2: she's on her own. I mean it was. It was
15:58
Speaker 2: a big change from taking her to her lesson waking
16:02
Speaker 2: up at the krack of dawn. She rides horses, to
16:04
Speaker 2: ride horses and you know, whatever other activities she wanted
16:07
Speaker 2: to do. And now she you know, I can text
16:09
Speaker 2: her and she'll bring me milkcmee from the market, Like
16:11
Speaker 2: I don't even have to go to the market, so
16:13
Speaker 2: if I don't want to, and so yeah, but you know,
16:15
Speaker 2: I missed the times in the car with her.
16:18
Speaker 1: I know, I know. Yeah, you talked about the Biggest
16:20
Speaker 1: Loser You've also been. You were an amazing host of
16:23
Speaker 1: that show for maybe thirteen seasons. It was so fun
16:27
Speaker 1: to see you there, Like I didn't expect it, but
16:30
Speaker 1: there you are.
16:32
Speaker 2: Yeah. I had a lot of fun being a part
16:34
Speaker 2: of it. It was an amazing experience, so different from
16:36
Speaker 2: acting like it's a really it's I mean, it's such
16:39
Speaker 2: a different thing, even just doing you know, a podcast.
16:43
Speaker 2: I love the long form of this, but I love
16:46
Speaker 2: being me. You know, it's so weird to be yourself
16:50
Speaker 2: on TV.
16:51
Speaker 1: Doing Charter right right, You've said you were there to
16:54
Speaker 1: foster positive conversations about hell and you know, there were
16:59
Speaker 1: some credit how along the way. How did you feel
17:02
Speaker 1: about that whole experience looking back.
17:04
Speaker 2: Oh, I am proud of my part in that show.
17:07
Speaker 2: I'm proud to have watched so many people change their lives.
17:11
Speaker 2: I mean, I have to tell you, like standing there
17:13
Speaker 2: next to some of the amazing women and men, people
17:17
Speaker 2: who who worked so hard to get fit and change
17:20
Speaker 2: their lives, and yeah, I mean one of the whatever,
17:23
Speaker 2: I'm not going to defend it, but certainly it didn't
17:26
Speaker 2: work for everyone, but it worked for a lot of people.
17:29
Speaker 2: And that's true. You know, anything really that you try,
17:32
Speaker 2: and certainly you know, doing it in a honest way
17:36
Speaker 2: in front of America is hard to But I just
17:40
Speaker 2: felt like I was so proud to meet those people
17:43
Speaker 2: and see them on their journey and be a part
17:44
Speaker 2: of it, if in small, some small way, be a
17:46
Speaker 2: cheerleader for them and through a difficult time. I thought
17:49
Speaker 2: they were amazing and inspirational and inspired me. And by
17:52
Speaker 2: the way, I also found that was the other thing
17:55
Speaker 2: about being sort of like the face of the show,
17:57
Speaker 2: is that or you know, part of the show people
17:59
Speaker 2: recognized is I met people every day who talk to
18:02
Speaker 2: me about their own weight loss, just fans of the
18:04
Speaker 2: show who lost fifty pounds or just learning better or what?
18:08
Speaker 2: And you I remember you? And I not to take
18:11
Speaker 2: it back to brand New life constantly, but do you
18:14
Speaker 2: remember that we worked with someone who didn't who literally
18:19
Speaker 2: ate bags of pasta And I was literally like it
18:24
Speaker 2: didn't eat a lot, and so it like literally like
18:27
Speaker 2: just would carry around bags of cooked pasta.
18:29
Speaker 1: And I don't know why, person, I'm.
18:32
Speaker 2: I do, I'm not. Thanks, Oh my god, I need
18:35
Speaker 2: you to know, at twelve years old, that was really
18:38
Speaker 2: influential on me. Like, I mean, it's no one's fault,
18:40
Speaker 2: it's my fault. But I seriously started eating pasta all
18:43
Speaker 2: the time, and that didn't go well for my body type.
18:46
Speaker 1: Did you think that pasta was going to make you
18:48
Speaker 1: certain differently healthy?
18:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, that it was good for you. That was good
18:52
Speaker 2: for you. Whoa this plain pasta? Anyway? All that is
18:55
Speaker 2: to say, when I was on the Biggest Loser, those
18:58
Speaker 2: kinds of lessons actually really affected me to oh, ranch
19:00
Speaker 2: dressing is not good for you. A Caesar style has
19:03
Speaker 2: more calories than a burger. Like, I mean, you know,
19:06
Speaker 2: I think there was a lot that people learned from
19:10
Speaker 2: that show that we had misunderstandings about fat free, fat
19:14
Speaker 2: that or whatever like that you realized I was like, oh, yeah,
19:16
Speaker 2: I definitely ate those cookies like boxes when I was
19:20
Speaker 2: a teenager, you know. And so I think the show
19:22
Speaker 2: really did a really good job of helping people learn
19:26
Speaker 2: lots of stuff that they had just never been told.
19:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you went on to do more of that
19:31
Speaker 1: by writing your own books about health and fitness and parenting.
19:35
Speaker 1: How did you come to be an author?
19:38
Speaker 2: That was sort of the first part of that was
19:41
Speaker 2: to do with like being on the soap and just
19:44
Speaker 2: feeling so exposed growing up as a teenager. And I
19:48
Speaker 2: don't know if you felt the same way, but when
19:50
Speaker 2: you're dealing with teenage issues and you're in the public
19:54
Speaker 2: eye and on Dasbrael Lives, I was on TV almost
19:57
Speaker 2: every day, so there's sort of no hiding a bad
20:00
Speaker 2: haircut or a difficult time or you know, weight loss,
20:03
Speaker 2: weight gain or weight loss or whatever like it. Just
20:07
Speaker 2: I felt so exposed to the process of being puberty
20:10
Speaker 2: and teenager life. And I decide, and I remember my
20:14
Speaker 2: first interview with soapropera digest. I remember announcing my age.
20:17
Speaker 2: I'm sixteen years old, and I remember thinking to myself
20:19
Speaker 2: at that moment while there goes you know, I'm never
20:23
Speaker 2: going to be able to lie about my age because
20:24
Speaker 2: now people know it's in a magazine and I'm at sixteen.
20:27
Speaker 2: I made the decision I'm going for it. And I
20:33
Speaker 2: felt sort of the same way about the whole process
20:35
Speaker 2: of growing up, like, I guess people are going to know.
20:37
Speaker 2: It's not like I can hide the acne on my face.
20:40
Speaker 2: I might as well just talk about it and be
20:42
Speaker 2: upfront about it. And I think the internet like came
20:45
Speaker 2: around kind of at the same time, which is, you know,
20:49
Speaker 2: weird to say.
20:50
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, we were before the internet.
20:54
Speaker 2: People, there was a time before the internet, and I
20:58
Speaker 2: lived during that time. And then there were these like
21:02
Speaker 2: chat rooms so you could go and read what people
21:04
Speaker 2: were saying about you and about the show. And I
21:10
Speaker 2: was an early addict to reading people's comments about the show.
21:15
Speaker 1: Did you tend to like zero in on the negative
21:17
Speaker 1: ones more than the positive ones? Like that's the worst?
21:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you And by the way, I can still
21:22
Speaker 2: imagine it. I can still picture my mind like the
21:25
Speaker 2: very beginning of the chat chat rooms in the nineties,
21:27
Speaker 2: and I can see it still clear as day of
21:30
Speaker 2: some of the negative things people wrote about me, like
21:31
Speaker 2: it's it's not unbelievable.
21:35
Speaker 1: Like, at what point have you come to realize that
21:38
Speaker 1: that other people's opinions don't have anything to do with you, like,
21:43
Speaker 1: you know, and at what point did you decide I'm
21:47
Speaker 1: I'm good the way I am without other people's opinions.
21:53
Speaker 2: I think I would say I still struggle with that,
21:57
Speaker 2: but it's more that I I kind of had to
22:00
Speaker 2: wean myself away from like the unhealthy opinions. Yeah, look,
22:05
Speaker 2: I try not to look like other people look at
22:07
Speaker 2: the comment section in my book posts or whatever, and
22:11
Speaker 2: I know what I will also say is I have
22:14
Speaker 2: amazing fans, like the best fans, and they write such
22:17
Speaker 2: nice things and like supportive things, and so I don't
22:20
Speaker 2: want to not see that. But I but sometimes you
22:23
Speaker 2: like I do skim and I look for trigger words
22:26
Speaker 2: to skip over. I hate the word trigger. I'm embarrassed
22:29
Speaker 2: that I just said that. But but I try to
22:31
Speaker 2: like just go past and try to get bullet points
22:33
Speaker 2: because I do think. I do think that as a
22:36
Speaker 2: filmmaker and like a writer and an actor, the compliments
22:40
Speaker 2: or the little moments and scenes that people loved and
22:44
Speaker 2: respond to and the lines that they quote, like that
22:48
Speaker 2: stays with me in a positive way and helps me
22:50
Speaker 2: be better moving forward to do the next thing. So
22:53
Speaker 2: I don't want to I don't want to miss out
22:54
Speaker 2: on that and feeling that engagement with fans just because
22:58
Speaker 2: some people are terrible people like I. I can't I
23:00
Speaker 2: can't let them ruin that for me. So it's a
23:03
Speaker 2: it's a delicate balance. But all that is to say
23:05
Speaker 2: that when I was starting to read people's engagement with
23:09
Speaker 2: me and and actually a lot of positive people who
23:12
Speaker 2: are people who struggled with their weight or struggled with
23:15
Speaker 2: like being a feeling, My character on the soap Bande's
23:19
Speaker 2: was a kind of she felt rejected by her family
23:24
Speaker 2: to begin with. She felt like she wasn't the pretty sister,
23:26
Speaker 2: she wasn't the favorite sister, and so uh, reading all
23:30
Speaker 2: those people who really bonded with Sammy because of that,
23:34
Speaker 2: I kind of thought, well, maybe I should write about that,
23:37
Speaker 2: Like maybe, I don't know. I felt that I had
23:40
Speaker 2: an audience to write to and I wanted to share
23:42
Speaker 2: with them my own.
23:43
Speaker 1: Experiences millions of people who related with that character every day. Yeah, yeah,
23:49
Speaker 1: you were on that show forever.
23:52
Speaker 2: Forever. Yeah.
23:53
Speaker 1: Wait, so so about my life more than more?
23:56
Speaker 2: God half my life?
23:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's insane. Soap operas can be both a blessing
24:00
Speaker 1: as you like, you had a great job for a
24:02
Speaker 1: long time and I'm kind of a curse because there
24:05
Speaker 1: comes a time when you want to go somewhere else
24:08
Speaker 1: and do something else. Yeah, how did you make that decision?
24:12
Speaker 2: Well, I mean it's sort of made for you in
24:14
Speaker 2: that they don't look at you for other work while
24:18
Speaker 2: you're doing a soap, and then you have reps who say, well,
24:23
Speaker 2: you're busy, so I can't send you out on auditions,
24:26
Speaker 2: but they also you know, I mean I was never
24:29
Speaker 2: going to I was not the person who was like
24:31
Speaker 2: I'm going to quit my job and throw myself at
24:33
Speaker 2: Like remember pilot season there used.
24:38
Speaker 1: I heard it's coming back?
24:40
Speaker 2: Is it really everything old is new again?
24:44
Speaker 1: The even pilot season.
24:46
Speaker 2: Its seasoned back. So I kind of just stuck with
24:51
Speaker 2: the show. And also I had a great job. I
24:54
Speaker 2: had so much fun playing this character. I think a
24:57
Speaker 2: lot of people who feel stuck on So it's to
25:00
Speaker 2: do with like a character that maybe doesn't change or
25:03
Speaker 2: doesn't grow, or doesn't get to do wacky things like
25:05
Speaker 2: I got to do. So I never felt like every
25:09
Speaker 2: day I opened that script like I have no idea
25:12
Speaker 2: what's coming my way today, Like it could be anything.
25:15
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was pretty It was pretty crazy. So
25:20
Speaker 2: for me, that was a big part of it. It
25:21
Speaker 2: was always fun and I always felt I liked having
25:25
Speaker 2: something to do and having being able to act every day.
25:29
Speaker 2: I never felt like, oh, this isn't good enough for me,
25:31
Speaker 2: you know, or I should do more. I just I
25:33
Speaker 2: just always loved it. And then and then there came
25:39
Speaker 2: a day where I kind of felt like, oh, I
25:40
Speaker 2: want to try something else and see, you know, do
25:43
Speaker 2: something else. And and I got the chance to do
25:46
Speaker 2: a Hallmark movie and I loved it. And it did
25:50
Speaker 2: feel very different to read the end of the script
25:53
Speaker 2: and know how like how it ends.
25:55
Speaker 1: It is the beginning in an end. Yeah, and that was.
26:00
Speaker 2: Like a weird That was a very weird thing to
26:02
Speaker 2: turn to the last page and be like, oh, oh
26:04
Speaker 2: the end like great, and and and then playing that
26:08
Speaker 2: as an actor, because you know, you're you sort of
26:11
Speaker 2: have to play never ending. There's a cycle of something child,
26:16
Speaker 2: you know, you know, there's always something going on on
26:19
Speaker 2: the soap, and and so that was different too, and anyway,
26:22
Speaker 2: I loved it. It was a new challenge for me.
26:24
Speaker 2: And then I ended up finding scripts that I wanted
26:28
Speaker 2: to make and produce, and so I kind of got
26:31
Speaker 2: into that a little bit. And now I, uh, you know,
26:35
Speaker 2: and now I am kind of my own boss, and
26:37
Speaker 2: I sort of still can't believe it all and that
26:40
Speaker 2: here I am doing that. But yeah, I don't know.
26:44
Speaker 1: Here you are, and like, what a great position to
26:46
Speaker 1: be in for everybody that's listening. You're an executive producer? Now,
26:55
Speaker 1: so what is an executive producer on a movie that
26:58
Speaker 1: you're making?
26:59
Speaker 2: Well, certainly you know as well as I that there's
27:01
Speaker 2: plenty of people who have that title who don't never
27:05
Speaker 2: even met, Yeah, who don't do anything. And good for that, Yeah,
27:09
Speaker 2: But for me, it means I get to be in
27:11
Speaker 2: all the meetings. I get to help decide what the
27:14
Speaker 2: wardrobe is going to be, what the props look like,
27:17
Speaker 2: what the locations look like, who were hiring for the cast,
27:21
Speaker 2: who are hiring for the DP and the director, and
27:25
Speaker 2: you know you're just doing you're literally making the movie
27:27
Speaker 2: all and and I have even from my experience at days,
27:32
Speaker 2: I have always been someone who looked around and wondered,
27:35
Speaker 2: was there a meeting about that? Like did someone discuss
27:38
Speaker 2: that decision and like now here and that's how we
27:40
Speaker 2: ended up here? Or was it? Like what, how does
27:43
Speaker 2: this happen? And now I get to be in all
27:45
Speaker 2: of those meetings and part of that decision, and I
27:48
Speaker 2: feel so much better. There is no literally no decision
27:51
Speaker 2: that is too small, that's not important to me. I
27:54
Speaker 2: love every part of storytelling, and I love knowing that,
27:58
Speaker 2: you know, if we had we couldn't afford that many
28:00
Speaker 2: you know, background people for one scene or that location,
28:04
Speaker 2: and we ended up in a different location. I can
28:05
Speaker 2: live with that, you know, I have to live with that.
28:08
Speaker 1: But go figure out how to make it work.
28:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I go into that situation knowing this was
28:15
Speaker 2: this was the best choice to make the best possible
28:17
Speaker 2: movie we could and you know, and then I'm proud
28:21
Speaker 2: of that. Whereas like, you know, so I love it.
28:24
Speaker 2: I have so much fun doing this.
28:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, a great opportunity to just show how creative
28:29
Speaker 1: and capable you are, and you know how seasoned you
28:32
Speaker 1: are from all your experiences that have led up to this.
28:36
Speaker 1: It seems like you're a naturally other thing.
28:39
Speaker 2: The other thing I love about it is hiring, like
28:41
Speaker 2: giving people a chance. I love. We've had several successful
28:44
Speaker 2: directors who was first time directing for homework was on
28:47
Speaker 2: one of my movies, And I love supporting other creative people.
28:52
Speaker 2: That's the other thing that's so fun is working with
28:54
Speaker 2: people who love movies as much as I do and
28:57
Speaker 2: having them, you know, really passionate about like what kind
29:01
Speaker 2: of phone case would your character have? I mean I could, like,
29:04
Speaker 2: I could look at six of them. I watch, you know,
29:06
Speaker 2: like every detail, and I love people in every department
29:10
Speaker 2: who care about it as much as I do.
29:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, you are a great executive producer. I can tell
29:15
Speaker 1: that passion. I'm sure. No, But I think like ninety
29:18
Speaker 1: percent of it is problem solving.
29:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally, yes, and learning and taking it in the
29:25
Speaker 2: information without freaking out.
29:26
Speaker 1: I mean like okay, okay, yeah.
29:29
Speaker 2: So what are our options. Let's let's think this through.
29:32
Speaker 1: And then it's so hard to like, oh, yeah, they
29:36
Speaker 1: just cut our budget. You're like, what what do you
29:38
Speaker 1: mean like freak out right?
29:39
Speaker 2: Yeah?
29:40
Speaker 1: That doesn't really do any good.
29:41
Speaker 2: It does not help you out.
29:42
Speaker 1: Now in your personal life, do you found have you
29:44
Speaker 1: found that you've grown into more of a less reactive
29:47
Speaker 1: person too, like as just Allison, I do.
29:53
Speaker 2: Think I have.
29:54
Speaker 5: I think I do think it helps me recognize that
29:59
Speaker 5: it does doesn't help to you know, freak out you're
30:03
Speaker 5: not and then also taking on the responsibility of being
30:06
Speaker 5: an executive producer.
30:07
Speaker 2: I want people to come to me. I don't want
30:10
Speaker 2: people feeling like they can't tell me stuff because I'm
30:14
Speaker 2: going to freak out. So you have to be that.
30:16
Speaker 2: You have to be that person for them to feel
30:18
Speaker 2: like they can come and admit. And then you have
30:21
Speaker 2: to say to someone every time and listen, I make mistakes,
30:25
Speaker 2: you have to say it. I make mistakes too. Thank
30:26
Speaker 2: you for letting me know, because now we can go
30:28
Speaker 2: back and reshoot that scene with the right you know thing,
30:32
Speaker 2: like better now than if I read about it, if
30:34
Speaker 2: I saw it in the edit room, like and you
30:36
Speaker 2: have to. You have to. It's like being a good parent,
30:39
Speaker 2: you know, like you have to handle that. You have
30:43
Speaker 2: to handle it well and then.
30:44
Speaker 1: Letlematical problems diplomatically, I think is the word exactly.
30:47
Speaker 2: That's the word I'm searching for you.
30:49
Speaker 1: How do you stay grounded? You have so much going on,
30:51
Speaker 1: You've it sounds like you've always had a lot going on.
30:54
Speaker 1: So if sure, you've learned how to manage it, but
30:56
Speaker 1: how do you say grounded in yourself while you're always
31:02
Speaker 1: just sort of dispersing to all these different things, And
31:04
Speaker 1: how do you continue to motivate yourself moving forward?
31:09
Speaker 2: If I need time, if I have to do, I
31:13
Speaker 2: have to take care of myself again. I think a
31:15
Speaker 2: lot of things are kind of like being a parent.
31:16
Speaker 2: A good parent is if I don't take care of myself,
31:20
Speaker 2: then I cannot take care of you know, my kids
31:23
Speaker 2: or the people around me. And so if I need,
31:26
Speaker 2: like I like to stay and watch all the other
31:28
Speaker 2: actors and be a good I'm an onset producer. I
31:31
Speaker 2: watch from video Village and I love to give notes.
31:33
Speaker 2: I love watching performances and bringing out little gems of
31:38
Speaker 2: my co stars, and it brings me such joy to giggle,
31:42
Speaker 2: like when I see something great that's happening with other actors,
31:45
Speaker 2: or just to make sure everybody looks beautiful or whatever,
31:47
Speaker 2: you know, whatever. I love it. But there are some.
31:49
Speaker 2: Just last week there was a night where I had
31:51
Speaker 2: to leave early because I was like, I'm not going
31:53
Speaker 2: to be my best act I'm not going to act
31:55
Speaker 2: well tomorrow. I don't go home, Merlan and get some sleep.
31:57
Speaker 2: And so I have to those decisions because you know,
32:03
Speaker 2: so taking care of myself is part of being grounded,
32:06
Speaker 2: because if you're you know, not eating well and you're
32:08
Speaker 2: not taking care of yourself, then then those emotions can
32:11
Speaker 2: run high and then you can kind of lose control
32:14
Speaker 2: of your way you react to stuff. So I do that,
32:17
Speaker 2: and then staying grounded is like, you know, like I'm
32:20
Speaker 2: changing into my fifth wardrobe change in like a bathroom.
32:23
Speaker 2: It's the size of a closet and like my elbow
32:26
Speaker 2: it's the thing. And you know, there's just so much
32:29
Speaker 2: like the real world of what we do is not
32:31
Speaker 2: that glamorous, so you never get that feeling.
32:34
Speaker 1: Of like, yeah, like I such a big movie star.
32:38
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, exactly, I have. I have a chair with
32:40
Speaker 2: my name on it, but it's like taped on with
32:43
Speaker 2: like you know, like like Scottish shame and it's really
32:46
Speaker 2: sweet but that someone made that for me. But it
32:49
Speaker 2: is also like, right, I'm I'm doing great.
32:53
Speaker 1: You're doing great.
32:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
32:55
Speaker 1: You got to remember, girl, you are making so many
32:58
Speaker 1: people happy. My mother, oh lives in Breeze Hallmark.
33:03
Speaker 2: Oh that makes me so happy. I love that. Yeah.
33:05
Speaker 1: I put it on for her in the morning and
33:07
Speaker 1: she's just happy as a clan watching it all day long.
33:10
Speaker 2: It's so great. I do think we make people happy.
33:13
Speaker 1: Yeah. I get sucked in too all the time. I'll
33:15
Speaker 1: be sitting with her, I'm like, WHOA, this is good.
33:17
Speaker 1: I want to watch this.
33:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I think, I mean, there's plenty of great
33:21
Speaker 2: content out there for people who like a little more violence,
33:24
Speaker 2: a little more sex, a little more whatever, you know.
33:26
Speaker 2: I mean, there's there's no dearth of that available on
33:30
Speaker 2: the Dreamers. But what we offer our shows, you can
33:33
Speaker 2: watch with your mom and your kid, and everyone can
33:38
Speaker 2: watch together and have a good time and be surprised
33:40
Speaker 2: or not sprit you know, like, you know, we keep
33:43
Speaker 2: things pretty safe at the end, like it's all going
33:45
Speaker 2: to work out, and I like, but I like that,
33:48
Speaker 2: and I think there's you know, I'm happy to give
33:50
Speaker 2: people that kind of especially Christmas, that kind.
33:52
Speaker 1: Of Yeah, there's something there's something so comforting about knowing
33:56
Speaker 1: at the end of what I'm watching, everything's going to
33:59
Speaker 1: be good for every buddy exactly exactly the journey. It's
34:03
Speaker 1: really fun. Alison Sweeney, what was your last I choose
34:06
Speaker 1: me moment.
34:09
Speaker 2: My last I Choose Me moment was, uh, last weekend.
34:15
Speaker 2: I had one night off and I went and stayed
34:19
Speaker 2: at a very fancy hotel and just stayed by myself
34:23
Speaker 2: and like hold up the covers and I like had
34:27
Speaker 2: the nicest in room dining, like just sat there and
34:31
Speaker 2: like just just enjoyed everything, just me by myself.
34:35
Speaker 1: Like that sounds like a dream.
34:39
Speaker 2: It was, it was, And I didn't didn't fuck to anybody.
34:42
Speaker 2: I didn't. I just stop there alone and watch movies.
34:45
Speaker 1: And did you just put a bat the bathroom bone
34:47
Speaker 1: immediately when you got there?
34:48
Speaker 2: Yes, oh yes, the fancy bathroom is the bathroom is
34:51
Speaker 2: the key. Yes, it was, like and they just there's
34:54
Speaker 2: something about those nice hotels that have like the like
34:57
Speaker 2: super fluffy duvet cover and the sheets are so clean
35:02
Speaker 2: and like crispy, and you just like it just was
35:05
Speaker 2: like all snuggled up like and I keep the room
35:08
Speaker 2: cold when I sleep, and I snuggle up to my
35:10
Speaker 2: like my nose and it's just the best.
35:12
Speaker 1: That's the perfect I Choose Me moment. Thank you Allison
35:15
Speaker 1: for being on with us. You're so inspiring.
35:17
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, thank you for having me. I can't
35:20
Speaker 2: believe I got to hang out with you today. I
35:21
Speaker 2: love it.
35:22
Speaker 1: I love it too. Allison's new movies Romance at Hope
35:26
Speaker 1: Ranch and Sugar and Vice AHANNAHS. Swinson Mystery can be
35:30
Speaker 1: seen wherever you stream Hallmark. Oh, and you guys, I'm
35:34
Speaker 1: very excited to share that my book I Choose Me
35:39
Speaker 1: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose and Embracing Reinvention is coming April fourteenth.
35:44
Speaker 1: It would mean the world to me if you would
35:46
Speaker 1: pre order a copy or pre order the audiobook wherever
35:50
Speaker 1: you get your books. And yes, I am going to
35:53
Speaker 1: be narrating the audiobook. So thank you all so much
35:57
Speaker 1: in advance. I hope you love it.