GABRIELLE CARTERIS: EPISODE LINK

TRANSCRIPT:

Colleen: Welcome back to Hot Flashes and Cool Topics. Today we are so excited to have

Gabrielle Carteris on the show. Welcome.

Gabrielle: Thank you. Very excited to be here.

Two lovely ladies.

Colleen & Bridgett: Thank you. Thank you.

Colleen: We were so excited when you said that

you’d be able to have this conversation with us because we love talking with women

who have had these incredible life stories and yours is one of them. And so we

just happened to be taping right around the 35th anniversary of 90210 and what is

that like for you to be celebrating that anniversary? 35 years a long time.

Gabrielle: Long, long, long time. And I think I’m so surprised. I didn’t realize it because I just

did a podcast the other day with Darren and Ian talking about that.

I was like, you guys, I remember like when we first did the auditions, I remember

the first read -through with everybody. And if I think about it, it feels like

yesterday, but when I look at it, it seems like another lifetime. So it’s, and it’s

a big marker for me in my life, you know. It’s no mistake. I am, you know, where

I am now.

Bridgett: I just remember that I was a young mother and

my husband traveled a lot. And that was my thing, I believe it was on Wednesday

nights and I would, I can’t remember what night exactly.

Colleen: You would remember,

Bridgett.

Gabrielle:  It was on Wednesday and then there was a time was on Thursday.

Bridgett: Oh, okay.

I would get my son was like not even a year old.

Gabrielle: You were a young mom.

Bridgett: I was young and I would hold him and I would be like we’re going to watch 90210 and then we’re going to watch Melrose Place after that and you know that was like my

Thing.  I was a young mom so it was like oh I’m getting to live what

it was like like five years ago, 10 years ago. So, it really was

so surprising to me that you were in your like mid to late 20s.

Colleen:  You told

a little fib to get to get that.

Bridgett:  Can you tell that story. You just must look

young.

Gabrielle:  I think it’s, I’m not a

really tall person. I would say and I think I have kind of

like even now when I see myself, the way I talk has a, I think you know like

a bright sound in it so it makes me seem younger and but it’s genes it has

nothing to do with anything I do now. I look more my age. So I’m 64 now.

Bridgett:  I don’t think you look 64, I don’t think you do but,  I think

there’s some people that look the same age their whole life. They look

like 30 their whole life.

Gabrielle: or how about when you see

somebody and you see pictures of when they were babies and they look exactly the

same.

Bridgett: Exactly. They don’t change.

Colleen: It’s so true. Can you tell that story though that

you were 29 and you were going on this show of predominantly older teenagers?

Gabrielle: Well, they were teenagers. I mean, Tori and Brian were I think just 15 going on 16.

Bridgett & Colleen: Wow.

Gabrielle: I was out from New York and I was auditioning for shows and this was one of

the shows that I auditioned for. And I was so freaked out because, you know,

you never, you’re never supposed to ask somebody their age. No, you never ask

somebody their age, right? But at that point, we didn’t have IMDB. And I was just

so sure that if they knew my real age, because 29 is a lot

older than, you know, people who are in high school. And then you have

Tori and Brian.

The show was not strong. It didn’t have a strong launch. So I think that if

they found out during that time or before that, I never would have had that chance

to do the show. And then once they found out my age, because of People magazine

who had somebody who worked in the DMV behind the scenes and revealed, they told

me. The writer told me exactly what happened. I said, so you broke the law to get

my age. And then I’m asking you not to share my age because clearly I will lose

my job and everybody called. My lawyers called and everything. They still did it and

that it was okay. The show had just started really to

connect and people were okay with my age and I think that down the road it

became harder for them because I think it interfered with their ability to make

Andrea, you know, between my getting pregnant in real life and being older,

it’s kind of like, I think they would not necessarily say that, but I think it

made it harder for them to, ultimately to write stuff that I thought was interesting

enough to stay and, you know.

Bridgett:  So like your character in college got

pregnant. Was that to go along with your pregnancy or was that a different

storyline?

Gabrielle: No, I had gone to Aaron Spelling before my husband and I had talked

about wanting to get pregnant and I thought, you know, I don’t want to hide my

pregnancy. I didn’t want to be hiding behind books and stuff. I

really wanted to be able to own my pregnancy and I wanted my child to be

able to see how proud I was to carry him or her during that time. So I asked to

have lunch with Aaron Spelling and I went into his office and I said, you know,

Charlie and I would like to get pregnant and I just want to know if that’s okay.

And if we do that, I want it not to be hidden. And he was so surprised that I

didn’t come to say I was pregnant. He said, I cannot believe you’re not here

telling me you’re pregnant, but that you’re asking, of course I’ll support that. It

shows you that the truth will set you free. But then what happened was he wrote it

in and it became very controversial. You know, there was so many people, like even The

New York Times wrote in you know, “we can’t believe that the smart girl got

pregnant on 90210” and I was like, wow that’s so demeaning. First of

all, nobody said anything about the young guy who was a part of that and secondly,

that intellect has nothing to do with it. We sometimes do things in our lives and

we have to decide how we’re going to be responsible for those choices. That’s

just the bottom line. And that happens when you’re every age. So I thought it was

such a terrible message and a terrible statement. And it was all about demonizing

Andrea, which really pissed me off. I just thought that was just terrible.

Bridgett: that is terrible. I mean, I felt like it was, it was true to life. Like it was

true. these things happen. This happened to people in college all the time. Even the

smart girls. And you find a way to work through it.

Colleen: when I was preparing for the interview, there are so many stories

that I listen to where it seemed like with 90210, it was 1990 and plus. And

it was just starting to try to be controversial, but in the safest way,

humanly possible. So when you say things like, you know, Andrea got pregnant or you

were supposed to date an African -American man and no touching on

camera. Can you talk about some of that? Because nowadays it would be like, why was

there a problem?

Gabrielle: You remember just before 90210, everything was like,

I mean, Lucille Ball was earlier, you know, it was a, it was kind of like a fantasy kind of childhood. That’s what

made 90210 so special. It resonated. Like, there was honesty to it. And that was why

people, I think, really kind of gravitated towards the show. It was a

breakout. It was a phenomenon in its own way. But prior to that, everything had a

place, you know, and we still have that in different ways, right? But, you know,

people who were of different races, they didn’t come

together, right? We knew what happened, but we didn’t show that on primetime

television for families, right? We didn’t show that people go and make choices

sometimes that just don’t seem conventional in terms of maybe getting pregnant when

you didn’t plan it, you know, and being young and in school.

Even though they wanted to, they only, they were restricted by a lot of the rules

of the network. I don’t think it was Aaron who didn’t want to do it. I just think

there were rules about, you know, this is what you’re allowed to say. You weren’t

allowed to swear at the time. There was a time you couldn’t even show a woman in

a bra, right? That would be an X -rated film. Now, TV is all about, you know,

intimacy and, you know, I mean, it’s so different. So at that time, none of that.

There was just boundaries on every state, you know, everything was just supposed to

be in its little box. And so when 90210 came out,

even though it really did flirt with a lot of the issues, particularly in the

beginning, I think it became more expressive through the years. It helped to change

the course of television. So it was allowed to be more, you know, salacious in some

ways. But in the beginning, it had a structure it had to work under in order to

get through the network guards, you know, like there was a certain

thing. We couldn’t say. So, for instance,

two things happened on 90210 when I dated (a man of color). So, but he was a character that

I had a relationship with, or Andre had a relationship with, and he was a man of

color. And when I went to give him a hug on something, they said, “oh” they called

me from network. “You can’t touch him.” That was, I was like, that’s so, what are

you talking about? And I’m Jewish. And my character was

identified as Jewish. They did a whole thing on the Holocaust, but I wasn’t allowed

to wear my Jewish star. And I was like, wow. I said, but you, all the Christians

could wear their crosses. And they said, middle America doesn’t want to see it. And

I said, then take it off everybody. I mean, like, don’t make it about one and not

the other. Like, let’s be honest about what’s going on. And I think that in the

same way, because they always just flirted with it, even though Aaron said, yes,

it’s okay to get pregnant. I think they didn’t know what to do with that. I think

it was like once they told that story, now it became, oh, my God, Andrea is going

to bring her baby everywhere and that’s not going to allow us to have the stories

that there was something about that reality that was a little bit too uncomfortable

at the time for them to deal with. Later on, as the characters got older and then

they started having deeper relationships and were allowed to, you know, ultimately get

pregnant. That was a result of, you know, that moment, I think.

Bridgett:  And when you were talking about all those rules, I was

thinking back to all the things, like the first time a toilet flushed on All in

the Family. And I remember, like, Laverne and Shirley, they would say voddie doe -doe.

They would not say sex or they would not say “sleep with” or whatever. And how the evolving

just has come along. And I guess, I mean, I don’t know, was there like a hard

fast rule? Like, I know there used to be codes and things like that. But was there

a hard fast code or was it just something you had to push for at that time?

Gabrielle: There

were things. It would go through the networks. They would go to look at that. They

had somebody who views everything and would just, I forget the name of that, where

they go and they decide if it’s acceptable or not, they check everything. So

language, there was a time when it was much stricter with language, but they had

certain words you could and could not say. when you drive a car you have to have

a seatbelt on you can’t drive in the car without a seatbelt. They had people who literally would watch and say “you have to

cut that.” “You can’t reshoot that”, “ you can’t have that or people who would look

at the scripts prior and say we’re not going to allow that.” Now there’s so much

more because there’s so many more ways to access entertainment and

there’s nothing when it comes to the internet, right? The restrictions don’t even

exist. And then you have cable and then you had, you know, you had network

television, which was the most conservative of the whole thing.

Colleen: you know, you were so ahead of the times when you did start 90210.

What do you think it would have been like had there been social media during that

time?

Gabrielle:  I can’t imagine. I mean, there’s two things. It would have either

because things now happened so quickly that,

you know, our show was not successful its first season. So if we had not done well

and if social media demanded success immediately, we may have never gone farther is

one way. Or if there had been social media and we were, at that time such a

phenomenon. I mean it was we really couldn’t go in public alone. I think we would have become recluses because it would have been, I mean

it was already without social media, we were in over 100 countries. We had

security wherever we went, so if we had that then without social media and there was

success in the show with social media, I don’t, I don’t know if that would have

been manageable. It was barely manageable as it was.

Colleen:  What was it

like doing the reboot?

Gabrielle: That was great for me. You know, it’s so funny. There was a lot of, when we first

started the show, then the network, you know, they divided us a lot. Even though I was 29, it was young, and I was

young in the business. It was just so, and everybody’s telling different things. So

we were very separate in those years. And I think that was really, you know, I was

closest to the guys, but I was, you know, older and I felt a little separate

because I was married and then I had a baby and all that. So I think

there was a lot of, we talk about all the trauma of those years. As exciting as

it was, it was really a challenging time. This reboot was a real important time

for me. And I think it was for the rest of the cast. I know

for Jenny, you know, we’ve talked about it. It was healing for me. It was really

fun. And it was it didn’t matter what ended up happening. I mean, I wish that it

could have gone longer, but it was great to come and to talk about this. We talked

to each other about things we had never talked about. We also said we’re not going to allow them to pit us against each other. We’re

here as a team now. That was really wonderful. And we’re all parents now.

So that was wild. Like, you know, where there was a real difference between my age

and being a mom and them. Suddenly, all of us have children. Some of our kids went

to school together. We, we were going through similar (things), I

thought it was great. I had a great time.

Bridgett: Right. And you all have lost two cast members.

Gabriell:  we’ve lost (more).  You know, the two. And Denise, who

is the, uh, the principal of the school. She was a lovely woman.

And then we have, yeah, Luke and Shannon.

Bridgett:  because

we’re all about the same age. Like, I think Colleen fall in between the ages of

the cast, but that really is, you know, it just kind of, I don’t know, it makes

you just realize your mortality.

Gabrielle: And 35 years have passed.

Bridgett: Right.

I know. Like you said, it seems like it was a lifetime ago, but then it seems

like it was yesterday, and especially because you can catch it. You know, you could

watch the shows again and catch up on what happened with that. And then,

you know, you’ve also taken on other really big responsibilities, like

being the Screen Actors Guild, the president of that. I mean, how was that?

How long did you do that? And that had to be really a hard job.

Gabrielle: That was a

really hard. That was SAG/AGTRA. I’d helped merge the unions and as an actor,

because it’s really members who, you know like in any union, actually it’s always

going to be the people who are the members that make it.  It was unexpected, was not the thing I planned. I had been injured about I guess 14 years

ago and now was partially paralyzed shooting a film and I wasn’t able to speak

clearly. I was in, you know, treatment for a long time. And at that time is when

I got involved with the union in terms of a member supporting the unions. And then

I helped to merge our unions, which who would have ever thought? Like, how do you

do with that? Right. And then, ultimately becoming the

president was, you know what? It was great. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever

done, never expected to take that role on. Such an honor to be able to serve my

fellow actors. Just to fight for their rights, you know, we went through the

Harvey Weinstein time and finding ways to protect people and talk about things that

we never talked about on sets and outside of sets and auditions and how do we

create protections. That process started during my presidency because nobody had dealt

with it before. And now look at the evolution as a result, all the people who we

stood together and really took a stance. And so I went through that.

That was a hard time. The pandemic was a very hard time. And it was really a

challenge. So it was great. I’m really glad it’s over. I’m now the president of

FIA, which is the International Federation for Actors. It’s internationally, I

represent, it’s like the AFL -CIO, which is the American Federation of Labor, is an

umbrella for the unions in this country. FIA is the umbrella for performer unions

around the world. And that is easier.

Colleen:  What I appreciate so much,is when we talk to women, we really see

patterns where we take something that could be really a negative and kind of pivot

into something that’s learning and a positive. And I know you were saying that you

were injured filming a movie, which would be a horrible situation. But then I saw

you say somewhere that you leaned into the yes and you’re so glad you did by

saying, okay, I’m going to do something. I’m going to educate myself. I’m going to

get involved. I’m going to serve. And that I think is so powerful for women because

I think, you know, it’s so interesting.

Gabrielle: We talk about women versus men. Men tend to say yes to everything, whether they can do

it or not, doesn’t mean that I don’t mean that as a derogatory. I actually mean

that as a positive because leadership and certain things, you know, as women, we’re

always saying, I just want to learn a few more things. But if you can go, once

you jump into something, if you have history, of course, you have to have some

background, but once you jump in, which men tend to do more with more abandoned,

that’s why you see men in leadership roles that women take longer to get into.

Now we’re seeing a major shift with women in influential positions.

I don’t know if that will change because of our political situation right

now and how things might be reshaped on that. I didn’t do it thinking, oh, my God, something big is going to happen. I would say to everybody, and this is what comes from the thing. I say to

my children, is women, you know, with your kids, lean in to yes. Like, say yes to

everything. Now I’m saying it’s important to say no, too. Like I kind of give it

so much yes that I’m exhausted and I need to say no a little bit more. But I do

think that life is, it’s the unknown. You know, we can’t really plan it when people

say, you plan and God laughs. But I think it’s even more than that, that

we can’t really know. We only think we know. And I think that,

being older, I think why you hear more women are actually willing.

Sometimes they’re not because they’re afraid, but more women will say, screw it, man.

I don’t care. I have nothing to lose anymore. I have nothing to lose. This is my

life. I’m tired of people telling me what to do or telling me who I am. I think

that women are coming to a time in their lives where they’re saying, I deserve, I

want this chance. I’m only here for so long. You know, like, why would I give up

all my possibilities? Because somebody else has a limited thought of me. I definitely have my demons and it’s hard, you know, but I talk to myself about it because I don’t

think women necessarily don’t do it. I think there are more women doing things now

than ever before. We have to be given access. Access is really the

door. Once that door is open, you have to walk through it. So I say to all women,

you know we always take the responsibility.

Bridgett: Like you said, men say yes

with abandon because they’re probably not as concerned if they have

children, then the wife or their mother will take care of these children or they’ll

take care of their parents. The mother will or the daughter will take care of

the aging parents and things like that and then the opportunity when it comes along,

you’re kind of like, I can’t take on this. I’ve got all these other things, but

it’s nice to have help too, right, and it’s okay to do

that. These are so many things that women, I think, are learning. And when they see

other women, like you, do these things. Like, you’re injured. But you said yes to

this. I mean, you had a really serious injury and you’re doing this.

Gabrielle: There were some minutes when I wanted to first run, not as president of the entire SAG/AFTRA

before we merged, I ran to be the president of Los Angeles here for after the

American Federation of Television Radioers. And there was a man who had been in that

position for a long time. And he and somebody else took me out. And they said, do

you really want to do that? I mean, you’re a mother.

How are you going to do

that? I said, wow, if I was a man, would you say that?

Bridgett:  Good for you. Exactly.

Yeah. I mean, I think it takes us saying things like that to say things like that

that’s going to push that through. And they may, the man may act haughty or

whatever, whenever you say it, but they’re going to think about it. They’re going to

think about it the next time they almost say that to another woman.

Gabrielle:  or at least if

we say it ourselves, that gives us strength too.

Colleen: Yeah and I think as we get older, we see another version of ourselves. There’s really not a

fear of failure, try it if it works great, if it doesn’t, life experience and you

move on. I think when you’re younger you have such a need to be accepted and such

a fear of failing. And that just goes away. I mean, I don’t think a lot of women

in our demographic have that fear if they feel like they’re

invisible, but that can be superpower. Like, nobody’s watching. So go try.

It either works or it doesn’t. But I just think that that’s, as we age, it’s a

gift to be able to kind of get rid of that, what everyone else thinks. Are we

failing? All those steps in the way.

Gabrielle: you need to find a way to let it walk by your side. Just because we have fear doesn’t mean we can’t do something right. I guess maybe I’m speaking for myself. I

have a lot of fear like you know, oh my God, you know if I’ve been asked to do a show, can I memorize the lines? Do I want to do this show? I have fear of by doing the right choices with my kids sometimes,

right? I don’t think that fear is a terrible thing. Fear is uncomfortable, but I

don’t think with my aging that it’s that I don’t have fear. It’s that I know that

fear doesn’t mean that I can’t do. And I guess that’s what I would urge. Don’t

wait for your fear to go. Sometimes just by doing your fear will dissipate.  I’m pushing back on that because I know.

Colleen:  and in when I say fear

of failure, I don’t mean you don’t feel the fear but you don’t really care if you

fail. Like if you could you’d be afraid, do it anyway and if it’s if it didn’t work

out that’s okay.

Gabrielle:  yeah I don’t I don’t consider it a right. Like I don’t consider it

okay, well that didn’t work  and I definitely agree with you

because you know, our children are watching even though they’re adults and when they

see us nervous or anxious or fearful and we do it anyway they say “okay well you

know they’re trying.” It’s never too late to try something new so I

agree with you on that definitely  I think I was just thinking in terms of

whether it works or not, right the bottom line, but um so i was just thinking of I

was going to on the line of fear.

Colleen:  I know you had stage fright back

when you were young. How have you worked that for your career?

Gabrielle: I just suck

it up, man. I’m not kidding. I’ve been offered a show right now, and I’m literally

like, I don’t know. Can I memorize the lines? I don’t know if this is the right

thing. Is this really what I wanted to? Like, oh, yes, I want it. I mean,

I am telling you I am just right now in the midst of like fear.  I think each time talk about it, right?

Don’t isolate from it. And that’s hard for me because I’m the person who’s always

fixing everything. So for me to say, I am vulnerable right now. I need support.

I need advice. I need to be able to cry. I need to be able to question. I need

your help, is very hard for me.  But the way I get through

it is truly just like I’m doing with you about it. I honest to God, and I’m not

great at it. But that’s my biggest challenge. And it’s the biggest thing I try to.

My success only comes when I’m really, really honest. Every time I’m not honest,

I get hurt.

Bridgett: Yeah.  I understand that because when you don’t feel

like you’re honest or true to yourself, it’s not authentic.

when we do an event, I’m like I want my notes right in front of me!

Gabrielle: but you never know unless you just keep

walking through. You got to do it you just got to walk through here. Let it be

there. Say hello.

Bridgett:  yeah and I think talking about it puts it out there.

Gabrielle:  that

you’re sharing it and it puts it out. When you internalize it, it makes it worse.  I used to internalize it all the time, like try to act like,

nothing’s wrong with me. No, everything is great. And I did my TED Talks. I was so

nervous. And this is honest to God truth. I started to hyperventilate. I was with

somebody who I work with. I got on my knees. She said, “Gabrielle,

should I say that you can’t do this?” And I said, “just leave me alone. Just leave

me alone.” And I had to literally go outside. And I have to, you know that Holly

Hunter. I don’t know if you ever saw Broadcast News.

Bridgett & Colleen: Yes.

Gabrielle: So she cries before each

Thing. Like cries and then she’s like okay. That’s me. I have to literally sob, let

out all that tension and then move forward but I have to tell you, until I

started speaking, I thought I’m going to pass out like right here. I’m going to

pass out, who’s going to catch me I hate it. It’s really tough and it’s

tougher as I get older, not easier.

Colleen:  really that’s interesting, but you keep doing it

Gabrielle: Because I think that I can’t let that be the thing. I can’t make my world

small. I can’t allow it to make me small. I want my life to be my choice.

  I say that with real hope, you know.

I do it only because the alternative for me is not living. And I really have to

be able to go through it. I wish I could do it more joyfully. This whole year will be about

finding ways to be more joyful and less fearful about doing certain things. Because

once I do it, I’m like, God, I can’t believe I did that. Like, oh, my God. Right.

So I’d like the process to be as fun as the after, like, relief.

Bridgett: Yeah, like the sense of dread before. And I do that with things to like I’m like,

oh no, I wish I didn’t commit to this. Why did I say I was going to do that and

then once I’ve done it,I’m like well I’m so glad I did that and then when I’m

looking forward to something I build it up so big that I’m disappointed, and I got to get it together.

Gabrielle:  that’s like our life journey

and it doesn’t end just because we get older. There’s still lots of challenges that

we can look for.

Colleen:  so you were married the same year I was,

92 and Bridgett was married in 91. So we’re all married 30 years plus. And I saw

somewhere where you said that you love it that you’re so happy that you’re boring, which I

so related to because I don’t think that’s a negative thing. They’re like, oh,

you’ve been married a long time. You’re boring. I’m like, no, we’re content. We’re

happy. That’s not a bad.

Gabrielle:  you know what, Charlie is my mate

so for me it’s it is a comfort you know. I do feel so fortunate you know. I say

I’m boring not to me. You know sometimes, I might go out and do something but I think  to other people looking in, you know we’re not partiers,

like that’s just not our vibe. So they might say,

you know, because we don’t go out getting drunk and whatever. It’s just not our

thing. But I don’t think that we’re boring. I think that we’re just,

we’re living in our lives. And we have friends who are living similar lives,

you know, so we share in that. But yes, I definitely not, you know,

it does sound boring if I were to talk about some of the things. I love it.

Bridgett: We get it. We do. We’re together on

New Year’s Eve with a few of our friends around where we live. And then we’re

like, well, we’ll be at our houses ringing in the new year on our couch and our

pajamas. Yes.

Colleen:  Happy, happy, happy, happy. Come on. Don’t you want to watch

the ball drop? No, no. Yeah. I’ll be sitting on the couch.

Gabrielle: Right. We’ll see it 50

times the next day.

Colleen: and that’s okay. But, you know, I got what

you were saying. You didn’t mean boring in like from the outside in. You meant

you’re just very content and very happy. And I think that that is such a gift.

Like Bridgett and I always said we don’t take it for granted. That we’ve been

married this long.

Gabrielle: How great for you guys. I mean that I’m so happy for you that

you don’t (take it for granted) because I know so many people who will go and say “oh

you know so my husband or my wife doesn’t do this, doesn’t do that” and sometimes I

say I don’t know are you just unhappy and blaming on them because it could be that

that but I don’t know,  I think sometimes there’s a lot of projection

in our relationships so I think if you’re in a good place, you’re not with

somebody who’s abusive and you can, you know, enjoy each other. I mean, there’s a

lot of things I know that make it happen. But if you can be there and really

appreciate it, life is short, you know. I’m glad for you.

Colleen: And we’re glad for you.

Do you travel a lot with your husband?

Gabrielle: Well, we just got back. We were just in

Italy. I travel a lot. Like I’m almost once a month right now. I’m leaving next

week. I go to Brussels.

only within like a week’s time if I travel, but we do it now, the last couple of

years, a big trip together, which is great. And then, but I had to be honest, my

happiest stuff with Charlie is just to be at home. I love

staycations. Those are really fun for me. I love to go away just for the night,

right? Not far from here at a great hotel, have a great dinner and massage and

just fun. I love doing that. And then, um, otherwise like yesterday is my husband’s

birthday. So,  I said ‘honey, you want to go for (your birthday), we did a dinner with friends the other

night. But I said, you know, what do you want to do?” And he said,” I really like

you to cook.” And because I cook for us, you know, dinner. And I said, “you

sure that’s what you want me to do? You want me to cook me dinner?” And he said,

“yes.” He told me his favorite meal. I mean, so yes, we kind of, you know, we do

Travel, but we really enjoy just being together in our home too. I’m a little bit of Dorothy, “there’s no place like home” so

right, I travel a lot and this next year I don’t want to travel as much as I

travel.

Bridgett: How long does this term last for you in this presidency?

Gabriell: This is going to be

four more years.

Bridgett: Oh wow. Oh my goodness.

I also wonder, I don’t know a lot about the entertainment industry, but all

this stuff going on, talking about tariffs on international movies and things like that?

Gabrielle: it’s not tariffs apparently, so look it hasn’t been fully fleshed out but apparentlyit sounds like that it’s not tariffs, like that it’s tariffs when all the

production and everything takes place somewhere else and then they’re coming here. We

can go to work someplace else or it can be American companies, which a lot of the

films you see are joint ventures. This is how I understand it. But they’re talking

about purely foreign projects that have nothing to do with the United States or the

performer, you know, anything with the United States coming here and then they want

to pay. That’s what I understand it to be. I have a thing about the tariffs, period. I’m concerned about

them. But, you know, I don’t think it’s been really fully assessed out what these

tariffs mean.

Bridgett: Okay. Well, that, that’s, that’s comforting to know that that part,

because that it’s concerning. It’s just concerning for everybody. I mean, I feel like

the entertainment industry has been through so much. Right.

Gabrielle: And then the strike a

couple years ago. You know, COVID, strikes, we had everything.

And then, you know, we have AI. Our industry is the,

really one of the first really hit where you can see replacement of the work. And

it’s, it is devastating. You know, the whole, the whole industry is changing.

There’s some great things because there’s more ability for people to create without

having to look at financing from big studios because that’s a really big thing. You

know, you can do it on a small budget. And there’s so many ways that you can go

and, you know, share your content. So that’s great. But on the other side, nobody

will make the kind of living, very few, that we were fortunate enough to be able to

I did a lot of work with the development of technology and AI. But there’s a lot

of things going on out there. It’s going to be a different, you guys, our world in

the next five years is going to be a very different world. Even the work you’re

doing right now is going to be different.

Colleen: No, we know that.

Gabrielle: And it’s scary for our

kids. You wonder about careers and what’s going

to happen with them.

Colleen: Do either of your daughters, are they in the industry?

Gabrielle:  No. My

daughter, I have one daughter who’s in New York. She’s a painter and she’s doing

really well right now, so that I’m happy for her. And my other daughter is actually

in graduate school to become a therapist, family marriage counselor. I’m very happy

for her. I think that the world needs therapy right now. At one time my daughter, my younger daughter, she’s a

beautiful singer. She had been on American Idol, actually. She had made it to

Hollywood, and she’s a beautiful voice, but she wanted to do that.

I was like, do you not see how hard this industry is? I’m your mom. Like, I

represent recording artists, and this was the time of my presidency. It was like,

anything you want, I want you to do in this world, but this is a choice. So I’m glad they’re not doing that right now.

I’ll tell you what’s hard for our kids, you know, so your kids are in their 20s

then, right?

Colleen:  And I have 30 and 27.

Bridgett: 30 and 32.

Gabrielle: So Molly is 26 and Kelsey’s 31. So pretty much the 20s. I was just listening to

something the other day. You know how you say you have your whole life ahead of

you or these should be the best years of your life. These are actually the hardest

years. The 20s, particularly now, coming out of a pandemic with technology the way it

is, what’s going on with what’s available because of everything changing. This is maybe one of the scariest times for young people. And I think

that we need to give them a little grace. And there’s a whole thing about, I’ve

really like soul searched on, you know, when I grew up, when you got out of

school, you got a job and you did whatever. And our younger is living here at

home. She’d like to move out. But I don’t think that’s bad.  I used

to think, you know, well, she has to go out. But I think other cultures actually

embrace their youth until they, you know, start a family. And I think we need to

do more of that. I think I would love to see more family together because I think,

you know, we’re aging.

So we want to take care of the older people. I think we want to make sure to keep remembering that the young people need us. And then we

should take care of each other.

Bridgett:  We need to stop passing so much

judgment on them because it is a different time. I mean, the cost of living, the

wages haven’t gone up with the cost of living and it is so hard.

Gabrielle: Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah. It’s just, you know, I think it’s

whatever works for your family. Like people say, oh,

well, you should be out. Well, what 26 or 27 looked like to us is not what it

looks like. A different world. It is such a different world. And I, yeah, I think

that it’s a good reminder as the world is where it is what we can do to make it

better. That’s a good way to do it.

Colleen: So you’re still acting. You might have a show

coming up. Is there anything else in your sites for the next

couple of years that you’re looking forward to?

Gabrielle: A little less anxiety.

Colleen: There’s medication for that.

Gabrielle: I can’t do really that all the time. You know what? I think I’d like to go back to

school. I really want to. I have a very strong community of people in

my life, but I think I want to go and explore, bringing them with me,

but broadening it. I am definitely

feeling ready like I am about to come into a change.

And I’m kind of excited. So I’m not sure what that is. In fact,

when I’m saying it to you, I’m getting excited, which makes me just so happy.

Colleen: You can see that. Your face is lit up. It’s like you’re like formulating a plan.

Gabrielle: I don’t know. I just feel like a plan is about to happen in my life. It’s

awesome.

Bridgett: That’s so exciting. And we’ve heard people that do that.

Helen Slater, you know, got her PhD. It’s so amazing. And it’s encouraging when you

see somebody do that you’re like I could do that too like if that’s something you

really want.

Gabrielle:  I’m not going from my PhD

Bridgett: yeah you know when you see someone say you know

I think I’m going to do this and then you’re like well I could do something too.

Colleens:  sometimes the little whispers that were there start to get louder and

you’re like oh wait I have time now to actually focus on a few things that I

wanted to do lucky, right?

Gabrielle: How great. Definitely a privilege.

Colleen: But, we wish you

the best of luck with whatever that is. Please come back and tell us about it.

Gabrielle: Yeah, yeah. You guys do well. I hope your kids do great.

Colleen: we wish you the best of luck thank you so much for coming on.