- My next guest brought a fairy tale to life
in a uniquely personal way, by dressing as Cinderella
with one major difference.
Her name is Mandy Pursley,
and she was born without a right forearm.
So as you can see,
she wore a glass prosthetic instead of a glass slipper.
She's here with us right now.
Hi Mandy.
- Hi
- I love you.
(crowd cheering)
It's such a cool thing you did!
- Oh thank you!
- What inspired this photo shoot?
- Well it all started when my daughter
was studying Cinderella stories at school last year.
And there's all these really beautiful adaptations
from around the world,
but I realized there was still no princesses
who look like me, who had some kind of physical difference.
And that's a character that would
have been really meaningful to me as a child.
And so I just thought if she didn't exist,
I'm gonna create her.
- [Kelly] I'm gonna invent it.
- [Mandy] Yeah!
- I love it!
(crowd applauding)
You actually made all the outfits, right?
- I did yeah!
- Not only yours but your husbands.
- I did yeah.
I'm a seamstress so you know
in true Cinderella fashion.
- I was like wow,
you're actually Cinderella.
Cool. (laughing)
- So I did my Cinderella ball gown,
and I enlisted my husband to be Prince Charming.
- That's sweet.
I love that you got your husband to do that.
I can get my husband to dress up too.
(laughing)
It's pretty fun to get them to do that.
- It is. - You have to promise cuddles,
but it's fine.
- It is. (laughing)
- You originally planned to unveil this whole idea,
this whole concept, at Comic-Con, right?
- Yeah!
- Why didn't that happen?
- So I have a chronic illness and unfortunately
it got the better of me, so we were actually backstage,
ready to go on, and I passed out!
And so I went to the hospital instead of going on stage.
- Oh my God you worked so hard!
- I know!
I was so discouraged that I didn't even show people
these photos that we had done.
And then a couple weeks ago, I had a friend,
and she asked if I had any photos of Cinderella
I could share with this little girl she knew
who had one arm.
And I thought you know,
I'm gonna post these...
- Oh that's a God thing.
- To make one person happy. - The fact that
that just came up out of nowhere.
- Exactly.
And it is a God thing that it's blown up in this way.
- That's so cool.
I love the universe,
I love God,
I love how that works.
Why was it so important to you to do this photo shoot?
- You know originally I really wanted other little girls
who had some kind of a physical difference,
to see themselves represented.
Because I think it's so much easier to believe in yourself,
if you see people who look like you,
achieving the same dreams that you have.
- 100 percent.
- But I think it's had such wide appeal
because we all have ways in which the world
makes us feel less than perfect.
- Yeah it's called social media.
- Exactly! (laughing)
So I hope this just inspires people to embrace themselves.
Because I think when you can really love yourself,
and then extend that love and acceptance to other people,
that's what makes the world a better place.
- Absolutely, Mandy. (crowd applauding)
You kind of feel her on the fact that representation,
like having representation for everyone?
- Absolutely.
My challenge is in my mind, I have dyslexia.
So challenges,
everybody has some sort of challenge.
And not only is this brave and beautiful,
but it is also so thoughtful.
So worldly thoughtful.
That you would think to do that
for everybody else out there.
- That's really cool!
- Yeah and for me, I agree with everything that's been said.
I mean I think as people with a platform,
we have a responsibility to do something good with it.
You know we have fans who listen to us,
even non-fans that are forced to listen to what we're saying
on social media and all of that.
So you know, for me when we were doing the Lion King,
everywhere we would go, people would ask me,
press would ask me and Seth, "Oh are Timon and Pumbaa gay?"
Like et cetera et cetera.
And it gets to a point where you're like,
well I don't know, that's not in the script,
but instead of arguing over silly things like that,
why don't we just put-- - People ask that?
- Constantly.
- That's weird!
- Yeah and I'm like I don't know, he's a meerkat.
I don't know! I didn't write it!
But at the same time, I think it's important
to have LGBTQ characters everywhere.
Including in animated films, and family films.
So we don't have to have stupid arguments
about Timon and Pumbaa.
- Don't you wish there were times
there's been times in my life
I have these Ally McBeal moments in my head that play out,
that I'm like when someone asks me some kind of stupid,
asinine question like that, I just wanna go, pass.
(laughing)
I'm like I'm done with you.
Like what? - Yeah exactly.
- I can't even believe that was an issue or brought up.
- People are looking for a quote to put on Twitter,
you know like anything controversial to get clicks.
That's a whole other story we're not here
to talk about that.
- But you know you can come back and I will talk about it.
I can't stand that! (laughing)
Mandy's story has inspired thousands around the world.
And one of those people is joining us right now,
this is Mimi, and her mother Vanessa, y'all!
(crowd applauding)
Two years ago, Mimi underwent an emergency amputation
on her left arm because of a flesh eating bacteria.
It is so lovely to meet you, you are so beautiful.
- Thank you.
My gosh.
- You walked out here and I was like,
you are such a little princess.
You are so beautiful.
- Thank you.
- You look real cute.
Vanessa, let's talk about what happened.
How did this, it's so random...
- Well she was in kindergarten about two years ago,
when I picked her up from school,
she was complaining about pain in her arm.
The next day she woke up with a fever,
we ended up in the hospital, and all of a sudden,
she's fighting for her life.
That's when I learned that she had a flesh eating
bacteria infection, and in order for them, the doctors,
to save her life, she had to get an amputation.
- Wow!
How has the recovery process been?
- It's been good,
she goes to Blythedale Children's Hospital,
and she does her occupational therapy there,
and she's recently had her new prosthetic arm,
and she's learned how to put it on herself.
She's learned how to tie her shoe.
And she's just been doing really good.
(crowd applauding)
- How are you doing?
- I'm doing good.
- You're doing well?
You loving school, everything's, are you starting
to get back into the groove of everything and life.
Girl you're strong.
You are a strong individual,
that's a lot that's been put on your plate.
I mean, what did y'all think
whenever you saw Mandy's photos?
- I thought she looked beautiful.
And I think it's really important for Mimi
to see people that look just like her.
I remember one day I was driving by the park,
and there was this little boy playing soccer,
and he had crutches, and she was just like, "Mommy look!"
And when I look he had a amputated leg.
While he was playing soccer!
So I don't feel like people who have an amputation,
or any type of disability,
should feel left out or different.
- Yeah you're not limited.
You just have to work around it.
- Exactly. (crowd applauding)
- My little girl loves princesses.
Did you love her dress?
- Yeah. - Did you love how it looked?
Yeah?
Who's your favorite princess?
- Ariel.
- Oh my gosh!
That's my baby girl's favorite!
I can't tell you how many times I've heard
"Part of your World."
(laughing)
I know it!
(laughing)
Do you have any advice for Mimi and Vanessa?
- You know I just wanna say, you are awesome!
And girl you can do anything.
And you know one thing that took me a really long time
to figure out,
is the best thing you can do,
is just throw out the world standards and be yourself.
Because when--
(crowd cheering)
- And just so you know,
that's not just--
that's for everyone.
That's every little girl,
every little boy,
we are all so different.
We come in different shapes, sizes, colors,
personalities, religious backgrounds, everything.
Everybody's welcome, and everybody's got their own
kind of hurdles in life to go with,
and their own situations.
And I just think, I really wanted you on this show, Mimi
because I thought one, this was such an inspiration to see
like dressing up a princess, you could be a princess too!
With a cool arm!
- Exactly, yeah!
- That's awesome!
Well Mimi we do have a surprise for you.
We got you your very own princess dress.
Are you interested in it?
- Yeah!
- Mandy has her princess dress backstage.
And she's gonna put it on.
There we go!
(crowd applauding)
It's Cinderella!
And we were thinking that maybe y'all could put it on,
do a little photo shoot.
'Cause both of you in this would be adorable.
If y'all wanna see the pictures of Mandy and Mimi,
check them out on Instagram, at kellyclarksonshow.
Thank you so much for being here, baby girl!
I love you!
You look beautiful!
- Thank you!
- Yes!