- So people have called me a has-been.
What does that even mean?
Today, I wanna talk about that.
So we were at my storage unit.
My mom recently moved from my childhood home
and I helped her with that and I got a lot of boxes
and my mom kept every single thing times 10.
That is a separate issue
but I was able to get a lot of nostalgic stuff.
So let's see what I've got.
No judgment, guys, okay?
Welcome to the skeletons in my closet right here.
You know this concept of relevance or that horrible phrase
that everybody in my industry hates to hear, has-been?
You know what?
(beep) that term.
That term is a horrible term
because what it means is that your value, your worth,
your career that you've built for many, many years,
maybe your whole life has pretty much been completed,
you're not needed, you're not wanted,
please see yourself out the door and don't pass go,
don't collect money and I say screw that, that's not true.
Everything that you've done should be celebrated
and understood by the people that care about you, your fans.
You guys have been super supportive of me over the years.
So let's talk about all the different aspects
of being a relevant has-been or something.
I'm gonna sit on this suitcase 'cause why not, y'all?
So I watched a documentary the other day called Val.
It was amazing.
What spoke to me about the documentary
is the messaging of him going to comic-cons
and feeling as though he's grateful
to have the interactions with his fans
but that some people might think
it's a fate worse than death
if you have to go and show up at different cities
and belittle yourself to basically just sit at a table.
I don't think that's hard work 'cause I do,
I have done comic-cons in the past
and I was itching to do comic-cons.
They were only in San Diego
and then since Kim Possible came out
which was what like 15 years ago, I don't even know,
more than that maybe, it's become regional.
Every single big city and even small cities have comic-cons
and it's great because it unifies so many different people,
fans, all the different shows and fandoms,
they come together and they have a safe space
to celebrate and wear costumes.
It's a super positive thing.
I have mad love for conventions.
I do think it's really interesting
that you're at a comic-con
and say you're gonna sign something like this.
So this is me.
This was when I was on Broadway.
Life changing for me.
To like roll up after I've been working super hard,
I get told to go outside and I look up
and I see myself literally on Times Square
and we're not talking about something
that flashed and went away.
We're talking like this lived there
for months and months and months and months and months,
for almost a year so that people would look up
and they would buy tickets to go because my face?
That's so crazy.
And so if you're at a comic-con
and you sign something like this, it is a mind F.
I'll say it that way.
You're looking at a moment in time
when you couldn't be more relevant
then you flashback to I'm here, I'm signing
and it's like this really strange dynamic
and so when I was watching Val, I really, really felt that.
Those days are not as easy as you think.
They're almost as tough as being on set for 12 hours a day
because you're there on your feet moving to panel to panel
smiling, talking to people, there's no downtime
unless you're in a green room or going to the bathroom
so you have to pace yourself and it's three days of that.
It's not glamorous but boy is it really gratifying
because I've had so many people come up to me
and talk about how many things that I was in
that they were able to connect with their parents,
watching it, sitting down together and honestly,
that's just a blessing because of the shows that I was in.
So that's a testament of all that.
Okay, so obviously this has taken a beating.
I am such a hometown girl.
When my dad was alive, he loved politics
and he had some friends in Connecticut politics.
He managed to get the 22nd day of February
my own holiday in my town.
Nobody ever celebrates it but it's there
and like, I even went to the Capitol.
I was on the floor of Congress and they gave this to me.
I've gotta rehome it because my old dog bite this
and I have to protect this.
There's certain things that you really want to protect
and keep in good shape.
It's one thing to hoard stuff
and to just have it all rusty and gross.
That's creepy.
You might as well just throw that out
but if it's something important to you,
you kinda wanna keep it nice.
I want to show my girls when they get older
that I have these things.
This is important to me.
What else is in here?
This is so cool.
This is Kim Possible.
This is the Happy Meal.
For me, growing up an 80s child
like the arches and the Happy Meal
and everything that that meant
and having a toy in the Happy Meal,
that was super relevant to me.
This is a big win for me.
Ooh, did you know that I wrote a book?
It's called Grace's Turn.
Dude, this was a good book.
I did not write it alone.
I had someone that helped me write it
but I was very, very, very, very, very, very, very,
very involved with the crafting
of the development of the character.
This is a semi-autobiographical book.
I've got like 20 copies here
and I think maybe there's not too many out there.
Look at that, it's like,
from the star of Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.
So if you wanna talk about relevance,
the reason why the book was even sold
was because I recently had done something.
It doesn't matter how much talent you have.
You're as good as your last gig and how successful that was.
Go ahead and read it.
Comment below if you have read it.
Tell me what you liked about it.
I'm really proud of it.
Ooh.
So did you guys know that it was a huge Leo DiCaprio fan
like every other girl?
My husband looks a little bit like him
so I have a type for sure
and somehow I got from an auction at my school Titanic coal.
I was so obsessed with that movie.
It's a piece of Titanic coal and its certificate,
certificate is right here.
It could totally not be Titanic coal
but there's a certificate so it's got to be, right?
This one I think is cool and this isn't about politics.
This is just about flexing.
I've got two presidential pins from George Bush senior.
I was probably around 12 years old.
It was before Disney.
I was just in some repertory company
with kids in New York City and we showed up in D.C.
and they picked randomly kids to do certain introductions.
It was pretty cool.
I met President Bush senior.
He gave me these pins.
The first time he gave me the pin was when I met him.
The second time he gave me the pin
was when he showed up to watch me perform on stage
and my mom who's like the mamager that she was
let his people know.
I don't even know how do you even like,
oh, I'm just gonna go get a president's information.
She's pretty fierce.
I show up to the theater and I'm like,
why are there Secret Service people?
I'm like 12 years old.
It was a total surprise.
He takes me upstairs.
He gives me a hug and he's like, "you're doing great"
and that was at intermission so I had a second act
and I think he left right about that time.
Cool little treasure boxes.
Oh boy, look at this.
So this is me and Shia
and this was me at my 19th birthday party
right when we just about wrapped Even Stevens.
He was very sweet at that time.
I had no idea what was going on in his life
'cause when you watch Honey Boy and stuff,
those days when he was doing Even Stevens was rough on him
but I had no idea and he even wore,
it looks like he wore a button up shirt
which was a big deal for Shia.
When I look at all of these,
there's a story to every single picture.
There's a life here and that's the other thing.
When people know you from a certain timeframe in your career
and they just think of you as in this one way,
they don't realize that you've done stuff before.
People don't know that I'm a puppeteer.
Super random that I can puppeteer
but I did Avenue Q on Broadway when I was 26.
All right, let's look at another box, shall we?
This is my Mouseketeer ears, guys.
I had to buy it.
It wasn't given to me.
I have a really cool story
that when I went into Walt Disney World a lot,
I met the voice of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
They inducted me into being a Mouseketeer
and I believe that this was what I got that hat.
It's the dog-legged clencher.
It's literally the prop from the Broadway show
Beauty and the Beast that I had and I think I stole it.
Sorry, guys, I totally stole this
but it's a dog-legged clencher.
Get it?
So cute.
You're not gonna believe this one.
If you haven't seen my other nostalgia box opening,
you've gotta see this again.
I was supposed to do the New York stock exchange bill
on September 17th, 2008.
It was the day of the crash.
Yeah, that was something that I actually didn't end up doing
because I literally missed the cab
and I had bad time management skills.
It's totally true.
This was a happy accident though
because if I had gone down as the person who rang the bell
the day that the market crashed, that's got some weird juju.
I've got politician notes and pictures with my dad
who's passed on.
This is when I was a kid in San Francisco.
I have sheet music that I used to have to prepare
when I was doing musical theatre auditions
which I would like to do musical theatre again.
There's a lot of things that I would like to do.
Whether that brings relevancy in my life or not,
It brings relevancy inside of myself
which I think is the most important thing.
Even if you build a career for yourself,
it's still temporary especially when you're female.
If you're a female in the entertainment industry,
you're only as good as the face that you have
and the way that you age and what you look like.
So I ended up going back to school
but loving producing and directing
and I got into it and I had a blast.
What I realized was is that I actually was really good
at running a set because I grew up on a set, right?
So directing is something that I wanna do.
I've already done it.
I had a Christmas movie
that I thought was very Disney friendly
in hopes that Disney would hire me as a director.
I work hard I promise.
I'm sorry, I'm smiling
because I just saw something that I can't wait to show you.
I have to show it to you, okay.
Here is your invitation.
The all ages club that I had on my 16th birthday party in.
Where, Club 141 in Milford, Connecticut.
For directions, call this number.
When?
February 19th.
This was because on my actual birthday which is March 20th,
I had traveled with my mom in a minivan to LA
and I relocated because the day of my birthday, March 20th
was when I started filming Even Stevens
so I celebrated my birthday a month ahead.
Oh my gosh, it's even weird to just see Christy Romano.
Like anytime I see my name especially now that I'm married,
the relevancy there, right,
is like I'm Christy Romano Rooney in my personal life
and then when I see my name as just the Christy Romano,
this is prior to becoming Christy Carlson Romano.
Guys, I've literally tried to change my name several times.
It just didn't work.
I'm like, well, I'm CCR for life.
CCR for life.
Look at this, New York friends will meet at the info booth
at Grand Central.
The rest will be explained.
What to bring.
Bring this flyer, yourself and two of our friends.
I remember typing that up being like,
it has to be our friends
'cause it has to be mutual people that we all know
and don't forget to dress trendy.
Get out of town.
Who did I think I was?
Are you coming though?
Are you coming to my birthday party?
So in general and in summation,
I don't feel like a has-been.
Every day, I grow, I change and every day I'm relevant.
I'm relevant to my husband, my kids, myself.
When I look in the mirror, I like who I see.
I'm proud of the things that I've done sure
but every day is a new possibility for a new achievement
and I'm not gonna define myself by a comment,
a rude comment at that.
So thank you for your support, thanks for watching the vlog.
and I'll talk to you guys soon.
(calm music)