Christy Carlson Romano is not ready to write a memoir. But she has plenty of stories to tell — from her time as Ren Stevens in Even Stevens to fighting in Kim Possible and Cadet Kelly to portraying Belle on Broadway.
While she waits for inspiration to hit for a future book, she's sharing her stories on her YouTube channel; hosting two podcasts, I Hear Voices and Vulnerable; and raising two children.
"It's crazy to me because I'm not on a show, but these people watch me," Romano said. "Like I'm a show for them."
And it's true. Her videos are absolutely mesmerizing. So in the spirit of Small Talk, I called her to talk about her transition from the big(ger) screen and stage to the small screen, her obsession with caffeinated water, and why she'll never go to another psychic.
Mashable: You grew up with a TV and film career, and then moved to Broadway. Now you're growing as a creator with the internet. How has that pivot changed your approach to your work?
Being in the traditional production space definitely set me up for success when it came to doing things on my own, and with my producing partner — who just happens to be my husband. I think we've seen such a proliferation of streaming channels that when it comes down to it, it's more or less a mom and pop shop nowadays... I love that actually, because when I was coming out of the Disney world, in my early twenties, I was trying to make transitions and it was really out of my hands. So it's a matter of the fact that the industry just wasn't digital like it is now. And even YouTube wasn't the way that it is now. So for me, I had these production skills and this knowledge base. And learning over time how to use them and apply them to myself has been really empowering because I can control the content I make.
You have this cookbook coming out, you're working on two podcasts, and you're much more in control over your content. How do you decide which projects to choose and what to spend your limited time with?
So originally I did a cooking show with celebrities, which was high production value. And it made a lot of sense because of the way people knew me. So the production value was important because people just hadn't seen me in a long time. It was re-introducing me as an adult and framing it in the context of being in my kitchen. Like, this is my home, but these are the people that we all know and love. So it was very obvious once [my husband Brendan and I] had a development meeting initially, we revisited... the concept of, 'Wow, we really wanna be producing this on our own.' Because we had some sponsorships, but it wasn't like it was going to really explode. It was pretty much performing at a very specific rate. And so with the way that the algorithm works, it's only going to really serve the people that are already watching it. And it's performed at a certain rate. And so we kind of went back into development and said, 'Hey, let's try to just do something different that resonates with people.'
And we landed upon the mental health vlogs that didn't have a title and didn't have a brand, and it just became its own thing. I did not anticipate that my vlogs would perform as well as they did, in terms of not just numbers and not just subscribers, but I really do think they did something outside of what a normal YouTuber does. So something that I think is unique in me approaching the YouTube channel space is that I'm not just doing vlogs of my life. I'm kind of talking about these experiences almost like I'm doing a memoir. And in some ways, the goal is to help people, the goal isn't to fascinate people. I think when you see like the Logan Paul vlogs, or you see like all these things that people do that are younger, they're attempting to impress people, and trying to have that aspirational lifestyle experience — I guess they call it "main character energy." And like, for me, when I started doing the vlogs, it was more or less like, 'look, let me unpack some stuff and see what people react to.' I want to get to know my demo. And so, because I was always doing these high production value things, it kind of separated me from direct influence on my demo, like hearing back from them, engaging with them in a really authentic way.
What kind of interactions have you been having with fans?
Overall it seems like people are really appreciating the authenticity. And I have seemingly always been pretty authentic, but I think in sharing my stories and my points of view on things is where people are really starting to find who I am as a person. I think they're starting to really get to know me.
After two decades in the public eye, why are you just now feeling like people are seeing who you are?
I didn't do this before because of fear. I was always fearful of having an opinion because growing up I was always very unproblematic. And there wasn't really the conversation of mental health going on — certainly not for child actors. Because for child actors while I was growing up, the last thing you wanted to be was the typical child actor. And so even if you were going through what a typical child actor goes through, because it's an extremely traumatizing experience to be a child actor on such a competitive level that impacts your entire family dynamic forever. I personally wanted to be the answer for everybody so that I could keep working. I wanted to be the perfect girl with all the answers who had no skeletons in her closet. And for a long time, I really was that. I was thriving as the go-to girl for everything. But the truth is that life is going to grow and expand your perspective. No matter what you can't run from that. And so for me, in my early twenties after Disney, there was no plan for me. I was lost for a little bit. I was fearful of ever coming out about my experiences. I have a healthy distance now that I'm a parent and have been sober for several years. I have that healthy distance from a lot of those traumatic moments and I'm like, 'cool, I wanna talk about it now.'
Are there any Disney stars that you do feel connected to and that you can kind of bond about that very specific traumatic experience with?
Yeah. I mean, here's the thing. I think that a lot of people in the industry are fearful of making this their platform. I happen to have two daughters and when you have daughters and you're Kim Possible, you have an obligation. You're trying to live an authentic life, to approach the concept of feminism and empowerment. I'm breaking generational trauma... I'm trying to do the best thing for my kids, like a lot of the women in my demo who are doing exactly that. I also appeal to a lot of different people, like in the LGBTQ community and stuff like that, which I've never really fully investigated, but I'm not trying to alienate. I'm still trying to be a very unproblematic, practical, loving, inclusive person. I've kind of tried to navigate what being authentic means for myself, and what that means. Not only for my experiences, but how that's gonna help people of all kinds.
You just mentioned the LGBTQ community. Kim Possible was very big for us, and Cadet Kelly is just an iconic queer film. What was filming like?
Kelly was really fun because the character was serious and there were moments of levity in that movie, when I could break away from the slapstick humor of Even Stevens and show my strengths as more of a serious young actor. It was really cool to be able to be like, 'I'm gonna do something different on my summer hiatus from Even Stevens.' And then in working with Hilary [Duff] — she was so young, she was just so talented, but it was like we didn't know where Hilary was going to go or what she was going to do. She seemed set up for the best though. Her mom was always a very, very strong minded manager for her. And it was nice to see that in a person so young and talented, because there was no way that Hilary was ever going to get away with anything... For me, though, that experience of filming was really positive. It really was a positive experience.
I want to talk a little bit more about your YouTube channel now. I know you often get a drink from Starbucks. How do you decide what drink to get and does that sort of inform what you talk about on the vlogs?
I actually usually drink like these H-E-B caffeinated waters — and I'm not sponsored, this is not an ad — but like, legit, I've tried other caffeinated waters — and in fact I'm gonna go drink one right after we talk — and this is the only caffeinated water. And it's only in Texas. So I'll go to other places and I'm like, 'gosh, how am I gonna get caffeinated water?' But when I was doing a lot of my vlogs, I would do the water because I would literally be doing vlog after vlog. I would block and shoot those vlogs, and I would do like six in a day, and the only way that I would be able to shoot it all while my kids were in school was drinking that caffeinated water and walking like three miles back and forth at some park by my house.
I will tell you though, I do drink some Starbucks in some of them and I'm a white mocha girl. I am white mocha all the way. I've been drinking white mochas since I was in college and I tried to drink others. I can do a chai latte, but white mochas are for when I really want a clear head. And I'd say, if I were to ever choose a chai latte, it's because I just want to chill. I want a little bit of energy, but I'm just chilling. And then if it's hot and I want to chill, it's an iced chai latte. Like that's almost like vacation mode if I'm like 'iced chai latte today.' If I'm feeling classy, I'll get a London fog, or if I feel like my stomach can't handle a white mocha. So those are my go-to Starbucks.
How often are you taking those walks?
I live in a small neighborhood, but it's in Austin, so we have a lot of trails. So there's one particular park trail that I'll just walk. I would say pretty even considering how rocky Austin is. But my editor, who I exposed on my last vlog because so many people were curious about how I was filming my vlogs. He's the one that's walking backwards ... and he's able to hold [the camera] in one hand and look backwards as he's walking. So he walks kind of sideways, not backwards. And it's somehow I stumbled upon, for lack of a better term, a way of filming an intimate conversation that engages people. And I think it's probably because there's a couple things that people have loved in my comments. They like the crunching of the gravel. It's kind of like ASMR, which I totally get, because I love ASMR. And then it's also the movement of me, like moving forward and like talking about stuff, it's just calm. And then like the music. That was calm too. So it's a nice combination, but weirdly that wasn't planned. It was just something we saw was working. So we just kept doing it because it's super easy to produce.
Do you get approached on those trails?
No, it's the same trail in my neighborhood. So it's [semi] private. If I were to go downtown, people would've started approaching me. Originally I was doing all these different parks and I think I did start to get a couple looks from people. And then online people would say things like, 'oh, I'm in Austin taking a hike. I wonder if I'm gonna bump into Christy in the wild.'
I know you had a terrible experience with the psychic. Would you ever approach a medium again or are you closed off from that completely now?
I don't hate on psychics and mediums and astrology and tarot cards, I just personally know that there's this concept called fantastical thinking and when you're recovered and sober — like I'm not actually in a 12-step program, but I have a lot of Al-Anon in my background — and so I went to a lot of meetings before I realized that I needed to stop drinking when I became pregnant. And so basically I understood what it meant to take 12 steps. I haven't actually taken the 12 steps. I'd like to, but I can still take the 12 steps as a means to better understand myself.
But I'll say this: I think that fantastical thinking is something that child actors end up having. And I think it's something that they are meant to have so that they can stay motivated to keep working. You're gonna get the next one, keep going, shake off that failure, you're a star. And all of that fantastical thinking when you're a kid messes you up a little bit. So your egos inflated. And I talk about this in one of my vlogs, but I don't specifically talk about this. Fantastical thinking and psychic stuff can be interconnected. And so that's what was happening to me in that moment of not being sure of my surroundings and who to trust. So I got swept up in that. I would not suggest me doing that again. I have to learn from my mistakes and know myself. And I just don't think I would look into that again. I'm always tempted. And so it is that temptation that makes me that much more resolved to not try to go back to that way of thinking.
Do you have any advice or anything for young creators?
Don't wait. I think I hear that a lot from people, but I really do want to echo that. Don't wait.
Where can we catch up with you next?
Podcasts. One podcast is I Hear Voices and my co-host is Will Friedle. We are doing a really great job of interviewing the most iconic voiceover actors, like the voices of bugs bunny and the power puff girls.. And then the mental health vlogs have turned into the podcast Vulnerable. And Vulnerable is me taking the vlogs and turning them into something where I need to interview other people because I've shared a lot of my experience, but what I want to do is take the tone of those vlogs and start to work on other people about it and say, 'Hey, like, how are you vulnerable? What's your highest highs, your lows. Tell us about your journey.' It's a very intimate conversation with people about their mental health journeys.
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Topics YouTube
