That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Anastacia

Episode Date: September 5, 2021

In this episode Gaby chats to the global superstar singer/songwriter Anastacia. They talk about her love for musical theatre, performing with one of her heroes Celine Dion, and what advice Pavarotti gave her. They discuss her survival from breast cancer and various health issues which she is always so open about in order to help others. Plus, she shares some amazing stories after 20 years in the music industry and what she has been up to recently writing & performing the title track in a new film called ‘American Night’, along with her plans to release new music and tour in 2022.For more information on the sponsor of this episode:LinkedIn Jobs - to post a job for free visit www.linkedin.com/GABY Terms and conditions apply.For more information on the sponsor of this episode:Start your language journey with 25% OFF at www.michelthomas.com use discount code GABY at checkout to claim 25% OFF any Michel Thomas course Produced by Cameo Productions, music by Beth Macari. Join the conversation on Instagram and Twitter @gabyroslin #thatgabyroslinpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And welcome to season two of that Gabby Roslyn podcast back with more absolutely blooming fantastic guests. I absolutely love Anastasia and so thrilled that we got to have our nata. The two of us could talk for hours. She has some amazing stories after 20 years in the music industry. We talk about her love for musical theatre, performing with one of her heroes, Celine Dion, and what advice Pavarotti gave her. We also discuss her survival from breast cancer and various health issues, which she's always so open about in order to help others.

Plus, writing and performing the title track in a new film called American Night and her plans to release new music and her tour next year. And I will be in the front row for that. Please, can I ask you a favour? Would you mind, please, following and subscribing, please, by pressing the follow or subscribe buttons, please. This is completely an utterly. free, by the way. And then you can also rate and review on Apple Podcasts, which is the

purple app on your iPhone or iPad. Simply scroll down to the bottom of all of the episodes, and you'll see the stars where you can tap and rate. And also, please, write a review. Thank you so much. How many places was that? Probably too many. But please, thank you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Shut up. You know I do. Oh my God. How are you? It's too long. I know. It's way too long and this is such a tease. I know we're so close and yet so far away because you're in the States and I'm here. Exactly. Oh my God. Beautiful girl. How have you been? You know, I, you know, how have we all been? Jesus. We're doing okay. Me and my family are really close. My mom is living with me.

My brother lives with my sister, and we live about a mile away from each other. So we have pretty much turned into like a small Hobbit family that never leaves the home. Yeah. Like we know more about each other than we ever did. And in fact, it's fun because it's adult time as opposed to when we were kids back in the day altogether. So it's... Is that your mom? can hear there talking just then.

Did she say it's like the Beverly Hillbillies? No, that would be my sister. Oh. Who has all the technical parts of the brain that I do not. Yes. Did I meet your sister? Of course she did. She's always with me.

She's my shadow. Oh my God. She's the best parts of me that would be able to make me think. And then like the singing part is the only gene I got. and then there's Sean and she's the rest of me. Oh, just how lovely though to speak to you. And it's so weird because everything, obviously everything, everyone was so far apart and so far away. But watching you on Instagram and on socials, I sort of felt that you were still there.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's just, that's been, that's been so vital, hasn't it? It's so interesting, Gabby, because remember when I was on Lotto with you and you were Let's again. Because everything went wrong. No, everything went wrong in the show. But you were like, oh, my daughter's trying to get me into Instagram.

And we hated it. And I was like, girl, it's the new age. You think I want to do it? I don't want to do it. But we've got to. We're the older generation trying to understand this new technology, blah, blah, blah. And here you are. Here you are going, outfit out of the day.

But it is good fun. and you said that. Totally. And it is good fun because I don't take myself very seriously. Exactly. I really don't. Exactly. That's why people love to see that.

They love to see our normal weird onus of who we are naturally because obviously we have to be serious or at least semi-professional in what we do for a living. But then our regular days are, you know, whether your daughter is catching your angle wrong in your special weekly post or your husband's. or your husband's talking back to you. That's the stuff that makes it just yummy. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Do you know, it's been so interesting. I've disappeared into Anastasia Land today. Because obviously I've interviewed you a few times and we know each other. Yes. But yeah, I was watching everything. And I, you know, I think you're fabulous and we have such a love together. But it's so interesting how people are to you. Your fans are incredible.

They're really passionate, aren't they? They're very loyal, very passionate. And because it's been so many years, I've known so many of these fans. Like, I've stayed, not stayed in touch like, hey, girl, I'm going to call you. But they've really come to each concert. I've seen them be very young, and I've also seen them have kids, get divorced, get married. And they share all the stuff with me that, you know, they send me letters. I read that.

And, you know, I mean, I can't read every single thing in my life. I'm not going to claim to be the Dalai Lama of memory. But I really do know these fans quite well. And I kind of know some of them I really do know by their handle even. And so I'm aware of who they are as long as they put their picture, not my picture up because then it's so much harder for me to be like, well, which one is this? Because it's my picture. I don't know what this is. Who's that? But it is incredible because I was reading all the stuff and all the, well, you know, I went on to YouTube and I was reading

comments and the whole thing. And I actually felt, I mean, you know, I do adore you. And but this incredible wave of real respect. Actually, I'm going to use that word respect that they have for you because you're so open with them that they feel they can be open with you. And you are incredibly open. You really are. And you and I've spoken off screen. And the same as you get off screen, you get on screen with you. You know, you say it as it is.

You're very honest about everything in life. Well, it just, I don't, it's not a persona what I am as Anastasia the singer and then Anastasia inside her house. obviously maybe it's bigger and I'm you know putting certain things in perspective when I'm on stage I'm pouring more of myself out because you have to touch the person in the back row you know yeah um but when especially this whole Instagram live or if I'm talking to someone I am really doing the best at saying to them I know that my life doesn't seem attainable to you but we're really are like so much alike. I've had really bad things happen in my life. I've had not so great health issues, but if I really concentrated on all those things, I would not have fun. Yeah. So other than that, you know, it's really the perspective of taking whatever it is that's maybe not so great and find a way through it, even if you think it's the darkest moments,

you have to believe that there is something past this. That, it's very interesting because I, one of the things that I'd never seen you talk about before was that you didn't believe that the kid that wore glasses and had this incredible voice would ever amount to anything, would ever be signed. I was really shocked by that. I didn't realize you didn't believe in yourself.

You know, I think it's just sort of like, I didn't think I had really anything to offer more than other people. And I think that if you really do look back on ourselves, our inside voice, our inner dialogue was way more critical growing up. And mine never was told you're awful, you're ugly or anything, but for some reason that was sort of my narrative with me is that everyone else looked amazing and great and so talented and so funny but I wasn't so then there's my you know real passion or need to want to even be better so maybe that was my drive if I look at it all like

therapeutically or try to really look at it with a fine tooth lens I was going to say fine tooth comb but that doesn't yeah that's that that's that That's the expression. Yeah, that's the expression. You know, I'm just going to make my own stuff up since, you know, we are, we are in a pandemic and things just, you can't expect my brain to work anymore. Fine tooth lens. Yeah. Okay.

I don't know what a tooth lens is, but we'll stick with it. I know that that is probably going to be the headline of this amazing podcast. But, yeah, my life is a fine tooth lens. And I just, and I, maybe that's. why my fans, when I wrote my music, and I didn't even realize what I was writing as far as feelings, because I was just writing what I was feeling. But in the sense of when I'm writing it, I'm going through it. So when I was writing songs at the heart of everything, I was writing things that I've experienced, writing things that I knew, writing things that I saw. So obviously,

that was something everyone saw. And once I felt like I wasn't alone in it. all this, that other people went through this was when I realized how amazing music is and how much it can transform and, oh, wow, like, these kids and not kids, but these fans feel the same thing I feel. Oh, my goodness, how did that, how does that work? It was all surreal, but also really, really, really busy all at the same time. So did I really get a chance to absorb that early on in my career? No. I got more of a chance to observe it later on in my career of realizing that a song I wrote about, let's say, a guy named Jim, I'm just bringing up a name. No, there is no guy named Jim in my life. But if I wrote a song about a guy named Jim,

10 years later, it has to do with maybe, you know, a loss in my life. Because words, I always, I always always used words in a metaphoric way to, so that I could draw a picture, but I didn't want it to ever be too specific. I wanted everyone to be able to relate to the feeling and not the subject. So before the singer that everybody knows you as, you were a dancer, of course, I'm with salt and pepper and you were a backing vocalist. And you know, I don't think backing vocalists get enough praise. And I've heard you talk about that as well. They are so important. That's an amazing documentary.

If you've seen the documentary about it won the Oscar. Yes. Definitely. They're the backbone. They really are just as vital as drums. Yeah. Because they're the harmonies. They're the chorus.

They're the when you sing a verse and something grabs you in that verse, you don't realize, ooh, there was a harmony. There was a melody. There was a high note on top of that. main note. So I think that people don't realize how much the harmonies, which is what I call them, and they can call them background singers all they want, but I just think they're part of the song. They're the equal part of me singing because it wouldn't be the same. Then it's called an acoustic, you know. 20 feet from stardom. Oh my God. See, there we go. Oh, thank you, girl. Thanks for Google.

Ah, yes. Yes. And it is. It is. I loved that title because it really was, you know, you're on stage and you are, you know, 20 feet from this person who's the quote unquote singer. And but nobody knows. Nobody really takes.

Did you feel looked after when you were doing that? I, you know, I didn't really do it to the capacity that I was like their position. because they were much higher than I was. When I did singing, I was singing with two other guys' harmonies, singing other people's songs in a, like, what do you call that? Like a band that is at a disco or a band that's at a bar. So that was my kind of thing where we were equally sharing leads on a microphone. And then when he would do a lead, I would be singing.

the high note and when I would do a lead somebody would take the high and the low and we'd all sing what we needed to sing but that was how I kind of learned like old school chops was when I did that in my 20s that's but that's a great way to learn

what's a way to learn yeah so but then when you broke through obviously I'm out of love was just enormous here and my 14 year old knows the words of most of your songs because they're there no she loves them but they've everyone knows them and I said to her earlier how do you know that song because you just well we do and it was

really interesting it wasn't oh I've seen it in glee or I've seen whatever whatever whatever it was what you just do people just know it that must be that must be quite an extraordinary feeling that people just know it well and and it has because those songs like were, let's say, happening at a certain period of time in, let's say, one to five years, let's say five years of heavy play, there's a lot of internal play that happens, playlist, this thing, that thing. And if they have parents, quote unquote, you, that might happen to play it. on, you know, on her station, aka you.

So I do feel like they've heard it enough in a grocery store. These are things that sort of I still hear people that I love, whether it's the Eagles or something just randomly playing at the gas station or the grocery store or the boots. and you end up hearing these things and they kind of are once you hear it you've always heard it and maybe if you do like it you go and see what the words are but I realize that there's so many songs that I know

from when I was young that you didn't really realize how much you knew about the band Chicago or the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac but I realized that that was kind of probably my mom's radio on in the car Yes, but it's still the fact that your songs have become so incredibly known and famous. How does that, what does it feel like? You know, I mean, it sounds really amazing when you say it.

Yeah, it is amazing. How great is that? But I don't really feel that, like, I don't feel the way that it sounded when you said it. I'm grateful, but I think that every single month and every single year, there's so much music that comes out that I am grateful I've had, and you can call it my time or my songs that have had their place in history and continue to have their place in the current time and hopefully in the future. But I'm grateful for what I've been given already. And we're, we're We're now even on different platforms.

We're on streaming. We're on different things. And still, I'm getting the opportunity to be listened to. And so I'm grateful for that because there is so much music coming out that where do we all fit in, honey? Like, I can't rap. Okay. So what is. Yeah, but you do what you do and you do it.

You're one of the best. And I haven't gone into auto tune. And so there are limits. to what I'm capable of doing with current music, and I'm okay with that. You know, I don't need to all of a sudden put auto tune or get a bunch of rappers or change my style to what is happening now

because I enjoy whatever different people are doing. If they feel convicted doing that, I embrace that. But all of a sudden, if I went to go do that, I'd feel, I don't know, is the word thirsty there, I guess? It's interesting because some do. I know. Actually, weirdly, I'm thinking of this, probably the same woman that you're thinking of. But she's ever evolving and changing.

Absolutely. And you know, good on people to do that. I'm not commenting that people should not. I'm saying that my particular one-track trick pony is really comfortable in her lane. No, no, no. You're not, you've got many tricks. I've seen me. Okay, girl, okay, slow it down, slow it down.

I'm not going to do a rap album. Okay, let's just keep it real. Okay, um, listener, listener, I just want to say, and I know you have more listeners, but I like to call them listeners since I've been listening to podcasts all lockdown. Listener, I promise I'm not going to do a rap album. So please just don't wish for it. And there we go.

Okay, we got you got it out there. But I love the fact that you say, And I presume you're still like this that you always want to learn. You want to carry on learning new things, which is a great way to read. 100%. I think everyone should learn. Does it really mean that I want to do something completely out of my comfort zone more than just a second of it? No.

But, you know, find out about it, learn about it. Absolutely. but change who I am as a singer Anastasia? No, I'm really comfortable with who I kind of dug my little carved out niche to be. And I'm so okay to still be wearing jeans in a leather jacket. Good. You know, I'm still okay with, you know, when I want to wear my glasses, I can. When I don't want to wear my glasses, I can.

Like, I'm still okay being that person. You, it's very interesting because I was reading as well about, how you did the VH1 Divas Las Vegas and you know there's you, Celine Dion, Cher, Mary J. Blige, some awesome women and there is, I feel that there's such incredibly, you're very, I feel that you're very powerful because you know what you want, you're very strong and to be amongst those women that must, there must be a wonderful, I don't want to say sisterhood, but I'm going to use sisterhood for the right reasons. First of all, I was very, very

grateful to be on the show. I was probably the least, 100% the least famous artist on that show at the time. Maybe me and I don't know how far Shakira had come in her career, but every other woman on that stage was beyond. And then given a chance to sing a duet with Celine Dion was, no one wanted to sing the song she was choosing, ironically. She wanted to choose ACDC shook me all night long. And she actually probably asked every single other person and then came to me. And I was like, I'll do it. You know, so believe it or not, that I don't know if it's the truth.

I don't know. You know, you never know what the truth is these days. But it ended up that that's, I was the one who sang it with her. and it was like such a fantasy dream because I was listening to her records trying to sing like her. And because I couldn't, I would think, you know, years and years before

I can't be in this business if I can't sound like her. Wow. You know? And then I'm on stage with her and she's playing an air guitar with her leg. I mean... Do you know what? I imagine her being that sort of person.

She's great. You've got that out of her. She's great. She is phenomenal. She has given me some great advice over the few years that we had opportunities of being together and talking towards the beginning of my career. And I think that really did help. Certain advice that I've gotten from certain people etched, me not pushing myself as hard as I was pushing myself. vocally and emotionally, definitely took it down a notch to help me with not going absolutely

bonkers during those times of such fame. That's very interesting. Can you other people's advice? Can you share that or is it something that you keep in your heart and that's it's your, it's your business? You know, she, well, yeah, I don't want to necessarily, you know, shout out what she said to me because I'll take all the dreams away. But yes, it was very, very, I can share my Pavarotti advice to you.

Yes. I know. Let's just name drop again. Whoops. There it is. Wow. So Pavarotti and I were able to sing in Italy. He had a show called Pavarotti and Friends.

And I got an opportunity to be on the show. It was a live recorded show in Italy on a beautiful stage outside. gorgeous romanticists. And I was on stage. I got to sing one of my songs by myself. And then I got to sing one of my songs with him. And he sang his part in Italian. So the ballad that he chose to sing was called I Ask a View.

And he, so we had rehearsals and we're doing stuff. And I'm just like, is this real? I mean, he looks like, he doesn't. even look real. He's too, he looks too much like Pavarotti. You know, I'm like, this is just really wild. The last place, I thought this little Sprock chick was going to pop up, which is right next to an icon that is not even something I can do. And so I asked him, I was like, you'll never get this opportunity, young lady. So I just said, can you give me any advice on singing? And he said, what advice do you want? Well, what are you talking about? And I said, am I singing right? Am I singing

correctly? And I just wanted, I never warmed up. I never did any of those things. So I just want to know, am I singing right? Am I going to hurt myself? Like, I just don't know any of that. And he said, from what I can hear and what I can see, if you were singing wrong, you would never be able to sing as long as you've been singing already. You would have lost your voice. What you are doing naturally is right. Your instincts were not taught. They are instinctual. And he said, so keep doing what you're doing. And it seems as though try not to let other people tell you how to do what you're doing. You know, and I was like, oh my God. That's great advice. So that really helped. because I'm watching him like,

Bobby, blah, you know, like doing all these warmups. And in my life, I go straight on stage without vocally warming up. And it's always been what I do

and I don't sing when I'm home. And I don't live, sleep, and breathe music. But when I do it, I do it with everything I have. And so is that my method? Maybe.

But it is that thing that most people are like, I've never had a voice to. not that I've never had a point where my voice kind of goes, okay, girl, you need a rest. But yeah, that was my moment. Great advice, though, just to be satisfied, you know, and be happy in what you're doing because it's right for you.

Yeah, and I think that he, understanding at that time, what I didn't know what he was saying was where you were going for your notes. You're going for them correctly. Did I understand what he meant at that time? the time? Absolutely not. But I remember he kept on doing this kind of like as if you're diving into something. And it means that when you're going to approach a note and it's a higher note and I'm trying to make it not sound, but sound, you are using this part of your directional to make it be a belt, not a falsetto, but in a way where you're not scrunching your vocal cords and

making your neck tight. You're still allowing the voice to go out. Now, I don't understand why and how I did that, but it is how you should do it if you were going to go to school. Have you done musicals? I know you were on the score of, you were on the soundtrack, rather, of Chicago, the movie. I was. But why? Have you never been Mama Morton in the show? Because you'd make an amazing mama. My darling, shan't you bring that up as we speak? Just before the lockdown, I kid you not.

In Holland, which is the third largest musical market in our world, I was able to play Killer Queen and We Will Rock You. Oh my goodness. And I will say that that was so much fun. It was my first musical, super, super professional musical. I would do West End

now that I've done that. I'm not saying that I'm like the most amazing actress, but musical-wise, I think I could handle being able to take a character on or, you know, possibility. It's a lot of,

it is a lot of work and it isn't if you want to think about it that way. Like I do, sometimes I do five regularly five days a week and then maybe the fourth week I'll do four shows a week

and that's me singing two hours a day but the weird thing about theater is you know you have to do your show and then you have like eight shows a week yes sometimes it's two and what happens I think for most people

is your voice is warmed up it's great it's wonderful then it gets cold and then it warms up again. And is that that's where you can, you know, one false mood of staying up late or laughing with someone can ruin your whole week, you know. And I have a very strong constitution of just not being a bad girl when it comes to working. I know that my first priority is to hit all those high notes. So I really have no life.

when I'm on the road. So the pandemic has been, you know, I think I've prepared myself unknowingly for being in this pandemic and not going crazy. But I can absolutely see you. They're all going to be jumping at that now. They'll be like, yes, I'm just, I'm just, I'm not. Do you know, it's very interesting. Also, when I was looking at all the stuff,

obviously we're going to talk about your health, because we will talk about that. And you talk about it very openly and you help a lot of people with that. But something that I noticed and it was, I got quite defensive of you and I wanted to protect you, which I didn't, I was very shocked looking back at old interviews, how much people talked about your breasts. I mean, before. Yeah, before I got them reduced.

Oh, what on earth was that about? Oh, they loved them. They were just out. for the, you know, out for the dangling. And I just didn't want to be defined by them. Also, they were quite big for a small girl. What a thing that these guys. Oh, my God. Can you imagine that happening now? I mean, it's disgusting. Well, and to be honest, this is me. Like, I was able to go, go to try to touch them and I'll probably kick you in the face. But I, I, I knew. I knew. the banter. I knew what it was all about. And if someone is going to be that kind of a person,

I didn't ever feel the victim. That's the difference. Oh, I know that. Oh, I know that. I absolutely know that. So I never really felt the victim. So even though I can look back on certain things in my career and go, well, that was hashtag me too. But I did not like having sizable breasts my whole life. I was not into them. I didn't like when they started to grow very early. I, And then being a dancer, it's not one of the best things you can have or being somebody who wants to jump around on stage. So I really have to like anchor them down. And I couldn't do what the other girls that didn't quite have them pop stars. At that time, 25 years ago, they were kind of little girls.

So they didn't really have all that stuff going on. And so, I mean, I'm lucky I went for a breast reduction. That's how I found cancer. That's how you found it, isn't it? So I just say as much as I didn't like them, they were God's blessing to bring me to find out I had cancer. So all of it is full circle. It all goes down to you may not like something, but you never know what it is until later on to why you didn't like something. And then you make a decision.

and then there you go, you find the cancer, and then I go, thanks, boobies, you know. Yeah, it's a great way of looking at it. But, I mean, you're very, you do speak about your breast cancer and you've had cancer twice and you've got heart disease and your Crohn's, and you're so open about all of this. And that's what, I'm going back to where we started with your fans, because there are a lot of people who don't want to discuss these things.

And I know you've raised huge amounts of money as well for breast cancer charities. Yes. and you would work for HIV and AIDS charities. But let's just go to your own health issues first, if we may. That being so open about it, not only have you helped lots of people, but am I right in thinking that that's also helped you cope with it? I mean, having cancer twice and talking about it so openly,

did that help you as well? In the moment did I really realize it was helping me, not so much I was doing it to help others. Wow. So that's always been my thing. My thing was, oh my God, I just found out all these statistics about breast cancer that I never knew. I got to share it with as many people as I can before I die. That was sort of where I was coming from.

When I've been living with Crohn's disease and being able to display this scar on my stomach, it was like, yeah, you guys got to realize that if you're really high stressed and you hold stuff in and you're not communicating that the Crohn's disease can be worse. And I think if we balanced our life a little bit better emotionally, that physically you would not really probably be as sick. But of course, during my career, as it got busier and busier, I was in Crohn's attacks all the time, which people never knew about, which is why in my career I would be small. I would be quite small and look like I was lifting weights, but it was just I had no body fat because I was in a Crohn's attack, but I had to work. So I think what I do see is that I understand why people don't want to say what they're

going through health-wise or what's happening because it ends up defining you more for that than the actual thing that got you known. So I will say that now the first question that a lot of people talk about is, how are you feeling? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I get that. I'm not dead yet. Yeah.

Like, I'm here. I'm talking to you. But I do appreciate that they acknowledge that I have been through a lot. And I don't mean to speak about it to play a violin for myself. But I also try to speak about it, whether it's my, you know, know, including my recent, which is my neck surgery, which I've had for the last 20 years and it's just gotten progressively worse. And I decided, you know what? What have I got to lose? At this point, they're going to fuse and I'm going to have no mobility. If I don't get it done now,

I'm losing the chance of ever being able to flick my hair back and forth. Flick my hair. This was just now. It's just recently, isn't it? Yes, girl. I have two new girls. I have two new I haven't really decided to name them yet. They look like little spaceships. They have not gotten named. They're just brand new. And best thing I did, I can't believe how much pain I was actually living in because it was chronic pain at times that I just was living with because what else are you going to do? You know, it's kind of like your neck always hurts.

if you don't wear glasses, everything's blurry. It's kind of until you go to change that thing, you don't realize what you've been living with. So I'm very glad I had my cervical disc replacements for two of my discs. I'm grateful. And once again, it's another post that just said, you don't have to be scared of what this is because we've come such a long way in our surgeries. in our breast cancer, in our AIDS, in all of these terrible things that make people terrified to go and help themselves with, that there are ways to get past it, but some

people live in constant fear of going to the doctor. So we can't help everyone who sometimes can get paralyzed by just the thought of it. Fear does get in the way of so much, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Do you know, you? you do remind me so much. And your, your wonderful friend, Michelle Vizage, who has been on the podcast as well. And you do remind me of each other so much. Well, we are fellow Virgoes. And we've known each other since we've been in our early 20s. So we do know each other through each decade and where we've gone and what we've done. And there's such a respect we both have as strong women that and also not, no competition type of friendship where I am so happy when

something happens for her and I feel equally supported when things happen for me. And we're just there in that way. We don't have to talk every day, but, you know, we pick up the phone like we've always been there. That's so lovely. And maybe that. That is the length of time you know the person and also the respect factor. So I, and I am just, I'm her cheerleader. Like, I think it's so cute when I watch, I was watching glow up recently. Yeah. Spoiler alert, never saw it before.

And so my mom and I became bingeable ladies watching glow up. Second episode, what? Did not know Michelle was in that. Totally had a moment. where I was like, oh my God, blah, blah, blah. And I didn't know while she was doing strictly she did that. So, you know, I mean, she works so much. I can't keep up with what she's done.

But you remind me of each other so much. It's very interesting because I'd never interviewed her before and I interviewed her. And we've, you know, been WhatsApping each other. I feel the same about her as I do about you. And when I interviewed her afterwards, I thought, oh, my word, she reminds me so much of Anastasia. And at that stage, I wasn't aware that you two. Oh my God.

We're friends. I mean, she's, she's, you really do remind me of each other. There's this strength. I think if we were in the same room together, we might explode too much on camera. Like, yeah, I think it would be like a full on, you know, a love fest. I don't know if anyone could get a word in edgewise, but we do, we do very much. We're very grounded at the same time. that were very OTT.

Yeah, but you're very real. You're both very real. Yeah. Am I right in thinking that she got drag queens for your mom's birthday? Is that right? Yeah. Oh my God. Love that. Yes.

She, bless her heart, she made it all come true. My mom has always joked about saying, when I get really old and you put me in a home, it better be in a home with tons of gay people so that they all could, make me live out my fantasy of just being surrounded by people. Drag queens, gays. I want theater around me. I want...

I'm with your mom. I'm there. I'm there. Exactly. And so when the birthday of the 70 came up, I was like, what a good situation. Her birthday's on St. Patrick's Day. So her whole life, everyone's been drunk. But not for her.

You know what I mean? They've all been lit and loaded. and not because it's like, happy birthday, Diane. It's like, you know, they're all loaded, and she had never really a birthday that she could remember. So this really was her first birthday that was all about her and a surprise. Oh, how amazing. Six or seven drag queens Michelle got.

And it was so much fun. It was beyond. I loved it. Michelle was just on, you know, I mean, God knows. I don't even remember what was happening in the world at that point. but the world stopped for us on that night. It was so fun. Oh, my good.

That sounds like the best party ever. It really was. And to be honest with you, what I will say is this 70-year-old woman slowly started Benjamin buttoning herself, and she became like seven years old. I swear to God, at first her, like, her tiara never became so straight. Her tutu was in rare form.

Like she was like, it was hilarious how how she just started to be like, yay, Diane, yay, like clapping for herself. I was like, oh, my God, we might just, she might become an embryo if we continue this party anymore. She wasn't she an actress? She was, yes. She was a musical actress. And so I grew up in theater with my quiet toys, in auditions, going with my mother when, you know, she didn't have a you were to bring me or my sister or my brother at times. And she was always in theater.

In fact, fun fact, nobody knows. I'm just going to bust it out on your show. My mom was in a musical called Bag Time with Shelley Winters. And the daughter of my mother played was Megan Malale. Oh, my word. Megan Malale from the fabulous and wonderful Will and Grace. Wonderful. So fun facts that you're finding out that I have never told anyone,

but I felt like why not give you the big news? Your mom, it sounds like the best fun. So she wants to be surrounded by drag queens. I'm with her. She's been in musicals on Broadway. Hello. Oh, yeah. I mean, well, I will say her being who she was,

rounded who Sean, me, my brother. we all have an openness to inclusivity into the non-judgmental kind. Don't judge people in that way. Because my mom kind of always took in the people that didn't have anywhere to go for Christmas or, you know, here's and there, she'd bring them on board. So we didn't really have as much restrictions on that level of, judging people. On your Instagram, you put something up.

One of my favorite shows, and I could see you and Michelle in it is Pose. And Billy Porter and, I mean, they are just, I'm obsessed with it. I am obsessed with that show. You should be obsessed with Pose. I mean, what I realize is, you know, if you want to be obsessed with Pose,

Michelle is even more of a reason to be obsessed with her because her whole life was living in that world. Yeah. And because she felt like she fit into that world and she really was with the houses and with the, the, um, the whole menagerie of what that part. I wasn't in clubs doing that. I was way too conservative and way to, you know, being able, I never drank and never did anything like that, but I loved to dance. So it was like one club I got to go to my mother who knew, who the owner was. They allowed me to go in. The bouncers would look to make sure that I wasn't, you know, being hit on. If I got an orange juice, I got it from this one bartender. I had to drink

the whole orange juice. And if I set it down, I wasn't allowed to drink it. Like that was my situation where Michelle was way more in the now. Like she was brought up a little bit more openly, I'm sure, in her upbringing than I was. Because even though I was surrounded by that as a child in my home, my mom was also way to her probably her Catholic upbringing was like they're all going to rape you they're all going to drug you so in a way there was like that passive aggressive like everyone's great but they're all going to kill you you know so I was kind of like a little bit confused as a child you know but confused in a good way so yeah yeah and it she was just protecting my advantage yes of course she's obviously very protective yes very protective like

I'd come home from the place and she said I had to always kiss her once I came in from the bar, meaning dance club. And she would kiss me, but mainly because she wanted to know if I smelled of alcohol. And I never knew that. Oh, wow. Okay. Right. And so, of course, I'd never drank.

So that was never going to be the situation. And she was like, you are not to share a cab home with everyone. You're allowed to get in a cab with a bouncer. He sends you home. and then there was a bum that used to live underneath our apartment in New York, and she would be like, what time did she come home last night? That's so cute. So it's just very interesting kind of childhood that I was not aware of how aware she was

of what I was doing, but I felt kind of free at the same time. What a clever way to do it. She was clever. Yeah, absolutely was. So always on this podcast, we ask people what makes you properly laugh, what makes you properly barely laugh. You can tell me

anything, share anything. Maybe it's people, maybe it's situations, whatever. We just love to know what makes you properly laugh. Oh, God. It probably would be people

that make the fun out of themselves. It could be that kind of thing where it's when you don't take yourself too seriously and many people can fit into this category, whether it's, oh goodness, so many communities.

medians. I mean, I'm just, I don't even know if I can, no, you don't need to name them. What you answered was perfect. People who don't take themselves too seriously. Because right, and that's a lot of people. You, you, you, you, you, you like to have a laugh with others. Yes. Yes. At my own expense. Yeah. Like, I'm out of love. I mean, seriously, that's how I make a living. Like singing, like what? Like, I made, I, I'm actually still making living from that crazy stuff. stuff I do with how I speak in my songs. So that's, oh my God, you just sung a bit of that song.

It's just, it's so awesome. It's just so awesome. But that's the point. Like when someone sings it, that's how I hear them singing me. And it's true. Well, you hear them, you hear them singing. When they take a pistake out of me. You know what I mean?

Okay. When they make fun and they go and they go to sing my song, if they can't really hit those notes, they really do go for the tone. and the vibe and the whole shabangie. And that makes me laugh even more because I get it. Like I didn't get it before my career, but I so get it now that people are going to, you know,

like French and Saunders when I was on their show. And they joked about, I think there was a skit that they did with, them being in love with my song and literally they come out of the toilet and here I am washing my hands and she was singing my song the whole time. A really funny skit. You got to look that. Fantastic. Very, very funny. Fantastic. Did you say that's the thing is about not take yourself too seriously. And also, though, you keep saying your career as in the part, it's, you're still going to be doing it, aren't you? You're not stopping. No, darling. It's just, I mean, I'm not stopping, but the weird part of this pandemic is we have stopped in reality.

Yes, it's true. We all are aware of it. We all don't have a crystal ball. We all don't know how things are going to ever get back to the way they were. They will. We don't know when. But yes, I have stuff in the pipeline. Yes, I have, you know, things that I have in the future.

I have a movie coming out that I wrote the title track. of. Oh, how fantastic. And it's called American Night. It will premiere September 8th, 9th. I forget which day. And I have the soundtrack off of that and I'm in the movie. You're in it as well. Tell us more now. Yeah. Well, I'm in the movie because I'm singing the song. Let's not go crazy. No, no, no. I'm allowed to go crazy. I'm allowed to go crazy. Okay, but I just wanted a hence listener, don't expect an Oscar out of this acting experience. I was just singing myself. But I think I was very believable. Yeah, well, I hope so. If I don't say so myself, I sounded just like me. So tell me about who's in the film. Tell me about the movie. Jeremy Pivens and Jonathan Reyes Myers. You know him. Oh, yes. It's great. And Emile Hirsch.

So there's some really good, wonderful people, David Zed, wonderful actors in the cast, as well as myself. How exciting. The one name. I don't even have a last name. I thought that I would always have a last name if I was an actress, but I didn't. No, you have to think about that. Anastasia, you're not allowed another name.

That's you. We're all know you with that. And the vibe of the movie, even though I have not seen it, but because I saw parts of it, it has reminiscent vibes of Quentin Tarantino's edge throughout this mobster kind of movie. So I'm excited to see the premiere. I have not seen it. So when I go there and I get to see the premiere, we, I'll be seeing at the same time, everybody will review it. And you'll get to probably hear my song maybe sometime before then. I don't know how they work that either. But after that, in Paris, I have the Global Gift Gala. And that is a one,

wonderful foundation that is mainly housed by Maria Bravo and Eva Longoria and Victoria Becum. And they bounced around many, many countries. They continue to raise awareness for many things, many things all women related, whether it's Latin awareness, children hungry, everything that has to do with children and women is part of the Global Gift Gala. And so... Are you performing?

And next... I am going... I'm probably going to sing a couple of songs. Oh, fantastic. You know, it's always one of those moments. And then starting next year, I've agreed to do the Mighty Hoopla in London, which is going to be June 4th. I was supposed to do it in the pandemic in the 2020, but obviously everything got shut down.

So the minute we kind of get shut. back into the scene, I was like, let's have a redo and let's go back and do the Mighty Hoopla, which is going to be very fun. And then in the fall of 2022, I will come out with new music and start the tour around Europe and the UK, going into Australia, doing a bunch of things that I should have done 2020, which was my 20th year in music, but had a little. bit of a pandemic to deal with. So we're pushing everything forward and we're hoping that in the fall of 2022 we can start up where we pause. So people will be able to get tickets soon once once that's all booked in. I would hope so. I'm not quite sure when they're going to go on sale. But yes, we have new

music coming out. How exciting. And we also will have probably maybe one more new single coming out this year and then more singles coming out next year. And of course, then you're You've got the Broadway musical and the West End musical to do fit in as well. Yes, because you're my agent and you are going to book me on all of the West End musicals. In fact, I'm going to require that you are in the musical with me. So. Can you imagine the noise backstage? Oh, my God, it would be amazing.

They'd be like, shut up. We have people on stage. We're like, wah-gag-gag-gag-gag-gag-gag. And let's just have, let's have Maz Murray in as well. Oh, what a voice. And we all three would have a good old time. Okay, you're on. Oh, my word.

Okay. Do you know, I love, do you know what I think the most, I mean, I adore everything about you, but what I think I really love the most is you have this, you have this wonderful, infectious love of life. And, but you do. And even all the stuff that you've been through, and I love that you don't let that be the first thing. because to me you're not Anastasia who's been ill. No, no, no.

You're Anastasia. But still I am. Yes, but that's where you have to empower yourself. It's not the top line. You have to empower yourself that you still are all the things that you've been. And that's okay too. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, like you're still looking at it as you, but you're not just Anastasia who at all. Yeah, I am. Yeah, but there's nothing wrong with having that be amazing. Like you said, you don't want to be defined by it. Exactly. I'm not defined. I'm defined by a plethora of things, including a big honkin list of diseases. Yeah. Yeah, you've got a list. You can have that list. Thank you very much. Yeah, you can have that list. I'm taking that list and I have a feeling I may check a few more boxes before I hit the ground. That's okay. That's all right, so long as you keep doing it and keep being fabulous. I'm just ticking the boxes as I go. It's okay.

Will you please send your lovely sister, my love, but also your mom. I will. Even though I haven't met your mom, I have completely fallen for her. Yes, you've met her through this. Oh, my word. And if when you come over to the UK in 22 and you do your gigs, I will be in the front row. And I hope your mom will be there as well because I'm going to stand. Oh, my God. Okay.

And so I'm now going to say, okay, when you're in the front row, I expect a half top, I crop top. Yeah. I expect your boobs to be full out. I really do. I want that all to happen and then I want to shake your hand. Oh, my God. What's life all about? Oh, you are gorgeous. What are we going to do, go? Bless you. Bless you. Love to the family. Okay, and I have to say to you and all your listeners, Gabby, I appreciate you. I appreciate what you've done. I appreciate you keeping us still connected to positive the world, life, still keeping us afloat during all of this without you, where would we be without a podcast in these times? And that has really kept me afloat. So I thank you for keeping,

you know, a lot of us afloat during all of this. Bless you. You're lovely. You really are. I just think you're so fabulous. Carry on being as wonderful. It's a shame that we're both in love with each other and you're married. I'm going to see you. Tell your husband to rent you out. Okay, good. Next year, it's a date. We're getting together.

I cannot wait. Thank you for doing this, my darling. You're welcome. Thank you so much for listening. Coming up next week, the award-winning, superb actress and singer, Cynthia Erivo. That Gabby Roslyn podcast is proudly produced by Cameo Productions, music by Beth McCari. Could you please tap the first?

follow or subscribe button and thanks so much for your amazing reviews. We honestly read every single one and they mean the world to us. Thank you so much.