Disney star Keri Russell said that girls were cut from the “Mickey Mouse Club” show once they looked like they could be “sexually active.”
During the 48-year-old actress’ appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast Dinner’s on Me, Russell talked about being the “least talented” mouseketeer on the 90s revival of “The All New Mickey Mouse Club” show on the Disney Channel and said she left the show at 17 because of the series’ rules about cast members not being too old.
“Yeah, it’s usually, like, girls who looked like they were sexually active,” Russell said. “Which, probably, I was one of the first.”
“They’re like, ‘she’s out. That one is gone,'” she joked. “Meanwhile, the boys stayed till they were like 19. I was like, ‘By the way, I had sex with that person, so I know that they’ve had sex.’ For real.”
Keri Russell jokes being ‘sexually active’ got ‘Mickey Mouse Club’ girls cut from show https://t.co/pRUDSoLFuY pic.twitter.com/6XYb2ReyqU
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At one point, Russell talked about what she called the “creepiest part of kid acting” which she said is “one or two kids with all adults,” People magazine reported.
“So, that really accelerates the adultification of everything. And for ‘The Mickey Mouse Club,’ there were 19 of us,” she added. “The adults were invisible to me.”
“So, I wasn’t completely alone with all the adults,” Russell continued. “And I think that was helpful.”
The “Waitress” star landed her role on the Disney show when she was 15, appearing on the hit from 1991-1994.
During an interview last year, Russell said she was “lucky” to leave “The All-New Mickey Mouse Club” with her “sanity” and “dignity” because others weren’t as fortunate, without explaining further.
The “Felicity” star opened up about the early days of her career and being cast for the popular Disney show as one of the coveted Mouseketeers along with future superstars like Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling, and Christina Aguilera, W Magazine reported.
When pressed by the reporter if the actress saved “anything from your time on the show,” Russell answered, “My sanity, my dignity. Not everyone got out alive.”
Related: Keri Russell Says She Was ‘Lucky’ She Got Out Of Disney Show With ‘My Sanity, My Dignity’
