The former member of Mickey Mouse Club discusses her time on Disney with some 'wildly talented' kids like Britney and Christina Aquilera, claiming 'not everyone got out alive.'
- Aug 16, 2023
AceShowbiz - Keri Russell is grateful to be one of the Disney Mouseketeers who got "out alive" from the performing kids' troupe. The 47-year-old "Antlers" actress was recruited for "All-New Mickey Mouse Club" when she was 15 and appeared in the series from 1991 to 1994, along with the likes of Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, and other huge future stars.
"My sanity, my dignity. Not everyone got out alive. Some of those people are still my best friends - Ilana (Miller) and Lindsey (Alley)," she said when asked by W magazine if she "saved" anything from her time in the team.
"I was there at a time when there were a lot of famous kids there. And I say this completely truthfully, I was literally the least talented one there. I'm not kidding. When I look at those kids, I'm like, 'Why in the world did they pick me?' Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling and Britney Spears. It was wild."
In October 2021, Keri told Page Six she hoped her fellow Mouseketeer Britney, 41 - who was 11 when she joined the variety show - was "happy" amid her then-active battle to free herself from a 13-year conservatorship helmed by her father, Jamie Spears. She said, "I just hope she's happy, whatever that means. I don't know if any of us really know how her life really is, but I just hope she's happy."
Keri also praised her fellow former Mouseketeers while visiting "The Kelly Clarkson Show" earlier this year, saying, "They were all very talented. Like, Christina and Britney and Ryan Gosling and Justin, all those kids were 12 when I was 17. So I was a little older. I mean, I could drive. I was cool. But they were wildly talented."
