On cheerleading : “It’s intense. I was on drill team in high school—we didn’t work hand in hand with the cheerleaders, but we very much complemented each other. And we really looked up to the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. It’s very important to keep uniformity. When I moved back to Texas from Germany, cheer was more like a performance. Practices, football games, pep rallies, when you’re sitting in the stands, how you conduct yourself, the pictures you put on your Facebook page—it’s very much an accountability system because it’s a performance and you’re representing your school and your community.”
On a few things her fans might not know about her: “I’m a chess nut. I also rearrange my bedroom furniture every six months. I lock myself in my room and don’t come out until it’s different. I moved around a lot when I was younger, so I have this whole thing with settling into a place. I also have an obsession with glow-in-the-dark stars, the cheap plastic ones, and tee-pees.”
On her mascot days: “I had fun as the mascot. I organized a 30-person skit to ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson, with all original choreography. It was insane! I would krump on the cheerleaders and bat at them and stuff. I got all the theater kids and half the cheerleaders involved, too. And there were props. Now, in the age of YouTube, it’ll probably pop up somewhere.”
On Fame: As a kid, I literally laid in bed in Texas, having this dream, and now it’s actually happening. At times I think I’m going to wake up and I’ll just be a girl baking brownies in my kitchen. I wouldn’t call myself a celebrity, because I kind of feel weird about that word…
On Being Disney’s It Girl: Even before the Selena’s and Demi’s and Miley’s, there was Hilary Duff and Shia LaBeouf. And sidenote—I love Raven’s career. But I feel like instead of them setting standards, it’s sort of like they’ve carved their own paths. For me, I’m all about longevity. I’m just trying to create my own little venue.
