EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Ashley Parker Angel Opens Up About O-Town Reunion Rumors

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
So you're saying with Hilton Honors, I can use points for a free night stay anywhere? Anywhere.
What about fancy places like the Canopy in Paris? Yeah, Hilton Honors, baby. Or relaxing sanctuaries like the Conrad and Tulum?

**Alexa Klohn** (0:13)
Hilton Honors, baby.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:15)
What about the five-star Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives? Are you gonna do this for all 9,000 properties?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:22)
When you want points that can take you anywhere, anytime, it matters where you stay. Hilton for the stay.

**Alexa Klohn** (0:36)
Welcome back to The TMZ Podcast. I'm Alexa Klohn.

**Charlie Neff** (0:39)
I'm Charlie Neff.

**Alexa Klohn** (0:40)
And today we have a very special guest. You might know him from his O-Town boy band days, better yet, the Broadway era he had, and now on a complete mental health and wellness journey, Ashley Parker Angel, welcome to the podcast.

**Ashley Parker Angel** (0:54)
Thank you.

**Charlie Neff** (0:55)
Welcome, Ash.

**Ashley Parker Angel** (0:56)
Thank you, Charlie, Alexa. Likewise.

**Alexa Klohn** (1:00)
So, I mean, let's get into it. You have been really an advocate for mental health, physical health. Tell us a little bit about how you got into that.

**Ashley Parker Angel** (1:10)
Yeah, I would say it was like 20 years in the making, because 20 years of navigating an entertainment career that started very young, like 18 years old, barely made the cutoff for being a legal adult to actually audition for Making the Band, which was the show that launched my career. But, you know, when you become famous overnight as a teenager, it doesn't come with an instruction manual. And I'm so grateful for so many amazing experiences that I had through all that time.
O-Town went solo, had two hit TV shows, attached to my music career as well on MTV, and then pivoted into Broadway, where you do eight shows a week.

**Alexa Klohn** (1:52)
Insane.

**Ashley Parker Angel** (1:53)
More so than even being like a touring artist, Broadway is such a grueling schedule. It's eight shows a week. You do a year-long contract. I did starring roles in Hairspray the Musical. I was Link Larkin, the Zac Efron role in the film. Did Prince Fierro on a national tour around the country. And then a year in Broadway. And it was a lot that you put your body and your mind through.
And I was always working with the best in fitness and nutritionists and peak performance coaches. I had access to a lot of amazing coaches that I've learned from through the years. So I just learned a lot about how to take care of the body and the mind, but I wasn't always doing that. I had a period in my 20s where I call my Rockstar 20s.
We all have that, though. I think that's kind of what your 20s are for. Yeah. And I actually got pretty deep about this chapter of my life in this new documentary called Boy Band Confidential, which Joey Fatone from NSYNC had reached out to me to be a part of. And it's streaming on HBO Max right now. People can check it out. But I talk a lot about this quarter life crisis I had around 25, 26, which I think so many people can identify with. You don't have to be in the entertainment industry to have a quarter life crisis or a midlife crisis.

**Charlie Neff** (3:10)
But for you a little different, you're in the public eye, you had a massive amount of fame. So I imagine that would be challenging to be going through that with everybody watching you at the same time.

**Ashley Parker Angel** (3:22)
Totally. You nailed it. You're growing up in front of the public. And my whole identity was wrapped up in chasing that next big hit in the entertainment career. So I had gone a period of 10 years with really no time off.
Didn't get to see my family a whole lot. I was traveling all over the world. I was living out of a suitcase and I just really hit a wall and tons of fatigue and burnout. And on top of that, eight shows a week on Broadway, which was an amazing time in my life, but really realizing I needed to lean more into health and wellness and really taking care of myself so that I didn't crash and burn completely, which unfortunately when you do grow up in the public eye, you see it a lot, I think even more with child stars, teenage stars, we seem to get at the worst, right? And everybody can kind of think of those people that you've seen unfortunately crash and burn in very public and embarrassing ways even. And I saw a lot of that around me. And so I was grateful. I had some amazing people in my life to be like, look, here's what you need to do for your physical, your mental and your emotional well-being. And really leaned into that heavily as a way to just deal with the stresses of all of that.