Joey Lawrence Wants Us to Care About Our Dental Hygiene and Overall Health and Wellness
Teen heartthrob Joey Lawrence has long held a special place in the hearts of television lovers for his roles in Blossom, Melissa & Joey, and Big Brother.
But unlike many actors who started at a young age, in the 90s, and fizzled out before adulthood, Lawrence, now 47, continues to thrive as a performer, podcaster, and influencer.
The well-respected podcast, Brotherly Love, is a project he has undertaken with his brothers, Matthew and Andy. So far the trio has done 55 episodes and continues to grow its audience.
As he walked down memory lane, Larence discussed many iconic moments from his career that made him smile, which is perfect timing for his partnership with LISTERINE in connection with World Oral Health Day, on March 20.
Lawrence is talking about LISTERINE’s Clinical Solutions, the company’s newest line of mouthwashes, developed with the expertise of dentists and hygienists to tackle top oral care issues including early gum disease, tooth decay, and persistent bad breath.
“When LISTERINE came to me and said, ‘We’ve got this clinical solutions line, and if it makes you say whoa it will make anybody say whoa. Would you come and partner with us and do this?’ I was like, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’ ”
The following is a Q and A with Joey Lawrence about his career, brothers, fatherhood, and new partnership with LISTERINE.
Do you have a couple of health and wellness tips for my readers?
Joey Lawrence: Well, specifically you are what you eat. That is true. What we put into our bodies is what we get out of our bodies. It’s important. And, honestly, oral care. The health of your mouth is so indicative of the health of your body, and everybody says that. Oral healthcare is extremely important. Brushing, flossing, and, honestly in my opinion using Listerine, and this new clinical solutions line is fantastic. They’ve always been the leader in innovation. They’re not gizmos and gadgets and things. It’s about serious oral care. This is an amazing line.
Walking Down Memory Lane
Please talk about some moments from your career that make you smile.
Honestly, I have so many fond memories of so many different things. Working with Nell Carter and doing Gimme a Break in the ’80s first of all, and having Johnny Carson launch my career.
Talk about your other iconic 90s TV shows.
Well, Gimme a Break, and then the success of Blossom and turning into that massive teen explosion thing. For 10 years it was just the most insane time ever. And then being able to come out of that, do American Dreams, and be on a show like that. And then develop Melissa and Joey and have a big hit like that. Brotherly Love, is the show that I put together with my brothers. Writing a record because I love singing, and writing a song when I was 15 that went number one when I was 16. Being able to tour and being in Chicago on Broadway. There’s been a lot of things.
A Look at the Brotherly Love Podcast
What can you share about your Brotherly Love podcast?
My brothers and I did it coming out of COVID-19 to see what would happen, because the whole industry shut down, and we were like what are we going to do? Nobody had ever seen us react and relate to each other like this without scripts. It just exploded and it’s come full circle.
My brothers and I are now working on a scripted series. We’re developing that to come back to television together. There’s been all this chatter about a Blossom reboot because Mayim and I have talked about it and are creatively excited about it and it’s taking shape and, wow, it’s exciting! I also feel that hopefully some of the best moments are yet to come.
Please talk about some of the favorite parts of being a dad and any parenting tips you want to give my readers.
There’s a lot of don’ts, a lot of dos. It’s messy. I try to do the best that I can every day and try to give them the best advice that I can. It is not always liked, sometimes not even loved, but hopefully, at the end of the day, they’ll look back and realize I did the best I could and they will realize that a lot of what I said is correct. Like I do with my parents.
I love my daughters. I’m so blessed. I never thought I would have three girls. So, it’s so weird and wonderful to have an 18 and 14 and a year and a half old. Life is an unexpected journey of twists and turns. But I’m here today and I am healthy and got to wake up today and talk to you and work with LISTERINE and have my beautiful daughters and my wife and my parents are still alive and I work with my brothers every day. Life is a blessing; for sure.
The Next Generation
How would you feel about any of them following in your acting footsteps?
Yeah, if that’s what they wanted to do. They can both sing. Like really sing. Charley wanted to try acting once, so when we produced the movie for Lifetime, My Husband’s Secret Brother Charley played my stepdaughter. She was truly fantastic in it. she was a natural. She hasn’t wanted to do it again since, but she has the talent. Like I said, they both can sing. They can sing their butts off. I don’t know if that’s in their future, but if it is I would do anything to help them. I know it’s in their genes because they can do it.
So, we’ll see what happens. It was very different for me growing up. My mom helped me facilitate that at five years old. It exploded and I never looked back. For my girls, it’s been a different journey and I’m thankful for that because they’ve had their journey. If it’s ever in the cards I’ll be right there to help them out.
Please tell me a little bit about your upcoming movie, Heart Attack.
We put Heart Attack together, it’s a big action movie, like Die Hard in a hospital. It’s extremely exciting for me to be able to use those chops to get a little more physical because I’m a pretty physical guy. It’s intense. We’re doing it with FOX and Tubi. My brother, Andy, is going to be the director. Matt, Andy, and I are going to produce. We’re excited about it. We’re going to start shooting later this year.
Chilling Out Away From Work
If I gave you a weekend, a day, no phone, no work calls, just hanging with the family where would you go, what would you do?
I would either head to a beautiful beach or go out on a boat. I love just being in nice, calm water on a boat. I love the beach and the sun and the water. I love it so much. We also love heading to Disneyland and Disneyworld, because my girls and I are obsessed with and love the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. It’s just some of the best times that we have together and we love it so much.
You went into your podcast with expectations. Did you get any surprises along the way?
I think the surprise was that we went in with no expectations because we thought it was going to be kind of like a joke to just keep us busy for a moment. We didn’t even really plan on doing it — let’s get a podcast going, I don’t know, so we have something to do every day while the whole world is trying to figure out if it’s going to be on fire or not.
It really just hit a chord. Our amazing community has skyrocketed this thing up the charts here. We’re 55 episodes in, a year in, it’s incredible. I never thought that. It’s taken on a life of its own and has led to tremendous things. This partnership with Listerine and everything. It’s really amazing. Extremely thankful for it. Very much the least expected stuff. That was the biggest thing.
What do you attribute to the longevity of your career?
Well, I’ve been blessed, for sure. So, blessings. But I am relentless. I work hard and it hasn’t always been easy. When you have the kind of success that I had as a teen there’s a lot of stigmas, you have to constantly prove yourself. Nothing is ever easy. I always have to work hard to get something going. But I appreciate the hard work and the challenge of that and I feel extremely lucky to have had a hit TV show in every decade that I’ve worked. It’s really something.
Connecting With The Fans
How do fans connect with you? Social media? And what do they say?
Yes, it’s through social media. That’s the way it is now, right? It used to be 20,000 letters a week. Now it’s social media. They are thankful that my brothers and I are putting out positive content, that we just exude positivity. Honestly, I’m most happy when I’m positive. I default to happy, even when I’m upset because I prefer the way I feel when I feel happy, when I try to be grateful for everything. I think that our fans appreciate that.
I feel like people constantly say it’s like we were around our dinner table or we were out to dinner with our family or our friends. That’s how we feel when we tune in and watch you guys or listen to you guys and that’s why we like it so much. It’s extremely cool.
What are the life lessons you have for your daughters? As they grow and mature what do you want them to know about life from your experience as a child actor and adulthood?
To be grateful for the little things. I swear even waking up in the morning. Every day you get to wake up is a blessing. Every day you get to wake up and all this stuff that God gave you is working. Everything’s working so you get to wake up and go, okay, I get to live another day on this journey, I’m excited about that. So, gratefulness. Being considerate of others. If you’re considerate, I feel like that cuts through a lot of being aware, self-awareness, how your imprint affects other people, how theirs affects yours.
Important Values to Live By
What is your overall philosophy?
Accountability and holding yourself accountable for your actions and being responsible with that accountability. I feel like we need to keep sight of being accountable. If you’re not accountable then you can excuse a lot of bad behaviors. And also respect yourself and love yourself. I tell them if you can respect and love yourself half as much as I respect you and love you then you’ll be all right. Because it’s all about you. The decisions you make have nothing to do with me, they don’t affect me. They’ll make me sad if you don’t make good ones and I’ll hurt for you, but at the end of the day, they’re going to affect you.
When you make those decisions in life, whatever they are, just think about do you want to do that to yourself. Do you want to put your body through that? Do you want to partake in that? It’s about you, and you looking in the mirror at yourself. It’s not really about me.
Are you the strict parent, the soft one, or a blend?
I think dads default to try to be more of the pacifist Teddy Bear, with girls especially. I’ve got to be a little strict now and then. I’ve got to set some foundational rules of how to do that. It’s not fun. But at the end of the day, I’m probably more the pushover, to be honest with you.
