Making of a FanGirl: Ashley Kennedy

Typically they say the longest relationships you have in your life are with yourself & your siblings. Well, in Ashley & my case, we have known each other for longer than both of our youngest siblings have been alive. We met at ages 3 & 4 with our friendship spanning decades & many moves. We speak almost daily & even as I am writing this & once we finished the interview, we are talking via Facetime. Between working, running around after her nephews & niece, & helping who ever else is in her immediate vicinity, I am glad she was willing to sit down with me. Given the length of time we have been friends plus the amount of time we spend speaking to each other, I could have probably written this without even asking her any of the questions. But, being the generous friend I am, I decided I would let her say her piece on the state of her fandom.

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For some reason, the people in my life are extremely intimidated by doing this interview. Much like my sister, Ashley was extremely unsure at the beginning of our conversation. I think that for her, she is very reserved, that the discussion of fangirl tendencies was uncharted territory. For example, when we began our conversation with the question of, do you consider yourself a fangirl, the response was accurate to what I thought she would say. It was met with a resounding yes! That actually wasn’t the answer I was expecting. Apparently, she thought I meant a fangirl of me. I am happy to report that my best friend of 20 years is a fan of me. When I asked for further clarification, she was very unsure of her status of fangirl. This was the response I was expecting. The cause of this is because she finds herself in a period of life where there is a lack of hobbies to help channel the fangirl energy.

Ashley was hesitant because like many people, they find that because they aren’t particularly into sports that means they aren’t fangirls or fanboys. That because, unlike me, she doesn’t plan out her day to day concerned with sports news, she isn’t a fangirl. I would disagree.

Being a fangirl isn’t a thing that goes away or something you are born without. It just lies dormant until something awakens it inside you almost like you’re a sleeper agent.

Given our long history of friendship, I have been through many a phase with one Ashley Kennedy. Every single thing she has ever expressed interest in, I was 9 times out of 10 standing next to her watching, playing, or dancing along. Girlhood is amazing that way. But, I was intrigued to hear her answer of what she felt was the most captivated and all consuming during our childhood years.

Her earliest memories of this was with Hannah Montana & the Cheetah Girls. Rightfully so. I remember sleeping over at Ashley’s house & before we went to bed we would watch Hannah Montana episodes on her pink Disney princess TV to fall asleep. It was serious business to us. I asked her level of excitement about the 20 year anniversary special happening with Hannah & she said she would sell her kidneys to be able to witness live. Unfortunately for Ashley, already down a gallbladder, I highly advised to not get rid of any other internal organs.

As for her love of the Cheetah Girls, it stemmed from her love of their fashion. She did disclose that her favorite in the trilogy of movies is the 1st one. I quickly told her that that is opinion is in fact, wrong. The second Cheetah Girls movie is vastly superior. (This is a correct opinion) I did go on to make fun of her for a little while afterwards about this.

Jumping to her present day fandoms, this question was more difficult to answer. I tried to help by offering up some things I know she has consumed recently, like watching Gilmore Girls with her mom. She made sure to say that while she did like it - she wasn’t completely sold. Which is where I had to inform her that I would sell HER kidneys to meet Jess Mariano. That’s just the way it is. I don’t make the rules.

She went on thinking some more & again, I offered up a suggestion of Hilary Duff since she just bought tickets to see her. True to her Disney roots, she is more excited about the potential of hearing old Hilary Duff & hasn’t really gotten into her new music.

After I threatened to scrap the whole interview, she tried to get me to make the decisions for her. Again, we talk everyday & have known each other 20 years. I said no. She offered up the fact she’s obsessed with her newest nephew. Which is extremely valid & accurate, he’s adorable & she loves him so much. It just wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

FINALLY. She gave me the name Walker Hayes. Country singer. She proceeded to double check the name because she was unsure if she got his name right. To absolutely nobodies shock, she got the name wrong. She meant to say Hunter Hayes. She also shared that she is also fangirling over Sabrina Carpenter. Ashley has been really enjoying music in general recently. More specifically older country music with our queen Brini mixed in. Her six month old nephew is a huge Sabrina Carpenter fan. Kid was born with taste.

She quickly added in that she has been enjoying Lego flowers as well. As an avid Lego builder myself, this was amazing news.

Even though she was struggling to figure out what she was a fan of - she does know what fandom she wishes she was a part of. Just any sports team in general. This may shock a lot of people to know but Ashley does enjoy ice hockey. She’s a frequent at the Solar Bears games. According to her, she loves a good fight. “I want to see blood on the rink.” As a suggestion, I said maybe UCF could be fun for her. Apparently, thats too boring. Only to her would UFC be too boring, I swear.

I went on to inform her that Florida did in fact have two NHL teams in the Panthers & Lightning for her to become a fan of. As not the biggest hockey fan myself, I couldn’t tell her much more than that. In the end, she decided she will become a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, even though I said she should bandwagon the Panthers. It doesn’t matter, we sorted her into her new home with the Lightning & I will be holding her to that. Girl needs a hobby.

As someone who doesn’t find herself in the throws of fandoms, I did want to find out if there was a group of fans she didn’t quite understand. Unfortunately, we did get extremely sidetracked after I asked this because she began to pitch me on an anonymous podcast with us as the hosts.

Once we managed to get back on track, she thought she would get hate for her answer - KPop. I had to break the news to her that Justina said the same thing because she clearly doesn’t read the blog.

She continued on to say she also didn’t quite understand fanfictions & edits that people make of celebrities online. She finds them invasive and weird. I completely agree. Kind of. (Blog of another day) Fanfictions, I will say, I was in middle school live updating Wattpad every night for hopefully new chapters of the One Direction fanfiction that eventually turned into the book & movie After.

Towards the end of our discussion, she finished by adding that her true fangirl energy lies in Greys Anatomy & Virgin River. Ashley then had to explain to me major plot points in both shows because I gave up watching both after a few seasons. This is when she finally found her groove & really opened up. At the end of our conversation. Naturally.

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I want to thank Ashley for being the guinea pig of having the interview be recorded & also taking the time out of her day to speak with me. I had the most fun talking to her about this & am forever grateful.

Hopefully you all enjoy these interviews & let me know who you would like me to speak to next.