Keri Russell jokes being ‘sexually active’ got ‘Mickey Mouse Club’ girls cut from show
Keri Russell joked she got booted from the ’90s reboot of the “Mickey Mouse Club” for being “sexually active.”
The “Mission: Impossible III” star, who starred on the show from 1991 to 1993, theorized why she left the series at age 17 during Tuesday’s podcast episode of “Dinner’s On Me.”
“It’s usually girls who looked like they were sexually active,” she quipped. “Which, probably, I was one of the first. They’re like, ‘she’s out. That one is gone.'”
“Pregnant Mouseketeers aren’t on the roster,” Russell, 48, later joked.
The alleged age limit wasn’t enforced for male Mouseketeers as actors Tony Lucca and JC Chasez, who starred in the series from 1991 to 1995, left the show when they turned 19.
“The boys stayed till they were, like, 19,” the actress continued.
“I was like, ‘By the way, I had sex with that person, so I know that they’ve had sex.’ For real.”
While Russell didn’t reveal who her fling was with, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were also Mousketeers.
“You know, girls and sexuality,” she added. “And by the way, me, I [had] like a 12-year-old boy body. There’s nothing really sexy about me, but I think that was what [made Disney] nervous.”
Timberlake, Gosling, Spears and Aguilera joined the show in 1993 and left in 1995 when they were around age 15.
Russell previously admitted she was lucky to get out “alive” from her time as a Mouseketeer, telling W Magazine in August 2023 that she left with her “sanity” and “dignity.”
“Not everyone got out alive,” she shared.
The “Waitress” star said she was also the “least talented” performer on the show compared to Spears, Gosling, Timberlake and Aguilera.
Questioning how she got the role, Russell said, “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?”
