A former All-New Mickey Mouse Club member has opened up to Newsweek about her friendship with Justin Timberlake, saying the singer has an impressive work ethic.
Nikki DeLoach is an actor known for her roles in TV series Awkward, North Shore and Days of Our Lives and multiple Hallmark movies, but she got her start on the All-New Mickey Mouse Club in 1993 when she was 12 years old.
The young cast members—otherwise known as Mouseketeers—performed in a variety of musical and dance numbers. DeLoach’s co-stars included future actors Ryan Gosling and Keri Russel and future pop stars Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Timberlake, and JC Chasez from NSYNC.
DeLoach and Timberlake formed a bond on set and to this day, their families remain close friends. In the days before Timberlake’s DWI arrest, Newsweek spoke with DeLoach about growing up with the “Cry Me a River” singer—and she said he works harder than many people might think.
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Timberlake for comment on Thursday.
“The first friend that I made at the casting camp was Justin. We’ve been attached [at] the hip ever since. And our parents also became really close when we were down there for the casting camp,” DeLoach told Newsweek.
“There was not a kid that was at that camp that was not full of talent, you know, every single one of them, they were all so gifted,” she said. “And so the fact that I ended up getting on the show again to this day is a miracle.
“The one thing I will say when I look at all of us, you know, Justin and I are like brother and sister and our families are so close. The one thing I always say about him that I don’t think people see is just how hard he works, like, his work ethic.”
DeLoach said it’s a joy to hear stories from people about how much the All-New Mickey Mouse Club impacted them, especially since she and the other cast members were “living in this little bubble in Orlando.”
The actor explained that it was a “gift” that social media didn’t exist at the time and none of the young cast had cell phones, as it meant they were able to live in the moment. Working on the Disney show was a far cry from their everyday lives.
“A lot of us were from very small towns—Britney from Kentwood and Justin from Millington—coming to basically find a group of people who were just like us. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, you want to do the same thing I want to do,’” she said.
DeLoach remembers growing up in a town where people were “incredibly supportive” but Timberlake experienced some difficulties when the show wasn’t filming.
DeLoach said: “Justin would go back to Tennessee and he would have to deal with a lot of bullying from other kids…It was really hard for him in between, you know, when we were on hiatus.”
The Awkward star also remembers Timberlake getting up to mischief on set with Gosling, such as the time the pair jumped on a golf cart and went for a joy ride inside MGM studios, with the pair having to be hunted down by adults on set. Often, she and Timberlake would dance in the rain.
“It would rain in Florida, you know, you get the sky opens up and the rain just pours down and Justin and I would go outside and dance in the rain and stomp in the mud puddles,” she said. “We got to be kids and it was so much fun and so it never felt like work for me. I can only speak for me. Of course, I just always felt like, you know, we were getting to do what we loved to do in a place in a very safe environment and with trusted adults who took really good care of us. And I’m so grateful.”
Timberlake was arrested in the early hours of June 18 in the Hamptons on Long Island and released a few hours later. News of his arrest quickly went viral on social media, with many mocking the singer’s mug shot and his reported interaction with the arresting police officer.
According to Page Six, the arresting officer didn’t know who Timberlake was.
“The cop didn’t know who he was at first,” an insider told the outlet at the time. “Justin said under his breath, ‘This is going to ruin the tour.’ The cop replied, ‘What tour?’ Justin said, ‘The world tour.’”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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