14

TheVanderpump Rulesstar and soon-to-be Broadway actor reflects on her life as a young theater kid.

Ten years into her reality TV tenure, the Great White Way finally called her up.

By all accounts, 2023 has been Madixs year.

Ariana Madix stands before a notepad background with “1999” and doodles.

Yes, she wascheated on.

Take me back to 1999, when you were 14.

How were you feeling about life?

I had braces and an obsession with the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Hanson.

I was also a full-on horse girl and theater kid.

Tell me more about the braces.

I got my braces right before ninth grade.

and I had them for three and a half years.

Thats almostallof high school.

How did you balance all of your extracurriculars?

I started doing theater in Catholic [middle] school.

I always just really wanted to be on stage.

Then in high school, I was doing show choir and the high school plays as well.

But my mom was like, No, you oughta actually go to school.

What was your social life like?

I had a lot of sleepovers.

But I think my 13th birthday was the first time I was allowed to have a boy-girl party.

It was a pool party, which was very exciting.

Anyone you had a crush on there?

Or any celebrity crushes?

Definitely Taylor Hanson, Nick Carter, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Any boy that had a center-part bowl cut, pretty much.

Like the Devon Sawas of the world.

Had you had your first kiss?

I had my first kiss, my firstrealkiss, as a freshman in high school.

OnVanderpump, youve always been very honest about your relationship to your mental health and disordered eating.

Sometimes those struggles begin topercolate in the early teen years.

How were you feeling in your body?

I was super, super, super tiny when I was that age.

I remember getting made fun of for being flat-chested and for being “built like a 12-year-old boy.”

Or boys would call [my boobs] mosquito bites.

I was like, Finally, people will stop calling me anorexic!

How aware were you of reality TV at the time?

I wasn’t allowed to watch MTV or anything with sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Now, as an adult, I encourage any woman to do whatever she wants with her body.

What would your 14-year-old self think of your life now reality TV career or otherwise?

My 14-year-old self would be so excited.

I think I would just be like, “Are you kidding me?”

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.