Lisa Whelchel’s grandchildren lovingly name her “Cocomama,” however she will not be sharing with them how the nickname originated “for a while.”
The Facts of Life alum, who now hosts MeTV’s Collector’s Call, recollects to Yahoo Entertainment being given the title throughout a household journey to Europe after she tried — and overindulged in — hashish choices at an Amsterdam espresso store.
Whelchel — greatest recognized for portraying ’80s TV icon Blair Warner — recollects backpacking throughout Europe with her household. In Amsterdam, they stayed in a hostel referred to as Cocomama whereas they explored the town.
“We went to this coffee shop, which I didn’t know that coffee shops weren’t really coffee shops in Amsterdam,” she says with a snort in regards to the companies, the place clients purchase and smoke marijuana or eat cannabis-infused edibles. “We decided: OK, sure. We’ll do that. We’ll have some. When in Amsterdam!
“We ended up having some space cake as a result of I attempted to smoke a joint and I simply coughed up a lung,” the Texas native continues. “The proprietor of the cafe mentioned … ‘Just eat a little bit,’ however in fact, my daughter Clancy [Cauble, 30] and I — and we had been all adults, it must be famous — mentioned: ‘Well, I do not really feel something. I would like some extra.’ We did the beginner mistake!”
Whelchel, who turns 60 this month, says they were left “paranoid,” except for Clancy’s then-boyfriend/now-husband JJ Orantes, “who was ready to hold it collectively. I saved saying, ‘If you may simply get us again to Cocomama! Just get us again to Cocomama!'”
A week after their misadventure, Clancy and JJ became engaged in Paris and Whelchel told him, “‘Well, you do not have to name me ‘mother,’ however I do not need you calling me Mrs. Cauble anymore, so consider a title.’ So he determined to name me Cocomama to commemorate our fantastic — and horrible — expertise collectively.”
The name stuck — and has extended to the younger members of the family. She’s now a smitten grandma of two and, yes, they call her Cocomama.
“We will not be telling the grandkids how the title originated for a whereas,” the former child star, also from the Mickey Mouse Club in the 1970s, quips.
Whelchel’s marriage to the father of her three children — also including son Tucker, 32, and daughter Haven, 31 — ended a decade ago and she found love again with Pete Harris, a Nashville psychologist. They were legally married in December 2019 with plans for a March 2020 wedding, but COVID interrupted. Their long-awaited reception will finally take place in July — and it is expected to be a fun-filled, family weekend with a nod to Survivor, the reality series she competed on in 2012 after her divorce as a personal challenge.
“It was going to be throughout COVID — after which in fact we had to wait — after which my son was planning to get married, so we clearly did not need to have competing weddings,” she says.
As for what they have planned, “We’re renting a massive Airbnb in central California,” with just family, “and we’re having a sport match,” she says. “We are very aggressive household. We love video games. So we’re having three days of about a dozen completely different video games — and Survivor form of impediment course video games as nicely — with a championship. Then we’ll match a celebration in there someplace.”
Whether it’s an Amsterdam misadventure or a Survivor wedding reception, Whelchel says, “Well, I do love to expertise life. Some [experiences] are extra enjoyable — and a few are extra scary — than others,” she laughs. “But I’m at all times simply glad that I reside life as out loud as potential.”
More of our conversation with Whelchel — reminiscing about The Facts of Life 35 years after it ended in May 1988 — can be found here.
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