Keri Russell says her only souvenirs from her ‘Mickey Mouse Club’ days were her “sanity” and “dignity”

While most first heard of The Diplomat star Keri Russell when her show Felicity became a hit, the actress’s first big gig was as a Mouseketeer in The All-New Mickey Mouse Club.

According to an interview with W magazine that took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike, it seems she was happy to put that particular credit behind her.

The publication asked Keri if she saved anything from her Mickey Mouse Club days; she replied, “My sanity, my dignity. Not everyone got out alive.”

That said, she apparently didn’t regret the experience, adding of her co-stars, “Some of those people are still my best friends — Ilana [Miller] and Lindsey [Alley].”

She added there was a wealth of talent in that cast, even if she didn’t count herself among them.

“I was there at a time when there were a lot of famous kids there,” Russell said.

“And I say this completely truthfully: I was literally the least talented one there. I’m not kidding,” Keri continued. “When I look at those kids, I’m like, why in the world did they pick me? Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling and Britney Spears. It was wild.”

Incidentally, Gosling told GQ something similar in a May cover story: “Everybody was at, like, prodigy level.”

“I certainly wasn’t a child prodigy. I didn’t know why I was there. And I think that was the consensus,” he continued.

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