NEED TO KNOW
Alyson Stoner, who starred alongside Missy Elliott in the “Work It” video, shared a now-viral TikTok about why she’s not close with the hip-hop legend
Stoner ultimately danced in four Elliott videos as a child and starred in projects like Camp Rock, Step Up, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Phineas and Ferb
Stoner is releasing a memoir, Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything, on Aug. 12
Alyson Stoner found fame thanks to their role as a dancer in Missy Elliott’s “Work It” video, but that doesn’t mean they’ve kept in touch with the hip-hop icon.
In a TikTok posted Aug. 9, Stoner, 32, used the viral song “I Have One Daughter” from creator Lewky to explain their answer to a question that, they wrote in the caption, they’re “asked every week.”
“Do you still talk to Missy Elliott?” Stoner asks in the video in the persona of a curious fan.
“Oh, I was 9. That was 23 years ago,” the former child star says. The person follows up, “Yea so can’t you just call her up?”
Stoner replies, “… I was 9. We never hung out. It would’ve been inappropriate.”
“So you weren’t friends?” the person continues. Stoner reiterates, “I was 9. A literal child.”
Missy Elliott/YouTube
Alyson Stoner and Missy Elliott in ‘Work It’
But the person is undeterred, asking, “Could you ask her to perform at my wedding?”
Stoner looks at the camera in horrified silence, then answers, “What the hell…”
The video racked up over 435,000 likes and over 5 million views. Stoner also liked some comments from fans, including one who remembered a widespread rumor at the time that Elliott, 54, had adopted them.
https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf
Elliott’s “Work It” came out in 2002 and reached No. 2 on the Hot 100. The music video won Video of the Year at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. Stoner went on to appear as a dancer in three more Elliott videos, for songs “Gossip Folks,” “Pass That Dutch” and “I’m Really Hot.” They also danced in the video for Eminem’s “Just Lose It.”
While Stoner was working as a dancer, they also worked as an actress, starring in Disney’s Mike’s Super Short Show, and appearing on episodes of Drake & Josh, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and That’s So Raven. They also starred in movies like Cheaper by the Dozen, Step Up and Camp Rock. As a voice actor, they worked on shows like Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Young Justice and Phineas and Ferb. They reprised their role in Phineas and Ferb for the show’s return this year.
Albert L. Ortega/WireImage
Alyson Stoner in 2004
This week, Stoner publishes their memoir, Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything. They told PEOPLE last October about the book, “If I was going to pen a memoir, I needed to be certain it carried a lot of weight within its pages, both personally and collectively. At face value, it reveals the truths that I’ve held closest — details left unsaid because of legal contracts, stories not even my family and friends know and an extremely intimate journey of mental health and self-development.”
“I’m eager for this to serve as a larger reckoning for Hollywood and society,” they said.
Now, Stoner is the host of the award-winning Dear Hollywood podcast and CEO of mental health company Movement Genius. They also appeared in the 2024 documentary Child Stars, directed by their former Disney Channel costar Demi Lovato.
Maarten de Boer/Getty
Alyson Stoner in July
As for “Work It,” Stoner told Vibe in 2017, “To this day, I’m really grateful for Missy and whoever’s idea it was [to put kids in the video]. They had to have been thinking about making a statement that’s still applicable today that kind of bridges the gap between different lifestyles and different people through music.”
Read the original article on People
