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Kim Rhodes opened up to PEOPLE about her happiness for her The Suite Life of Zack & Cody costars, but explains why she hasn’t kept in touch
Rhodes says she doesn’t want to feel like an “obligation” for Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song and Ashley Tisdale
Rhodes says she had no idea Suite Life would have such a long life with fans
Kim Rhodes is very proud of her Suite Life of Zack & Cody costars, even if she doesn’t see them all the time.
On The Suite Life, which premiered 20 years ago this year, Rhodes played Carey Martin, the mom to Dylan and Cole Sprouse’s Zack and Cody. In the series, Carey raises the twins in the chaotic Tipton Hotel, where she works as a lounge singer. Brenda Song and Ashley Tisdale rounded out the cast as heiress London Tipton and hard-working Maddie Fitzpatrick, respectively.
And though Rhodes loves her former costars, she doesn’t try to force a relationship with them. “I follow them on social media,” she tells PEOPLE. “I am aware of everything they’re doing, but I never want them to feel like I’m an obligation.”
“They were children,” Rhodes says of when she worked with her costars on the series, which ran from 2005 to 2008. She also notes that, unlike Phill Lewis, who played Mr. Moseby, she did not star on the sequel series The Suite Life on Deck, which ran from 2008 to 2011, and only appeared as a guest star. “They spent three years working without me,” she says.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Kim Rhodes (left) with Dylan and Cole Sprouse on ‘The Suite Life of Zack & Cody’
“I follow them with delight. I follow them with pride. I love watching them launch into who they are, but I don’t expect them to necessarily reciprocate,” Rhodes explains.
“What I personally love to see is that they all have such unique voices as people and as artists,” she says. “Watching them find what I always knew was there and give it permission to come out, I love that. I love seeing how unique and funny and talented they all are.” She’s especially “so proud” of Song, 37, and Tisdale, 40, who are both “mommies now.”
“It does my heart good,” Rhodes says.
Though Rhodes spent just three years on Suite Life, she says that fans still recognize her to this day — even if they don’t always know why. “There’s something about my voice, and people recognize my voice, and they’re like, ‘Mom?’ ” she explains. Fans — usually millennials — then put together what they know her from.
Travis Hodges
Kim Rhodes
The series is still popular with fans (who often revisit their favorite moments on TikTok), but Rhodes had “no idea” that being part of a Disney Channel kids series would have such a lasting impact. “I just showed up for work and probably didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have, but that gives me a great deal of gratitude now when I look back on it,” she says.
Since Rhodes stirs such motherly feelings in her fans, she’s partnered with M&M’s for their M&M’S PB&J Packed Lunch Special, a free packed lunch that 500 fans in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Texas and Nashville, Tenn. can get on July 29. The lunch comes with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a fruit cup, carrots, pretzels, sparkling water and two packs of M&M’S PB&J (one for you, and one to trade with a friend).
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“You deserve a treat,” Rhodes says. “Adulting is hard. You are working so hard. So give yourself permission to slow down and have a treat.”
On July 29, starting at 12 p.m, EST, M&M’s fans can order their lunch from the brand’s website.
Read the original article on People
