Melissa Joan Hart a.k.a. Sabrina/Clarissa recently did an interview with Media Boulevard magazine where she talked about her family, her kids, life after “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” and where she’s going from here. The interview is from one or two weeks ago, but it wasn’t posted here.

I’ve included the interesting/relevant parts of the interview after the Cut (with a link to the full article at the end,) but here’s the Cliffs Notes version of the article before the cut for those of you who are TL; DR:

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* Melissa enjoyed working with Joey Lawrence on her ABC Family movie “My Fake Fiance.” ABC Family is thinking of turning the film into a sitcom in which both of them would star. Melissa wants to executive-produce the project, just as she did with “Sabrina.”

* Melissa is opening a dessert/pastry shop called “Sweetharts” in the Los Angeles area in the next month or so (Someone from should head down there when it opens and get her to hold a sign!)

* Melissa doesn’t keep in touch with any of her “Sabrina’ castmates. She and Soleil Moon Frye (Roxie from the college episodes,) still hang out sometimes because their kids are the same age, but MJH doesn’t really talk to anyone else. Caroline Rhea (Aunt Hilda) recently had a baby and invited Melissa to the baby shower, but Melissa couldn’t go.

Beth Broderick (Aunt Zelda) has gotten really into politics (she campaigned for Obama in the past election,) and she and Melissa don’t really talk because their political views are “different.” At this point, we already know that Melissa is potentially homophobic and possibly anti-abortion so maybe those have been issues of contention between them. Just saying… Anyway, here’s a link to Beth/Aunt Zeda’s Huffington Post column, for those who want to see what her views are and why she and Melissa have grown apart because of them.

Question> What made you want to be a part of the film?

Melissa> I read the script and I wanted to make this movie, so we got the rights to the script, we met with the writer and the other producer and we acquired the rights. We brought it to ABC Family and they picked it up in a weekend.
appy-go-lucky character, and this one for me was really exciting and different.

Question> Was there instant chemistry when you started working with Joey Lawrence, or did it take a bit of time to develop?

Melissa> Yes, I mean, Joey and I have known each other since we are four. We are a day apart. Our birthdays are this weekend. We have a lot in common, we’ve known each other a really long time. Our families are pretty well acquainted, and it was really – it was the first time we’ve worked together, though, and it was really nice, and right off the bat there was instant chemistry. That worked so much they’re considering doing a TV show version, and we’re exploring all sorts of things. Joey and I, I think, worked really well together.

Question> What’s it like to star and be an executive producer on the same project?

Melissa> That’s what I’ve been doing most of my life, so it would be kind of hard for me to do it another way. When I work on other people’s movies and I’m just the actor, it’s kind of difficult, because – not knowing where you can put in your two cents. But when you’re the producer, they have to listen to you, so it’s nice.

Question> When you’re filming, how do you manage juggling your family life with your working life?

Melissa> We’ve got a good system down now. I worked quite a bit last year, but it’s always out of town, so – it’s always kind of living in hotels, which is actually kind of – it’s nice to be on location with my family because then there’s only two focuses: whatever job I’m working on, and my family. There’s no outside – I don’t have to worry about feeding my dogs or taking care of the house or opening the mail, because I’m staying in a hotel, so it’s like – it’s been really nice, because we have a wonderful nanny who goes with us. We hired her last year when we had Braydon. She went with us to Louisiana and Atlanta and everywhere we went last year and it’s nice because she or Mark or whoever is there that day will bring the boys to see me at lunch.

And because of the schedule of acting, you’re not always on—it’s not a 9:00 to 5:00. Sometimes it’s a 6:00 to 6:00, or – in which case I get to go home in time for dinner and bath time, or maybe I have a late call and I don’t go in until noon and I get to have breakfast with my family and maybe – like when we were in Atlanta, we went to the aquarium a lot. It was really fun because the aquarium in Atlanta was unbelievable, and my son became obsessed with whale sharks and other sharks and anything in the aquarium. And I got to go diving with the whale sharks and my son got to watch me in the tank in my scuba gear as I went diving with the sharks, so it was really cool.

Question> As far as the filming, you had mentioned … being the executive producer, that ABC Family was exploring a possible television show from this. Would you be involved in that as a producer and actress, or what would your role be with that? Do you have any idea yet?

Melissa> Yes. We’re trying right now to make a deal. There’s nothing concrete yet, but we’re working on my mother and I producing like we did on Sabrina, and myself starring in it.

Question> Do you still keep in contact with any of your cast members from Sabrina after all the years of that show?

Melissa> I do. I’m still friends with – well, I would still be friends with all of them. We’ve all kind of gone off and had – our lives took us in different directions, really. Soleil and I probably keep in touch the most because we have kids the same age and we still live in the same places. A lot of the cast members, like Caroline and Beth, they moved around a lot. Like, they moved to New York and I feel like – at least one of them I think is back in L.A., or – Caroline I feel like moved back and forth and back and forth. And Caroline had a baby and I was invited to the shower but I couldn’t go, and – we all kind of e-mail here and there, but Beth became very involved in politics, and her view on politics is very different from mine, so– we’ve grown apart over the last five years. We were really close when we were shooting the show, of course.

But I’ve kept in touch more with the crew. My wardrobe dresser is one of my best, best, best – I would call her my very best friend. She is Brady’s god-mom and her husband is godfather, and their son is Mason’s best friend. And my makeup artist went off to receive numerous nominations for Emmys and did Nip/Tuck and is now on the new show Glee that’s coming out that’s going to be amazing. She went off to do huge movies like Running With Scissors. She’s still one of my closest, closest friends. So the crew and I, a few of the grips, we all still hang out. It’s just, the cast kind of grew apart and went off to do their own things.

Question> Do you have any other projects coming up soon?

Melissa> I’m actually opening an ice cream, candy – actually it’s a frozen yogurt, candy shop in Los Angeles, in Sherman Oaks, in four weeks, called Sweet Harts – of course spelled “Hart” like my last name – and it’s going to be a self-serve frozen yogurt. There will be some self-serve ice cream. We’re having gelato and baked goods and candy – I’m in charge of the candy shelves right now. We finished the design of it and it’s gorgeous. It’s done by a girl named Lonnie Paul who is right now going to be on the show Design Star. She did the interior of the shop and it’s going to be a beautiful kind of modern take of a baroque style – like an old-fashioned candy store, but bright and clean. It’s going to be gorgeous and it’s going to be really yummy and just someplace for people to come that just want dessert.

I feel like there’s not a lot of desserteries. There’s a lot of places that specialize, like Pinkberry has their one flavor of yogurt, there’s places like that, but I feel like there’s not – and Baskin-Robbins and stuff like that, but there’s not a place that has sort of every kind of dessert you’d want, and we’re trying to do that. We’re trying to give people a place to reward their kids for their straight A’s or ride their bikes with the family to have dessert. We hope, if this one works out well, we’ll start a little chain.

Question> Do you have any roles coming up that we should watch out for?

Melissa> I did a movie called Nine Dead, shot it in Louisiana. It was my mom, our company, HartBreak Films’ first feature film. That just got completed and now we’re looking for distribution, so hopefully we’ll get some distribution for that and it will be on the screen sometime this year. But you never know with these things, so it’s a waiting game.

Source: My ~~reading comprehension skills~~ and Media Boulevard Magazine Online: http://www.mediablvd.com/magazine/the_news/celebrity/melissa_joan_hart_stars_in_%27my_fake_fiance%27_200904191714.html

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This post is brought to you by Melissa’s family (the picture comes from Melissa’s public Myspace profile.)

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