Anneliese Van Der Pol had to work as a waitress in the years after she found fame.
The 39-year-old actress starred as Chelsea Daniels on the hit Disney Channel sitcom ‘That’s So Raven’ from 2003 until 2007 but work dried up in the years that followed and admitted that she was “nothing but excited” to get the chance to reprise her role a decade later for the ‘Raven’s Home’ reboot.
Speaking on the ‘Chicks in the Office’ podcast, she said: “I had nothing going on. I was excited about it, I needed the money. I was living in New York, I was living paycheck to paycheck working in restaurants, you know, like everybody else. I was like oh my gosh, I’m gonna be on TV again. I was nothing but excited.”
However, Anneliese – who following her stint on the Disney Channel played Belle in a Broadway production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, appeared in ‘Twilight’ parody ‘Vampires Suck’ and guest-starred in an episode of ‘Shake It Up’ in 2011 before being turning to restaurant work – admitted that teaming up with Raven-Symone once again wasn’t exactly what she thought it would be but remains grateful for the show because it helped her out financially.
She said: “I kind of thought it was going to just be like it was, and of course it wasn’t… I don’t know, we had to be mentors and it really, of course, wasn’t about Raven and myself anymore, as it shouldn’t be. It’s a Disney Channel kids show, it caters to the children, but when I got the call, yeah, I was really excited. I was very lucky, it helped me out a lot. It helped my financially, where I’m in a much better place.”