The newly unmasked Ms. Moth reveals her unlikely connection to panelist Ashley Tisdale.
Warning: This article contains spoilers about Wednesday’s episode ofThe Masked Dancer.
Ms. Moth flew away fromThe Masked Dancerand tugged on our heartstrings in the process.
Credit: Michael Becker/ FOX
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve never done something like this before.
I have never done anything like this before.
I’m not a dancer.
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I’ve never trained.
That’s not my forte in life.
And when they first asked me, I had this moment of disbelief and shock.
I mean, are you sure you have the right phone number?
Are you sure you’re talking to the right person?
I’m pretty sure Julianne Hough’s parents live in Utah.
Were you trying to get ahold of her?
You couldn’t possibly mean me.
And [they were] like, “No, no, we mean you.”
But my grandma passed away around the same time that they asked me to do this.
Life is already hard enough.
I mean, not to mention 2020.
Why not do something that brings a little bit of light to my life and maybe to people watching?
I mean, why not?
Life, for all its seriousness, I think it’s also good to have fun.
So, I guess for me more than anyone else, I just wanted to do something fun.
It’s okay to have fun.
I know they incorporated clues into some of the costumes.
Did your costume have any clues to your identity?No.
I mean, it did not disappoint on any level.
I’ve never been in something so customized to me before.
I mean, that costume was more customized to me than my wedding dress.
I’m being 100% serious.
I think they measured everywhere on me, and it turned out so beautiful.
My favorite part about the whole show was the team that made it happen.
[Laughs] But I mean, he was so talented and kind and just a genuine good person.
What did you make of those guesses?[Laughs.]
So, no, I didn’t think that they would ever know me.
It was a surprise.
I thought if anyone would have guessed me, it would have beenAshley Tisdale.
She was inHigh School Musical.
And they filmed at the same high school that I went to.
And it wasn’t!
So it was a surprise, but it was fun.
Your reveal was very emotional and touching.
What did that moment mean to you?It was emotional.
They asked me why I did it, and I talked about my grandma.
I ultimately had said yes because of her influence on my life.
It was my grandparents that taught me how to ride a horse.
They fell in love on a ranch.
Their first kiss was on a moonlight horseback ride up in the mountains.
She took me and we went towards Spain for a little bit.
Of course, I wouldn’t join.
But my grandma hopped right up, and even she tried to get me to go.
So kind of that same Spanish flare felt like it was there in my second number as well.
They were both things that my grandma would have loved.
She would continue to tell the whole universe probably for the next 10 years.
She’d tell everyone that, “Well, did you seeThe Masked Dancer?
Did you know my granddaughter was on it?Did you know she was the beautiful Moth?
Well, you oughta go watch because she was amazing.”
That would have been her.
So I didn’t want to be emotional.
I wanted to hold it back, but it got the better of me.
What’s next for you?
