Teenage Torment Turns Into Teasing Brush With Fame

Natalie Galasso always wondered what kind of odd ducks went on those daytime TV talk shows that always seem to embarrass the guests and leave the rest of us fearing for the future of our nation.

Now she knows.

It’s people just like her!

To update Andy Warhol’s prophecy, it’s possible that every American eventually will wind up on a daytime talk show to relive something, confess something or be caught off guard by something.

For Galasso, a 19-year-old restaurant manager from Foothill Ranch, her chance came Friday when she appeared on Chicago-based “Jenny Jones” in a segment titled, “When You See Me You’ll Freak, ‘Cuz I’m No Longer a Geek.”

I know. Not exactly Masterpiece Theatre.

The episode reunited people who had been teased as teenagers with their tormentors. Galasso had been identified as a junior-high tormentor five years ago of two Mission Viejo women, Erica Ross and Jennifer Hines. The two had been “geeks” in junior high but, in keeping with the show’s title, are geeks no more.

After the audience saw photos of them as young teens, Ross and Hines walked onstage to whistles and applause. Ross, now 20, wore a leopard-skin dress with a neckline that must have gotten lost on the trip from Orange County and recounted how Galasso used to call her “beanpole” in junior high. The fetching Hines said Galasso used to call her “bug eyes” and “thunder thighs,” among other things.

Hooked at that point, I eagerly anticipated Galasso coming out next and going bonkers at seeing her former targets now all grown up. Sadly, however, Channel 13 at that moment chose to break in for an El Nino update, and by the time they came back, Galasso’s segment was over and Jones was on to the next reunion group.

Disheartened, I did what any self-respecting reporter would do. Because the show was taped a month ago, all three women were back in Orange County on Friday. I phoned Galasso and asked her to recall the moment when she saw the geeks who are now beauties.

“I was totally shocked,” she said. “If anyone saw them on a day-to-day basis when I knew them, it was unbelievable to see the way they changed.”

Earlier, Ross had told me that the teasing changed her life. “She called us every name in the book,” she said of Galasso. “She was doing it in fun and getting laughs out of it, but to Jennifer and I, it hurt us. I was really shy. Jennifer was outspoken, she’d come right back with things. But I was so shy I would kind of hide behind Jennifer.”

The teasing left a mark, though. “As soon as I turned 18, I got breast implants,” Ross said. In part because teasing had left her with low self-esteem and may have contributed to health problems, Ross spent her high school years in a home-study program.

Is there a lesson? I asked. “Teasing can go overboard,” she said. “Feelings get hurt, and it changed me. Bullies don’t realize what they’re doing to kids. Those names were always in my mind.”

I asked Galasso about the catharsis the show must have evoked. “I don’t think about it that much, but I remember hassling them,” she said. “The funny thing was, I got made fun of just as much as they did. It’s the way people handle it. I let it roll off my back. I didn’t care.”

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But doing the show was fun, right?

“When I got to Chicago, it was, like, disastrous,” Galasso said. “At first, when I got off the flight, I couldn’t find the driver. Then, [the show guests] were all supposed to stay in the same hotel, but I wound up staying in a different hotel, all by myself. On the day of the show, I put in a wake-up call for 6:30 and 6:45, and I had to be checked out and ready by 8:30. All of a sudden, it’s 9 and I get a phone call from the show, saying, ‘Where are you? We’re waiting for you.’ I started to freak, because I didn’t get the wake-up call.

“My hair is, like, my life. How pathetic is that, huh? It’s the only thing about me I’m comfortable about--I know I have pretty hair. It’s naturally curly and I have to wash it every day, and I didn’t get a chance to wash it.

“The stylist thought she was being cute when she was working on it. The makeup woman was having trouble getting rid of the bags under my eyes, because I just woke up. My hair was stringy but the girl put it on top of my head. I told her, ‘Um, I really don’t like that style.’ She said, ‘Think of it as the Madonna stage.’ I’m thinking, ‘Didn’t that go out 10 years ago?’ ”

Other than that, Galasso had a blast. It was fun reuniting with Hines and Ross. The other “teasers” in the Green Room waiting area were fun. In a word, the whole experience was “a lot of fun.”

Galasso is sorry she teased Ross and Hines but still doesn’t think it’s that big a deal.

As for being on the show, she said, “It’s not that I feel bad for being on it. I had a lot of fun. But I can’t believe I did it.”

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com