‘Punky Brewster’ Star Cherie Johnson on ‘Family Matters’ Memories & That Infamous Fridge Episode

From Punky Brewster to Family Matters‘ Laura Winslow, TV sitcoms have brought us some of the coolest kids (and teenagers) around. Whether we connected with them as children, teens or adults, many of us undoubtedly wanted to follow in their footsteps because of their unique styles, their hilarious personalities, and — most of all — the best friend who always had their back. Luckily, Punky had Cherie, Laura had Maxine —  and both were brought to life by the same real-life cool kid, Cherie Johnson!

Now a fixture on our TV screens for over 40 years, Cherie chatted with us about life as the world’s bestie, her early start in show business, memories from Punky Brewster and Family Matters, and her new book.

Remind: Is it true that you have a book on the way?

Cherie: I do! It’s called Manifest Your Year with Me.  The reason why I wrote it is because a lot of people in the Black community have no idea what manifestation is, including me. I’m just now learning the last five years that manifestation is a thing, and it’s been around since the 1800s. But I’ve lived my whole life manifesting but not knowing what I was doing. I just thought that I was pushy and I didn’t really take no for an answer. That’s what I thought it was. But I was actually taught a few years ago, “Oh baby, you’re manifesting.” And I was like, “Really?”

Remind: Do you feel like manifestation played a part in your career?

Cherie: Definitely! My uncle was the creator of Punky and he thought it’d be neat for me to see my name on TV and named Punky’s best friend after me. So I was like, “Cool, when do we go to work?” He was like, “Oh baby, you don’t, I sold the show to NBC and they auditioned girls in New York, Chicago, and LA,” but never once did I think that it wasn’t mine.

It’s the way I’ve lived my whole entire life without knowing what I was doing. Years ago, I had written out a blueprint of a house that I wanted prior to me even looking, but I was like, “This would be perfectly what I’m looking for.” In the process of moving, I pull out the blueprint. My house is the exact house except that my office is on the other side of the house, but the roof is dead on. That’s crazy.

 

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Remind: Did you always want to be on TV?

Cherie: No,  I never wanted to be an actor. I wanted to be an architect, but I was in love with my uncle. He was my favorite person in the whole wide world. He’s basically the only father that I ever had. I was trying to go to work and hang out with him, and I knew by doing Punky I was going to get to spend the day with him. Plus, he had used my name in the show, so how was he going to have somebody else play Cherie?  In my little 6-year-old mind, it didn’t even make sense [laughs].

Remind: Do you think your uncle was considering you for that role in Punky when he named the character after you?

Cherie: Absolutely not. He gave it to me and was like, “Tell me what you think.” I could read very early and that was our bonding thing, me reading his scripts. He would tell me to make notes on them and stuff, and so I read it and I was like, “When do we go to work?” And he was like, “Oh baby, we have to get an actor who knows what she’s doing.” So I convinced his wife to take me on an audition for the part. I put her in a really bad position [laughs].

On my very first audition, they were behind. And there was this little cute girl that was in the waiting room with us and the casting director. We convinced the casting director to give us a piece of paper and a pen, and we were sitting in the chair drawing together. Well, I had made a friend, and that friend was Soleil Moon Frye.

Back then, we didn’t have cell phones and stuff, so I never got this girl’s phone number, but I got to see her at audition number two. I got to see her at audition number three, audition number five. They had us both come in together. By that time, we were ecstatic to see each other again because now, that was my friend. And then by audition seven, Brandon Tartikoff, who was the head of NBC at that time, told my uncle, “Give your niece the job. Let’s hire her and Soleil together.”

Remind: Do you think that the early friendship that you and Soleil developed translated into the chemistry between Cherie and Punky that everyone loved?

Cherie: We were,  and still are to this day, best friends. I’m driving an hour and a half tonight because my best friend is close by, and I’m going to see her to have dinner and talk and play and laugh. I think Soleil can have chemistry with a wall,  if you want to know the truth. The girl is just magnetic. There’s something about her. But for me, I was a little bit more shy and quiet and reserved, and I knew nothing about the business.

If I would’ve got the job and not Soleil, I don’t think it would’ve been as believable. Soleil probably could have had chemistry with another little girl who was an actress, but I definitely couldn’t have done it without her.

Remind: Between Punky Brewster and your time as Laura Winslow’s BFF Maxine on Family Matters, you’ve been the ultimate best friend for an entire generation of TV viewers. Do you feel like fans feel like you’re their best friend, too?

Cherie: Yes, absolutely. I never really realized what famous was until I was 35, but I knew I was popular and I knew that a lot of people knew me, but I was always greeted with hugs and love. People are always like, “Let’s go get something to eat.” I’m a foodie so you can get me with food every time [laughs] . But it didn’t matter where I was or where I was traveling. I always had friends in every city, every state, every country. And I kind of feel like I’ve floated through my whole life like that, that I have friends everywhere and I don’t feel like I’ve met a lot of strangers.

Remind: What’s your secret? What does it take to be a great onscreen bestie?

Cherie: I think that there’s a true empathic thing there because, in real life, I actually am the nice girl next door. I don’t think my neighbors would tell you I’m a problem. My lawn is taken care of. I don’t have music on late at night. They get Christmas presents for me. So I think it’s a part of who you are, for sure.

Remind: In just a few seasons, Punky Brewster became a massive phenomenon, spawning a cartoon series, lunch boxes, dolls, you name it. Were you aware how popular the show was while you were on it?

Cherie: Absolutely not. I just knew we were on TV, and I knew that we had traveled with the Just Say No To Drugs campaign, and it took us all over the country, which was cool. We got to go on school tours, but I think I was more excited visiting these schools. I was visiting kids my own age, so I felt like I had friends in these places.

I have the lunchboxes still. We have coloring books, we have novels, we have all kind of fun stuff. My mother kept everything — swimming suits, tennis shoes, skates. I don’t think I ever paid it any attention. My mom said that when I was little, I wouldn’t use the lunchbox. I was using Wonder Woman [laughs].

Remind: Here at Remindmagazine.com, we recently recapped one of Punky Brewster‘s most memorable episodes, “Cherie Lifesaver,” where you are accidentally locked inside of an old refrigerator. Did you and the rest of the team feel like you were doing something special while making that episode, or was it business as usual?

📺NBC Primetime, January 19, 1986:
— On ‘Punky Brewster,’ Cherie nearly suffocates in an abandoned refrigerator pic.twitter.com/lpT48naD0n

— RetroNewsNow (@RetroNewsNow) January 20, 2022

Cherie: We knew that it was serious. They had done a competition where kids had written in to share what was going on in their own lives, and there was a little boy who saved his sister from a similar situation, and he won the competition and we turned it into a storyline.

Going into it, we knew we were learning CPR. Punky was great like that. If we did sign language or danced on the show one week, they really made us take sign language or dance classes. So we had the CPR class and they really taught us CPR.

They wanted to make sure that I was safe in their refrigerator. I remember the first time I got in it, they wanted to just see if I would fit. David Waiter, our stage manager, was like, “You’re not putting her in that fridge.” I was like, “It’s okay.” He was like, “No, it’s not okay.” He made them take the back off the fridge, then he got in and showed me that he was safe inside and had me walk to the back of the fridge before I could get in it.  He was a dad, too.

I definitely didn’t know that I was going to be 49 and people were still going to be asking me about the first episode.

Remind: He probably saved you from a lifetime of subconscious trauma.

Cherie: I’m super proud of that show because it brought so much light to that safety hazard that refrigerator companies changed their processes. Now, even if a child goes inside a fridge, the suction doesn’t pull or lock them in, and you can open them up from the inside. I feel like I did something good. I’m sorry about the trauma that I caused a generation, but there was no trauma to me at all.

Remind: Punky came to an end, but before we knew it, you were back on our TV screens playing Maxine on Family Matters for an unbelievable eight seasons. What do you remember about your first season and how the show evolved over the years, from a grounded family sitcom to a sillier show focused on the outlandish antics of supernerd Steve Urkel?

Cherie: It’s so crazy. I never watched the show and I didn’t really pay attention to the content. If you want to know the truth, once again, I was so excited to do the show because Shawn Harrison (Eddie Winslow’s friend Waldo Faldo) was there. Shawn and I worked together on Punky and then Darius McCrary (Eddie Winslow) and I had the same agent, so I had met Darius at a Christmas party years prior. So I was able to work with him and to be able to work with Shawn, and then there was this cool girl named Kellie (Shanygne Williams, Laura Winslow) who God gave me as another best friend to play with.

I was more interested in the teenage aspect of things because we were growing up. I got boobs on the show. I had my first kiss on the show. The whole dating experience was something I was experiencing on the show before I experienced it in real life. I literally was just growing up and wasn’t really paying the show much attention.

Remind: People are still watching Family Matters every day. Do you still get recognized for it?

Cherie: People still to this day call me Maxine, and they’re like, “Why don’t you answer?” I can’t speak for Maxine anymore because I don’t know what she’s going to say. The writers aren’t telling me [laughs].  I was just doing my job and honestly, I was a teenager and teenage life in Hollywood is pretty cool. You get to do whatever you want. So I wasn’t concentrating on the show. I want to say my lines so that I don’t have to stay late because I want to go see my friends who would sneak me in the club and let me go. I was trying to see New Edition — I got stuff to do! (laughs)

Remind: You’ve had such an amazing career and worked with so many iconic stars – not just your castmates, but guest stars who popped onto your shows. Any standout memories of anyone you crossed paths with?

Cherie: I did a pilot with Martin Lawrence in between Punky and Family Matters called It’s a Bit Strange. The pilot didn’t go. It was like Sabrina the Teenage Witch in Black form. Martin was a warlock, I was a witch, and it was so fun. He told me my first dirty joke. My acting coach on the set was Kim Field’s mom, and Vanessa Bell Calloway was playing my stepmother, who I thought was absolutely gorgeous. Then Martin blew up and became this huge comedian, so I got to be like, “Huh, I worked with you before you blew up.”

Remind: Cool. Anybody who popped onto Punky Brewster or Family Matters?

Cherie: Soleil and I were absolutely positively in love with the DeBarges. Chico was closest to our age, so he actually played with us. We also both fell in love with Andy Gibb.  He came to my surprise birthday party when I was 12.

Then doing Family Matters, there were so many people there. Like Missy Elliot was there, Garcelle Beauvais was there. Tracie Spencer was there. They all played different cousin’s names because my uncle used to name characters after everybody in the family.

Remind: It must have been such a ride, and then everything came full circle in 2021 when Peacock gave us a revival of Punky Brewster, bringing yourself and Soleil together again.  What was it like for you to go back to where it all started?

Cherie: I cried every single day on set. It almost became a joke —”Oh, Cherie’s going to cry” — but I was so thankful because I was 45 years old and still playing with Soleil at work.  As a kid,  you don’t really realize the magnitude of what’s going on around you.

But for my uncle to have created something that’s become kind of iconic, I was so proud of him. And so to watch him at work, I’m crying while watching Soleil be a mom on screen, even though we’re both moms in real life. She had all these beautiful children on the show who kind of represented each one of our kids in real life. It was an emotional thing for me and I felt gratitude more than anything else just to be able to do it.

Remind: The revival has such a  smart way to bring these characters into today’s world and continue their legacies, but then have it relate to a new generation of kids.

Cherie: Absolutely. Cherie came back. I was queer. I had a cute girlfriend and she was amazing. She was new to the show. The kids were new. Freddy [Prinze Jr.], I mean, he’s not new, but he was new to Punky, but he comes back as Punky’s ex-husband. The world didn’t know at that time, but Soleil was kind of going through divorce and in the show she was kind of managing these kids and her ex-husband was in and out, so it was very similar to her real-life experience at the time.

I was so sad when we got cancelled. I really thought we were coming back another season, but the Peacock network was new. There’s people who are still just finding out that we even had the reboot. They had no idea that we were on.  But let me tell you something, I still have hope and I’m manifesting — who’s to say we can’t come back three times? I’m just saying [laughs].

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