‘The Masked Singer’s Lamp Is A ’90s Icon: Why The Show ‘Absolutely Petrified’ Her At First (Exclusive)
‘The Masked Singer’s Lamp was unmasked after going head-to-head with UFO, and the beloved actress reveals why she jumped at the chance to do something that terrified her.
Shine bright, Lamp! Melissa Joan Hart was revealed as the Lamp during Space Night on The Masked Singer. The actress performed “Venus” by Bananarama and then Elton John’s “Rocket Man” for the Battle Royale. Melissa spoke EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife about why she did the show, despite being “petrified” initially.
“There’s something in my life about always saying yes to a challenge,” she said. “I learned as a teenager that I wanted to always have no regrets, and I feel like a lot of our regrets come from things we don’t do as opposed to things we do. Whenever anything terrifies me, I try to say yes, and this was one of those things. I was absolutely petrified. It was something I felt very uncomfortable doing, but I also knew there was no danger. There’s no real danger of me doing this. It’s not like I’m going to lose my career. My husband’s not going to leave me. I’m not going to get hurt, so why wouldn’t I do this? It just seemed so much fun. So many of my friends have done it, and I just wanted to prove to myself that it would be okay, that I could do this.”
The Lamp was one of The Masked Singer’s most unique and gorgeous costumes to date. However, Melissa admitted she felt “very claustrophobic” while wearing the costume. “I could barely see,” she said. “There are so many pieces on you. Everything is covered but your lips. It’s absolutely wild and so exciting and thrilling. I was terrified.”
The actual lamp headpiece was massive and hung over Melissa’s head. The Sabrina the Teenage Witch star explained that the Lamp costume featured a “rod that went down my back, so it was actually wrapped around my waist. It was like a body piece with a rod, so it was fairly balanced on my head. I didn’t really have the weight of it on my head. My head was sort of more there to keep it balanced rather than hold the weight. But then, I had a bodysuit over that and then I had a corset over that and gloves, shoes, and little earwigs. It was just a lot. I’m usually not claustrophobic, but at one point I panicked and was like, ‘I couldn’t get out of this if I wanted to.'”
The mom-of-three revealed she’s “terrible at keeping secrets.” She was able to keep her appearance on the show a secret until her 10-year-old eavesdropped on a conversation between his mom and dad. “He happened to be around to listen to me and my husband talking about which song I was going to sing because he’s a singer, so he became aware of it,” she told HollywoodLife. “I told him, I said, ‘You’re one of the only people that knows what song I’m singing and that I’m doing this, so you have to keep the secret until after it’s on TV.’ He was like, ‘I can’t tell my teacher?’ I was like, ‘You can’t tell your teacher.'”
On top of The Masked Singer, Melissa is also co-hosting the podcast What Women Binge. The Clarissa Explains It All alum revealed it’s been “really exciting” exploring this new medium. “It’s a safe space to just talk with my friends and people I kind of fan out about, having them on, and talking about all different projects,” she said. “I never had a lot of time in my life to really watch TV or get caught up on a lot of movies, and this gives me a good excuse to have to and have something to talk about content every week. It’s been really fun, and it’s just a lovely way to have a conversation.”
April 24 will mark 20(!) years since the Sabrina the Teenage Witch finale aired in 2003. The episode ended with Sabrina reuniting with Harvey and riding away together after she left Aaron at the altar.
“Whenever everyone’s talking about reboots and whatnot, I’m like, Sabrina ended so perfectly,” Melissa said as she reflected on the series finale. “It really buttoned it all up where she’s independent, and she’s making a big decision. She walks away from the altar from a guy that probably is really sweet, and she does want to break his heart, but she knows he’s not right for her. She walks out the door of her own accord and then runs into the love of her life. It’s such a great buttoned-up little ending that I think messing with what comes next… people have fanfictioned it for so long that it will never be as good as someone’s imagination, you know? It’ll never fill everyone’s needs for what came next. I really feel like it was one of the better finales in television.”