7TH HEAVEN’s On-Screen Siblings Are Just Like Family in Real Life
By Movieguide® Contributor
7TH HEAVEN on-screen siblings Beverly Mitchell, David Gallagher and Mackenzie Rosman got together to premiere the first episode of their podcast, “Catching up With the Camdens.”
“I do have to say I have a lot of pride in that I have tried the best I could to stay in touch with everybody through all of the years at some point, like, even though sometimes there’s been distance. What’s great, though, I also feel is magical about us is that when we all come back together, it’s like no time has been lost,” Mitchell said on the podcast Monday.
“But that’s how it is with family. That’s how it should be with family, and I feel like we’re like an extended family,” Gallagher added. “We’ve always been like that. We’ve always thought of each other and treated each other that way.”
As they interacted throughout the premiere, Mitchell took on the familiar role of a bossy older sister, especially to Rosman, who behaved much like the youngest sibling she portrayed in the show. She made fun of how Mitchell talked, lying back on the couch, relaxed, as Mitchell sat with ramrod-straight posture.
Mitchell believes the fact that they really are like family off-set, and after so many years, warms the hearts of fans.
It “is so fun to be able to share with them that this is our truth…We had amazing, fond memories of our experience together and we experienced a lot of life together and then the bonds still exist and are still strong,” she said.
“It is funny and I really noticed that like when we all came together at ’90s Con because that had been probably the longest stretch between seeing one another, and it just felt so comfortable so quickly,” Rosman said.
After so many years, the actors were touched by the fan response they received at ’90s Con in March. They found out the impact of how the show actually helped fans learn English, and how people related to what their characters went through.
“I mean remember there were fans that came from France,” Mitchell said.
“I have a little note that [one French fan] gave me, and it’s still like it’s just beautiful handwriting by the way but so special,” Rosman said. “He was nervous about expressing himself in English, so he had written out a nice [letter]. It was very sweet. It’s so incredible.”
Rosman shared her enthusiasm for the podcast launch on Instagram, “Day 1 in the can!! Soooo excited to be filming our podcast Catching Up With the Camdens! We are trying our hardest to keep our laughter under control, but it’s tough going with this bunch… Many thanks to @beverleymitchell for spearheading this mission and bringing us together! #davidgallagher will be on social soon, so feel free to tag him in anything and everything so that he feels overwhelmed with welcoming vibes and remorseful for not coming on sooner?”
Gallagher told PEOPLE his favorite thing about the podcast launch is that he gets to “reconnect” with his 7TH HEAVEN siblings.
“It’s kind of bizarre…to spend so many hours, days, months, years with people…that they feel very much like your own family. Then, one day it is over and you all go your separate ways. There’s no painful climactic point, just a huge empty space,” Rosman told PEOPLE. “It is the way it works, but a part of it doesn’t feel natural. Reconnecting with these people whom I love so dearly and have shared literally my entire childhood with, feels like the most natural thing on Earth.”
“Honestly, it’s like we never left,” Mitchel said.
Movieguide® recently reported on Mitchell’s performance in SPECIAL FORCES:
While Mitchell has “always had such respect for the military” and been “impressed” by their “resilience,” the actress didn’t fully understand how much they go through until she competed on SPECIAL FORCES.
“I have the most respect for [the military agent trainers], and even when they were hard on us …. everything they say is calculated,” she shared. “There is a reason. If they’re calling us out or even if they call us names or whatnot, there’s a reason. They’re trying to bring us to a space in which we have to truly evaluate ourselves. It’s literally like having a crash course in therapy, but it’s, like, accelerated. It’s very fast.”
Mitchell added that her experience on the show was just a small bit of what actual members of the armed forces go through. She was able to “tap out” and “take a break” when things got to be too much — something members of the military are not able to do.