If your mom stars in Frozen, you have the coolest mom ever, right?! Not so fast. Idina Menzel hilariously shared with Ryan Seacrest in-studio on Tuesday, December 3, that her 10-year-old son, Walker, still gets embarrassed by her — but, he did throw her a compliment for Elsa’s role in Frozen 2.
“He’s totally into basketball and hates mommy singing … you know how parents sing and kids get embarrassed? He’s embarrassed of me even though I’m a really good singer,” Menzel shared with Seacrest while chatting about her holiday plans with her family. “… He came to the premiere with me of Frozen 2 and normally when I’m going into school with him he holds my hand until he sees a buddy and then he drops it — that’s this year’s new development — but at the premiere, he was holding my hand the whole time!”
In fact, Menzel shared that she scored rare approval from her pre-teen at the Frozen 2 premiere.
”He was very territorial and so the next day I said, ‘Honey, I’m just curious, you were holding mommy’s hand a lot?’ And he said, ‘Well, I was a little overwhelmed and also I wanted people to know that you’re my mommy because they were all acting like they knew you,’” she adorably recalled. “And he turned to me in the premiere and was like, ‘Bad ass.’”
Elsa’s role in Frozen 2 is indeed bad ass. The beloved Disney character and Queen of Arendelle faces an epic adventure in the sequel alongside counterpart Anna and as Menzel teased, Elsa lets her hair down and ditches her corseted dress for a pair of athletic leggings, fit to fight off whatever gets in her way. The feminist approach to the classic Disney “princess” or “damsel in distress” is also what Menzel applied when it came to her new Christmas album, Christmas: A Season of Love.
The songstress explained to Seacrest that she recruited the talent behind the Frozen soundtrack, The Lopez’s, to pen a feminist Christmas song in regards to Mrs. Claus titled "A Hand for Mrs. Claus" featuring Ariana Grande.
“I felt like it needed girl power and I met Ariana at the Wicked reunion show that Kristin Chenoweth and I were hosting and she’s such a sweetheart and then I just begged her to do this and she did it while on tour,” Menzel shared of the collab. “She found the time so I’m totally indebted to her. … She would constantly text me little things like, ‘How’s this?’ And then send me line-by-line [like], ’Is this OK? This medley? This harmony?’ I was like, ‘I do not care! I’m so glad you’re singing on it! Just do your thing! I love you!’ [She would send] little MP3s — so sweet.”
The entire album, which Menzel wanted to feel “nostalgic jazzy,” features a bevy of talents including Frozen costar Josh Gad, Billy Porter, and even her husband Aaron Lohr.
Watch back the full interview to hear more from Idina, who is also performing at the “Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting” on NBC at 8pm ET and hosting “A Home for the Holidays with Idina Menzel Christmas” on December 22nd on CBS at 9/8c.
Stream Christmas: A Season of Love now!