NEED TO KNOW
Elisa Donovan was an *NSYNC hater who ended up dating one of the band’s members during the height of their fame.
Donovan, best known for playing Amber in 1995’s Clueless (and the TV series adaptation), opened up about her time with *NSYNC on the Aug. 11 episode of Pod Meets World. Podcast co-host Danielle Fishel (who played Topanga on Boy Meets World) famously dated Lance Bass.
Donovan, 54, said that “for many years” she didn’t talk about her time with *NSYNC, but now she shares “all” of what happened. Fishel, 44, asked her how she ended up meeting *NSYNC and their five members — Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Bass.
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“They did an episode of Clueless,” Donovan said. The Clueless TV series ran for three seasons, from 1996 to 1999, with Rachel Blanchard replacing Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz. Near the end of the third season, *NSYNC performs at Cher’s 18th birthday party.
“The studio said ‘This is a really big deal. These guys are coming out,’ ” she remembered. “And I was just like, ‘Right. Are you kidding me? These little boys? This, like, boy band?’ I was literally making fun of them before they got to set.”
But once they arrived, her perspective immediately shifted. “They’re super professional. They’re really kind. Incredibly talented. And I was like, ‘Oh, I’m the jerk.’ ”
Donovan started “hanging out” with the group right away. “Joey and I started dating,” she added. “That was under the radar.”
PEOPLE has reached out to Fatone’s team for comment about their relationship.
Donovan said it was overwhelming to go to their concerts and that she remembered spending time with Fishel when she would visit Bass, 46.
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“I remember going to the show at the Staples Center or something in LA, like one of the big venues,” Donovan said, noting she came a few hours early at Fatone’s insistence. “I get out of the car, and I am swarmed as if I am one of the Beatles, you know? And they were just like, ‘She’s going in to see them!’ ”
The level of fan devotion, she said, was “wild.” She also remembered going out dancing with the band at a bar where they wouldn’t get mobbed by fans, and that the group stole the VHS of the movie Clue that she had rented.
Dating Fatone, 48, is how Donovan ended up in the music video for “Thinking of You (I Drive Myself Crazy),” which was released in 1999. In the video, the five bandmates are in a mental institution, and flashbacks show how they all remember the girl they dated before. In Fatone’s storyline, he kisses another girl in front of Donovan, who slaps him.
Donovan and Fatone recreated this moment at ’90s Con in 2023.
Nsync/Youtube
Fishel wasn’t in the video, she said, “Because Lance had just broken up with me.” But Fishel was on set during filming, and Donovan had assumed that she just didn’t want the attention from it. She noted she was the first girlfriend any of the bandmates had that they were “allowed” to talk about publicly, and that Bass had talked about her on a late-night show.
Bass broke up with Fishel shortly after they went to prom together, but still invited her to the music video shoot, where she brought him copies of their prom photos.