Soleil Moon Frye has seen the world through many lenses. She's a child star turned actress and documentary filmmaker. She's been to many places in the world and learned a lot from her experiences, but even she found herself not entirely informed when it came to vaccinations and meningitis B.
"So I have four incredible kids, and my oldest is 16. I was talking to one of my dear friends, and she told me about meningitis B, which I really was not aware of," Soleil shared in conversation with LittleThings.
"I really didn't know much about it. And then I started learning about it and educating myself on it. I think so many of us think that our kids have been vaccinated for meningitis from [when they were] younger, and I didn't realize that meningitis B, it's totally different. And one of the age groups that it affects most is 16 – 23-year-olds, which I didn't know."
Soleil opened up about misconceptions about the meningitis B vaccine and her partnership with GSK's Ask2BSure campaign. She also talked about her documentary, Kid 90, and how it all seems through the eyes of a mom of four from ages 5 to 16.
Soleil explained that many parents think their kids are done with vaccines by the teen years, but that's not the case where meningitis B is concerned.
"I think that so often, we think that our kids have already had the vaccination from when they were younger and they go into school," she shared. "So a lot of people think that they've already had that vaccination, not realizing that meningitis B is so different. Four out of five 17-year-olds hadn't even had their first dose of the meningitis B vaccinations based on data from 2019."
Through her partnership with GSK on the public health awareness campaign, Soleil learned the stories of those touched by meningitis B.
"It was a learning process for me, and although it's uncommon, meningitis is a serious illness. One out of 10 will die and sometimes [in as] little as 24 hours," Soleil noted.
"And so learning about that, and then hearing Jamie's story, who's a meningitis survivor, and Patsy's incredible story about her daughter who was getting ready to go to prom and it had her — and within days she was no longer with us. So hearing these stories and then talking to my pediatrician and asking them about it and learning about it was really enlightening."
As part of this campaign, GSK will donate $1 (up to $10,000) for each view of the video featured on Ask2BSure.com through November 25, 2021, to the Meningitis B Action Project. The organization was founded by Patti Wukovits and Alicia Stillman, two mothers who each lost their young, healthy daughters to the illness.
Soleil also opened up about what it was like to have COVID-19 impact her family. Three of her four children contracted the virus in late July, although Soleil and other family members all tested negative. She discussed what it was like to work with nonprofit CORE to bring the vaccine to communities everywhere.
"Some of the work that I'm most proud of, next to my kids, is the work that I'm so honored to be a part of with CORE, the nonprofit that I work with where we do disaster relief," Soleil said.
"Throughout this pandemic we've vaccinated over 1.5 million people and we have done testing of over 5 million people nationwide. I'm so proud of that and to have been a part of it. It was so incredible to be able to see firsthand the work that we were doing. And I felt incredibly, you know, aware and knowledgeable around it."
"Three of my four kids caught COVID, and we don't know where it came from. We weren't able to trace it and don't know how they got it. And I think it's one of those things where, you know, you don't think it's going to happen to you or your family, and then it did," Soleil continued.
"Luckily, my kids are OK. They're thriving and healthy now, but it was definitely scary and surprising. I just think that this time, this pandemic has really, certainly, made me ask more questions and want to educate myself more. Just over the last few years, I think my perspective on things has changed so much from what I've been able to witness firsthand."
Soleil centers her four children (16-year-old Poet, 13-year-old Jagger, 7-year-old Lyric, and 5-year-old Story) in much of the work she does. She opened up about how it's been parenting across those different ages with everything going on in the world.
"It is wild," she laughed.
"The 5- and 7-year-olds are handfuls, and they're incredible and amazing and delicious, and lots of work and in the best way. My 13- and my 16-year-olds are flourishing and just beautiful and amazing. And so — and just so grateful, and I'm so honored to be their mom."
Soleil recently delved into her own teenage years in her documentary, Kid 90. The documentary featured bits of footage that Soleil documented as the events of that decade were unfolding. As a child star, her teen years were filled with other famous faces who were going through the teenage motions and figuring it all out alongside her. Now, as a mom to teenagers, Soleil is grateful for the footage and for her kids' grace in allowing her to explore that time in her life.
"I'm so grateful for my kids because they really, you know, my kids sacrificed so much for me to be able to go on that journey," she shared.
"You know, the documentary has really been decades in the making, and over the last five years, so much of our lives changed, I think because of the documentary and what I went through throughout it."
"Especially my teenagers, to be going through their teen years while I was going back through my teen years, you know, even allowing me the space to do that," she continued.
"It was just really inspiring, and it's been a real journey to relive it all over again."
The footage Soleil shared with the many friends she made over the years, such as David Arquette and Brian Austin Green, was met with a lot of support as Soleil shared what that moment was like for a talented group of kids who still held on to bits of their childhood while navigating a very adult world and industry.
"I think what was so beautiful is just the way in which people supported the documentary and have been so loving toward it," she shared.
"I think we all were so surprised by so many of the gems that were in it," Soleil added.
"It's been just beautiful to see the support. It was really incredible. I was so moved by it."
As for what's next, Soleil has her eyes on making more documentaries, hinting there are a few in the pipeline. Like so many parents, her focus right now is on supporting her kids as they return to school.
"So Jagger just started back, and the boys are starting soon. And yeah, I mean, it's gonna be a wild journey," she shared.
"We'll see. I think we're all just trying to figure out what the world looks like in the future, and also trying to be in the moment. That's my big thing, it's just being the moment."
