Nine years after a spontaneous Facebook Live made her famous, Candace Payne says it took time to understand who she was beyond the “Chewbacca Mom” moment. In a 2025 interview, she recalls the unexpected attention, the need to protect her family’s privacy, and the work of caring for her well-being.
How Candace Payne’s Chewbacca video began
In 2016, Payne had bought a Chewbacca mask at Kohl’s. She says she was trying it on and had only a few minutes before picking up her children when she started a Facebook Live to share a laugh with friends. She did not expect the video to reach a mass audience; the interview describes the post as spontaneous, not a planned campaign.
The interview identifies the item only as a Chewbacca mask bought at Kohl’s. It does not establish a specific model, so the mask in the video should not be equated with any current listing.
What happened after the video went viral
The PEOPLE interview, republished by Yahoo Lifestyle, describes Payne’s video as Facebook Live’s most-watched video of 2016. It gives no view count or underlying platform measurement, so that description is best understood as the interview’s account of the clip’s reach.
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Payne’s sudden visibility brought high-profile appearances and references. The interview recounts an invitation to appear on Carpool Karaoke with James Corden and J.J. Abrams, and notes that the 2018 animated film Ralph Breaks the Internet included a “Chewbacca Dad” reference.
Why privacy became a boundary
Payne says the attention was disorienting, especially as she learned how widely a public post could travel. Recalling the Facebook Live settings, she told PEOPLE: “I didn’t even know that privacy settings were a thing that you could switch from public to private.”
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She says she had to establish boundaries around her family’s privacy as attention grew. Her account presents that adjustment as part of living with sudden online visibility, rather than as a change that happened all at once.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How Payne describes life nine years later
In the interview published in 2025, Payne says it took about nine years to understand herself beyond the viral persona. She described that process this way: “I know it’s proverbial, but it has taken me about nine years to ‘unmask’ and to really figure out who I am behind that moment to where I am healthy, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.”
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Her advice is to avoid letting online comments dictate personal well-being: “Don’t read the comments, and you don’t need to worry about anybody else but yourself. And I really do mean that.” These are Payne’s reflections on her own experience, not an independent clinical account.
The interview also says Payne and her husband had recently celebrated 24 years of marriage at the time of publication. Her retrospective shifts the focus from the viral clip to the longer work of defining herself outside it and protecting the life she shares with her family.
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Read the PEOPLE interview republished by Yahoo Lifestyle (May 4, 2025).
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