AJ Michalka Recalls Breakup With Ex Joe Jonas Over the Phone

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This is a potential breakup confession.

AJ Michalka recently shared details about her breakup with Joe Jonas, which happened when they were both teenagers. She explained that they ended their year-long relationship amicably.

When asked about rumors that Joe ended their relationship with a quick phone call—something Taylor Swift previously claimed he did when they were together—AJ clarified that their breakup wasn’t unpleasant.

I remember when things ended with him, and thankfully it wasn’t over text! We actually had a phone call, which I really appreciated. It was a surprisingly sweet and friendly breakup, honestly. I know it sounds a little strange considering everything, but it felt really mutual and we both just knew it was time. It wasn’t dramatic at all, and I’m grateful for that.

AJ shared that she and the singer of “Cake By The Ocean,” whom she dated in 2006, first connected while on tour. She and her sister, Aly Michalka, opened for the Jonas Brothers during their Living Room Tour, and that’s where their relationship began.

She explained that she and her first boyfriend became close while touring together. “That’s really how our relationship began,” she said.

Okay, so things with AJ and Joe are… complicated, but amazing! She’s actually been with Josh Pence since 2017, which makes me SO happy for her, but she’s talked about how she and Joe will always be friends, and honestly, that just warms my heart. It’s just so good to know they still care about each other, even with everything. I’m living for this friendship!

AJ explained to People magazine that despite their romantic relationship, he and his partner share a lasting friendship. He noted they began dating as their music careers were starting, creating a unique bond that others might not fully grasp, which he finds special.

She also talked about how wonderful it’s been getting to know Joe as an adult, especially since they both share young children – 5-year-old Willa and 3-year-old Delphine – with his ex-wife, Sophie Turner.

The Aly & AJ member shared that he’s become a father and continues to be a hard worker with a great sense of humor. She also noted how genuinely kind he is, which she found really nice to see.

Keep reading to see more Disney Channel stars then and now.

Clayton Snyder first became known for playing Ethan Craft in the Hilary Duff comedy series. After that, he stepped away from acting to finish school and played water polo at Pepperdine University. While he did appear in an episode of NCIS in 2014, he now works in real estate.

He’s still happy to talk about his time as a young actor. He told TopMob News that sometimes clients recognize him while he’s showing them houses, and they’re surprised to find out who he is. He actually appreciates this, because it proves they chose him for his real estate skills, not just his past fame. He sees it as a nice combination of both worlds.

Adam Lamberg is best known for playing Gordo, Lizzie’s close friend and eventual boyfriend, in the popular comedy series. Following that role, he appeared in the films When Do We Eat? and Beautiful Loser. He also pursued higher education, earning a bachelor’s degree in Geography from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Baruch College. While he was scheduled to reprise his role in the Lizzie McGuire reboot, he has largely stepped away from acting.

Lalaine, who played Miranda Sanchez on Lizzie McGuire, saw her career stall after she had to leave the show and the 2003 movie due to filming commitments for the Disney Channel movie You Wish!. She tried to launch a music career, but it didn’t take off. A planned sequel series, What’s Stevie Thinking?, which would have focused on Miranda’s younger sister, only filmed a pilot episode. In 2007, she was also arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine, but the charge was later dropped after she completed a court-ordered rehab program.

While she had a small role in the 2010 film Easy A, Lalaine is now more visible on Instagram than in movies or TV shows. She did appear in the film Definition Please, which was released in 2020.

Jake Thomas is best known for playing Matt McGuire on the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. He continued acting after the show, appearing on Cory in the House and guest starring in popular dramas like ER, House, Criminal Minds, NCIS, and S.W.A.T. He also acted in the web series Storytellers with YouTuber Joey Graceffa.

In 2018, Jake graduated from Cal State University, Northridge, with a degree in Screenwriting and a minor in Japanese. Today, he shares his photography and nostalgic photos from his time as a child actor on Instagram.

Oh my gosh, Camilla Belle! I still remember when she first popped onto my screen in Rip Girls – that DCOM was everything! She was so amazing, and then she kind of disappeared for a bit, which was heartbreaking, but then she came back with When a Stranger Calls and 10,000 BC and I was SO thrilled! And can we talk about Joe Jonas?! They were so cute together after meeting on the “Lovebug” video set – it was a short-lived romance, but it even inspired a Taylor Swift song – “Better Than Revenge” totally calls her out! Since then, she’s been doing a lot of really cool indie films like Open Road and Diablo, and even worked with James Franco on The Mad Whale. And most recently, I was so excited to see her pop up in Dollface and Law & Order: Organized Crime! She’s just incredible and I’ve been following her career ever since Rip Girls!

After finishing his role as Max Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place in 2012, Jake T. Austin quickly landed a leading part on The Fosters (originally on ABC Family, now Freeform). He played Jesus Foster for two seasons before leaving the show and being replaced by Noah Centineo. He then competed on Dancing With the Stars, but was the first contestant eliminated in season 23. Austin also provided voice work for The Emoji Movie (2017) and the thriller Adverse (2020), which starred Mickey Rourke. Although he wasn’t in the first season of the Wizards of Waverly Place continuation, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, fans are eager to see him appear in the upcoming second season.

Since the show ended in 2012, David Henrie, who played Justin Russo, has taken a different path than some of his co-stars. He didn’t appear in the follow-up movie, The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex, but has been in films like Grown Ups 2 and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.

He married Maria Cahill, a former Miss Delaware, in April 2017, and they had a daughter, Pia Francesca Philomena Henrie, on March 19, 2019. Around the time they announced they were expecting, Henrie was arrested at LAX for allegedly carrying a loaded gun in the airport. He apologized for the mistake and received two years of probation and 20 days of community service.

Now a father of three, he’s rejoined Selena Gomez as an executive producer and star in the new Disney+ spin-off series, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.

Jennifer Stone is known for reprising her role as Harper Finkle, best friend to Alex Russo, in The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex. She also appeared in the Lifetime thriller High School Possession (2014) and as the Babysitter on Nickelodeon’s Deadtime Stories. In 2013, Stone was diagnosed with LADA, a form of autoimmune diabetes sometimes called Type 1.5, and she used her film The In-Between to raise awareness about the condition.

 

Jennifer and Wizards costar David DeLuise both host the rewatch podcast Wizards of Waverly Pod. 

 

Feeling nostalgic? Mia Talerico was just 10 months old when she started playing Charlie Duncan on the Disney Channel show Good Luck Charlie, which first aired in April 2010. After the show ended in 2014, she appeared in 13 episodes of the YouTube series Mani as Paige. She’s also active on YouTube herself, creating videos where she unboxes and reviews toys.

Bridgit Mendler, known for her role as Teddy Duncan on Good Luck Charlie, took on more mature acting roles after the show ended. In 2015, she joined the cast of the NBC comedy Undateable for two seasons. Since then, she’s made appearances in a few television shows like Nashville and the Netflix movie Father of the Year, and starred in the Netflix series Merry Happy Whatever alongside Dennis Quaid and Ashley Tisdale.

Beyond acting, Mendler is also a musician, having released two albums. She’s dedicated to her education as well, studying anthropology at USC before pursuing graduate studies at both MIT and Harvard Law School. Recently, she and her husband, Griffin Cleverly, adopted a four-year-old son and launched Northwood Space, her own tech company focused on building ground stations for satellite communication.

Since the last Cheetah Girls movie came out in 2008, Raven-Symoné and Adrienne Bailon-Houghton have continued to be well-known through acting and hosting. However, Kiely Williams, who was also in the group 3LW, has lived a bit more privately.

After appearing in The House Bunny in 2008, Kiely had roles in a few films – Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale and Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming in 2010, and Holla II in 2013. She married Brandon “BJ” Cox in December 2016, with Sabrina Bryan from Cheetah Girls as a bridesmaid. As a mom of two, Kiely briefly returned to television in 2017, appearing on Celebrity Family Feud with Sabrina as part of the Girl Group team.

Following the 2008 release of Cheetah Girls: One World, Sabrina Bryan worked as a correspondent for TopMob News during the eighth season of Dancing With the Stars in 2009. She had previously competed on the show, finishing sixth three seasons earlier. She returned to compete as an All-Star in season 15 in 2012, but was again eliminated in sixth place, exactly five years after her first elimination, despite receiving perfect scores.

Beyond Dancing With the Stars, Sabrina did voice work for the Disney Channel animated series Fish Hooks. In 2011, she and Kiely Williams launched a web series called Dinner With Friends. She married Jordan Lundberg, a strategic accounts manager, on October 6, 2018, after dating for nine years. Currently, she’s tapping into the nostalgia for Disney Channel Original Movies with her iHeartPodcast Magical Rewind, co-hosted with Will Friedle.

Ryan Merriman first gained popularity starring in Disney Channel Original Movies like Smart House in 1999, followed by roles in The Luck of the Irish (2001) and A Ring of Endless Light (2002). He then moved into more mature roles, appearing in horror films such as Halloween: Resurrection, The Ring Two, and Final Destination 3. From 2010 to 2014, he played Ian Thomas in 16 episodes of the series Pretty Little Liars, and he had a supporting role in the 2013 Jackie Robinson biopic 42. He continues to act, primarily in independent films.

Merriman married Micol Duncan in 2004, but they divorced in 2011. He announced his engagement to Kristen McCullen on January 1, 2012, and they married in 2014.

Kirsten Storms became a popular face on Disney Channel from 1999 to 2004, starring in the Zenon movies, Johnny Tsunami, and providing a voice for Kim Possible. She also began a four-year role on NBC’s Days of Our Lives in 2000, marking her move towards more mature roles.

After a brief attempt at a primetime series with the 2004 CBS baseball drama Clubhouse, she returned to daytime television in 2005, joining General Hospital as Maxie Jones and staying with the show until 2023 – appearing in over 1,100 episodes!

In 2011, she briefly appeared in the reality TV series Dirty Soap, which followed the lives of soap opera stars. In 2013, she and her General Hospital co-star, Brandon Barash, revealed they had secretly married in June and were expecting a baby. Their daughter, Harper Rose Barash, was born in January 2014. The couple filed for divorce in April 2016, citing irreconcilable differences.

Erik von Detten became a teen idol in 1998 with his role in the Disney Channel movie Brink!. He stayed busy after that, lending his voice to the animated series Recess, playing John Bryant in The Princess Diaries, and starring in the Disney Channel series So Weird from 1999 to 2001. He even ventured into early reality TV, competing on the first celebrity season of The Mole, and appeared in short-lived shows like Dinotopia and Complete Savages. More recently, he reprised his role as Sid in Toy Story 3, a character he first played in the original Toy Story in 1995. Today, Erik works in sales at a finance company and is raising two children with his wife, Angela.

Raviv Ullman first became known for playing Phil Diffy in the Disney Channel series Phil of the Future from 2004 to 2006. As he grew older, he took on roles in shows like Big Love and House, starting to use his real name, Raviv, for the first time in House in 2006. He then became a series regular on the Lifetime comedy Rita Rocks from 2008 to 2009. More recently, he appeared in an episode of Broad City in 2015 and had a recurring role in the web series Strangers in 2018. Between 2012 and 2018, he also performed in several stage productions, and from 2013 to 2014, he was the drummer for Zoe Kravitz’s band, Lolawolf. In 2022, he told TopMob News that he had just finished directing an opera at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Kimberly J. Brown became well-known in 1999 for playing Marnie Piper in the popular Disney Channel movie Halloweentown, alongside Debbie Reynolds. The film was so successful that it led to three sequels, but surprisingly, the network chose to replace Brown with Sara Paxton in the fourth movie, Return to Halloweentown (2006). That film is generally considered the weakest in the series.

Outside of Halloweentown, Brown’s acting roles have been relatively few. She appeared in the 2005 film Be Cool, a few episodes of AMC’s Low Winter Sun (2013), 15 episodes of General Hospital in 2021, and almost 50 episodes of Guiding Light.

After earning a business degree in college, Brown opened an Etsy shop called CraftilyCreative, where she sells various items, including merchandise inspired by Halloweentown. She also co-authored a Halloween-themed children’s book, Poppin’s Pumpkin Patch Parade, with Diane Yslas in 2016.

Disney fans were thrilled when she married her Halloweentown co-star, Daniel Kountz, in April 2024.

Mitchel Musso gained popularity from 2006 to 2011 playing Oliver Oken, best friend to Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), on the show Hannah Montana. As Hannah Montana ended, Mitchel’s career with Disney was looking bright – he landed the lead role in the new series Pair of Kings and also hosted PrankStars. However, his progress was halted when he was arrested on October 17, 2011, and charged with driving under the influence while underage (he was 20 years old). As a result, he was removed from Pair of Kings and PrankStars was canceled. Following this, he worked on independent films and provided voice work for the Disney XD series Milo Murphy’s Law. In 2023, he was arrested again in Texas for public intoxication and theft.

Jason Earles, known for playing Miley Stewart’s older brother Jackson on Hannah Montana, was surprisingly much older than his character – he was 29 when the show started and 34 when it finished, despite the character being written as a tenth grader. Right after Hannah Montana, he starred as Rudy in the Disney XD comedy Kickin’ It for four seasons, until it ended in March 2015. More recently, since 2018, he’s been on the Brat series Hotel Du Loone, available on YouTube, and joined season three of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. He married Katie Drysen in August 2017.

Kyle Massey first became known for playing Cory Baxter on the Disney Channel series That’s So Raven from 2003 to 2007, which led to his own spin-off show, Cory in the House, that ran until 2008. Since then, he’s appeared in various roles, including recurring parts on The Electric Company and voice work on animated shows like Fish Hooks and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also competed on Dancing With the Stars and Celebrity Family Feud.

In 2018, reports circulated that Massey would join the cast of The Hills: New Beginnings, but he later confirmed these rumors were false.

In 2021, Massey was charged with a felony related to communication with a minor. His lawyer stated the charges were a resurfacing of previously dismissed allegations and that Massey believes they are an attempt at extortion. The lawyer indicated Massey intends to vigorously defend himself against the accusations and pursue legal action against those spreading them, seeking a dismissal of the charges.

A.J. Trauth started his career with roles as Twitty on Even Stevens (2000-2003) and as Josh Mankey on a few episodes of Kim Possible. He then appeared as a guest star on popular shows like 7th Heaven, House, Ghost Whisperer, CSI, and Bones until 2012. More recently, he’s been in several independent films and provided voice acting for the video games Wolfenstein: The New Order and its sequel, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. A.J. got engaged to actress Leah Pipes in February 2014, after dating for nearly three years, and they were married that December. However, they later divorced by 2019.

Christy Carlson Romano first became well-known for her roles as Ren Stevens in Even Stevens and Kim Possible. She also starred with Hilary Duff in the Disney Channel movie Cadet Kelly. In 2004, she transitioned to Broadway, playing Belle in Beauty and the Beast for 31 weeks, and later joined the cast of Avenue Q in 2008.

Beyond acting, Christy is a multi-talented artist. She wrote a novel called Grace’s Turn in 2007 and directed the film Christmas All Over Again in 2016. She also earned a Film Studies degree from Barnard College and married writer-producer Brendan Rooney on New Year’s Eve 2013. They have two daughters, with the youngest born in February 2019.

In 2019, Christy returned to the network that launched her career, appearing in the live-action Kim Possible movie as Poppy Blu. That same year, she bravely shared her personal struggles with depression and alcohol in a revealing essay for Teen Vogue, admitting that despite her successful image, she faced difficult times and sought ways to cope with how she felt.

Oh my gosh, Brandon Baker was Johnny Tsunami! I still remember when that DCOM first came out in 1999 – he was Johnny Kapahala! It was amazing. After that, he didn’t do a ton, just little bits here and there – a few episodes of Even Stevens, and then some more grown-up shows like Boston Public and The Unit while he was going to college at UC Santa Barbara. But then… THEN! In 2007, he returned as Johnny in Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board! It was a dream come true! And get this – he’s been in two indie films since then! The Formula with Reginald VelJohnson (Carl Winslow himself!) and Up on the Wooftop where Dennis Haskins – Mr. Belding! – played Santa! Seriously, it was perfect casting. I’ve been following his career ever since!

Alana Austin became known in 2001 for her role as Andi Carson in the Disney Channel movie Motocrossed. The film follows Andi, a talented teenage motocross enthusiast who disguises herself as her injured twin brother to compete in races.

After Motocrossed, Austin appeared in a few television shows like 7th Heaven, Boston Public, and Cold Case, but she stopped acting in 2006. She went on to study medicine at USC, and later shared with a fan on Twitter in 2016 that she was focused on writing, though she still cherished her time as an actress.

Kay Panabaker first gained recognition on Disney Channel with a role in Phil of the Future. She continued to appear in several Disney Channel Original Movies, including Life is Ruff and Read It and Weep, and even competed on the Disney Channel Games in 2006 with her sister, Danielle Panabaker. While she later took on more mature roles in the 2009 film Fame and the 2011 TV series No Ordinary Family, she decided to leave acting by 2012. She then pursued her passion for animals, studying zoology at UCLA and eventually working as an animal keeper at Disney’s Animal Kingdom starting in 2016.

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2026-01-10 23:21