Broadway star Ashley Parker Angel (O-Town and “The Masked Singer”) chatted with #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos about venturing from entertainment to the health and wellness space.
American track and field legend Steve Prefontaine once said: “To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” An individual who embodies this quotation in every aspect of his life is Ashley Parker Angel.
Angel recently celebrated Thanksgiving, which he dubbed as his “favorite holiday. “I was in a food coma afterwards,” he admitted. “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, because it’s just all about food, you know?”
High Level Science venture
Most recently, he joined forces with Dr. David Rizik and they launched High Level Science, a medical-grade supplement brand.
On his new venture, High Level Science, he remarked, “It has been amazing! It has been 20 years in the making. I really learned through that process, I learned how to take care of myself and stay in tip-top shape.”
“I immersed myself in health and wellness and fitness years ago. So, after 20 years of that, I decided for the next chapter of my life, to just to go all in on health and wellness,” the former boybander said.
Daily motivations
On his daily motivations, he shared, “I’m inspired right now to be the healthiest version of myself possible. I’m 44 years old, and I feel better than I ever have. Look, I’m so grateful for my entertainment background and my success. I’ve had all these major entertainment wins at a young age. With O-Town, we sold 10 million records, had two hit TV shows, and I’ve ended up nabbing leading roles in the biggest Broadway shows. I’ve done over 2,000 performances on Broadway.”
“After 20 years, to be honest, I was kind of unfulfilled and I felt a little empty inside,” he admitted. “I felt that entertainment is so self-focused. I was at the height of anything I ever thought I would be able to achieve being a kid from the small town of Redding, California.”
“Nobody makes it in entertainment from Redding, California,” he noted. “What do you do when you reach the top of the mountain, so to speak? I wanted to give it back. I wanted to teach people all the things that I learned about looking and feeling their best.”
“You get in your 30s and 40s, and people say, man, I don’t feel the way that I used to. I have low energy,” he observed. “I don’t wake up in the morning feeling good. I always believed in the power of supplements. That’s part of the reason why I created High Level Science with Dr. David G. Rizik, a world-renowned cardiologist.”
“We are seeing people in our culture, in our generation, reading ingredients now. Every study that comes out says ultra-processed food is just terrible for you. The truth is there are also ultra-processed supplements,” he said.
“So much of my frustration was trying to find clean, pure supplements that didn’t add synthetics and artificial dyes and preservatives and fillers and all these things,” he noted.
“So, we created a medical-grade supplement company with Dr. Rizik. He has won three Emmys for three medical documentaries in a row. This guy is a genius in medicine and science. Dr. Rizik does all the formulations. The idea was to just really clear up a lot of the confusion that’s in the supplement space,” he elaborated.
“The truth is a lot of these supplements that you see, they don’t have 20 to 30 years of medical research and science behind them. The idea behind our high-level science is that if we don’t carry it, it’s not backed by medical research and science. We use the medical-grade, purest, cleanest things you can get,” he explained.
Angel on how the partnership with Dr. Rizik started
Angel revealed that he used to have issues with high cholesterol and high blood pressure. “My doctor told me that I would have to go on statin drugs. I didn’t want to go on statins. That’s the story behind how I found Dr. Rizik,” he said.
“I went on a search, where I was searching the country for an expert in heart health. He recommended that I take the supplements in his product. As a result, we created a company to clear up all the confusion around supplements. Dr. Rizik has wings of hospitals named after him. He’s an inventor. He reinvented how certain surgical procedures are done. He has created medical devices,” he elaborated.
“This is not the kind of TV doctor that you see out there being paid something to support or promote a supplement. He designed it with me, and it has been an incredible venture,” he noted.
“We’ve been focused on the last couple years, and the company is just exploding. I went all in on this after 20 years of entertainment because I felt like on stage, wicked, hairspray, whatever it was, I could change people’s lives for an hour or two on stage,” he acknowledged.
“I feel like I can change people’s lives forever through the power of health and wellness and proper supplementation. So, it has just been amazing. I’m so satisfied to be where I am right now,” he added.
Importance of Mental health in the digital age
Angel underscored the significance of mental health, especially in this digital age. “Another reason why I got out of entertainment was for my mental health. Well, honestly, becoming “famous,” and I don’t think of myself that way. I’m just a normal guy,” he admitted.
“I became this product on a shelf. People would see me on TV, or they heard our song on the radio, so I became ‘famous’ to them. People walk up out of nowhere and say that to me,” he said.
“I’m so grateful for that by the way but talking about mental health is such an important topic. More and more artists now are taking mental health breaks,” he admitted.
“When I was going through everything that I experienced in entertainment, I had a lot of people close to me that I saw going down that dark path of coping with the stress, with drugs and alcohol. You can think of all those young performers that crash and burn. I went into health and wellness, and I truly feel it saved my life,” he explained.
“Mental health is the reason why a lot of people experience issues and inflammation. Brain health is so connected to your mood and to your mental health. Our products have Omega-3s, and there are studies proving that Omega-3 supplementation can actually help you overcome depression, outright depression. It’s already a boost mentally,” he elaborated.
“When I started understanding how to do these things and manipulate my own homeostasis so that I could bring myself back to balance, not just physically but mentally, brain health is such an important part of it. I want people to understand how to do it. I started a Health and Wellness community around COVID as well. I got certified as a coach, and I started handing down all the things that I learned,” he said.
Angel continued, “I have people that join my program that are depressed, and they don’t feel their mental health is where it once was. We get them on a program of understanding proper supplementation and some easy, simple things you can do right away to feel better. I used to have people reach out and say, I saw you as Fiyero in Wicked. They would tell me ‘It was the best performance, and I loved seeing you’.”
“Now, I get testimonials such as ‘I went to my doctor, and they’re asking me what I’m doing different because all my health markers are improved. My blood work is better. My cholesterol is lower. I have more energy. Those type of testimonials are where I’m at now, and I’m noticing that a lot of my fan base from entertainment has also followed me in this direction. So that’s been – it’s been really exciting,” he said.
‘The Masked Singer’
Angel recalled his time on “The Masked Singer.” “It was amazing,” he exclaimed. “It actually took some of the pressure off because you’re performing behind a character that you’re playing. I had taken time off. That was the first time I was professionally on stage since I finished Wicked. So I had a break.”
“So, I had to get my stage legs back, so to speak but it was an amazing experience. The judges were fantastic. I played the S’more character, which suits me well, because I love s’mores,” he added.
“I was glad to be a part of ‘The Masked Singer’ family because that show is number one hit. That show is huge,” he said. “I’m so grateful for all of it. I mean, honestly, everything I’ve done has led me to where I’m at now.”
“Rather than go the route of do the reunion tour, I’m pivoting into spreading this message of health and wellness and how people can look and feel their best at any age. There has been a resurgence which has been. It has been catching fire in a way that we didn’t think possible,” he said.
“We just did an amazing partnership with the biggest retailer in the nation to carry all of our supplements, heart, body, and mind, including our ultimate 12-in-1 testosterone formula,” he said.
“We’re super excited because as we come into the beginning of this next year, we’ll be in all these stores across the nation. We only launched about a year ago, and it has just taken off like a rocket ship. It has amazing,” he added.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he revealed, “Optimizing.”
“I want to optimize because I think when people hit 30s and 40s, that’s usually the tipping point where they stop feeling their best. I’m inspired by guys like Mick Jagger, who is 82 years old,” he said. “I saw him with The Rolling Stones bouncing around like a 21-year-old. He runs. He’s into his fitness and nutrition. Cher, an example on the female side, looks amazing at her age!”
“I’m 44 and my whole goal is to be a walking billboard right now for how you can look and feel and perform in any decade. Honestly, I would say this chapter is all about optimizing for—I’m training right now, and I’m living a lifestyle right now to set myself up for how I feel at 60, 70, 80, 90. I want to live to be 180 years old, and I want quality of life,” he elaborated.
Angel continued, “Most people are just missing so many nutrients. These are just imbalances that can be fixed, and that’s why I’m a big believer in understanding this stuff. Again, simple things that you can do in your everyday routine to just start feeling your best. It was an idea written on a napkin, and I built it from the ground up, and partnered with Dr. Rizek. We have an incredible team.”
“My new goal right now is to make high-level science a household name. I want this on the shelves of every single cupboard in America. I want people to understand that there’s simple things that you can do to fix your health, your wellness, your mental clarity, your mood, your energy,” he added.
Success
On his definition of the word success, Angel remarked, “In entertainment, I used to define success where you’re only as good as your last hit movie or last hit song. In my 20s, I got extremely consumed with keeping up with my, quote, success in entertainment. Look, every young person grows up and wants to be famous. You want to get validation.”
Angel continued, “I can make it, and I can be on stages across the world, and I have what it takes, and I’m talented enough,” he noted. “I got there, and I also realized that that can be a vicious cycle of a hamster on a wheel where you’re just constantly chasing validation through entertainment wins.”
“I think there’s a lot of mental health and depression issues in entertainment because of that, because people are searching for validation through that external, that next big movie, or that next big song,” he elaborated.
“I just realized by stepping away from all that, my new definition of success is, how happy are you? I honestly feel a lot happier focusing on health and wellness because I’ve also built that into my lifestyle,” he explained.
“Now, I get to focus full-time on living a health and wellness-focused lifestyle. My mood is better,” he admitted.
“I was depressed in my 20s because I was trying to figure out how to keep up with all of the pressure of being famous at a young age,” he said. “This was pre-social media and that tipping point where the game has changed. Now with social media, people have more access to you than ever.”
“I truly believe that when you become well-known at a young age, I think they should give you a team of coaches and therapists and people to help you understand how to cope with all of it,” he said.
“Honestly, I was depressed chasing validation through entertainment. Now, my new definition of success is ‘how happy are you?’ How much joy are you getting out of life? I think a lot of the joy I get now is also giving back to other people and teaching them, again, all these things that I learned over 20 years.”
“I want to hand it back. I want to give it back to people. I want people to understand the things that I know,” he said. “I have a little more of a quieter lifestyle now, but I love it. Again, I’m super grateful for all the things that I did. I would never change anything about the course of my trajectory to get where I’m at now, but my version of success has changed.”
“People get on that hamster wheel where sometimes people take a job they don’t really love to make money, to buy things, to impress people they don’t even know. It can be a vicious cycle, I think, until you actually step out and really examine what’s going to make me happy in life. It’s going to be doing something I love,” Angel concluded.
To learn more about Ashley Parker Angel, follow him on Instagram.
For more information on High Level Science, visit its Instagram page and Linktree page.
