Gossip Girl has nothing on Tamala Jones.
After all, the Castle alum used to babysit Blake Lively back when the actress was still growing into her traveling pants, Tamala revealed during her latest appearance Tamron Hall Show.
"Long story short, I went to a ton of acting classes and that was on the advice of [actress] Tisha Campbell's mom," she recalled in a sneak peek of the daytime talk show's March 24 episode, published by Entertainment Tonight. "I met a representative who wanted to try me out a little bit, [and] told me, 'I'm going to send you out on auditions.' And that person introduced me to Blake Lively's parents."
At the time, Elaine and Ernie Lively ran an acting school in addition to their flourishing careers in Hollywood. Upon being introduced to Tamala, the couple helped get her professional headshots and enrolled in acting lessons, the 48-year-old explained.
"When they became managers, I was already going to their acting school and I would babysit Blake to attend school because I couldn't afford it," Tamala continued. "Sometimes my mom would bake goods for them if they had a big party."
She added, "If it weren't for Blake Lively's parents, I probably wouldn't be here today. They were highly instrumental in getting me started."
So, what were Tamala's babysitting duties with little Blake? "I was always playing with her," she shared. "I would bathe her. I would read her a story and put her to bed, and then that would be when the acting classes would start."
Of course, time have changed. Since her babysitting days, Tamala has starred on shows such as Dangerous Minds, Veronica's Closet, The Tracy Morgan Show and Rebel.
Meanwhile, Blake is busy raising the kids she shares with husband Ryan Reynolds—including daughters James, 8, Inez, 6, and Betty, 3—in addition to working on many projects. And after the Gossip Girl star, 35, gave birth to the couple's fourth baby earlier this year, you could say that their home has become, well, pretty lively.
As Ryan joked during the Feb. 13 broadcast of CNBC's Power Lunch, "It's a zoo over here."
But that's not to say Blake and Ryan have trouble managing their brood. "Look, we wouldn't do this four times if we didn't love it," the Deadpool actor noted. "Everybody's doing great. Everybody's actually doing fantastic."
He jokingly added, "If we haven't figured it out by now, I think we'd be in deep, deep trouble."