Brenda Song opens up about choosing fame over Harvard amid her mom's illness

Brenda Song has reflected on choosing between Harvard and starring in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody at the same time when her mother was battling breast cancer.

In a preview of Tuesday’s episode of Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals shared with PEOPLE, the 36-year-old actress talked with host Josh Scherer about an important moment in her life and career.

She said, “I remember, I found out my mom had breast cancer and it was just — I mean, cancer is the scariest six-letter word in the dictionary, because it just means, like, death or unknown. Like, you just don’t know. And I think it just didn’t even hit me.”

It was the time when Song was already acting in movies and TV shows as a child star in the ’90s and early 2000s.

When she was 15, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and around the same time, she was offered the role of London Tipton on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and also got early acceptance into Harvard.

Shedding light on this, The Last Show Girl star explained, “It was the first time in my life that I was like, ‘Oh, this is a crossroads in my life. Like, this is a big turning point. Whatever choice I make is going to change the course of my life.’”

“My dad, who’s a second-grade schoolteacher, was like, ‘You go to college to figure out what you wanna do, and if you want to continue to act, you have a beautiful opportunity to do it, but it can’t be an after-school activity anymore. It has to be your career,’” Song recalled.

She went on to admit that the choice was simple for her, saying, "For me it was like, hands down, this is my dream. There’s no way that I can say no to this."

Notably, Song accepted Tipton's role in Suite Life and starred alongside Cole, Dylan Sprouse, and Ashley Tisdale for all three seasons from 2005 to 2008.

It is pertinent to mention that Brenda Song’s full episode of Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals will be released on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.