Rose's point of view

I'm the twenty nine year old daughter of Shawn and Y/n Mendes. I have a younger brother, Jake, and a younger sister, Julia. Being the daughter of a famous singer, people are constantly asking me about my life with my dad and what he's like. It got to the point where I asked my parents if it would be okay if I wrote a book about my life. My parents talked about it and said yes. They even read the book before it came out, and they loved it. Tonight I'll be on the Tonight Show with a good family friend, Jimmy Fallon.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome author of the best selling book Growing Up A Mendes, Rose Mendes!" Jimmy said. I stepped out, wearing a red dress, and gave Jimmy a hug.

"Hi! How are you?" I asked.

"I'm good! How are you?" Jimmy asked as we sat down.

"I'm good! This is so weird for me to be sitting here, because it's usually my dad that's sitting here. Or, like, when my mom wrote her book, she was the one that was sitting here." I said. Jimmy nodded.

"Yeah! Can I just say that I remember holding you as a baby?" Jimmy asked. I laughed.

"I have the picture of you holding me at my baby naming at my apartment. I'll have friends over and they'll look at it and be like 'Why do you have a picture of Jimmy Fallon holding a baby?' and I point out to them that the baby is me, and then they ask how I know you. Whenever I get that question I just look at the person and go 'Do you know who my dad is?' and then the realization hits them and they're like 'Ohhhh, okay.'" I said. Jimmy laughed.

"That's great. So what made you want to write a book? I mean, your mom has written a book, your dad has written a book, are your siblings going to write books so it will be a family affair?" Jimmy asked. I laughed.

"Well, I don't know if my siblings will write books. I think if either of them were to write a book, it would probably be Jake. But no, the reason why I wanted to write this book is because people will recognize me and come up to me and say something about my dad's music and then ask what he's like as a dad, so I decided to just write a book and talk about not just my dad but my mom too, and my whole childhood." I said.

"You should just always carry around some extra copies of your book, so that way, if someone asks you what your dad is like, you should just pull out the book and give it to them." Jimmy said. I laughed.

"Oh my gosh that would be hilarious." I said. Jimmy laughed.

"So, I obviously want to talk about your book, which is a great book by the way." Jimmy said. I smiled.

"Thank you." I said.

"Before we get to the book though, I know that this is the reason why you wrote the book, but what's it like to have a legendary, famous singer as a father?" Jimmy asked. I smiled.

"Well that's the thing, to the world, he's a legendary, famous singer, but to my siblings and I, he's just dad. I remember when he was going to go back on tour for the first time after taking a break after him and my mom got married and had my siblings and I, my dad knew that he was going to go on tour soon, so he would spend as much time as he could with my mom, Jake, Julia, and I. He really is such a family man. He always tells us that he doesn't care if he's in a question and answer session or whatever it is, if we need him, call him. I may be biased because I'm his kid, but he really is the best dad, and I also have the best mom in the world too." I said.

"What's your favorite memory from childhood?" Jimmy asked. I thought for a moment.

"Oh gosh, um, I don't know. My siblings and I are so lucky because we have such great parents that gave us such a wonderful upbringing. Um, oh! I remember, I was like, fifteen, so Jake was thirteen, and Julia was eleven, and my dad was on a break from tour. We were sitting at the table having dinner, and my dad looks at my mom and goes 'You know honey, when I'm on tour, you're basically a single mom with a sugar daddy that travels the world.' and I thought my mom was going to choke on her food because she was laughing so hard." I said. Jimmy was hitting his desk because he was laughing so hard.

"I would've paid good money to see that. So, how long have your parents been together for now?" Jimmy asked.

"They've been married for... a little over thirty years, but they've been together for almost thirty four years." I said. The crowd cheered.

"That's amazing." Jimmy said. I nodded.

"It really is. What's amazing to see is, like, I've seen live streams that my parents did together when they were dating, I've even seen their first live stream together because it's on YouTube, and I've seen my parents wedding video which is online, and honestly, you can see just from the videos alone, their love for each other grow. On the thirty year anniversary of the day my dad asked my mom to be his girlfriend, my dad had my siblings and I hold pink tulips, and my dad held a big bouquet of pink tulips, and my mom walked in and when she saw my dad, she literally started crying happy tears and she was like 'What did I do to deserve you?' and it was such a beautiful moment that I was able to witness." I said.

"That's great. So your parents are basically the same way with each other now, than they were when they first got together?" Jimmy asked. I nodded.

"Definitely. They're still just as playful and teasing each with other, and their love for each other, and for my siblings and I, is just so wonderful." I said.

"Now, when you say that their playful and teasing with each other, what exactly do you mean by that?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know how many times I've seen my dad literally pick my mom up and kind of throw her over his shoulder and carry her around the house like that. She'll like, gently smack his back and tell him to put her down as she laughs, and my dad will always look at my siblings and I with a grin and then look around the room and go 'Did you guys hear something? Was it just me or did you guys also hear my wife? I think I heard my wife but I can't see her.'" I said.

"Are you serious?" Jimmy asked as he laughed. I nodded.

"Yes, and then my mom will sometimes say 'Shawn Mendes, if you don't put me down, I'm going to smack your butt instead of your back.' and then my dad puts her down and gives her a kiss and tells her that he loves her, so it's really cute." I said.

"That's great. Now, growing up, did people realize that you're the daughter of Shawn Mendes?" Jimmy asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, and it was a bit hard at times because I remember that kids would tease me and be like 'Oh I bet that your daddy bought you a Ferrari.' or they would be like 'I bet you live in a mega mansion.' and I would go home and I specifically remember calling my dad one day while he was on tour, and I was crying as I told him about it, and he was like 'Whatever you do, don't show the haters any hate. Show them love and then walk away.' and honestly, for a long time, I felt like I was living in my father's shadow. Him and I went for a walk up and down our street one day when he was home from tour, and I pointed at my own shadow, and said 'That's not my shadow, that's yours.' and he asked what I meant and I told him that I felt like I was living in his shadow, and he stopped walking, put his hands on my shoulders and said 'Rose Lucille Mendes, yes, you're my daughter, but you're also your own person. You have to figure out who you're going to be in life, and don't let who your parents or any relatives are, define who you are as a person. You are you, and you're the only person who can decide who you are right now and who you're going to be in the future. Don't let me define you.'" I said.

"Wow. That's amazing. What's the best advice that either of your parents have ever given you?" Jimmy asked. I thought for a moment.

"Um, I think that my dad saying to not let him define who I am, was the best advice that he ever gave me. I think that the best advice that I've ever gotten from my mom, was when she told me something that my dad had told her, which was that you have to love yourself a hundred times more than you already do. I remember saying to her 'Okay, well that doesn't help because a hundred times zero is still zero.' and her eyes went wide and she goes 'That's exactly what I said to your father when he said it to me.' but it really was good advice." I said. Jimmy nodded.

"Now, you and your siblings call your dad's manager, Uncle Andrew, right?" Jimmy asked. I nodded.

"Yes." I said.

"Has he ever told you anything about your parents' relationship that you maybe didn't know?" Jimmy asked. I thought for a moment.

"Yes. He told me that when my mom and dad were engaged, and my mom was on tour with my dad for a little bit, having my mom there was as if they had another security guard there." I said.

"Really? What did he mean by that? Like, was she ready to tackle someone if she had to?" Jimmy asked. I laughed a bit and shook my head.

"No. He told me how fiercely protective my mom has always been of my dad. Of course I already knew that they were protective of each other, but I remember Uncle Andrew saying that if someone were to be mean or rude or disrespectful towards my dad, or if someone were to wrong my dad in any way, they would go on my mom's bad list and that it was very hard to get her to change them back to her good list. He said that one time, my parents were together at an event or something like that, and my mom knew that someone that had said something mean about my dad was there, and Uncle Andrew literally watched as my mom folded her arms, had a very serious, almost angry, look on her face as she looked around the room. Once she spotted the person, she refused to even look in their direction." I said.

"Wow. That's protective." Jimmy said. I nodded.

"Yeah." I said.

"So I know that we keep talking about your parents, and I know that your dad's fans are going to want to hear more stories about your father, but what about your mom? What's a great story that you have about your mom?" Jimmy asked.

"Well, my brother and I are named after some loved ones that passed away before we were born, and from the time that my parents put together our nurseries, up until we moved out, my mom always made sure that like, I had a picture of Aunt Rose and another picture of Gramma Lucy in my room. She did the same for my brother, but of course they were pictures of the men that he's named after." I said.

"That's wonderful. Now, do you ever hear rumors about your parents or anything like that?" Jimmy asked. I nodded.

"Oh of course. I've seen it in magazines that their marriage is on the rocks and it's like, really, because I was just with them and they seemed to be very happy with each other. However, I remember hearing from a family friend that my dad gave my mom the life that she had always wanted. I asked what they meant, and the person said 'Well, your dad likes to randomly buy her new clothes, books, jewelry, things like that.' and I remember feeling upset with that person. My mom doesn't care about the material things. My dad did and still does give my mom the life that she's always wanted, but by that I mean that he's always given her a life filled with laughter and love and happiness. My mom always says that the greatest gift that my father gave her was motherhood, and my dad always says that the greatest gift that my mother gave him was fatherhood." I said.

"That's beautiful. Alright, let's move onto your book." Jimmy said. I love talking about my family, and I'm very proud to have the parents that I have, so I was honestly a little sad when we changed the subject to my book, but that's okay because after the interview, I got the first flight home to Massachusetts and slept in my old bedroom. I love my family.