“I had really supportive parents and my friends and social life were not show business people,” Savage, 45, who is currently producing and directingThe Wonder Yearsreboot(premiering Sept. 22 on ABC), tells PEOPLE. “I had a regular life.”
Continues Savage: “The being famous part was never really part of my experience. I was insulated from it. I got to go to the Emmys and be the grand marshal of the Mardi Gras parade and have all these cool experiences, but whether I was famous or not never really registered for me, and I think that was better in the long-term.”
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The Wonder Years.ABC Archives/Getty
“Hollywood nightlife and the trappings of Hollywood weren’t really part of my experience,” he says. “I wasn’t friends with a lot of Hollywood people. I was friendly with them, but that wasn’t my life. I’d be lying if I didn’t say at the time that I thought I wanted it to be! But I had a really full life with great friends.”
Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU/Getty
Now, as the reboot of his beloved series is primed for debut, Savage says he’s reminiscing fondly about his life thus far — and especially howThe Wonder Yearshelped form his career, and change his life.
“People work their whole careers in show business to be part of something that endures and means something to people,” he says. “The fact that I was able to do that at a young age is really special to me. And I look back on it with an incredible amount of gratitude.”
The Wonder Yearsreboot premieres Sept. 22 on ABC.
source: people.com
