Moon Unit Zappa recounts bizarre date with Woody Harrelson: I thought it was ‘perfectly normal’
By Nicki Gostin,
2024-09-05
Moon Unit Zappa, the daughter of musician Frank Zappa, says she was “conditioned” to believe a bizarre date she once had with Woody Harrelson was “perfectly normal.”
The pair, who went on a handful of dates after being set up by Michael J. Fox in 1989, were out for a meal when Harrelson used her finger to remove food stuck between his teeth.
Moon described being a human toothpick in her new memoir, “Earth to Moon,” but exclusively tells Page Six she wasn’t at all bothered by the unsanitary behavior.
Moon Unit Zappa, pictured here in with Woody Harrelson in 1989, once had a very strange date with the actor. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images According to Moon, Harrelson once used her finger to remove food from between his teeth. WireImage The pair went on a few dates during Harrelson’s stint on “Cheers” in the late ’80s. Getty Images
Moon says growing up with her famous father — who was known for his bohemian lifestyle — made her think the unusual moment was just “what quirky artists did.”
She adds that on one of their first dates, her father blew his nose into her mother’s skirt.
“I was conditioned to think that was perfectly normal,” she explains.
A rep for Harrelson, 63, did not immediately return our request for comment.
Moon, who described the date in her new memoir, tells Page Six she wasn’t bothered by the bizarre moment. AP Moon, the daughter of famous musician Frank Zappa, became an instant star at 14 when she appeared on her father’s song “Valley Girl.” Getty Images
Moon, 56, became a star at age 14 when she appeared on her father’s hit single “Valley Girl.” The song featured Moon’s “valley speak,” popularizing expressions like “grody to the max” and “gag me with a spoon.”
Her book briefly mentions the hoopla around the novelty song, but mostly centers on her dysfunctional childhood and often-fraught relationships with her parents and siblings, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva.
“This really is a story about feeling like a fish out of water in your home and in the world and I think it’s a chance for women to examine their projections,” she explains to us.
Her memoir details her tumultuous childhood with her father and mother, Gail Zappa. Getty Images Moon wrote about her mother changing Frank’s final wishes regarding his estate. Getty Images
Moon wrote in her memoir, which came out Aug. 20, that following her father’s death in 1993 at the age of 52 from prostate cancer, her mother, Gail, disregarded Frank’s final wishes regarding his estate.
Instead of it being split up evenly, Gail gave Ahmet and Diva control of the Zappa family trust with shares of 30 percent each, while Moon and Dweezil were each given 20 percent.
“I could never reconcile the actions that were taken in the name of my father but not doing his wishes,” she tells Page Six.
“The thing is it’s not the money,” Moon explains. “It’s not the stuff, it’s that I had a mother that at the end of her life, she wished two of her children well and two not so much.
“I had a mother that at the end of her life, she wished two of her children well and two not so much,” Moon tells Page Six. Getty Images Moon remains estranged from her siblings, but has recently started speaking to her brother Ahmet again. WireImage
“That is something as a parent that I cannot comprehend and it’s taken me a long time to get bigger than her final word.”
Gail died in 2015 at the age of 70.
Moon, who shares a daughter with ex-husband Paul Doucette, has been estranged from her siblings for many years but says that the “door is always open,” although relations seem to be improving with Ahmet.
“We just did a podcast and he actually read the book and he really loved it,” she happily adds.
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