While that was just a few years back, it was already a lifetime ago for Rodrigo, who evolves at warp speed. \u201cThe difference between 17 to 22 confidence-wise is really big for me, just knowing who I am and believing in my ideas and opinions.\u201d One of the most outspoken celebrities of her status, she\u2019s never been shy about politics, addressing the Roe v Wade rollback in her first Glastonbury performance, condemning the humanitarian crisis in Palestine to her almost 40 million Instagram followers and, at brunch, brings up my piece about the devastating war in my homeland, Sudan. (After our chat, she buys her own vinyl at a record shop to sign as a contribution for the Freedom for Sudan fundraiser I\u2019ve been organising.) The state of her own country is an enormous cause for concern right now too. She has had to call out the US government for using her song to soundtrack their cruel deportation videos. \u201cThat was awful. Dystopian,\u201d she says, quieter. \u201cThe way that Ice is ripping apart communities and terrorising people is so disturbing. It\u2019s a really sad, scary time.\u201d<\/p>\n
We walk over to where Madison Hu, \u201cmy bestest friend in the whole world\u201d, waits for her. Hu is tall and striking, with a choppy haircut and khaki jacket, and flew over to hang with Rodrigo in London. She has a very nonchalant cool, the opposite of Olivia\u2019s ultra-warm and chatty first impression. They met on an early Disney role: as the two stars of Bizaardvark. \u201cI always say that if I didn\u2019t have her I might have gone a little crazy,\u201d says Rodrigo. \u201cShe knows every part of my life. We\u2019re like sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no exaggeration to say Madison has seen it all. In the audition room, Hu first approached Rodrigo because she thought she looked so nervous. \u201cI was like, \u2018Maybe I should help her out,\u2019\u201d she says, with a small laugh, in hindsight. Back then, Olivia \u201cwas a very deeply anxious child. I think, within her, she still has that, but now I\u2019ll see her in meetings and she has a self-assuredness\u2026 that is really inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, when in the same city, they\u2019ve seen each other pretty much every day and have not gone 24 hours without speaking. \u201cWe treat it like you would a romantic relationship, where you\u2019re like, \u2018I need to see you, and talk to you, and feel connected to you in some way.\u2019\u201d Hu gets choked up recalling the roller-coasters they\u2019ve seen each other through. \u201cThis friendship with Olivia has been the longest, most meaningful relationship of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While that was just a few years back, it was already a lifetime ago for Rodrigo, who evolves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[166984,55025,96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-484748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-april-2026","tag-arts-lifestyle","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}