A North Texas mom's Facebook live video of herself laughing when putting on a Chewbacca mask went viral during the weekend visited NBC 5 to talk about her sudden rise to fame.
"I was just being a stay at home mom, running some errands, really, nothing more than that," Payne said during a recent visit to NBC 5.
Grand Prairie's Candace Payne has been on a whirlwind media tour thanks to the wildly popular video that received more than 146 million views and more than 3 million shares as of Wednesday morning. [[380492891,C]]
"It's the giggles that you can't stop," Payne explained.
Payne found the mask at Kohl's, which sold out of the masks nationwide.
"Well, I was trying to find yoga pants and I didn't really find any that worked for me. so, that's another story. I ended up going to the toy section and thought, you know what, I'm here, I'll just get something for the kids, you know how mom's do, you don't buy for yourself, you buy for the kids."
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That's when she literally ran into the mask.
"I'd seen it, all the time. but I bumped against it and it made the noise. I didn't even realize it made noise," she said. "I picked up the box and I'm looking at it and I'm thinking I need this, like for me, need this, my kids don't need it, I need it."
Kohl's thanked Payne for the publicity giving her more masks for her kids, "Star Wars" toys and $2,500 in gift cards. They even gave her 10,000 rewards points for her birthday.
The 4 minute video catapulted Payne to instant celebrity status.
North Texas actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the "Star Wars" movies, called Payne's video "absolutely wonderful" on a Reddit post.
Payne even met "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams on the show.
Her love of Chewy continued during her trip to Facebook's headquarters where it all started. [[380878431, C]]
Mark Zuckerberg invited Payne to meet the real Wookie. The two visited and even rode bikes around the Palo Alto campus, which Zuckerberg posted on Facebook. [[380878321, C]]
Through it all, Payne remains humble.
"I love the love that I'm getting but I'm really not attaching myself to this idea of fame because its so fleeting, it is a flash in the pan," she said. "I just know that what has happened has not been lost on me. I appreciate every single moment of it."
