How ‘Chewbacca Mom’ Is Taking Over the World

Meet the woman behind the most watched Facebook Live video ever.

Chewbacca Mom, the ecstatic woman with that talking Chewbacca mask, is probably the most weirdly wholesome thing to ever break the Internet. A week ago, Candace Payne was just a regular stay-at-home mom when she went to Kohl’s to return a few things, but then she walked out with a noisemaking Chewbacca mask that changed her life forever. 

Before she even left the Kohl’s parking lot, Candace had recorded a video of herself trying out the mask for the first time, unable to contain her unbridled joy. Here she is:

Payne uploaded the video to Facebook Live just a few days ago, and since then it’s become the most-watched Facebook Live video ever, with over 141 million views and counting. “Worth…. every…. penny!”

Since she became a viral superstar, Chewbacca Mom has been invited on the The Late Late Show With James Corden and Good Morning America, and her video has been given the autotune treatment. Here she is driving James Corden to work — with none other than Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams in the backseat:

And here she is in the James Corden hotseat explaining why she took the video in the first place. “I wanted to prove to my kids that the mask was mine,” she said. And there’s another surprise visitor:

(Also, do you love how she pretty much tells J.J. Abrams to back off because “I need to process?”)

And the media blitz continues, here she is on Good Morning America:

And here’s the autotune version of the original video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7cex-2FxmU

On GMA, Payne said the best part of this experience was hearing from a mom who said her autistic daughter laughed for the first time in two years after seeing the video.

Hey, whether you’re into the video or not, you’ve got to admit that’s pretty great. 

Tags: