Chewbacca Mask Woman: 'I am a Follower of Jesus Christ'

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Candace Payne, who recently rose to stardom due to her live Facebook video laughing while wearing a Chewbacca mask, said that the secret to her joy is having a relationship with Christ.

Buzzfeed’s Alex Kantrowitz interviewed Payne while she was in San Francisco visiting Facebook’s headquarters, which she was invited to do after her video received over 137 million views. 

Kantrowitz asked Payne about the joy she shows in the video to which she responded, "When you really know who you are, you don't have to impress anybody ... you can laugh at yourself, and it's OK.”

"It's tough for a lot of people to get there. So what do you think helped you get there?" Kantrowitz asks as a follow-up question.

Payne then held nothing back and revealed that she is a follower of Christ: 

"I have unashamedly said from Day 1 that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. And I think sometimes, we have painted a broad paintbrush on Christians to think that we're very narrow-minded, that we're bigoted, and that we're haters. And that's really not who we are.”

"But the truth is that my relationship with Jesus Christ has completely made me who I am because He's told me who I am,” she continued. “ And once you know that you're loved by God – and not just a god, but the God that created everything – your whole life changes. You don't have to impress anybody else, because you've got the one opinion that matters."

Payne, along with her husband and two children, are involved in their church, and Payne has been involved in leading worship since she was 14 years old. 

"We have a heart for our local church and just being obedient to God in the way we raise our kids and love our friends," Payne told the Christian Examiner.

See below for Payne's interview with Buzzfeed.

Photo courtesy: Candace Payne Instagram

Publication date: May 26, 2016