INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana woman was a guest Wednesday on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" after a post about a long-lost classmate went viral.
Maggie Pettyjohn, of Bloomington, posted a picture to TikTok featuring the song "Forever Young" by Alphaville, mentioning that it reminds her of a girl she went to school with who was named after the song.
"Every time I hear this song and remember I was in a 2nd grade class with a girl named Forever Young," Pettyjohn posted.
Millions of people viewed the video, including Young, who commented.
"oh my god this is me," she wrote in response to the viral clip.
The exchange caught Clarkson's attention, who brought the women together on her "What I'm Liking" segment on Wednesday's show.
Pettyjohn explained the 1980s song was part of a TikTok trend that got her thinking back to that second grade classroom and the girl who she hadn't heard from in more than a decade.
"I do remember being decent friends with her, so I just whipped out all my yearbooks, everything, took pictures, I posted it on TikTok," Pettyjohn said. "I really didn't think anything was going to happen with it, and I woke up the next day and it had gained over a couple million views, and Forever actually ended up finding it, and we have reconnected and messaged since."
"That's so sweet," Clarkson said.
Young, who now lives in Maine, said she was actually alerted to the video in a Facebook message from a girl her brother went to high school with.
"She said, 'Hey, I recognized your name and think this might be about you.' Sure enough, there was my second grade school photo in the TikTok," Young said. "I remember Maggie so well from elementary school, so I just thought it was crazy that someone that I've thought about has been thinking about me and made that TikTok."
As for a connection to a popular song, Young said her name doesn't necessarily have a connection to music.
"I wasn't really named after anything. My mom worked in a psychiatric hospital, so she had a hard time finding names that she didn't already have some sort of association with," Young said.
"Out of all of the answers that I thought would come out of your mouth, that was not one," Clarkson laughed. "I love you two! I'm so glad you found each other, what a cute story!"
You can watch The Kelly Clarkson Show weekdays at 11 a.m. on Channel 13.
