Bruno Mars shares family joy

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This article was published 24/08/2017 (3003 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three days ago, superstar musician Bruno Mars posted a video featuring two girls busting some moves to Uptown Funk on his Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts with the caption, “Mom and Daughter swag!”

While the “swag” part is definitely correct, the dancing duo are actually sisters Callahan Wiedenhoft, 16, and Cassandra Armstrong, six. They, along with their mother, Nikki Armstrong, and their 13-year-old brother, Christian Wiedenhoft, drove the four hours to Winnipeg from Fort Frances, Ont., to see Mars perform at Bell MTS Place on Aug. 2.  

The video has already racked up nearly two million views across the three platforms.

Armstrong says she noticed the kids being filmed during the concert with a “big, fancy camera” by a man who was obviously part of Mars’s crew but had no idea what the footage would be used for or if they’d ever see it. 

Then a few days ago, Armstrong was scrolling through one of Mars’s fan pages on social media and discovered the video of her two girls.

“My son and little one were home so we were in shock and screaming and dancing around, and Callahan, I knew she was going to freak out the most. She was out at an island at the time and her friends said she literally did laps around the island,” Armstrong laughs. “She was… oh my God, she was crying and, like, this went on for hours. It was so cute.”

In addition to the sheer volume of views, the response Armstrong and her family have received from the video has been overwhelming. Strangers from all over the world have been reaching out to her on social media, complimenting her on her beautiful family and generally sending positive vibes their way. 

“It’s unbelievable to us how one post can literally change her life. It’s the best gift. We’re never going to forget it. The people who have messaged us through Instagram and through Facebook… I can’t even list all the countries — it’s like we’re bonded with all of these people now, like he’s the glue that bonded us. It is so neat,” she says.

But how does the 16-year-old feel about Mars referring to her as a mom?

“Her words exactly were: ‘I don’t care what Bruno calls me, it’s Bruno Mars, he can call me whatever he wants to,’” Armstrong says, laughing.

“It’s funny because in our family, I’m a single mom of these kids and she is such an old soul, she is little mama, and that’s what we’ve always called her.”

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel

A post shared by Bruno Mars (@brunomars) on Aug 19, 2017 at 11:14am PDT