Leslie Fhima has been a dancer, a marathoner, a professional figure skater, a fitness instructor and now, a finalist on the hit reality TV show "The Golden Bachelor."
But on Saturday morning in her Minneapolis condo, Fhima embodied a different role — one that introduced her to the loves of her life.
"Glama!" shouted Sofia, her 6-year-old granddaughter, pressing a film camera to her eye. Fhima, 64, turned her hip, popped her knee and grinned.
A grandma, yes, but one who understands her angles.
Fans of "The Bachelor" have embraced the show's older, softer spinoff, its 72-year-old star Gerry Turner and Fhima, who introduced herself by throwing aside a walker and shapeless nightgown to reveal a short, strapless dress. They've cheered her ability to start a dance party, turned her quips into memes, and spotlighted her Star of David necklace.
This week, during the season's so-called "hometown" dates, fans will get to know Fhima in Minnesota, as a sister, mom and "glama," the term she prefers over "grandma," meeting her three children, three grandchildren and mini Aussiedoodle, Billie.
A clip from the episode, filmed in August, shows Sofia, aka Kiki, and her older brother Jackson playfully interrogating Turner.
"You'd better not hurt my glama," Jackson says. Sofia gives an intense, I'm-watching-you finger point.
On Saturday, between snapping photos and baking cookies and practicing a new TikTok dance, Fhima took time to squeeze each of them. Jax was born 10 years ago, transforming her life.
"We had a sleepover up in the treehouse when you were really little," Fhima told Jackson as the s'mores cookies, which she often baked in the "Bachelor" mansion, were cooling.
"I remember that!" he said, nodding.
"That was the best day of my life," she said, "because you said, 'Glama, this is the best day of my life so far.' "
The show has emphasized the many ways Fhima is no average grandma, or at least doesn't fit the stereotype. Activities with her grandkids include snowboarding, a sport she took up at age 40, and performing TikTok dances, on this Saturday to a yet-to-be-released song. (Her son Zack Chazin is a global tour promoter at Live Nation who works with stars such as Yung Gravy.)
But she insists: "I'm just a normal grandmother," Fhima said. "I'd rather be with my family than anywhere else, creating memories for my kids and my grandkids."
Fhima — then Paster — grew up as the youngest of four siblings. Her dad died when she was 16 years old, her mother when she was 25. So her two older brothers and older sister cared for her.
"And now we care for each other," she said.
A talented figure skater, she took off with the Ice Follies a week after graduating from high school, touring the world. In 1983, she appeared on the cover of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine wearing a hot pink leotard. In 1985, she and David Gray won the national mixed-pair title of the U.S. National Aerobic Championships.
"Leslie's always been a star," her brother Robbie Paster said.
She also dated one. As she shared on "The Golden Bachelor" to much hubbub, Fhima dated Prince when they were in their late teens. They met through the Paster siblings' cousin, Bobby Z., the original drummer in the Revolution.
In 1978, Fhima danced in a fashion show, Paster said. Bobby Z. and Prince were in the audience. And that was that.
"Nobody knew who Prince was then," said Paster, who worked as Prince's valet for a decade.
"We were kids," Fhima said.
The superstar wrote "Sexy Dancer," a song on his second, self-titled album, about her, according to several family members. "Sexy dancer, you got my body screamin'," the lyrics go, before becoming more explicit.
"What a song to have written about your sister," Paster laughed.
Then Fhima met Chazin's father. She split from her second husband, restaurateur David Fhima, in the '90s.
On the show, Fhima has been open with Turner, a widower, about being twice divorced, about being single, about being cheated on.
Five years ago, she and her daughter, Chloe Fhima, were watching "The Bachelor" together. "Mom, you should really go on this show," Chloe said. Fhima laughed: "They're all 25." Maybe, her daughter said, they'll do a version for people your age.
"And I said, 'You'd want to watch a bunch of old people kissing and being in hot tubs?' " Fhima said. "And then here I am, kissing in a hot tub."
During that date, Jewish fans of "Bachelor Nation" delighted in Fhima's Star of David necklace, which she wears daily — on the show or off.
"I'm very proud of my Judaism and my heritage," she said, noting that she couldn't have known, when wearing it, how it would resonate given recent events in Israel. (She often pairs that necklace with one of the globe, reflecting her wish to leave the world a better place for her grandkids.)
During last week's episode, Fhima also led fellow contestants in singing "Hava Nagila" in the pool. Hey Alma, a feminist Jewish culture site, proclaimed it "the most Jewish moment in all of 'Bachelor' history."
On Saturday morning, she pulled back her wavy brunette hair so Chazin could clasp the necklace behind her neck. She'd broken her arm a few weeks before, requiring surgery and a brace. The physical therapist gave her exercises to do three to four times daily.
"And I said to the guy, 'Can I do this, like, 10 times a day?" she said. "Because I'm an overachiever when it comes to exercise."
Fhima was already back to teaching barre sessions, to leading kids' hip-hop classes, to dancing in her living room with Sofia, her mini.
"She lives her life for her grandchildren and for her children and for her clients," her son Eli Fhima said.
Being on the show meant giving up her daily, sometimes hourly communication with her kids. But a few weeks into filming, before her one-on-one date, she talked to Chazin on the phone. When it became clear that the hard time he'd been having had turned into a harder time, Fhima wanted to come home.
But he insisted that she stay: "Her being happy was more important than anything."
"That's a mother's job," Fhima said, bringing a hand to her breastbone, her necklaces. "Once you're a mother, you have to think about your kids before yourself. And even though I felt like, 'Oh, this is my time, I'm gonna do this.' You know? It's just never really been like that."
"And now I have three other little ones to worry about."
She smiled down at her granddaughter, who was drawing a tree, apples, clouds.
