In a surprising Where Are They Now update: actor David Joyner’s career has transitioned from Barney & Friends to owning and operating a tantric massage practice.
Though he was the character actor for the lovable purple Tyrannosaurus rex from 1991 to 2001, these days, Joyner works as a tantra massage specialist and spiritual healer, according to a recent interview with Vice.
Joyne’s massage practice has around 30 clients — or “goddesses” as the 54-year-old describes them – and charges around $350 a session which helps his “goddesses” release energy and balance their chakras.
He even admitted that both jobs share a specific similarity – how to handle the heat.
A practice most people know of thanks to famous practitioner, singer Sting, tantra is a meditative approach to sex and healing.
But it is not just about sex as, according to Joyner, his tantra training helped him through the long days on set when temperatures could reach 120 degrees inside the 70 lbs. costume.
“A lot of the elements of Barney were a lot of the things I was training with in tantra,” he said, adding, “I always said it was never an accident, and that I was meant to do this character.”
Though it was actor Bob West who gave voice to Barney, it was Joyner who expressed the character’s joyful exuberance.
“The energy I brought up [while] in the costume is based on the foundation of tantra, which is love. Everything stems, grows, and evolves from love,” he said.
Stephen White, who was the head writer of the Barney franchise from 1992 to 2005, told Vice that he learned about Joyner’s new career like everyone else, but isn’t entirely surprised.
“I did know David was a very spiritual guy, very positive guy—he radiated energy. He was a positive person to be around,” White recalled.
Adding, “I thought it was an interesting transition for Barney. It’s kind of still the ‘I love you, you love me’ deal, but different.”
After 10 years of playing the children’s TV show icon, Joyner moved to Los Angeles and continued acting. He appeared on Shameless, That ’70s Show, ER, 24and The Young and the Restless.
But he’ll never forget the role he played for a decade.
“Barney was beautiful,” he told Business Insider in June. “Barney was very, very good to me. I loved being Barney. I loved everything about being Barney. But that chapter is gone.”