"Where you lead, I will follow..."

Okay, is it just us or does that song play in your mind just about every time you think of Lauren Graham? It doesn't even matter the context in which we think of her, either. That song just automatically plays in our mind and we immediately think of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, talking at a super speed with cups of coffee in hand at Luke's diner.

But, the thing is, there is a whole other world to the life of Lauren Graham. Before and after she played the super woman otherwise known as Rory Gilmore's mom, the actress lived a very full and interesting life. From being a lover of the arts in all of its forms to how she was raised as well as her romantic life, Lauren Graham is a bonafide star for many reasons. One of these reasons being that she is just completely lovable and relatable (which makes for some of our all-time favorite celebrities).

15 She was raised by her dad

If you were a long time Gilmore Girls fan (and let's face it—since you're here, that is very probable), you might have wondered over the course of that show how Lauren Graham herself was raised, since she plays the coolest mom ever.

As a child, she was actually given what she called "the best of both worlds" as after her parents' divorced at the age of five, she was raised solo by her dad (until he remarried about 10 years later). She describes their times together as "a lot of fun." This is similar to the relationship between Rory and Lorelai, as she would just tag along on whatever outing her dad had planned (like going to the theater, museums and restaurants).

14 She rode horses competitively

That's right—acting was not the first love of Miss Lauren Graham when she was a youngster. There's definitely something to be said for those who have a love of horses. Lauren didn't just have a love of horses, though, she took it that one step further and actually stepped up on those huge, beautiful beasts and went for a ride!

Before she caught the acting bug, she spent some time riding horses competitively as a teen. And if you ride horses, you know the full dedication that comes along with that equestrian passion—you definitely have to be comfortable with cleaning out the stalls as well, which Lauren had no trouble doing. This one is a trooper from way back, folks.

13 She waited tables in NYC

There is something so comforting about Lauren Graham. We can't tell if it's just her natural ability to mother or the fact that she is just so darn relatable and didn't just stumble upon instant success in her chosen career of acting.

Just like the many actors that came before her (and are bound to come after her), she moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting. But (again, like many fellow actors), she didn't find jobs right away, so she waited tables to support herself. In another life, she could have put that backwards baseball cap on and played Luke with a coffee pot in her hand just fine!

12 She played one of Jerry's girlfriends on Seinfeld

Similar to lovely ladies such as Teri Hatcher, Debra Messing and Lori Loughlin, Lauren Graham is just one of the many young actresses who got their start playing the love interest of none other than everyone's favorite NYC comedian of the '90s, Jerry Seinfeld.

When did she appear on the show and who did she play exactly, you might ask?  Well, she appeared on a charming episode called "The Millennium," which was very "of its time" (which all Seinfeld episodes come off as now). She played his girlfriend named Valerie who would rank Jerry lower or higher on her speed dial at home depending on how the date went. And let us tell you—the girl killed it.

11 She dated Matthew Perry

Um, yeah. You're not hallucinating or dreaming. You didn't drink eight cups of coffee and now your eye is doing that weird twitching thing. These photos of our girl, Lauren Graham, with none other than Matthew Perry (AKA everyone's favorite friend) exist because they actually dated!

Before you get too excited, it was just a brief relationship in the year 2003 (so, if you think about it, Lorelai Gilmore and Chandler Bing pretty much dated as well). Luckily, though, they remained good friends, as Graham actually guest starred on two of Perry's short-lived sitcoms years later. But, the fact that two of our ultimate faves from our most beloved television shows had an actual relationship is pretty freakin' cool.

10 She has a British half sister

We're not sure about you, but for us, it's always super interesting to hear about the interesting familial ties our favorite celebs have because it gives us insight into where they came from.

So, we all know that when Graham was a young child, her parents divorced and she lived with her father afterwards, but you may be wondering what exactly happened to her mother. Well, from that point, her mother moved to the U.K. and remarried. From there, of course, we give you Lauren Graham's British half sister. Just learning that takes us back to our days of watching Mary Poppins or even Harry Potter and wishing one of our siblings was charmingly British (we weren't the only ones wishing that, were we?).

9 The woman's got brains

We feel like we already knew this in our heart of hearts. Seriously, you can't play the complex role of Lorelai Gilmore and go at it with heavyweight actors like Kelly Bishop (playing your estranged mother, for Pete's sakewithout having some serious brain power underneath that gorgeous head of brunette locks (also, serious hair envy with this one too, while we're on the subject).

Graham graduated from Barnard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature (really, a love of books doesn't surprise us one bit). And then taking her education even further (and bringing it back to acting as well), she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting Performance from Southern Methodist University in Texas.

8 Unlike Lorelai Gilmore, she can cook!

So, we are all well-aware that her character on Gilmore Girls was a world champion eater, but in the kitchen, let's just say her greatest skill was organizing the take-out menu drawer (see the episode, "Teach Me Tonight," as it actually shows Lorelai doing just that).

But to contrast the pizza loving and take-out addict is the true Lauren Graham, who actually admits that one of her favorite ways to spend a free weekend is "cooking for friends."  To top that off, she actually sounds like a bit of a health nut too (but she does live in California, so that kind of goes without saying), as she loves to stay active and even make her own soup with kale!

7 First season Lorelai Gilmore was extra motherly

So, picture this. You've just been cast in a show to play a young, hip mother who is best friends with their 16-year-old daughter and the young actress playing your look-a-like daughter is pretty fresh to the acting game.

If you've sat down and watched at least one episode of Gilmore Girls from the first season (and beyond), you would notice that whenever Graham and Bledel's characters are walking around, they are usually physically linked in some way. And in their first season of the show, Graham actually would put her arm around Bledel (which didn't seem weird at all, since they were so close) to make sure she knew where to walk and where to go. Like, could she be more of a sweetheart?

6 Graham is a published author

To further her career even more and prove that there's nothing she can't do, Lauren Graham also became a published author of not one, but two books!

The first book was a novel called Someday, Someday, Maybe, which was published in 2014. It is a fictional piece about a struggling young actor trying to make it in New York City (sound familiar?). It debuted to reviews that called it "charming," "sweet" and totally "fresh" (not unlike Graham herself). And earlier in 2016, her book of personal essays came out entitled Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (And Everything in Between). So, if you're looking to delve even deeper into the mind of the this fast-talking spitfire, you have two incredible ways to do it!

5 What is the actual deal between her and Scott Patterson?

If you were a fan of Gilmore Girls, chances are you have heard the very disturbing rumor that Lauren Graham and her co-star Scott Patterson (who played her character's love interest) were not as chummy as they appeared to be on-screen.

But, to be honest, we have a very hard time believing that to be true. First off, the amazing chemistry between these two co-stars kind of speaks for itself. Also, during an interview with Us Weekly earlier this year, Patterson even admitted to having a "crush" on his co-star back in their pre-Netflix days. So, for us, being people who so want to believe in the true magic that is Luke and Lorelai, we just can't bring ourselves to fully believe that nasty rumor!

4 Parenthood wasn't her original plan after Gilmore Girls

We're not sure if you know this, but working on a television series is actually a lot of work. So, after her long stint on the beloved Gilmore Girls came to an end after seven seasons, Graham wasn't really looking to dive right into another TV series.

Due to some casting difficulties, Jason Katims (producer of our favorite emotional Texas football team drama, Friday Night Lights) came along with NBC's Parenthood. Even though Graham never planned to star in another drama (especially one where she would be playing another single mom), she found a connection to the material and the ensemble and decided to take that leap (and we are so very glad she did as along came one of our favorite television dramas of all time).

3 She found love on Parenthood with co-star Peter Krause

If this isn't a lesson of finding love in the most unexpected of spots...actually, now that we think about it, just about every actor in Hollywood finds love on set. So, way to fit right into that trend, Lauren!

All jokes aside though, for Graham and her co-star, Peter Krause (who played her brother on the show), a deep friendship connection found its way into something romantic as the two simply couldn't stop talking about all the things they loved, like "books and family." And from there, she just had a new understanding and appreciation of love and life and how it can be so completely random when things like that come together so beautifully. Sigh.

2 Mae Whitman is pretty obsessed with her

When it comes to young actors who you'd want to play your daughter on TV, Lauren Graham really couldn't have been luckier. On Gilmore Girls, she had such a natural chemistry with Alexis Bledel that was there right from the pilot episode. On Parenthood, things couldn't have felt any better with veteran actress, Mae Whitman.

After the show came to an end in 2015, Whitman felt such a bond to her TV mom (and the rest of the cast) that she cried for days. Years later, she still calls Graham one of her best friends and even had a small cameo in the Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life revival on Netflix.

1 Graham has a fear of karaoke

There's something so human when you discover one of your favorite celebrities is scared of the same kinds of things that downright terrify you. When you think about it, it is a really weird thing that our society does: puts the people that we like to watch on television and movies up on some weird pedestal that makes them feel like they're not just like us (even though they are, at their core).

And for the lovely Lauren Graham, her kryptonite would be singing karaoke. And we really couldn't be more proud thinking of how she kind of conquered this fear in a way on Gilmore Girls, when she professed her love to Luke again by singing a song towards the end of the series.