Confessions from Former Child Stars
Whether you’re an avid movie-goer or just a casual fan, Hollywood is an iconic institution that everyone can appreciate. But, that doesn’t mean it’s without its own faults, and every few years there’s a new scandal that has people questioning how much Hollywood really cares about its actors after all. This is especially true when it comes to child actors.
Over the years, protections have become stronger so child actors can’t have all their money stolen by parents and can’t be coerced to shoot dangerous scenes by directors. But there’s still more work to be done. If you need proof, just take a look at these confessions from former Hollywood child actors and actresses.
Amanda Bynes
We’ve seen a real trend in recent years of high rates of media consumption leading to higher rates of body dysmorphia. Whether it’s the photoshopped models on Instagram, or the stars on TV who don’t eat anything, it creates a bad image for kids. But knowing that, just imagine how bad it gets for the actual actors themselves.
Poor Amanda Bynes once had some garbage director tell her this on a movie set. Not only is this not something she can fix, it’s also the director’s fault for using those lights in the film. Plus, it’s a totally disrespectful thing to say. That guy has no idea what he’s talking about– she’s beautiful.
Hillary Duff
Did anyone do it better than Lizzie McGuire back in the day? No, we’re seriously asking. She was the fashionista supreme, the coolest, and we know more than a few people who had a pretty big crush on her. But, as Hillary Duff has admitted, that was a pretty unhealthy time in her life.
Thankfully, Duff has been doing great recently! She’s a part of a cool moms club of Hollywood’s finest (and most down to earth), and has been getting some great press recently for a magazine shoot she did where she showed off a healthy figure that anyone could be proud of.
Raven Symone
Raven Symone is a groundbreaking actress for so many reasons, but what we really appreciate has been her ability to speak honestly and openly in this second half of her career. After leaving Disney Channel and child stardom, Symone became a fixture on the View, and makes her opinions known whenever she can. It wasn’t always like that though.
In the later seasons of That’s So Raven when she had gained a little weight, we actually felt like some viewers would identify with her character more. But, it’s still terrible that she was going through this while she was trying to make us all laugh.
Macaulay Culkin
When we were kids, almost everybody wanted to be Macaulay Culkin. Those elaborate and hilarious traps he set in the Home Alone movies made us all laugh hysterically, and the life of luxury he gets to lead in those same films would be any kid’s dream. But, as one of the world’s foremost child stars, he also got subjected to a lot of really inappropriate things, and it affected him greatly later in life.
On top of being dragged into one of the Michael Jackson court cases, a film of Culkin’s was pulled from British theaters because the plot too closely resembled a recent local murder. That’s a lot to have to deal with at such a young age.
Jeanette McCurdy
It may not seem this way, but a lot of child stars never chose that life for themselves. The children’s acting careers come from their parents’ desire to become rich and famous, and the child becomes a pawn in a very strange and messed-up game. That’s what happened with iCarly star Jeanette Mccurdy, and her crazy, controlling mother.
In other interviews, Mccurdy has admitted that she didn’t actually see all the money from her early days of acting. Now, with the Coogan Law in place, the same can’t happen to other child actors, but that didn’t help Mccurdy in her early years. It also didn’t help that her mother body-shamed her until she developed an eating disorder, but she’s thankfully doing better now after her mother’s passing.
Mara Wilson
You probably remember Mara Wilson from her child roles more than her adult ones. She played the incredible and lovable Matilda and one of the kids in Mrs. Doubtfire. Frankly, she was America’s sweetheart for a number of years. But, that didn’t stop people from being incredibly gross towards a literal child.
Wilson’s parents tried to protect her, but Hollywood is as oversexualized a place as it gets, and it wasn’t enough. Wilson also had a rough go in her early career when her mother passed away of cancer while she was filming the movie Matilda. Thankfully, Danny Devito (who is one of the greatest men in the history of Hollywood) looked after Wilson during this time while they were working together.
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman was a star very early in her life, and like other child actresses, was being sexualized by the industry at an extremely inappropriate age. Unfortunately, this taught her a dangerous lesson about sexuality and made it very difficult for her to express herself. A recent movie she made, Vox Lux, deals with a lot of these themes.
Thankfully, even though many child actors burn out or get themselves into trouble, Portman has continued to be a prolific actress throughout her career. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that Hollywood has a serious issue with young girls.
Daniel Radcliffe
Everyone became familiar with Daniel Radcliffe in the early 2000s when the Harry Potter movies came out. We watched him grow up throughout this movie series, which spanned ten years. But after becoming familiar to worldwide audiences as one character, Radcliffe discussed how he’s had trouble breaking out into other roles.
A good outlet for Radcliffe became theater, where he could work on the art of acting without having the box office define his worth. And he’s even hinted that he could be convinced to appear in one of the new Harry Potter spinoff movies that they’ve been making, which would be incredible to see.
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan broke out with the film The Parent Trap and hasn’t really left the limelight since. She had a prolific streak in the early 2000s with films like Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, and Herbie Fully Loaded, but that was also a tumultuous time in the young actress’s life, where she had to learn the hard way that no one was going to look out for her but herself.
In later years, these issues compounded themselves and Lohan wound up spending some time in rehab. But, she’s been doing better recently. She shared that she’ll be appearing in two major Netflix projects this year, but she’s also newly engaged!
Haley Joel Osment
The world fell in love with or became incredibly afraid of (depending on how you look at it), Haley Joel Osment back in 1999 when he played a child with supernatural abilities in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. But after becoming familiar with him on their TV screens, way too many strangers felt entitled to approach Osment in public.
Haley Joel’s younger sister Emily dealt with similar invasions of privacy when she was an actress on Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana. Still, he doesn’t think that child stardom guarantees a bad future. He’s gone on to have a successful and fulfilling career– one that’s ongoing to this day.
Christina Ricci
The original Addams family movies in the early 90s were immediate cult hits, and Christina Ricci’s portrayal of Wednesday Addams had audiences going crazy. But, as always happens in Hollywood, that gave audiences this false belief that they were entitled to judge and criticize the child actress, something she, unfortunately, had to come to terms with.
She admits that back in those days she tried to mold herself to be what the media wanted her to be. But after coming into her own, she knows to stand up for herself and be the woman she wants regardless of what TMZ or the Hollywood press has to say.
Cole Sprouse
Cole Sprouse and his brother Dylan were massive Hollywood stars very early in their careers. They’re best known for playing the rambunctious twins Zack and Cody on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life. But, even though these two managed to stay out of the headlines, Cole has admitted that fame still took a toll on him and his brother.
During this same interview, Sprouse actually admitted that he doesn’t think fame is much easier for adults, either. He believes they have better ways of hiding their struggles and easier access to resources. But that doesn’t mean the fixation of so many strangers is any less scary or traumatic for a person to handle.
Molly Ringwald
If you’re a child of the eighties, then you grew up watching Molly Ringwald in just about everything. But it wasn’t an easy road for her to extend her career to the lengths that she has. Hollywood is tough, especially on children, and the constant pressures and rejections can take a toll on a person’s mental health. If she could go back and do it again her family would’ve done a few things differently.
Ringwald has faced an even bigger challenge in reconciling how her films will be viewed under the more critical lens of the present. John Hughes films have held up for some people, but they’re blacklisted for others. That’s a whole other barrel of monkeys to sort through.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus is another child star who practically grew up with the public watching her. When she was only 11 years old she was already filming Hannah Montana, playing a double life on TV and trying to do the same in her own childhood. When she started to act like herself later in her career she was highly criticized by the public.
Thankfully, she seems to be in a really good place these days. Here’s another fun fact about her you might not know: Miley’s first television appearance was on Music City Tonight during one of her father’s interviews, and she absolutely steals the show.
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato had a tumultuous time with their family while coming up as a child actor. Without the Coogan law in place, there was no way to protect Lovato’s money from their parents. Also, most parents aren’t going to have any idea how to deal with bookkeeping or managing that much money unless they were Hollywood stars themselves.
Lovato has been able to move on from those feelings of superiority and is enjoying a resurgence of their career by focusing more on their music. Still, we’d love to see them write a book, or try to pass on some of the wisdom they’ve learned through their years in the business.
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez was a star from a very early age. She got her start on Barney and Friends, along with Demi Lovato. She continued working until she was the star of Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place. But everything was not what it seemed for Gomez, who was struggling with her mental health at the time.
With complications from Lupus and a highly public breakup from pop star Justin Bieber, this was a tough time in Gomez’s life. But recently she’s been keeping herself out of the spotlight and working on herself, which we can’t help but applaud!
Jodie Sweeten
The cast members of Full House were some of the biggest stars in America during the show’s tenure. But for a child actress like Jodie Sweetin, this wasn’t always so easy to navigate. She was practically living an adult’s life before she was even a teenager, but didn’t have any of the resources or coping mechanisms to handle it.
After a particularly rough patch, Sweetin took a break from acting and got sober. Since then she has come back to be a part of the Fuller House TV series, and she even created a number of independent projects during the pandemic. Way to go Stephanie!
Bella Thorne
Bella Thorne has a penchant for making headlines. Whether it’s the avant-garde films she’s producing or her takeover of OnlyFans, people can’t stop talking about this talented young star. From our point of view, we’re just impressed that she was able to mature so quickly and get out of the Disney orbit, as so many other child stars struggle to do.
As Thorne would admit, she’s come a long way since her days on Shake It Off. Now, with her current projects, she’s trying to find artistic freedom while also combatting those strict parameters that were drilled into her as a child star. Thankfully, she has a few different outlets as she’s been singing, directing, and acting over the past year.
Josh Peck
Growing up can be so challenging, especially if you’re stuck in a school with a lot of bullies. Most of us would rather forget those blunder years and completely move on, but for a child actor that’s much harder. Their awkward years are all right on TV in front of us. And, as Josh Peck from Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh points out, that gives strangers a window into a young actor’s life that they really don’t need.
In the years since Drake and Josh, Peck is doing much better than his costar, Drake Bell. Bell wound up becoming a Mexican pop music sensation, and was then arrested and pleaded guilty to child endangerment after a woman accused him of grooming.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Back in his heyday, Tim Allen was the all-American man and the coolest guy on TV. Part of that was because people really believed in and fell in love with his family on the show Home Improvement. A lot of fans gravitated toward Randy, played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
Thankfully, Thomas was able to step away from acting for a while and enjoy the experiences he’d been missing. Later in his life, he decided to give acting another go and appeared on Tim Allen’s new show Last Man Standing. We love the fact that this child star was able to escape Hollywood tribulations and choose his own path through life.
Emma Watson
There are so many people out there who crave fortune and fame. It’s an addictive pursuit, but also can eat people up. Even successful actors have trouble juggling all the responsibilities that fame brings. Emma Watson, who remains one of the coolest and most composed actresses out there, actually spoke about this in an interview.
Thankfully, Watson has channeled a lot of that frustrated energy into philanthropy. She’s a massive proponent of environmental movements and feminism. She’s also a great role model for anyone who wants to see how to handle fame, fortune, and the struggles that come with it the right way.
Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Milano was just 11 years old when she made her acting debut, and she’s stayed in the spotlight ever since. The Who’s The Boss actress has starred in numerous roles through the years and has managed to stay humble through the whole thing. In an interview, she discussed how she’s glad she found acting, but how it also hasn’t been an easy road.
One of the things Milano focuses on in the rest of that interview is the fact that her family is her greatest support system. She calls her mother her best friend, admits that she spends a whole lot of time with her brother and sister-in-law, and talks about how motherhood has made her a more complete person.
Miranda Cosgrove
Disney Channel wasn’t the only place where child actors felt obligated to be perfect individuals. Nickelodeon had a sordid history of hiring and overworking child actors as well, one of whom was iCarly’s Miranda Cosgrove. For Cosgrove, navigating fame while growing up was a huge challenge, and she felt that viewers and fans were depending on her.
Cosgrove also starred on Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh as Megan as the boys’ younger sister. This wasn’t just something she was dealing with as a teenager. Even as a young girl she was responsible for a major piece of a giant show, and struggled with imposter syndrome as she said.
Keke Palmer
From Akeelah and the Bee to True Jackson VP, Keke Palmer’s performances were viewed by many. She showed us that if you set your mind to something anything is possible even for a kid. But in her personal life, she was struggling to find the same peace and found herself working extra hard to cater to others when she should’ve been concerned with her own needs.
Thankfully, Keke developed a thick skin and got comfortable standing up for herself. Her career has continued as she entered adulthood and it doesn’t look like she’s stepping back from acting any time soon. It’s a good thing she learned how to stand her ground when she did.
Alyson Stoner
While many child actors and actresses escape the viciousness of Hollywood, many are trapped in it with no way out. To try to actually start a discussion about this horrifying trend, Alyson Stoner wrote an op-ed detailing all the harrowing things she went through as a child actress. But we’re warning you, this piece is not for the faint of heart.
Stoner discusses how lucky she is to be alive, while also commenting on how messed up the industry can be for kids to participate in. She points out that at the age of six, she had to shoot two auditions in one day, back to back. One of them included some pretty adult themes. No one is going to have an easy time regulating their emotions if that is their job for years on end.
Christy Carlson Romano
If you grew up watching Even Stevens or Kim Possible, then you know Christy Carlson Romano. The child star was a Disney Channel fixture throughout the early 2000s, but went through an incredibly rough patch after her time on the Disney Channel came to a close. Recently, she’s processing everything and doing much better.
She even has a new YouTube channel she regularly uploads to. The videos focus on Romano discussing topics like stage parents, her battles with alcoholism, and the trauma that Hollywood can cause in young actors. Plus, this endeavor allows her to stay at home and dedicate more time to her young daughters, which is a win-win for everyone.
Drew Barrymore
There may not be a more well-documented or horrifying tale of how Hollywood stardom can mess a person up than Drew Barrymore. Nowadays, she’s a wonderful mother, still a talented actress, and a completely different version of the person she was as a young star. It’s been reported that Barrymore was snorting cocaine by the age of 12 and her parents really weren’t there to help her navigate this troubling time.
As Barrymore says, her parents not being around led to some of the struggles she experienced in her personal life. Pretty much her entire teenage years were dominated by substance issues. But, as we said before, she’s now happy, sober, a mother, and remains one of our favorite actresses of all time.
Brenda Song
Brenda Song was a smash hit in the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and audiences loved her just as much in the spinoff series The Suite Life On Deck. Still, this show took up a lot of Song’s childhood. By the time she was sixteen she was already receiving really inappropriate fan mail from people who didn’t seem to understand that she was an underage actress on a kids’ show.
Thankfully, Song’s career has continued on past her Disney days. Before leaving the network she was able to break out from TV and into the movies with The Social Network and also recently starred in the TV comedy Dollface.
Aly and AJ
Aly and AJ Michalka were another Disney duo who got their big break in the early 2000s as singers, actresses, and personalities for the network. Aly was a main character in Phil of The Future, and they both got a big opportunity in 2006 when they starred in their own movie Cow Belles. But after growing up in that environment, the girls needed a pretty long break.
The girls took a ten-year hiatus from music before coming out with another album in 2017. After that, they released a new single and a corresponding music video, which both got rave reviews. Seems like they managed to navigate through spending their youth in the spotlight together.
Jodie Foster
When Jodie Foster was getting her career off the ground, there were barely any labor laws in place to protect children in Hollywood. Those movie sets in the sixties and seventies could be really dangerous places, and no one was looking out for the well-being of the young cast members like Foster. Thankfully, she was able to come out of this period relatively unscathed and go on to have a tremendous career.
We love that Foster has been sharing this kind of wisdom with young actresses now. It’s important for people in Hollywood to uplift each other, and uplift newcomers, so that the entire standard of respect is raised throughout the industry.
Justin Bieber
For those who remember, back in 2010 Bieber released his first single that put him on the map, being loved and hated by millions. But his life wasn’t always berries and cream. As a young songwriter and celebrity, he didn’t have the same life experiences as the rest of his generation.
Unfortunately, the more popular he got the harder it was for him to stay a “normal” child. He moved from Canada to America at the age of sixteen and had to say goodbye to all his friends, family, and everything he knew and loved. Furthermore, the life of a star is far from normal, and for Beiber it was challenging.
Christina Aguilera
When we were kids, some of us definitely wanted to be like Christina Aguilera. She had it all: beauty, fame, and an incredible voice. Plus living in luxury from such a young age is something many people aspire for. But like many former child stars, she experienced the relentless and fast pace of adult acting after spending her youth in the spotlight.
As an adult, she had her fair share of scandals and controversies, ranging from public intoxication and substance abuse. After rediscovering her old childhood diaries she understood the importance of staying humble and reflecting on your actions, especially for young people dealing with fame.
Rivkah Reyes
Not many can say that at the age of eleven they got to perform alongside Jack Black in one of the greatest movies of all time. Reyes has been performing since the early age of four when they picked a guitar for the first time. Being that young and living the celebrity life wasn’t a walk in the park for Reyes.
Especially when they got back to “normal life” and had everyone in school knowing who they were. The worst part about it is having people either love or hate you based only on one film you made. You’d think fame would make a kid popular, but that’s not always the case.
Beverly Mitchell
Many child actors who saw great success in their early works struggle to shake it off later in their careers. The best example would be the Harry Potter trio, every time we see them in a new movie the first thought that crosses our mind is who they played in the franchise. That isn’t great if you want to evolve and grow in the industry.
Similarly, when Beverly played Lucy Camden in 7th heaven, everybody loved her, some couldn’t get enough of her. When she tried to move on to other things she was met with disdain from her fans who only wanted to see her as the third Camden child, and second daughter of the family.
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes began her career as a country songwriter who rose to fame at the early age of 13. Can you imagine being that young and having to deal with all the hardships of having a career, managing money, and having millions of people look up to you? LeAnn seems to have a complicated relationship with her fame.
It’s not surprising that when she was 30 she checked into a mental health facility after years of struggling with anxiety and depression. Now, after she regained mental control over herself she tries to help others through her podcast “Wholly Human” where she talks about mental health and how to cope with it.
Joe Jonas
Joe rose to fame alongside his two brothers after forming the band The Jonas Brothers. Eventually, they began to work with Disney, creating the documentary Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream. His fame would increase further after appearing in Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. The single This is Me, his first release outside of The Jonas Brothers, sold 900,000 copies, proving he had star power on his own.
For some, working for the biggest companies in the world might seem like a dream, but for Joe and his brothers, it definitely had its downsides. Since the company strives to make movies that are suited for all ages, it’s hard for actors who stay there for a long time to break out of the Disney Kid mold.
Todd Bridges
If you’re a child of the seventies, you probably grew up watching Todd in Diff’rent Strokes as Willis Jackson, one of the adopted sons from Harlem. Although the show itself was hilarious and heart-warming, Todd’s life wasn’t. As a child actor, he had to deal with many things most other kids don’t until they are much older.
From a publicist who tried several times to seduce him and force him to do things he wasn’t comfortable with, to being held at gunpoint by an officer, Todd had a really rough childhood. As an adult, it seems Todd has come to terms with his past and has a healthier relationship with his fame.
Wil Wheaton
Some of you might recognize Will from the decade-long comedy The Big Bang Theory, where he plays himself, a happy and successful actor admired by many. But his life wasn’t always easy, his career started when he was only seven years old and you can imagine how stressful that can be.
Most of us think that acting is an easy job, you go to the studio, have some fun with your celebrity friends, cash your hundred thousand dollar check and go home. But the reality is that acting is the same as any job, you have responsibilities, stress from trying to do the best work, and bosses who yell at you. That’s not something a 7-year-old is prepared to deal with.
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood grew up in the public eye. When she was only seven years old she appeared in several films while also having an occasional appearance on the TV series American Gothic. The people who worked with her cared more about her performance than her well-being, which you can imagine is very problematic for a child.
Young actresses often fall victim to corrupt individuals in the industry, Wood had to deal with people trying to groom and shape her into the person they wanted her to be. An experience like that can seriously stunt someone’s growth. That probably explains why she takes measures to keep her son out of the spotlight
Elijah Wood
One of the biggest problems of child acting is exposure to the adult world. It’s no secret that Hollywood has some dark secrets that involve indecent and criminal activity. This is especially dangerous for children who can easily succumb to manipulation by adults. Child actors need a strong support system to navigate the industry.
Luckily, Wood’s mother was always around protecting him and preventing him from going to the type of events that are inappropriate for children. Thankfully, he seems to be in a really good pace these days and his career is going stronger than ever. He managed to handle his childhood stardom and move on to bigger acting projects.