# 7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy (An Insider's Perspective) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726 "2013-05-30T17:05:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/1 "2013-05-30T17:05:05Z")
Written by Mara Wilson. She was one of the kids in Mrs Doubtfire, had a recurring role in Melrose place for a season and other acting credits. She makes some valid points in the article. Interesting perspective on her former life as an actor. Here’s short quotes from my three favorites. [http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective\_p2/](http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective_p2/) > [@](#): > > Nearly every teenager rebels. But most of them have about five people they need to answer to when they screw up: teachers, school administrators, and their parents or guardians. > \ > Look at when most teen and child stars committed crimes and had breakdowns. Most were in their late teens, or even well into their 20s. When everyone else their age was getting detention for flipping off teachers or getting grounded for breaking curfew, Disney and Viacom and Fox were doing everything they could to ensure that their adorable little props weren’t causing trouble and costing them millions of dollars. > [@](#): > > (in regards to child actors…like Lindsay Lohan) It’s because she’s been acting all her life, she has little education, and in her mind, there’s nothing else she could do. She’s likely to keep doing it even if she’s making herself – and maybe also the people she works with – miserable. > \ > But most former child stars are proud and sensitive and don’t have much of an education. It’s easier for them to hold onto what they did in their past and make money that way. > > Besides, everyone they know is in the business, and after having people take their money, reject them for their looks, and turn them into a sex object, they’re not going to be especially trusting. The sleazy bastards you know are better than the sleazy bastards you don’t. > [@](#): > > It’s a constant damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation: If former child actors bring up their past, they’re washed-up opportunists shilling for attention. If they never do, they’re clearly in denial. If they say it was fantastic, they’re full of shit. If they acknowledge that it wasn’t always fantastic, they’re bitter. > > There’s not much to do besides accept it for what it was and move on. Child stars who are best off as adults usually do one or two projects, then get the hell out of Hollywood, at least for the next few years. They go to Harvard or Yale (or my alma mater, NYU, which has been called “Where Child Stars Come to Die”) and learn to do something besides act. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/2 "2013-05-30T17:08:49Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Written by Mara Wilson. She was one of the kids in Mrs Doubtfire, had a recurring role in Melrose place for a season and other acting credits. I can’t believe you’re shoehorning the titular character of Matilda into “other acting credits”. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/3 "2013-05-30T17:11:53Z")
I’ve also read that the number of sexual predators in that field would knock your socks off, and that no parent would sign their kids up for this if they knew about it. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/4 "2013-05-30T17:13:14Z")
Thank you for sharing this. I found it very insightful. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/5 "2013-05-30T17:15:13Z")
I never heard of the movie before. I guess that one slipped by me. I’ll keep an eye out on the cable channels. It should pop up occasionally. I have seen Mrs Doubtfire many times. We had it on DVD. > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I can’t believe you’re shoehorning the titular character of Matilda into “other acting credits”. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/6 "2013-05-30T17:39:27Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I can’t believe you’re shoehorning the titular character of Matilda into “other acting credits”. Just watched that again the other night. It holds up pretty well and she’s great in it. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/7 "2013-05-30T17:52:18Z")
> [@Cracked Article](#): > > parents who pray you stay squeaky clean because their children want to be you. This is a very interesting phenomenon. I saw it happen a lot with Miley Cyrus, parents kept expecting her to act like a 10 year old because 10 year olds saw her as a role model even when she was in her late teens. This is frankly a ridiculous expectation, a girl that’s 16-18 should be doing things a 10 year old would never be allowed to. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/8 "2013-05-30T17:53:17Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve also read that the number of sexual predators in that field would knock your socks off, and that no parent would sign their kids up for this if they knew about it. One full section of the article deals with this issue: > [@](#): > > Former child stars Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, and Todd Bridges all went on record saying that they had been sexually assaulted by adult men when they were young, and that there were likely many more child molesters in Hollywood. Actress Rebecca Schaeffer was killed by a stalker after he saw her in bed with a male character in a film and denounced her as “another Hollywood whore.” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/9 "2013-05-30T18:02:47Z")
[Are we sure Mara Wilson didn’t go crazy?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbp2HFm0-iM) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/10 "2013-05-30T18:35:24Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I can’t believe you’re shoehorning the titular character of Matilda into “other acting credits”. I seriously thought “Wasn’t that the star of 'Matilda? Nah, they’d have mentioned it…” > [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Just watched that again the other night. It holds up pretty well and she’s great in it. Very well. It’s often been said that the bad guy makes the movie, and Ms. Trunchbull (Shotput! Javelin! Hammer Throw!) ranks up there with Hans Gruber for great movie villains. “Amanda Thripp! What. Are. _Those_?” “My pigtails?” “Do I allow pigs in my school?” “My mommy thinks they’re cute…” “Your mommy… is an IDIOT. Now lop those off before you come to school tomorrow!” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/11 "2013-05-30T18:35:37Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > This is a very interesting phenomenon. I saw it happen a lot with Miley Cyrus, parents kept expecting her to act like a 10 year old because 10 year olds saw her as a role model even when she was in her late teens. This is frankly a ridiculous expectation, a girl that’s 16-18 should be doing things a 10 year old would never be allowed to. The sad is, this is still happening even though her Disney show is over and she has officially been an adult for two years. About a year ago, I remember some ridiculous “What’s wrong with Miley?” articles because she cut her hair really short and died it blonde. Eventually, people realized it was for a role and backed off, but I think she likes it because her hair is still that way. And a few months ago there was a big :eek: over the fact that she posted on the cover of Cosmo (I think) without a bra. Why should anyone give a shit? Do these people not know what grown ass adult women wear on the cover of Cosmo? Nothing. Every month. It’s kind of their thing. If anything, Miley was being modest. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/12 "2013-05-30T19:47:51Z")
The ones who turn out best (Jodie Foster, Rick Schroder, Alison Arngrim, etc.) seem to come from strong families who didn’t see them strictly as a meal ticket. Even though Arngrim was dealing with a psychotic sexual predator brother, at least her parents cared about her and didn’t just use her to support them financially (during a very lean time for them they asked her if should could help buy groceries for the family, but that was it- there was no getting to age 18 and finding out her money was gone). It would be very difficult to live as a godlike entity in your formative years and then have that taken away from you. Anybody here who was offered the chance to live three years as a member of the Jet Set- limousines and mansions and impromptu trips to Paris and catered parties for 200 people at your home- BUT at the end of that time it all goes away- no more money, no more special treatments, and you won’t be able to sell your souvenirs to live lavishly for more than a few days- I doubt you’d take it, because it’s better to never have it than have it and lose it. There was a scene in the Liberace movie the other night in which Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) goes from a lifestyle of multiple luxury cars and fur coats and rings on every finger and Lear jets when he traveled to working at the 1980s equivalent of a Fed-Ex/Kinkos. It’s a jarring transition. Child stars go through that; even the ones lucky enough to have some money left don’t have the entourage and the people catering to them and the notion they’re super important. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/13 "2013-05-30T20:05:07Z")
I’ve sort of picked up the idea over the years that some female graduates of the Disney and Nickelodeon child and tween idol factories feel when they hit 17 or so they have to make a special effort to prove they’re not children anymore. So, for them, it’s 18th birthday today and a photo shoot for Maxim or Playboy tomorrow to prove they’re adults now. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/14 "2013-05-30T20:07:50Z")
I’ve always felt that the cliché about screwed-up child actors was a bit of an overreaction based on focusing too much on a small sample. Most kids grow up to lead unappealing lives, actors or not. There’s plenty of chain-smoking heavy-drinking party girls in their early twenties, it’s not just Lindsay Lohan. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/15 "2013-05-30T21:03:58Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I’ve sort of picked up the idea over the years that some female graduates of the Disney and Nickelodeon child and tween idol factories feel when they hit 17 or so they have to make a special effort to prove they’re not children anymore. So, for them, it’s 18th birthday today and a photo shoot for Maxim or Playboy tomorrow to prove they’re adults now. Really? I’ve long thought someone in Disney casting had “the sickness for the thickness.” They’re not the svelte people I picture in Maxim photoshoots (okay, I’ve only seen one, it was awful - Rachel somebody in gingham). As Wilson mentions, some of it is simply the typical rebellion of youth, better financed and perhaps delayed until you’re no longer marketable, but also spotlighted by the media. I’d say some risque pub is re-branding - not only is the product no longer a cute little kid, but the audience has aged as well, and they want a new image for a new market. The best way out of the Tiger Beat ghetto, if you’ve a smidgen of talent, seems to be indie films. Johnny Depp, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Leonard DiCaprio, Jodie Foster left teen pin-up careers behind taking off-beat roles in small films and worked their way back up. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/16 "2013-05-30T21:40:30Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > This is a very interesting phenomenon. I saw it happen a lot with Miley Cyrus, parents kept expecting her to act like a 10 year old because 10 year olds saw her as a role model even when she was in her late teens. This is frankly a ridiculous expectation, a girl that’s 16-18 should be doing things a 10 year old would never be allowed to. Yes, it’s bizarre how people who saw these Disney stars as girls refuse to accept the idea that children grow up and become adults. \*Vanessa Hudgens went to the beach! And wore a bikini! OMG what was she thinking! \* She’s not 12 years old anymore, people. She’s 24. She’s five years older than Kate Upton, for God’s sake, and nobody acts shocked when she wears a bikini. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/17 "2013-05-30T21:56:34Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > I’ve always felt that the cliché about screwed-up child actors was a bit of an overreaction based on focusing too much on a small sample. Most kids grow up to lead unappealing lives, actors or not. There’s plenty of chain-smoking heavy-drinking party girls in their early twenties, it’s not just Lindsay Lohan. I think it’s not that more child stars screw up their lives compared to normal people. It’s that they are able to screw up their lives much worse than the average person does, and it’s harder to recover from. Like your average Jane Doe teenager could party and do drugs and alcohol, but it might be difficult to get. But for a child star, people will want be offering it to them easily. Whether it’s people who want to party with a child star, or the star’s entourage who wants to keep the star happy. Also, it’s easier for the average person to get away from their past. Jane Doe could party like crazy in high school and college, but then move to another city and meet people who don’t know how much of a party girl she used to be. With Facebook and other social media it’s harder to escape completely, but still most people who meet Jane would have a blank slate and not know anything about her. But Lindsey Lohan will never be able to start over like that. Even if she became clean and law-abiding and tried to work as a secretary in some town in Wisconsin, people would constantly bother her about her past partying and acting. That is, even if she could get a secretary job- even if she got completely clean, most people would know about her past and not be able to trust her. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/18 "2013-05-30T22:00:07Z")
I have mentioned before that Crispin Glover was a good friend of mine when we were 14-17 years old. His father, Bruce, was a working actor and Crispin wanted to be an actor his whole life. Bruce, knowing what it was like for child actors, wouldn’t let him get an agent or begin his career until he was 16. He made an exception for school drama but that was it. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/19 "2013-05-30T22:08:04Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I have mentioned before that Crispin Glover was a good friend of mine when we were 14-17 years old. His father, Bruce, was a working actor and Crispin wanted to be an actor his whole life. Bruce, knowing what it was like for child actors, wouldn’t let him get an agent or begin his career until he was 16. He made an exception for school drama but that was it. Did you ever ask him about that Late Show (Letterman) incident? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/20 "2013-05-30T22:14:03Z")
He said they were friends _when_ they were 14, not _since_. (Pardon if I’m mistaken in my reading.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726.md?page=2)