# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**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, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/21 "2013-05-30T22:16:33Z")
I saw that. He might have limited contact after. haj is rather cool, ya know… ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/22 "2013-05-30T22:42:32Z")
The Harry Potter movies kids all seem to have turned out mostly okay so far. Thank heaven for that, because as an adult HP fan I would have felt seriously guilty if our greed to see the books’ events played out live had resulted in screwing up some poor kid’s existence. ---
**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, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/23 "2013-05-30T23:17:20Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Did you ever ask him about that Late Show (Letterman) incident? We lost contact when his career took off and I went away to college. No one believes me but I assure you that he wasn’t on drugs or having mental issues. He was playing a character, one that he had started to develop when we knew each other. It was an ill advised move for sure but he was always a weird kid. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/24 "2013-05-31T00:22:47Z")
I always kinda got the impression that Glover had a screw or two loose when he refused to reprise his part in Back to the Future 2 & 3 - even though he MUST have known that his character would be needed. And then he pitched a fit when they recast him and tried to make the new character look as much as him as possible (since they were cutting in old footage from the first BttF)… It’s almost like he willfully WANTED to disrupt production on a mega-million dollar movie, just 'cause he could! ---
**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 31, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/25 "2013-05-31T00:44:00Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > We lost contact when his career took off and I went away to college. > > No one believes me but I assure you that he wasn’t on drugs or having mental issues. **He was playing a character** , one that he had started to develop when we knew each other. It was an ill advised move for sure but he was always a weird kid. Yeah, I can believe that. I’ve heard stories of other actors doing that. Thanks for the reply ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/26 "2013-05-31T01:10:25Z")
When Matilda came out, the theatre I was a manager of, (Lincoln Square in Manhattan) held a premier. She was there. She was sick. She had fever. (poor thing) I wanted her parents to take her home. I got her some juice. She seemed like a very normal kid to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/27 "2013-05-31T01:11:31Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > The Harry Potter movies kids all seem to have turned out mostly okay so far. > > Thank heaven for that, because as an adult HP fan I would have felt seriously guilty if our greed to see the books’ events played out live had resulted in screwing up some poor kid’s existence. I don’t think I’ve ever read any interviews with the HP kids, but I’d guess that their experiences differed from a lot of child stars in that they were working steadily with mostly the same group of people – including other children their own age – for about ten years. So that seems like more professional stability than most child stars (or grown up stars, for that matter), plus a real group of peers to socialize with. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/28 "2013-05-31T01:37:24Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [Are we sure Mara Wilson didn’t go crazy?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbp2HFm0-iM) Doesn’t seem crazy to me. Evil, sure, but since my daughter seems to constantly play _The Nostalgia Critic_’s videos, and especially considering the horrifying things he said about Lilo & Stitch\*, he deserved it. And Mara sells herself short comparing her looks to Lindsey Loahan’s: She’s quite attractive, especially when she is evil. > [@epbrown01](#): > > I seriously thought “Wasn’t that the star of 'Matilda? Nah, they’d have mentioned it…” No, she was the star of _Miracle on 34th Street._ But not _Prancer,_ it turns out. - - Critic (shudder) LIKED it. Especially the warm but realistic relationship between Lilo and her sister. This is not why I watch him. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/29 "2013-05-31T01:45:44Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever read any interviews with the HP kids, but I’d guess that their experiences differed from a lot of child stars in that they were working steadily with mostly the same group of people – including other children their own age – for about ten years. So that seems like more professional stability than most child stars (or grown up stars, for that matter), plus a real group of peers to socialize with. Daniel Radcliffe, for one, seems remarkably well-read for his rather haphazard later education, and has the As on his three A-Levels to show for it. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/30 "2013-05-31T02:16:38Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > No one believes me but I assure you that he wasn’t on drugs or having mental issues. He was playing a character, one that he had started to develop when we knew each other. It was an ill advised move for sure but he was always a weird kid. I never doubted that. What I always wondered was whether Letterman was also playing along. ---
**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 31, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/31 "2013-05-31T02:38:12Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I never doubted that. What I always wondered was whether Letterman was also playing along. Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/32 "2013-05-31T02:50:02Z")
What an insightful young woman. I found her Facebook page: [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mara-Wilson-Writes-Stuff/190868994277963](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mara-Wilson-Writes-Stuff/190868994277963) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/33 "2013-05-31T03:32:03Z")
She’s also on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/MaraWritesStuff). ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/34 "2013-05-31T03:48:24Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [Are we sure Mara Wilson didn’t go crazy?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbp2HFm0-iM) That totally fucking rocked! “DON’T FUCK WITH MARA WILSON!” Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/35 "2013-05-31T03:58:02Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > 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. Dana Plato, who has since died, worked at a dry cleaners for a while. Sounds cliched, I know, but that was true. What’s that Liberace movie called, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/36 "2013-05-31T04:16:27Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > What’s that Liberace movie called, anyway? “Behind the Candelabra” - it was on HBO. ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/37 "2013-05-31T04:20:10Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [Are we sure Mara Wilson didn’t go crazy?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbp2HFm0-iM) Interesting [23-minute interview with Mara](http://blip.tv/nostalgiacritic/shut-up-and-talk-mara-wilson-6479226) by the same guy who posted that Youtube video. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/38 "2013-05-31T04:27:27Z")
> [@Win\_Place\_Show](#): > > Interesting [23-minute interview with Mara](http://blip.tv/nostalgiacritic/shut-up-and-talk-mara-wilson-6479226) by the same guy who posted that Youtube video. [Also her reviewing Matilda with the Nostalgia Chick](http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/team-nchick/nostalgia-chick/36832-matilda) ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726/39 "2013-05-31T04:30:09Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Dana Plato, who has since died, worked at a dry cleaners for a while. Sounds cliched, I know, but that was true. > > What’s that Liberace movie called, anyway? [Behind the Candelabra](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291580/) showing on HBO in the US. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/659726.md?page=1)