Demi Lovato’s first professional gig was in *Barney & Friends* at age 10, but they really rose to fame with Disney Channel, especially the *Camp Rock* franchise. They have been open about their struggles, including dealing with eating disorders, self-harm, and addiction. Demi stated in their documentary *Child Star*:
*”Why am I living my dream and doing what I love and have these opportunities in front of me, but I’m so fucking unhappy? I would always feel so gross about myself. I knew that being on Disney Channel, I was in a coveted position that millions of people would trade me in a heartbeat and I felt like I was taking it for granted. But really, I was just a teenager that was struggling.”*
Alyson Stoner had a prolific career as a child star, ranging from starring in the *Cheaper by the Dozen* and *Step Up* movies to dancing in music videos for Missy Elliott, Outkast, and more. They’ve been vocal about how working in the entertainment industry from a young age caused them to develop severe anxiety and eating disorders.
*”I think I was kind of dissociated throughout the whole journey. On the outside, you look like everything’s OK, and years later, you can’t remember a thing,”* Alyson said in *Child Star*.
Raven-Symoné started acting as a toddler, famously appearing in *The Cosby Show* and *Hangin’ With Mr Cooper* before getting her own Disney show *That’s So Raven*. She has said that her career had an impact on her family dynamics, sense of identity, and mental health.
*”They didn’t care about our mental health. They did not. They sent us out and kept sending us out. If you said no, well, somebody else is going to take your job,”* she recently told *Teen Vogue*.
Keke Palmer’s first movie role was *Barbershop 2: Back in Business* when she was 11 years old, and she went on to star in *Akeelah and the Bee*, *Madea’s Family Reunion*, *True Jackson, VP*, and more. She’s spoken out about the extreme pressure she felt at a young age.
*”I hated my parents for a long time. There was so much pressure to rise to the occasion for my community, for my parents, for my siblings, for their sacrifices. They weren’t saying it, but that was the reality. Because I’m the one that we all came here for.”*
JoJo Siwa, who rose to fame on *Dance Moms* and later became a kids’ entertainer in her own right, has said that while she didn’t experience some of the worst aspects of child stardom, she did feel pressure as the breadwinner of her family and encountered terrible work situations.
*”I got fucked over as a kid and taken advantage of… in a business way,”* she said in 2024. JoJo also shared how much her treatment and position in the industry changed after she came out as queer.
Jennette McCurdy began acting at 8 years old and became well-known as a Nickelodeon star on *iCarly* and its spin-off, *Sam & Cat*. In her bestselling memoir *I’m Glad My Mom Died*, Jennette opened up about the abuse she suffered from her mother and “The Creator,” a higher-up in the industry. She said her family and work life led to eating disorders and other health struggles.
*”I do hope that if there are parents considering putting their kids in acting, I hope if they read the book they don’t,”* she told *BuzzFeed* when her memoir was released.
Drake Bell was a Nickelodeon star best known for *The Amanda Show* and *Drake & Josh*. In the docuseries *Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV*, Drake revealed he was sexually assaulted by his dialogue coach, Brian Peck, at age 15.
*”It just got worse and worse and worse and worse. I was just trapped. I had no way out,”* he said in the series.
Josh Peck co-starred with Drake Bell in both *The Amanda Show* and *Drake & Josh*. He has spoken openly about the difficulty of being the main source of income for his family and the challenges of working in entertainment at such a young age.
*”There should have been so much less pressure, and it should have been so much safer,”* Josh said in 2024.
Zendaya was a model before she got into acting at age 14, starring in Disney shows like *Shake It Up* and *K.C. Undercover*. She told *Vogue* in 2024 that she has “complicated feelings” about child stardom.
*”I’m almost going through my angsty teenager phase now, because I didn’t really have the time to do it before,”* she said.
*”I felt like I was thrust into a very adult position: I was becoming the breadwinner of my family very early, and there was a lot of role-reversal happening, and just kind of becoming grown, really.”*
Cole Sprouse and his twin brother, Dylan, started acting as babies, becoming known for roles in *Friends*, *Big Daddy*, and *The Suite Life of Zack & Cody*. While Cole has said they had each other for support and didn’t suffer as much as some female costars, he still refers to childhood fame as trauma.
*”When we talk about child stars going nuts, what we’re not actually talking about is how fame is a trauma,”* he told *The New York Times*.
Kenan Thompson rose to fame as a kid in the ’90s on shows like *All That*, *Kenan & Kel*, and movies like *The Mighty Ducks* and *Good Burger*. While he says he has mostly positive memories of his work, he has opened up about being taken advantage of, notably by a con artist who posed as a tax specialist to his mother and stole much of his childhood earnings.
*”I was a kid and my mom was trying to protect me,”* he said.
*”I take those life lessons and learn from them… you want to try to keep hope in humanity.”*
Evan Rachel Wood started acting in the ’90s in shows like *Once and Again* and movies like *Digging to China*, *Practical Magic*, and *Thirteen*. She’s spoken about feeling isolated and confused as a child star.
*”The better I did the more I felt like who I was wasn’t acceptable,”* she said in the documentary *Showbiz Kids*.
*”I don’t think anybody did that on purpose, but it suddenly felt like I didn’t belong to myself anymore. I was a commodity that needed to be monitored and groomed.”*
Drew Barrymore comes from a famous acting family and began working as a baby, becoming famous through *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial* and *Firestarter*. She has been open about her troubled childhood and entering rehab at age 12 for drug and alcohol use. On her own show, she shared how hard it’s been to keep “running” her whole life and the many inappropriate situations she endured as a child. However, she also said that working as an actor was a positive anchor during her tumultuous youth.
*”It’s a tremendous amount of pressure, but it was the great pressure that really helped me and gave me an anchor that I didn’t have elsewhere.”*
Mara Wilson was the face of many ’90s childhoods, starring in hits like *Mrs. Doubtfire*, *Miracle on 34th Street*, and *Matilda*. She has spoken extensively about how child stardom affected her identity, value, and relationships, especially growing up in the shadow of *Matilda*.
*”It felt very out of control to have everyone know my name and I didn’t feel like I could trust anybody,”* she said in *Showbiz Kids*.
*”That’s still a problem that I have now sometimes, because I don’t know when people want me because they think I have connections or they like me because of an image they have of me as a child.”*
Christina Ricci was another ’90s icon, starring in movies like *Mermaids*, *The Addams Family*, *Casper*, and *Now and Then*. While she described work as a “safe place” amidst a chaotic personal life, Christina also shared how difficult it was to face media scrutiny at a young age.
*”People would write things about me when I was very young that I thought were so inappropriate,”* she told *The New Yorker*.
*”I remember a review of The Opposite of Sex describing me as having a ‘slutty physique.’ I was seventeen when I made that movie. And I just felt, like, This is an adult, a respected film critic, and this is what they’re allowed to say about me? So that kind of thing happening over and over again filled me with a lot of rage. I just did not want to be affable or perfect for anyone.”*
Corey Feldman was a huge star in the ’80s with movies like *The Goonies*, *Stand by Me*, and *The Lost Boys*. He has long spoken out about the exploitation and abuse he endured as a child actor and his resulting struggles with mental health and addiction.
*”I’ve had so much pain, so much anguish, and so much abuse in my life that most people probably would be dead,”* he told *Vanity Fair*.
Wil Wheaton began acting at 9 and gained fame as a teenager starring in *Stand by Me* and *Star Trek: The Next Generation*. Wil has said his parents forced him into acting and describes being on camera as “triggering and a little traumatic.” In the *Showbiz Kids* documentary, he admitted his life worsened after *Stand by Me*.
*”I stopped being a kid who was an actor and I became a child star. That fundamentally changed my life… It created this reality for me where I kind of had to play the role of the young celebrity. The adults in my life who should have been protecting me from that were like, ‘This is the dream!’ and kept pushing me into these places where I didn’t feel safe and I felt really afraid.”*
Brooke Shields was just 11 months old when her mother started her in child modeling, and she was 11 when she starred in *Pretty Baby*. She went on to star in movies like *The Blue Lagoon* and *Endless Love*. Recently, Brooke has spoken about the extreme objectification and sexualization she faced at a young age, including in a documentary about her life titled *Pretty Baby*.
*”I don’t know where to interpret my experiences,”* Brooke said on *The Drew Barrymore Show* when asked about Me Too.
*”Because I was made to feel culpable but at the same time, you victim-shame yourself. We were so young and it was so ‘appropriate’… I pushed it under the rug.”*
When you think of child stars, you probably think of Macaulay Culkin. He was one of the biggest stars in the world in the ’90s, thanks to movies like *Uncle Buck*, *Home Alone*, *My Girl*, *The Good Son*, and *Richie Rich*. He paused acting for a while as a teen and has mostly kept a low profile as an adult but has shared some struggles he faced.
*”I did 14 movies in six years, which is more than two a year, and just kind of pumping them out,”* he once told Larry King.
*”And I was at this point where I really wanted to take a break, and it was just a break even, and I really wasn’t given that opportunity. I really didn’t feel like anyone was listening to me when I was saying those things.”*
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The experiences of these child stars highlight the immense pressures, exploitation, and challenges many young performers face behind the scenes—even while living their dreams in front of the camera. Their stories shed light on the need for better protections, mental health support, and respect for child actors in the entertainment industry.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/celebrity-child-stars-experiences
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