Being a child star isn’t all it’s cracked up to be & some
well known celebs have shared their stories.
While from the outside, there seems to be tons of perks that come with growing up in the spotlight,
many former child stars who are now adults, have opened up about how challenging it was to be a kid
in the entertainment industry. Let’s get into some of our favorite stars’ harrowing stories.
Many of us have grown up alongside child stars such as Selena Gomez,
Demi Lovato, Zendaya, and the Sprouse brothers.
Many of them got started in the entertainment industry when they were young kids,
and as former child star Alyson Stoner puts it, there are alleged
systems of “abuse,” “sexual assault,” “neglect of child labor laws,” and “trauma” in place.
Before we get into some of these celebs’ stories, we wanted to issue a trigger
warning that we will be discussing some serious topics like sexual assault
and eating disorders, so please only continue watching if you feel comfortable doing so.
Many of our favorite stars, who grew up as a child star in the spotlight
have started to speak out about these issues more and more over the years.
Demi Lovato has been particularly outspoken about her tumultuous experience growing up in Hollywood.
She made her television debut when she was only 10 years old alongside
Selena Gomez on Barney and Friends and has been in the spotlight ever since.
In her recent docu-series “Dancing With The Devil”,
Demi opened up about her experience growing up in the limelight and revealed that her
struggles with her eating disorder began when she was only a teenager.
“I’ve become more aware of just life and people and the way that you know, the business works.
And it’s definitely for the better. I think I’m able to protect myself a little more.”
Demi also revealed that she lost her virginity by rape
by another person in the entertainment industry.
Demi explained that even after she told someone what happened to her,
no repercussions were made against her abuser.
“My ‘Me Too’ story is me telling somebody that someone did this to me
and they never got in trouble for it. They never got taken out of the movie they were in.”
This was particularly challenging for Demi because like many other
Disney stars at the time like the Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez,
she was wearing a promise ring that she would save herself for marriage.
Demi revealed how heavily this weighed on her and how guilty she felt,
even though she was the victim and was just a child herself.
“Especially at 15 years old and especially as a little
child star role model, you know who’s supposed to be perfect.”
And Demi is far from the first former child star to speak out
about the pressures of growing up in the industry.
Keke Palmer, who also rose to fame when she was a kid,
recently opened up about how misunderstood she felt growing up in the spotlight.
Keke made her film debut in Barbershop 2 which came out in 2004, when Keke was only 11 years old.
In a new interview on the podcast, InStyle's Ladies First with Laura Brown,
Keke discussed the challenges she faced while growing up.
“In the child entertainer world, your emotions are
always the last thing that people care about. I think you get really
quickly into being a people pleaser and trying to be everything that everybody wants you to be.”
Keke explained instances where she had to suppress her own emotions
just to make other people happy and how that led to her feeling misunderstood.
“In a lot of that, you end up being misunderstood. When you’re not
always being agreeable, you’re a brat. You know it’s always been a bit of a thing for me because
people have always had expectations of who they want me to be at a very young age.”
Keke went on and explained that she’s continued to face the challenges she
felt as a kid in her adult life because of her time growing up in the entertainment industry.
She said that she’s learning to not worry so much about people misunderstanding her
because she understands herself and who she is.
And like Keke, Selena Gomez has also been open about how being a
child star has impacted both her adulthood and her current career.
In the April 2021 edition of Vogue,
Selena talked about the pressures she felt while growing up and also being a role model.
Sel said quote, “That was my job in a way — to be perfect. You’re
considered a figure kids look up to, and they take that seriously there.”
And like Keke, Selena said she’s become such a people pleaser that she quote, “spent so many
years just trying to say the right thing to people for the sake of keeping myself sane.”
And even though Selena is now 28 years old,
she said that she still has a hard time getting people to take her seriously.
Sel told Vogue quote, “I still live with this haunting feeling
that people still view me as this Disney girl.”
And this has impacted her music career with Selena even saying that
she doesn’t think people take her music as seriously as they do other artists.
She said quote, “It’s hard to keep doing music when people don’t necessarily take you seriously.
I’ve had moments where I’ve been like, ‘What’s the point? Why do I keep doing this?’
‘Lose You to Love Me’ I felt was the best song I’ve ever released,
and for some people it still wasn’t enough.”
And being continuously haunted by her childhood career has even made
Selena consider leaving her music behind for good.
Selena said quote, “I think there are a lot of people who enjoy my music,
and for that I’m so thankful, for that I keep going, but I think the next time I do an album
it’ll be different. I want to give it one last try before I maybe retire music.”
Both fans and other celebs like Cardi B have tried to talk Selena out of quitting music,
so only time will tell if she is serious about retiring or warning fans to not be so critical!
Hopefully people can support Selena, and all former child stars, for who they are today,
not who they were when they were 10 years old.
So like we said, while many fans just see the glitz and glam from the
outside of child stardom, when the curtains are pulled back,
there’s also a dark side that has haunted many of our favorite celebs into adulthood.
If you want more on other stars who’ve opened up about the negative side of being
famous at a young age, click over here to hear what Justin Bieber had to say.
Also, feel free to show some love for these celebs down in the comments below.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr. You can find me on instagram @emileennisjr and
I'll see you right back here with another clevver video. bye guys!