It's a shame when children have to involve a judge to keep their parents out of their
lives and their pockets, but for some celebrities, this last resort was the best option.
Not only does emancipation put a stop to potential financial crimes, it also provides distance
from a parent who may have been toxic in far worse ways.
Here are some former child stars who legally separated from Mom and Dad.
Winter's discontent
Ariel Winter plays Alex Dunphy, the extremely intelligent middle child of a traditional
two-parent nuclear family on the hit ABC sitcom Modern Family.
But in real life, her family situation has been less rock solid and no laughing matter.
Winter's saga started in 2012, when officials from child and family services removed the
then-14-year-old from the home of her mother, Chrisoula Workman, following allegations of
physical and emotional abuse.
Winter went to live with her sister, Shanelle Gray, who was named permanent guardian for
the then-16-year-old actress in May 2014.
The sisters apparently got along great.
Nevertheless, an increasingly mature and wealthy Winter filed to be completely free of the
domestic influence of others and was officially emancipated at the age of 17.
"I don't really talk about the reason I don't talk to my mother it's kinda been publicized
but the reason I don't really share that is because want to give her the same respect
that she didn't give to me"
The clash of the Culkins
Macaulay Culkin was the biggest child star of the early 1990s.
He was iconic in the 1990 Christmas classic Home Alone, which became the highest-grossing
comedy of all time.
He followed it up with more hits such as Home Alone 2, Richie Rich, and My Girl, amassing
as much as $50 million in earnings by the time puberty reared its ugly head.
In 1995, Culkin's parents split up after 20 years.
They were never married, so it made for tricky legal proceedings when it came to custody
of Macaulay and his siblings, as well as control of the young star's career and finances, as
his parents were also his managers.
That was all moot in 1997, when Macaulay struck out with his own financial claims.
The 16-year-old was granted emancipation, citing his father's mismanagement of his earnings
and mistreatment.
Culkin was granted his independence and what remained of his money: about $17 million.
Feldman's farewell
Of all the '80s Coreys, Corey Feldman was probably the most notable.
He starred in a number of late '80s teen flicks, including The Lost Boys and License to Drive,
and a few truly great movies such as Stand By Me and The Goonies.
However, despite starring in all those hit films, Feldman discovered in 1987 that he
had only $40,000 in savings.
Where did it go?
According to the actor, his fortune was allegedly squandered by his emotionally abusive mother,
Sheila, an ex-Playboy model who reportedly suffered from addiction and mental health
issues.
Feldman emancipated himself from his mom at age 15, although he has continued to be plagued
by drug addiction, failed relationships, and the fallout from years of alleged sexual abuse.
McGowan's cult split
In the wake of the #metoo and Time's Up movement, Rose McGowan has re-emerged with a second
career as one of the "Silence Breakers" in the fight against Hollywood's toxic masculinity
and rape culture.
But she's been fighting back for years against the powers that dared to contain her.
As detailed in her 2018 memoir, Brave, McGowan was raised by the Children of God, aka The
Family, an international religious organization that is commonly referred to as a cult.
It's a particularly terrible one that allegedly encourages pedophilia and manipulates young
female members for recruitment purposes.
McGowan was raised within the Children of God group in Italy and claims she struggled
to have her basic needs met, such as food and shelter.
"I recall my father more than I recall my mother.
During that period I do recall a lot of different hands and a lot of legs"
McGowan said her family moved to the United States when she was older, which is when her
father allegedly grew verbally abusive and her mother grew absent.
So at age 15, McGowan legally emancipated herself from her parents.
Malone on her own
Jena Malone doesn't usually show up in the gossip rags.
She typically lets her solid work speak for itself, having starred in excellent movies
such as Contact, Saved!, and three Hunger Games films.
She has worked so much and so consistently that she seems like the kind of teen performer
who would have filed for emancipation just so she could legally work longer hours and
skirt child labor laws.
But the truth is much bleaker than that.
At age 15, Malone successfully petitioned a Los Angeles court to emancipate her from
her mother, claiming that mama dearest "mismanaged" the actress' substantial earnings.
That is to say that Mom allegedly squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars buying stuff
for herself and loaning money to relatives that was never paid back.
Barrymore's clean break
We've had Drew Barrymore around for so long that it's easy to forget that she was also
a child star.
She played the adorable Gertie in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and the not-so-adorable
Charlie in Firestarter.
She came from a long line of entertainment Barrymores, a venerable family that produced
four generations of stage and screen talent, including Lionel and Ethel Barrymore.
But a famous family tree doesn't always make for a stable family line.
Drew's father, John Barrymore, was apparently of the absentee variety, leaving his little
girl in the care of her mother, wild child Jaid Barrymore, who allegedly squandered her
daughter's earnings and took her to Studio 54 when she was a child.
All of that left Drew flailing.
As detailed in her almost unbelievable memoir, Little Girl Lost, Drew was so addicted to
booze, drugs, and partying that she'd already been to rehab twice by the age of 13.
After completing the program, she legally emancipated herself from her troubled mother
at age 14.
"Walking away from my mom and shaking hands and saying we need to emancipate those were
just the facts, that is where our journey had led us to and we were actually okay"
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