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By Fran (Age 26, USA)
“I would never wish my upbringing on anyone” Mary Kate Olsen told Marie Claire magazine in a recent interview. “But I wouldn't take it back for the world”. This phrases sums up a lot about child stardom for few who survive it. Mary Kate and her twin sister Ashley made their screen debuts at the age of one in the series, “Full House”. In 1993, when the twins were seven their production company Dual Star was formed. What followed was a childhood in the spotlight. Their images flooded the market on clothes, perfumes, magazines, books, and even dolls made in their likeness. Now 24, Mary Kate looks back on her and her sister's childhoods saying they were “little monkey performers” as children. Mary Kate and Ashley have both survived their childhood in the public eye. Their main focus these days is their fashion line but and Mary-Kate still makes occasional ventures into films. As far as child stardom goes the Olsen twins are two of the lucky ones: the survivors. Not all child actors can say the same. So what goes into making a child actor a successful adult? Some child actors, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Kirsten Dunst, Reese Witherspoon, Neil Patrick Harris, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Michelle Trachtenberg, Kristen Stewart, and Elijah Wood have had pretty consistent careers. Either they made the transition from child to adult seamlessly, or they did lower profile work until the awkward years passed. However they've for the most part survived without drug problems, arrests, or bankruptcy. As adults they enjoy successful careers participating in acclaimed films, television shows, and charities.
Others found that taking a break from Hollywood was beneficial. Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman, Claire Danes, Anna Paquin, Brooke Shields, and Julia Stiles all left thriving careers in pursuit of higher education. Claire Danes reckons that her years spent being educated on television and film sets was “interesting and surprisingly effective. But it was strange. I was schooled in 20-minute increments in a trailer on some remote location. I would be doing a death scene and then go back to my geometry lesson.” She tells moviehole.net “I think I probably did sacrifice a lot by working so young, but I made up for it later. There were parts of me that were really overdeveloped, and other parts that were kind of underdeveloped and I did balance out during that time at school...I kind of just hung out, and learned how to socialize, made friends outside of the industry, and I kind of defined myself as a person, in a safe place, so I feel quite fortified now." For Natalie Portman, living in a dorm on campus was an opportunity to be truly self reliant for the first time: “It's really hard: balancing everything, taking care of yourself, setting your own limits, scheduling for yourself," she says. “And, on top of that, you have to balance doing, like, your housework, too—which was never a part of the equation! All of a sudden, you have to do laundry and clean your sheets and vacuum and wash the toilets." These actresses seem to have treated college as a grounding experience. A time to be a “normal” kid, which they didn't get to do much when they were younger. They've since returned to Hollywood, a little older and a lot wiser. However it seems like for every success story there are several cautionary tales. 1980's teen idol Leif Garrett is currently out of prison on bail after being arrested for Heroin possession in February. Fellow 80's icon, Corey Haim died of a drug overdose in March. Tatum O'Neil, who was the youngest Oscar winner ever with a supporting actress nod for Paper Moon at the age of 10, had a bitter public divorce from Tennis player John McEnroe and was arrested for trying to purchase crack in 2008. Bobby Driscol, a Disney star of the 1940's and 50's died penniless at the age of 31. Brad Refro, who appeared in The Client, Sleepers, Apt Pupil, and other films, died of an overdose at the age of 25 in 2008. Johnathan Brandis, who appeared in numerous television shows including “SeaQuest DSV” and films in the early 1990s, committed suicide in 2003. We could go on and on. Some, like Drew Barrymore, Anthony Michael Hall, Macaulay Culkin, Patty Duke, struggle with drugs and alcohol and eating disorders and come through victorious. But many haven't been that lucky.
So why are Hollywood kids so at risk? Asking the survivors is one way to start. So is asking the experts. Child performers face a unique set of pressures: pressure that most children don't have to face until they've grown up. Fergie got her start on Disney's Kids Incorporated and then went to Los Angeles to pursue a solo career at 17. She speculates that “What happens when you’re a child professional is that you have to be, well, professional. You’re taught not to have tantrums, to always people-please. That’s part of how I got into [drugs] later.” Kirsten Dunst, who started acting at 3 and had her big break at 11, agrees: “As a child, when you perform for people, you love it because you get the attention. The danger is that you come to think that's how you get your love - by pleasing people”. While the expectations are high, child stars can wield a sense of power over their parents. Especially if they're the one's earning the money in the family. Stan Ziegler, a Los Angeles psychiatrist who specializes in child performers explains that “instead of a natural childhood of acne and budding breasts, they are pampered, protected and catered to.” It's hard for a parent to say “no” to a kid who is paying their bills. However when that kid grows up, and the cute face that once got them work isn't doing it anymore, the kid isn't prepared for adult life: “Suddenly, that world ends and they are forced to make this adjustment to the real world. Most can't.
Parents, psychologists, and former child stars differ on whether a parent should allow a kid to be a professional performer. Former child star Corey Feldman insists “There's no finding yourself. You're famous before you know your own name. People are asking you for autographs and you don't even know how to write. Children shouldn't be faced with that” Kirsten Dunst insists “I would never start a child out as an actor.” She goes on to question her own mother's motives in letting her act so young: “There were definitely parts of my mother that would have liked to be acting herself.” Dr. Jenn Berman, a psychologist who deals with parent-child issues claims that “When a child is being depended on to create a sense of success and self-esteem for a parent, it is way too much pressure, and it can lead to all kinds of things like alcoholism, substance abuse and eating disorders.” Former child actor, Paul Peterson currently runs a foundation in support of child stars called “A Minor Consideration”. He says that it is possible to raise a well adjusted child performer as long as they remember that the child's best interests come first. He says that the better parents tend to be the ones who encourage their children to distance themselves from the industry and go to college. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's twelve year old son, Jaden, has recently begun acting. They hope that the fact that he doesn't have to pay the family's bills will protect him from the pressure and that he can just enjoy acting. Will says “I think what happens to child stars that are the most difficult element is that they become the breadwinner, so child stars are generally broken by the pressure of being the breadwinner of a household at [a young age]. I know at 41-years-old being the breadwinner of a household what a pressure that is - when you put that on to a child and then the energy that a parent has to have in interacting with a child...I hope that we have a bit of a handle on it and we're focusing very closely on his energy and his desire and love for it, so I'm hoping it's OK."
Another Path
Danica McKeller
Danica McKeller admits that her transition from child actor to adult has been “a little bumpy”. At the age of 13, McKeller portrayed Winnie Cooper, the love interest of the main character on The Wonder Years. After the show ended in 1993 McKeller did several made for TV movies and some guest appearances on other shows. In 1998 she graduated with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles, with her degree in mathematics. It was in this field that McKeller really made an impact. As a university student she coauthored a scientific paper, with a professor and another student. The results of their student are now known as 'Chayes–McKellar–Winn theorem'. In 2007 McKeller published her first book Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail which encourages girls in middle school to enjoy and succeed in mathematics. McKeller says that her goal in writing this book was “to show girls that math is accessible and relevant, and even a little glamorous" and to counteract "damaging social messages telling young girls that math and science aren't for them”. The book was a best seller and McKeller followed it up with Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss and Hot X: Algebra Exposed. All three books have been praised for drawing younger teenage girls to maths and sciences. McKeller still does the occasional acting role, but in 2009 she took to on a job as a math correspondent for Brink, a program on the Science channel about upcoming technology.
Mayim Bialik
Rider Strong
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