11 Celebrities Revealed The Prices They Paid For Childhood Fame, Including Poor Treatment And Exploitation

Being a famous child sounds great to ordinary people, but for some of them, it was a living hell.

Filip

• Published in Film & TV
• May 18, 2022

It is a well-known fact that the lives of Hollywood actors are often filled with various problems. Sadly, some of them had experienced those difficulties in their earliest childhood period, when their career was just beginning.

So being a famous child with issues you weren't able to solve by yourself and without any person to rely on was a real tragedy for many of them. Being a famous child was truly a thing, but was it worthed considering the different mental and physical abuses they had to pass through.

Although it was a long time ago, some actions were never 'normal' to our humanity, and they would never be. So people who have done wrong things can never be justified.

Their acts left a permanent mark on other people's lives and even caused serious mental chaos in their heads. It's not something that someone can easily forget.

Those unproudly acts of individuals had changed the victims for life. It also required a lot of work on building self-esteem again, emphasis and faith in oneself and in others too, but not everyone was so brave.

Those who were bold enough decided to share their story with the rest of the world. Here are the stories of 11 stars who managed to pass all mistreatment they received in their earliest career days.

1. Jennette McCurdy: She revealed that when she was six years old, her mother, Debbie became obsessed with making her a celebrity.

"My mom had always dreamt of being a famous actor, and she became obsessed with making me a star," said Jennette.

Jennette said that her mother started dyeing her hair to make her blonde when she was 10 years old, but that wasn't all. She was whitening her teeth and even taught her how to calculate calories, which reflected as an eating disorder a few years later.

Her mother died in 2013 of cancer, and Jennette decided in 2018 to get help in recovering from an eating disorder, so she went to therapy.

"I know if my mom were alive, I'd still have an eating disorder," said Jennette.

2. Shirley Temple: Her mother sent her to the filming industry when she was only 3 years old, she played in War Babies (1932).

It was a short provocative movie about kids impersonating grown-ups.

In her autobiography, Shirley defined it as "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence."

She still remembers what the punishment was for children if they acted out in the movie. In her autobiography, she also cited some examples of sexual harassment by studio leaders in her earliest career.

3. Alyson Stoner had an audition for scenes displaying sexual violence when she was 6, and it hit her emotionally.

At the age of 12, she was overworked and very stressed, which caused her eating disorders and being underweight.

She said that her working conditions weren't ideal. She worked more hours than legally defined, set conditions were improper and unsafe, and she was a victim of sexual harassment.

4. Ariel Winter said she never dreamed about acting, but her mother did.

Her mother, Crystal Workman, wanted to be an actor herself since she didn't succeed in that domain, she redirected her obsession with acting to her daughter.

When she started acting, her mother had put her on a rigorous diet and ignored her schooling.

She also made her wear an inappropriate wardrobe for her age, and she described it further “the smallest miniskirts, sailor suits, low-cut things, the shortest dresses you’ve ever seen. People thought I was 24 when I was 12.

If there was going to be a nude scene when I was that age, my mother would have a thousand percent said yes.”

Ariel said she received a lot of abuse and exploitation from her mom Crystal.

Even Ariel's teacher on the set, Sharon Sacks, got worried.

Sharon said she started sharing meals with Ariel because of her strict diet. She added that Ariel's mother kept her at parties late when she has only 12 and 13 years old.

5. Macaulay Culkin's father, Kit, had started Macaulay's childhood career and organized all his schedule back then.

He kept him overworked from 1990 to 1994 and forced him to study his lines every night until the wee hours.

Macaulay said about his father that he was "such a crazy person".

He even made him do SNL without cue cards at only 11 years.

Macaulay added, “He was a bad man. He was abusive. Physically and mentally”.

His father was mean to all his family members, and by the time when Macaulay was 15, his parents got separated. After that, he ended the contact with his father.

6. Cole Sprouse said "every single person going through that trauma has a unique experience,".

He added, "When we talk about child stars going nuts, what we're not actually talking about is how fame is trauma,".

7. Raven-Symoné said she was body-shamed in her earliest career because people used to tell her that she was fat.

She described her unpleasant experience while filming Cosby Show:

"I remember not being able to have the bagel or anything at — we would call it crafty, where it’s just a table of food, ready for you to eat whatever you want. And I remember people would be like, ‘You can’t eat that, you’re getting fat!’

I’m like, ‘I’m 7! I’m hungry!’"

8. Aaron Carter said that her family spent his $500 million on 15 houses and 30 cars.

The selfishness of his family left him 70% deaf in one ear because his father shouted him a .44 magnum near his ear to make him sign a $256,000 check.

9. Christy Carlson Romano said that her mother wanted all of her children to act, but only Christy had succeeded.

Christy told that she didn't want to take the role in Even Stevens because things were going well for her in Connecticut, and she didn't like the idea of going to Los Angeles.

She said that now, as an adult, she realizes that she had no control over her childhood life.

10. Miley Cyrus has admitted that the fame she gained from her role in Hannah Montana brought her considerable psychological trauma.

She adored performing and being on the show, but it got too much when she went on tour as Hannah Montana.

People couldn't distinguish between Miley Cyrus and Miley Stewart, the TV character, for she toured as Hannah in real life, and she explained that it affected her also.

She said, "I think that's what's probably a little wrong with me now. I mark that up to doing some extreme damage in my psyche as an adult person."

11. Drew Barrymore's mom put her daughter in a dog commercial when she was only 11 months old.

Drew got famous after acting in E.T. at 7 years old.

When she was 9 years old, her parents got a divorce, and she stayed with her mom. Then she started taking her to Studio 54.

There she found friends and started using drugs, by the age of 12, she was already in rehab.

When asked if her parents have exploited her, she said, “I mean, well, yeah, I think with my mother, it was definitely too out there."

Every parent wishes the best for his child, but sometimes they know to exaggerate, and their best intentions may end up like a child's worst experience ever. Just like in these cases.

All these parents desired their children to be famous and have a good life, but their actions were too rigorous. Luckily, many of them realized the mistakes of their parents and eventually managed with consequences.

Filip