I worked with a few former child stars from that era, and a very good
friend of mine has a daughter who is presently on a popular cable
show. The former child stars I worked with all had the same advice
which I gave to my friend: Never leave your child alone on the set for
a minute. It doesn't matter if your agent says it will be OK or if the
director says everything will be fine or if the on-set teacher says
they've got it covered... nobody who takes a check is a substitute for
a parent. The child actors who had parents watching them at all times
seem to have grown up fairly well. The ones whose parents were in an
office negotiating contracts or, worse, the parents who trusted an
immature child with strangers and stayed completely out of it... those
are the Diff'rent Strokes kids. My friend's kid who is currently on
TV appears on a series with very adult themes, and a few times a
season someone on the staff will try to get my friend to leave the set
during production -- she has always, always refused. As a result,
thanks to the wonder of CGI, things have happened to the character but
the kid herself wasn't a part of anything age-inappropriate. The child
actor has never seen a single episode of the adult themed show, and
knows nothing about the characters beyond her character's interaction
with them. It is my friend who handles her daughter's social media and
all other fan-related interaction, so the kid remains as much of a kid
as possible.
On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 1:51 PM, Dave Sikula dsik...@yahoo.com wrote:
While I don't dispute that all of this was true for Wilson, and may be true
of some others, a good friend of mine was a major child star in the 60s and
70s, and didn't suffer any of this. She's now quite happily married with a
child (who shows no interest in becoming an actor, even though his father
teaches theatre in a local high school) and a booming career in an
IT-related field. I will say, though, that she's very cautious about keeping
a low profile, since she has had to deal with people who, if not stalkers,
have trouble with boundaries.
--Dave Sikula
On Wednesday, May 29, 2013 10:52:32 AM UTC-7, Wesley McGee wrote:
Former film actress Mara Wilson (notable role: Matilda) wrote a
interesting little listicle for Cracked.com about how sometimes child-labor
screws up a child, especially when that job introduces you to fame,
adoration, adulation,, explotation, perverts and idiots.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/
--
Wesley McGee
http://www.ambivi.com
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Twitter: @westwit
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