*DISCLAIMER*
I mention abuse and stalking in the fourth paragraph
Do child stars have it rough? I’m not sure. I’m fascinated by the question, though, so when I saw it was a prompt I was excited to do it. You have tons of examples of child stars talking about their bad experiences––Alyson Stoner, who played Isabella on Phineas and Ferb, Britney (who I’ll talk about more later), the Glee kids––I couldn’t name all of the cases if I tried, so I’ll stop there. Thinking about it, and what they’ve said about their mistreatment, they definitely did have it rough. I suppose I already have an answer, then. Because of this, I’m going to switch the question a bit so that I can talk more about it.
Do we pity the child stars? We’ve already established that they have it rough, so do we pity them? Keeping in mind that I have no idea what child stardom is like, I feel like when they’re past a certain age when they start, we don’t have to pity them. On Nirvana’s Nevermind, there’s a picture of a naked baby, fully exposed. The baby is now grown up, maybe 30-40, and he basically sued for using the picture without his consent. While I understand it wouldn’t be fun to be on that album, no one is going to know that he’s the Nirvana baby now that he’s older, so I don’t really want to pity him, though I can see how a reasonable person would since he didn’t consent. This is basically where I’m going with this––if the child star is old enough to know what they’re doing, and it’s not completely their parents making the decision, we don’t pity them.
When I was 8 or 9, all I wanted was to be on America’s Got Talent. I wanted to be famous, and I wanted to win. I begged my parents, but they wouldn’t let me audition. I was heartbroken. I can understand how someone that young would want so much to be on a show. Alyson Stoner started Phineas and Ferb at 14. However, she was in Cheaper by the Dozen at ten. A ten year old doesn’t know what she’s getting into. However, she can consent. For that reason, while I think that this isn’t totally 100% fair, we can’t really pity her. The system is messed up, but if she willingly consented, which I believe she did, it’s kind of her fault. I hate saying it like that, but there’s no better way.
I’m going to finish by talking about two child stars who had it horrible. Everything I said in the last paragraph doesn’t apply to them. According to the Framing Britney Spears documentary on Hulu, Britney Spears willingly became a star. If this were all that had happened to her, I wouldn’t pity her. However, under her father’s conservatorship, she was abused, and that is always wrong. The forceful keeping of the IUD is terribly wrong. I cannot say enough how much I feel that that was inhumane and awful. I have conflicting feelings on Britney that would take me multiple blog posts to discuss, but I just want to make it clear that this is how I feel about this part of her story and case. Jodie Foster was a semi-similar case from much longer ago. She had been on TV since she was five, which is a little young to not pity, but I would keep in mind that she consented. When she was fourteen, she starred in Taxi Driver and rose to national prominence. By the time she reached her mid to late teens, she had a full fledged stalker. He wrote to her, called her, and she filed a restraining order against him. He couldn’t get her attention, so he shot Ronald Reagan, hospitalizing him. The stalker said his motive was to get Jodie’s attention. That, along with Britney’s case, sounds absolutely awful. I can’t imagine it. I am not in any way saying that this is good, at all. Child stardom is hard, and I can see why my parents didn’t let me get into it. However, I believe that we really have to think about all of the factors before we form opinions about child stars’ complaints.
This isn't a topic I see too often but I appreciate the honesty. While I personally don't agree with your point of a ten year old consenting because in my opinion despite the fact that she consented, she is nowhere near the mental maturity to even understand exactly what she's getting into. Most children wouldn't fully grasp how difficult stardom can be even if it's explained. As someone with two younger sisters, they on many occasions have made mistakes even if they were told specifically not to and warned. They simply aren't quite at the age where they might completely understand the long term consequences of their actions and they simply make decisions based on what they think they want at the moment. For example, I have told my sisters on multiple occasions to not make a mess of downstairs because the job of cleaning falls down onto me. Even after my numerous warnings, they still continue to do it. In general, most children simply think an idea sounds fun and until they face the consequences of what they have done first-hand, they most likely will not understand. My sisters are younger than ten years old so this might be an inaccurate comparison. I am also quite aware that perhaps there are some children more sensible than others. However, this doesn't change the fact that the brain is not fully rationally developed at this time. I think you do raise good points and I respect the ones that you have brought up but I do also personally think that it shouldn't take a child going through intense mental trauma to pity them. People have varying emotional capacity and I honestly think that there really isn't a scale for what you should or shouldn't pity. I'm not saying I pity everyone on this list but I feel that if someone decides that someone else went through enough something unfortunate enough to be pitied, that it that and there really can't be a scale for who to pity or not. Wow, this is such a long comment. Again, I do not in any way mean to disregard your opinion, I feel like everything you have said is completely valid and I do not wish to change them. Great blog post!
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