The Rise and Fall of Child Actors

Cute button noses, precocious humor, sassy acting—child stars can make any audience fall in love with them. But what happens when they are all grown up? They say the brightest stars burn out the fastest. Child actors are just like us, they go through growth spurts, but also have to face the day to day adult issues like sex, drugs, and the pressure of a job. The sad truth is we think about the welfare of young performers primarily when we are reminded of the dangers they face. Child actors primarily serve as the family breadwinner once their parents decide it is time to seek stardom. The pressure to be older than they are is a huge issue, they want to look older so they start taking drugs, partying and getting drunk. Most child actors do not know who they are enough to deal with the pressure of fame and the outside influences that surround the entertainment industry. For a child actor to be successful they need a strong family. It is up to the parents to let their kids be kids, but many parents forget what is important and the money consumes them and their children. Yet for every broken family in Hollywood there is also a success story to be told.

Maculay Culkin is a prime example of how parents of child actors let the money get in the way of their family. His fame led to the downfall of his whole family, and he started using drugs and disappeared from the Hollywood scene. He divorced his parents and took control of his earnings in 1997 when he was 16 years old. Since then he remerged with small acting jobs, but has yet to regain the success he once had. Perhaps the best example of how parents failed a child actor is the sad life of actress Dana Plato. She was born Dana Michelle Strain on November 7, 1964, in Maywood, California, to Linda Strain, a 16-year-old, who was not married and who was already caring for an 18-month –old. Linda put her daughter Dana up for adoption in 1965. Dana was adopted by Dean and Florine Plato, and raised in the San Fernando Valley. Her adoptive parents divorced when she was three, and Florine began taking her to auditions. By age seven, Dana began doing television commercials, and reportedly appeared in over 100 spots. Dana was a trained and accomplished figure skater. At one point she was training for a possible Olympic team spot. At the same time she was spotted by a producer while doing a small guest spot on TV’s The Gong Show. She was cast as Kimberly Drummond on Diff’rent Strokes. Her mother decided she should cut back on skating to focus on the role. Dana was exposed to the darker side of Hollywood while working on the show for six seasons. She was fired from the show after the sixth season for drug and alcohol abuse. After she was terminated her relationship with her mother came to an end. Her descent continued when she was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to jail. After her release she did soft porn films to make a living and tried to rebuild her shattered life. She married rock musician Lanny Lambert and had a son Tyler Lambert. She eventually divorced Lambert and married her business manager Robert Menchaca. While visiting Menchaca’s mother, she went to take a nap inside a recreational vehicle she had purchased. Dana Plato died May 8, 1999 from an overdose of Lortab and Valium. Not all child stars come from broken homes or have parents that are only seeking money. The Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied career. They started singing barbershop music as children, to achieving success as teen music idols, to producing a hit television show. The Osmonds are devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and their religious values have influenced their careers. The family hosted Christmas specials in the 1970’s, and sold 102 million records. The Osmond parents George and Olive had nine children, 55 grandchildren as well as a number of great-grandchildren. The Osmond family numbers 120 and the elder Osmonds kept their children centered with religion and strong family values. Big families show lots of support and love, but sometimes all it takes is the love of parents to guide a child star on the right path. Sarah Gilbert was born Sarah Rebecca Abeles. Her Parents are Barbara Crane and Harold Abeles. He two older siblings, Melissa Gilbert and Jonathan were adopted by Barbara and her husband, Paul Gilbert. Paul died in 1975. Sarah changed her surname to Gilbert to become and actress in 1984. Her parents kept her centered by involving her in organizations like Peta, Meals on Wheels, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and Aids Project Los Angeles. Her parents also supported her becoming a vegetarian, and coming out as a lesbian in 2010. Would you be shocked if you found out your neighbors child was working in a factory eight hours a day? Serving as his family’s primary breadwinner? Required to walk around in her underwear as part of her after-school jobs? Those scenarios are similar to the ones facing many children in the entertainment industry. I would argue that, besides early death, fame has an age-dependent association for two other highly destructive outcomes – substance abuse and mental health disorders. These high rates are also likely increased by earlier exposure to fame. While delaying the exposure to fame until adulthood may not completely prevent fame’s destructive effects, it is likely that many vulnerable people will be more resistant at a later age. Furthermore, a parent can make informed decisions about fame exposure in a way that children are incapable of doing. There is also considerable anecdotal evidence that a child who is subjected to intense fame becomes developmentally delayed at the first age of exposure, resulting in delayed or even arrested maturation. The famous person is, for all intents and purposes, arrested at the age of earliest fame, lacking age-appropriate maturity, insight and/or impulse control. I would suggest that, at a minimum, an appropriate legacy for the sad tales of child entertainers would be a Screen Actors’ Guild prospective study. If children are to be used in the entertainment industry, it is past time we tracked their mental and physical health issues over time. The results may be shocking – and the study would not be hard to do. Assessing fame is quite simple these days – entire businesses are devoted to tracking it in precise detail. A long-term study looking at the effects of early fame exposure without proper parental guidance is the least we as a society owe to the memory of these talented, and tortured, individuals.