The Hampton Script

Nia Brevard | Contributing Writer

Looking from the outside in, it seems that child stars have it all. They get to meet amazing people, travel the world, make thousands of dollars, and…be famous! But unfortunately, all of this luxury comes with a price.

“When I was younger, I did want to be a child star because of what I saw. But looking back on it, and seeing what fame actually did to [child stars], I now realize why my mom was against it,” said Queen Angu, a sophomore psychology major from Montgomery County, Md.

A USA Today article by Donna Freydkin titled Why Do Some Child Stars Implode? quotes Sister, Sister actress Tia Mowry on what it’s like being a child star.

“You’re a child who is working. You have a job. That job is a hard job. Everybody thinks being a child star is glamorous. But when you’re on a show, you are often carrying a whole show and you know that. You have to pull it off. You have to know your lines. People are making money off you,” said Tia Mowry.

Many child stars, such as Hilary Duff, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Kenan Thompson, Brandy and Tia and Tamera Mowry, overcame the child star obstacles and hardships pretty well, continuing to have flourishing careers along with a well-functioning lives.

They all didn’t let the fame ruin them. However, not all child stars were this fortunate. Raven Symone, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes, Macaulay Culkin and Miley Cyrus are just a few of the known child stars that “fell in the hole” of growing up as a child star. Rehab, breakdowns and often times therapy took over their lives following those sweet, innocent child star years. With them constantly being in the spotlight, the media often exposed to the public aspects of the stars’ life that the he or she didn’t want highlighted, like personal matters or scandals. These are invasions of privacy and that can cause anyone to lose it.

“When I would go on Twitter and see certain child stars rebelling and going crazy, I’d automatically judge them and say things like, ‘they need to do better’, and then I’d start to [dislike] them,” said Ikenna Nwagbara, a sophomore electrical engineering major from Atlanta. “Now, I realize being a child star can permanently damage you.”

With all of this being said, Stranger Things stars Finn Wolfhard, 14, and Millie Bobby Brown, 13, are currently going through the downfall of being child stars.

Although Brown isn’t receiving the same type of harassment, she still is being subjected to looking older because of her choice of clothing and makeup.

Brown often passes as an 18-year-old just based off her choice of clothes. Many took to social media to say that she doesn’t look her age, but honestly, she still is presenting herself as a young lady. Her level of fashion is just high quality.

Finn Wolfhard is experiencing a lot of  harassment being a young celebrity. Recently on twitter, Ali Michael, 27-year-old model, tweeted to Wolfhard, “Once you turn 18, hit me up,” implying that Wolfhard, in his young age, is visually appealing. This tweet received a lot of backlash because of Wolfhard being only 14. Also, if the roles were reversed, with Wolfhard being a young girl instead, the outcomes would have been different, to say the least.

TMZ asked Wolfhard about his thoughts on the tweet, and to sum it up, he wasn’t pleased. Even though the tweeter apologized, Wolfhard still called the situation “gross” in the recent interview.

These are just a few obstacles and difficulties that most child stars, if not all, have to endure. To say that the life of a child star is full of glitz and glamour is definitely a fictitious statement. One must add pressure, harassment, privacy invasion and childhood robbing, to correct it.