Being a child star isn't all fun, games, and slime. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at the most shocking revelations from Demi Lovato’s documentary, “Child Star.”
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00:00You know, it's not every day I hand my beautiful daughter over to show business.
00:04Look, Mom, we talked about this. Show business is not going to change me.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at the most shocking revelations
00:12from Demi Lovato's documentary Child Star.
00:15Nobody really knew how to stop the machine. The train just kept moving.
00:21How Cable Changed the Industry
00:24Child stars have existed since the golden age of Hollywood,
00:27with a lot of the same issues persisting merely a century later.
00:31There have also been several turning points in the history of child stardom,
00:34most notably Cable's introduction.
00:36So Nickelodeon does some of the first-ever focus groups for children. It's really the
00:41first time where they're sitting down with the kids and saying, what do you want us to show?
00:46The biggest thing that they realize is that kids want to see themselves.
00:50While countless kids had worked in film and TV up to that point,
00:53they were usually relegated to smaller supporting roles.
00:56Child star icons like Macaulay Culkin were a rarity.
00:59That all changed with networks like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel,
01:02which popularized shows featuring kid ensembles.
01:05From the 80s onward, there was a big ideological shift,
01:09and there were more and more kids on television.
01:12While this created more opportunities for young talent,
01:14it also inevitably intensified the issues that child stars regularly face.
01:19Suddenly, generations of kids were growing up in the spotlight,
01:22falling into similar traps.
01:24Fame also has addictive properties similar to substances.
01:30Fame can shorten life expectancy.
01:33Numerous former child stars have had their lives cut short,
01:36from golden age actors like Judy Garland and Bobby Driscoll,
01:39to more modern talent like Lee Thomas Young and Aaron Carter.
01:42This isn't a coincidence.
01:44I dealt with depression. I dealt with all these things. And
01:48I also had an eating disorder and was binge drinking on the weekend.
01:52Be it due to self-inflicted harm, an accidental overdose, or years of trauma,
01:57these tragic endings are often rooted in fame.
02:00According to former Disney star Alison Stoner,
02:02people who aren't famous are likely to live longer than someone in the limelight.
02:06There's actually research there that shows people who experience fame
02:12have an average lifespan that's 14 years younger than non-famous people
02:18due to the rate of mental health struggles.
02:22This statistic doesn't just apply to people who became celebrities at a young age.
02:26That said, Stoner questioned why we would want to expose kids to fame,
02:30comparing it to a drug that alters how their minds and bodies develop.
02:33So if that's the case, why are we hooking a child to a drug
02:42that's fundamentally altering their brain chemistry and future development?
02:47Branding child stars
02:49Turning child stars into brands arguably goes all the way back to Jackie Coogan,
02:54and especially Shirley Temple.
02:56With entire networks now dedicated to child actors,
02:59they've become enormous earners for conglomerates.
03:01CEO of the company in 2010 told me that
03:04there was no more important component than Nickelodeon.
03:08It was the cash cow. It was what drove the entire company.
03:12Nickelodeon came to be Viacom's most valuable component,
03:15while Hannah Montana alone was a billion-dollar IP for Disney.
03:19Jojo Siwa's face was plastered on a plethora of merchandise,
03:22from dolls to bath bombs.
03:24According to Siwa, Nickelodeon owned virtually everything other than her social media.
03:29We were very smart to be able to keep that separate,
03:31but if I had, like, a brand deal, I had to get it approved by Nickelodeon.
03:35So that was always, yeah, but they own everything.
03:39While Siwa at least got to be herself on camera,
03:42Demi Lovato struggled to separate herself from her brand.
03:45When a person is treated like a commodity,
03:47they can be drained of their individuality.
03:49In addition to marketing celebrities to consumers,
03:52corporations sell the idea of being famous.
03:55Your image becomes merchandised. You're in Target aisle.
04:00They send you to the theme parks to stand on the top of a parade.
04:04Alison Stoner's Body Image Struggles
04:07During the production of the first Camp Rock movie,
04:10Alison Stoner noticed that Demi Lovato was, quote,
04:12purging in the bathroom.
04:14And you picked up on it because your spidey senses were already
04:18in tune with those behaviors, and you followed me in and you talked to me.
04:23At first, Lovato panicked that her secret was out.
04:26Stoner was there to support Lovato, though,
04:28understanding what their co-star was going through.
04:30Both realized that they weren't alone with their many insecurities
04:33being universal to child stars.
04:36You see yourself and you're like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
04:39I look perfect, you know, and then I look in the mirror and I'm like, wait, what?
04:44Yeah, it's definitely caused a lot of self-esteem and self-confidence issues.
04:50Although Stoner and Lovato had somebody to talk to,
04:52their eating disorders and other mental health issues continued.
04:56For Stoner, the Camp Rock press tour in Europe was especially difficult.
05:00Behind the smiles, Stoner was extremely self-conscious about their appearance.
05:04People are like, that was amazing.
05:05Look how great you look.
05:07And we're like, you have no idea what's going on right now.
05:10Like Lovato, Stoner is in a much better place today,
05:13helping to promote body positivity and advocating to protect child stars.
05:18Christina Ricci's father was a failed cult leader.
05:22Entering the industry at a young age,
05:24Christina Ricci found more stability on set than at home.
05:27While Ricci described herself as a troubled kid, her father was the main source of chaos.
05:32Ricci revealed that her father tried and failed to run a cult.
05:35Performing offered an escape from her father's physical violence and constant narcissism.
05:39I knew nothing totally insane was about to happen.
05:43Right.
05:43You know, nobody was gonna, like, get really mad and
05:46pretend they were gonna drive the car into a wall.
05:49For me, there was this refuge of emotional safety.
05:52Once Ricci started acting, her relationship with her mother improved.
05:56She also got to work with entertainers who looked out for her like Cher.
05:59They weren't, they were, they were great talents,
06:03but they were also very strong and had boundaries and
06:06had rules about how they were treated.
06:09And that's one thing I definitely got from her.
06:11Her experiences as a child star weren't all positive.
06:14Ricci could feel isolated at school and eventually fell into substance use as a teenager.
06:19Despite these challenges,
06:21Ricci has matured into a successful adult actress and well-adjusted person.
06:25Exploring a character that might have been in the past easily dismissed or labeled.
06:30Your characters are the opposite of predictable.
06:32I try. It's more fun. It's just more fun that way.
06:35JoJo Siwa was blackballed after coming out.
06:38In addition to her talent, JoJo Siwa has become a superstar by being herself.
06:43There was one aspect of Siwa's life that Nickelodeon wasn't eager to promote, however.
06:47Like, what are we going to tell the kids?
06:50I was like, what do you mean?
06:51And he was like, what are we going to tell kids and parents?
06:53And I was like, again, like, what do you mean?
06:57Siwa avoided giving a definitive answer when asked about her sexuality.
07:01After singing Born This Way on TikTok, though,
07:03Siwa essentially came out as LGBTQIA plus to the public.
07:07And I was like, I think I want to put this on my real story
07:09because it was on my close friends.
07:10Just like, okay, do it.
07:11Boop.
07:12That was it. Fell asleep, woke up the next morning and was like, oh my god.
07:15While Siwa's social media feed flooded with support,
07:18Nickelodeon was concerned with how retailers would respond,
07:21asking the star to assure them that she wasn't, quote, going crazy.
07:25Siwa acted professionally, but everything immediately changed.
07:28The way they communicated with me changed.
07:31The way they worked with me changed.
07:32The way they developed my work changed.
07:34Everything changed.
07:36Most notably, Siwa wasn't invited to that year's Kids' Choice Awards.
07:40Although Nickelodeon claimed this was a, quote, honest mistake,
07:43Siwa felt, quote, blackballed.
07:45Raven Simone faced similar obstacles as she hid her true self for years.
07:49If you pass through the industry mask,
07:52you still have to meet the mask that's the gay person that's like,
07:55oh, you're not getting past this one to find the real me.
07:58Right.
07:58This is mine to hold, and that one no one saw.
08:02Much of Kenan Thompson's Nickelodeon money was stolen.
08:05Kenan Thompson was among the most recognizable Nickelodeon stars
08:08throughout the 90s, appearing in shows like All That and movies like Good Burger.
08:12By the end of his tenure,
08:13you'd think he would have been on steady financial ground.
08:16Thompson and his mother thought so.
08:18That was until they learned their accountant was a con artist,
08:21stealing almost all of the money Thompson made.
08:24It was devastating because I, like, discovered it in front of others.
08:28In a separate interview,
08:29Thompson mentioned that he lost $1.5 million to the crooked accountant.
08:33By the time this came to light,
08:35Thompson was getting ready to leave Nickelodeon and purchase a house.
08:38You know, I'm in these, like, real estate people's office,
08:40like, waiting to sign this pentwork,
08:42and he doesn't bring the check kind of thing.
08:44It's crazy going from rags to riches and back to rags.
08:48While Thompson found success beyond Nick,
08:50this incident still gets under his skin.
08:52Such deceit isn't uncommon,
08:54as Alison Stoner was also ripped off by people they trusted.
08:58I uncovered that people in my
09:03surrounding network had been taking money without me knowing for years.
09:09Drew Barrymore's difficult upbringing.
09:12Descending from Hollywood royalty,
09:14Drew Barrymore has been acting since she was 11 months old.
09:17It was a Gainsburger Puppy Chow commercial,
09:22and I've never stopped working since then,
09:26except for when I was institutionalized.
09:30I was institutionalized by my mother.
09:34The actress barely knew her father, John Drew Barrymore,
09:37describing him as, quote,
09:38"...dangerous."
09:39Drew was raised by her mother, Jade.
09:41Although she didn't really understand what a family unit was like
09:44until landing a role in E.T.,
09:46Barrymore grew close with director Steven Spielberg,
09:48her real-life godfather.
09:50I did not have a father,
09:53and he was the person who made me feel like
09:58all of a sudden I wanted to be my best for.
10:01While Spielberg would always have a positive influence on Barrymore,
10:04the same can't be said about some of the other adults she grew up around.
10:08Speaking with Lovato,
10:09Barrymore revealed that her mother's friend gave her substances
10:12before she was even a teenager.
10:13While Barrymore has taken responsibility for her mistakes,
10:16her role models were few and far between.
10:19I would say it's hard to not blame someone else when you're 10 years old.
10:24I mean, having a 10-year-old daughter now,
10:28I just, it's unfathomable.
10:32Demi Lovato's Personal Struggles
10:35Lovato was surrounded by cruel classmates who signed a petition
10:38encouraging her to commit self-harm.
10:40When Lovato landed her first Disney gigs,
10:42she hoped these negative feelings would stay behind in Texas.
10:46Even after becoming a big star,
10:48Lovato still faced rejection and insecurities.
10:51Obviously, my ego was hurt.
10:55It chipped away at my confidence.
10:57And I never turned to music the same way again.
11:00She grew distant from family members like half-sister Madison De La Garza,
11:04who endured her own struggles.
11:06Having little time off,
11:07Lovato became sleep-deprived and consumed by substance use.
11:11Lovato's memory was affected,
11:12even forgetting Raven-Symoné's guest spot on Sunny with a Chance.
11:16Oh my God, she was.
11:18And I, but it was part of my disassociation that I don't even remember
11:22so much of my show that I was on.
11:24But I do remember how difficult I was to work with,
11:27because I was in so much pain and I was hurting.
11:29As Lovato's attitude worsened, people walked on eggshells around her.
11:33Lovato was pressured to enter treatment after punching backup dancer Alex Welch.
11:37By sharing her experiences,
11:39Lovato hopes to build a better future for young performers.
11:42I wish that I had been able to ask questions to somebody in the industry
11:46when I was first starting out.
11:48I didn't know what I was getting myself into.
11:51Child labor laws, or lack thereof.
11:53Kids are making so much money in an unregulated space.
11:57Yeah, it worries me because there's no Coogan law for it.
12:00You know, like, we had protections put in place when I was a child actor.
12:03Jackie Coogan provided the basis for the California Child Actors Bill,
12:07helping to ensure young performers have some of their earnings
12:09set aside for when they come of age.
12:11This law does not apply to the whole country, however.
12:14Florida, where Nickelodeon Studios was located,
12:17has no laws on par with the Coogan Act.
12:20The internet has also introduced a gray area.
12:22Some of the biggest social media stars are underage,
12:25with parents managing their accounts.
12:27There are few, if any, protections guaranteeing child influencers
12:30will ever see any of the revenue their content generates.
12:33To hear that these kids are making tens of millions of dollars
12:38and there's no Coogan account for that,
12:40it just scares me because I'm like,
12:42who's controlling that money and where is it going?
12:45Representative Christine Reeves has worked to pass House Bill 1627,
12:49which goes beyond securing finances.
12:52It's just as much about giving young social media stars the right to walk away.
12:56The bill also focuses on ensuring that the kids
13:00have the opportunity to go to these platforms
13:02and to request that their likeness be taken down
13:04to be able to kind of take that power back.
13:06What was your biggest takeaway from Child Star?
13:09Let us know in the comments.
13:10There wasn't any guidance and there definitely is not a manual
13:15on how to navigate this industry at such a young age.