Losing her innocence, struggling with burnout, and dealing with the realities of Hollywood — all before the age of 12. Bailee Madison has been acting since she was an infant, and it hasn't always been easy.
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00:00Losing her innocence, struggling with burnout, and dealing with the realities of Hollywood.
00:05All before the age of 12, Bailey Madison has been acting since she was an infant.
00:10And it hasn't always been easy.
00:13Few can say they got their first acting gig as an infant, so it makes sense that Bailey
00:16Madison felt a little burnout while still in her childhood.
00:20She admitted this in an interview with Australia's News.com, saying that the long days, constant
00:25memorization of lines, and hundreds of auditions started to take their toll after a while.
00:31Psychologists say this is to be expected, as former child stars like Jodie Sweetin,
00:35Jeannette McCurdy, and Selena Gomez have all expressed,
00:38There's a lot of pressure and trauma that can come with growing up in the spotlight.
00:42Wanda Barron's Harrell, a licensed clinical social worker, wrote for Psychology Today,
00:47Young actors must constantly cope with rejection, jealousy, self-scrutiny, obsessive thoughts,
00:53and the nonstop need to be perfect.
00:55Madison knows the crippling feeling of rejection all too well.
00:58She told Sheen magazine,
00:59I'm still working 24-7, and all these years later I still hear no's and I still face disappointments.
01:05You got any Barbies?
01:07Yeah, I think I have a few.
01:11We all loved Bailey Madison in Hallmark's hit series Good Witch, but she almost didn't
01:15make it that far in her career.
01:18When she was just 11 years old, she went through something that made her rethink acting altogether.
01:23Speaking to WonderMind in 2024, Madison opened up about her career as a child actor, saying
01:29that it had its fair share of challenges.
01:31She told the publication,
01:32I mean, there were times in my younger life on sets where things would happen, in family
01:36dynamics when I was 8 or 11, or things that people say all the time in your childhood.
01:41There was a situation that happened when I was 11 that really just cut really deep and
01:45made me question my faith at the time.
01:48She didn't elaborate on what the situation entailed, but said that the incident made her
01:52want to leave her career as an actor behind, telling WonderMind,
01:55The thing that I loved the most, it made me, I was really, really, really low.
02:00She has since realized that what happened wasn't her fault or responsibility, but it
02:04did teach her that she determines her own success, not other people.
02:08She also learned to reframe how she looked at her career, and had to accept that it won't
02:12always be easy.
02:14In her aforementioned chat with WonderMind, Madison offered some advice to her younger
02:18self.
02:19Above all else, she wished she could go back in time and tell little Bailey not to entertain
02:23any thoughts about how she's not good enough.
02:26She told the publication,
02:27Looking back, 11 on was maybe subconsciously when I started to be highly aware of the industry
02:32that I'm in and be highly aware of people's opinions.
02:35This made her teenage years extra difficult.
02:37Just about everyone deals with extra insecurities when we reach our tweens and teens, but Madison
02:42had the opinions of the public, the press, and casting directors to contend with.
02:47She went on,
02:48I just feel like there's an innocence that starts to be stripped away more and more.
02:52She said that, at some point, the bravery and self-confidence she had as a child slowly
02:56started to dissipate.
02:58Now she's trying desperately to get it back.
03:00She mused,
03:01I think life can dent you.
03:03When you're a kid, I don't know.
03:04There's this belief that things will be better and that you can be anything that you want
03:08to be and do anything that you want.
03:10And then adulthood really just slaps you in the face.
03:13Now she's trying to keep her 11-year-old self's bravado and confidence in the back of her
03:16mind when she feels her self-consciousness creeping in.
03:19She said,
03:20That's something that I'm really doing my hardest to bring back into my life right now.
03:24What have you done to me?
03:29Because I love it.
03:34Some stars prefer to live like normal people, and it might be safe to say that Bailey Madison
03:38is one of them.
03:40She's always been a pretty private person and hasn't been involved in any high-profile
03:43drama like so many of her peers.
03:45In 2023, however, Madison gave fans a look into her personal life when she took to Instagram
03:51to share that her grandfather had died.
03:53She wrote,
03:54Monday, October 23rd, my grandpapa passed away, a few hours after I landed back in L.A. after
04:00flying to Florida, where I was able to give him another hug.
04:03Madison went on to lament that he would not be around to share the coming chapters of
04:07her life, but did acknowledge that she was grateful for the time she did have with him.
04:11She went on,
04:12As you know, I will carry him with me and feel him in my heart always.
04:1598 years of life and love, and now, he has returned to my grandma, the love of his life.
04:21Raising a glass of wine to you, grandpapa, I love you with all my heart.
04:26If you're pretty up-to-date on Bailey Madison's relationship history, you know that her first
04:30serious boyfriend was Emery Kelly.
04:33And the reason they probably broke up is because he was, quite frankly, a bit of a jerk.
04:37In September 2015, Madison took to Tumblr to post an essay about the negative effects
04:42of stereotypes, revealing that she'd been subjected to them herself.
04:46She wrote,
04:47I was just labeled as a prude by someone a few weeks ago.
04:50Now, at the time, I didn't know what it meant, so I just laughed it off and nodded my head
04:53awkwardly as I do.
04:55I then got home and looked up the definition of it and was so taken back.
05:00At the time, Madison did not reveal who called her a prude.
05:03It was only in February 2016 that she drummed up the courage to open up about it.
05:07She told Clover Letter,
05:09The person who called me a prude was the first relationship I'd ever been in.
05:12When you're four years old and a boy says that you can't throw better than us, it's
05:16both an insult and a challenge.
05:18It makes you want to prove them wrong.
05:20The same goes for calling someone a prude.
05:22It's okay to have morals.
05:24She told the outlet that the experience taught her not to put up with a relationship where
05:27her values aren't respected.
05:30When Bailey Madison lands a part, she gives it her all, but she's the first to admit that
05:34it can become emotionally taxing.
05:36In her interview with Wonder Mind, she shared that she's an empathetic person and tends
05:40to take on the emotions and energy of others.
05:42While that can be a sort of superpower when acting as your full-time job, it can also
05:47be mentally taxing when you're working on a show that's a bit on the darker side, especially
05:51if your character has a multitude of personal issues.
05:55She said in the interview,
05:56So for 19 hours a day, for nine months at a time, if you're playing someone who even
06:01within the joy still has those cuts inside, just like every human does, it's something
06:05that I'm cautious or thoughtful of even if it's not on the page or necessarily calling
06:10for it."
06:11She said that filming Pretty Little Liars Original Sin really tested her resolve when
06:15it came to her mental health, telling the publication,
06:17"...I remember flying back from filming and my sister looked at me and was like, you are
06:2220 percent Bailey.
06:23I feel like you are still so deep into that world."
06:25No, no, Karen, he kissed me.
06:28Get out.
06:29Karen, please, believe me.
06:30Get the f— out of my house, you s—.
06:35While filming the first season of Pretty Little Liars Original Sin, Madison felt incredibly
06:39lucky to be a part of the hit franchise.
06:41However, at the time, COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were very much in effect, which meant no one
06:47from home was allowed to visit her.
06:49She told WonderMind,
06:50"...I remember having this moment of, I'm doing a show that has always been a dream
06:54of mine and I'm the happiest I've ever been.
06:56I'm also the lowest I've ever been."
06:59What's more, the show's dark subject matter didn't exactly help lift Madison's spirits.
07:03She went on,
07:04"...on top of being emotionally attached to a character, you're then also going home
07:08to somewhere that isn't actually your home and no one's really there to ground you or
07:12see you.
07:13That can sometimes be the most isolating part of filming.
07:16You're around a thousand crew members and then you walk into your home at night and
07:19it's just kind of silent.
07:21That can play with my head."
07:22Madison shared that phone calls with her loved ones and spending time outside help her feel
07:27less removed from the outside world when she's filming.
07:30What's more, while shooting the second season, she brought her dog along and regularly hung
07:34out with her co-stars when they were off the clock.
07:37She told the publication,
07:38"...it's the little things that make the impossible seem a bit more possible."
07:43Madison has undergone a stunning transformation since she first graced the silver screen at
07:47the age of 5.
07:48Despite her long and impressive career, she still finds herself dealing with insecurities
07:52from time to time.
07:54Madison is the first to say that growing up in front of cameras wasn't always glamorous.
07:59She told Shoon Magazine,
08:00"...growing up is hard in general and then adding a bunch of strangers watching it happen
08:04and commenting freely can be overwhelming at times.
08:07There's such a societal pressure to look and be perfect."
08:10When asked about a photo shoot that she did without any makeup, Madison remembered it
08:14being a scary moment.
08:15While she usually enjoys going makeup-free, she wasn't so sure about baring her skin for
08:20a magazine shoot.
08:21She admitted,
08:22"...I was feeling very self-conscious and not photogenic at all.
08:25I left the shoot feeling insecure and feared that when people saw those pictures, they
08:29would think that I wasn't pretty enough to be in a magazine spread."
08:32On top of feeling insecure about the actual photos, she felt insecure about feeling insecure.
08:37In the end, though, she was happy with the shoot.
08:39She told Shoon Magazine,
08:40"...I always preach to let your skin breathe and feel confident with yourself, and yet
08:45I had a hard time doing that myself.
08:47Then the images were sent to me and this has since become one of my favorite shoots that
08:51I've done."