Many of your favorite celebrities have been in Hollywood for their entire lives. Whether they had famous parents, or they just started chasing their dream in their youth, many celebrities started their fame as just a kid. Drew Barrymore is a great example of how being young in Hollywood has its pros and cons. Keep scrolling to see exactly what those pros and cons are.
The Pros
Being a child star can be pretty great. There are so many reasons why. If you asked any child star what makes their life in the spotlight amazing, they would have similar answers. Everyone wants their name in lights, and child stars do it before they're even 18. Keep scrolling to see the best parts of being a famous kid.
8 Public Speaking Experience
This benefit to being a child star is from a developmental standpoint. Stardom gives people the opportunity to practice their public appearance in front of fans and crowds. Whenever this process is started as a child, such as with child stars in Hollywood, it is much easier to master and they end up having that skill for their whole life. This allows them to be confident in front of a camera or on stage from an early age. This is a huge plus related to being a child star.
7 Big Paychecks
Few kids who have jobs are able to make enough to save, let alone invest. Child stars have the unique opportunity to make huge amounts of money, despite their age. While their funds are managed by someone over the age of 18, it is still money that they work for. Whether it be acting, singing, or performing, child stars are in a great position to make serious money before they turn 18. This can set them up to be able to retire super early or live a life of luxury.
6 Creative Expression
When someone becomes famous as a child, they are given a really unique platform to express themselves. Whether they are an actor, artists, performers, or musicians, they have an opportunity to show the world their creative skills. This platform helps create an insatiable drive for the child star to pursue their dream. They gain supporters for their specific type of creative expression, and it is a really validating experience.
5 Resilience
Resilience is one of the first skills that child stars learn. This is because, no matter what part of Hollywood they are trying to break into, the competition is fierce. Every kid has to bring their A-game to every audition, and still only one of them gets the part. This is where they learn resilience that can prepare them to be successful and know how to bounce back for their entire lives.
The Cons
While there are, no doubt, many benefits to being famous as a child, there are some downfalls too. It might surprise you that the life of a child star is not as picture-perfect as it may seem. There are many challenges and dangers when someone lives as a child star. Keep scrolling to see the cons related to stardom as a child.
4 Scrutiny
Child actors have always been held to a high standard in their craft. They are not really allowed to act like kids while they are at work. This is a huge downside to being a child star. Also, especially with modern social media, child actors face scrutiny from strangers and acquaintances alike on an unprecedented and overwhelming scale. Before, it was a lot easier to ignore the haters, but now the nay-sayers are given platforms that allow them to reach the child stars.
3 Adulting Too Quickly
It is no secret that Hollywood has skeletons in its closet. Many celebrities that started out as child stars, such as Mara Wilson, found out about how they were sexualized by Hollywood and the outside world when they were way too young. She found pictures of her feet circulating on feet fetish websites before she was 15 years old. This downfall of childhood stardom is, unfortunately, really uncommon regardless of the gender of the star.
2 Lack Of Privacy
As a child star, you can barely do anything without supervision from parents or an agent. Even if you could get away from those eyes, the paparazzi is everywhere waiting to pounce. A child star can't go on a relaxing walk or play outside without the eyes of the world on them. This contributes to the adultification of child stars because it strips them of their childhood before they are actually adults.
1 Disconnected From Reality
Child stars grow up as, simply put, an employee. They cannot act like anything less than an adult because they are being paid a lot of money like an adult. This adultification makes these young kids worry about adult problems and ditch their childhood desires. Many celebrities think that it is important to protect today's child stars, like those from Stranger Things, from this disconnection from reality. Disconnecting from reality keeps child stars from connecting with their true selves.
