20 Former Child Stars on the Ups & Downs of Growing Up in the Spotlight

Austin Butler

While Butler is now an Oscar-nominated actor for his performance as Elvis — which has already won him a Golden Globe, BAFTA and People's Choice Award — his career began years ago as a child star.

Looking back at his early career, Butler said he is thankful for the lessons he learned and the roles he booked, as they helped get him where he is today.

"I am grateful I started young because it allowed me a lot of time to make mistakes. I had so many years of really bad acting," Butler, who was featured on shows like iCarly, Zoey 101 and Carrie Diaries, shared. "And I still have so much to learn, but that's what really excites me about acting is that you, it's like anything, you can improve, and you can get better. It excites me to think about 10 years from now how I will have grown and how you can continually try to find more truth."

Christy Carlson Romano

In a video titled "Why Child Fame Is So Dangerous," shared to her YouTube channel in 2021, Romano described child stardom — which she experienced on the Disney Channel in the early aughts — as a "double edged sword."

The Even Stevens star said, "The way I see it — and the way that my experience was — is that yes, you will want more and more of that notoriety, and when the notoriety goes away, you get so, so scared and feel like you've let everyone down."

She said "to this day," she is "still healing from my childhood trauma of sort of this rat race."

"In no way am I a victim," she clarified, " but I do have trauma."

In 2023, Romano announced that she was using her Disney Channel past to launch her PodCo company with husband Brendan Rooney.

The company's roster will include several rewatch podcasts of beloved 2000s kid shows, including Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place and Nickelodeon's Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, both of which are hosted by stars from the series. Romano's former series Even Stevens also has its own rewatch podcast, which she co-hosts alongside fellow alumni Nick Spano and Steven Anthony Lawrence.

She told PEOPLE that while it's not always easy to revisit the past, she is welcoming the opportunity.

"So it is cringy at times, yeah. I think you lean into the uncomfortable, but at least you're not alone, because you have a co-host," she said. "You can lean into the cringe."

Jennette McCurdy

The iCarly star was so traumatized from her experience being a child star at the behest of her mom that she titled her memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died. The book is as no-holds-barred as the title, as McCurdy details being "exploited" by network executives, encouraged to drink alcohol as a teenager and eventually developing severe eating disorders as a result of the pressure.

"My whole childhood and adolescence were very exploited," she told The New York Times. "It still gives my nervous system a reaction to say it. There were cases where people had the best intentions and maybe didn't know what they were doing. And also cases where they did — they knew exactly what they were doing."

Aly & AJ

The Michalka sisters said their secret to surviving child stardom was having each other as best friends who got through it together.

"Most child actors don't have a sibling also experiencing the same success at the same time," Aly told PEOPLE. "That gave us a lot of normalcy. We just got really lucky. We had each other."

Justin Bieber

Speaking with GQ, Bieber recalled some of the times in his early days of fame when he attempted to reclaim a sense of independence.

"I was working so much as this young kid that I got really sad, and I missed my friends and I missed normalcy," he said. "And so me and my friend hid my passport. The record label is freaking out, saying, 'You have to do the Today show next week and you can't find your passport.' It takes a certain amount of days to get a new passport. But I was just going to do anything to be able to just be normal at that time."

Christina Aguilera

In an April interview with Health, the singer said she read her childhood diaries and forced herself into some self-reflection thinking back to the "trauma."

"In some regard, I wasn't happy with a lot of things, and it's scary to face those feelings that, under normal circumstances, you don't have time to face because everyone is going, going, going," she said. "That grind is praised, but I think we're all understanding that having moments to self-reflect and just breathe are crucial."

"When I'm not working, there's a heavy amount of guilt that I feel. It's been embedded in me since I was little — you're shamed if you don't want to keep up," she continued. "As a child [entertainer], you're all pitted against one another, and other children are all about that grind too. It's a weird space to grow up in."

Rivkah Reyes

The child star played the role of bass guitarist Katie in School of Rock at just 10 years old.

Though they enjoyed the experience of filming the movie, Reyes told the New York Post that they "felt unsafe existing" in the years following because many grown men sexualized them, making remarks like they couldn't "wait 'til she's 18." They also revealed that classmates were harsh upon their return to school.

Reyes told the New York Post that they felt pressure to land another, larger film role, telling the publication they hoped people would "stop calling [me] Katie."

Reyes said they spent ages 14 to 24 as "a raging addict," eventually becoming sober in 2017.

Mara Wilson

Wilson, known for her roles in films like Mrs. Doubtfire and Matilda, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that she was sexualized as a young girl, despite intentionally choosing wholesome roles.

"I mostly acted in family movies — the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire. I never appeared in anything more revealing than a knee-length sundress," she wrote. "This was all intentional: My parents thought I would be safer that way. But it didn't work."

"It was cute when 10-year-olds sent me letters saying they were in love with me," Wilson continued. "It was not when 50-year-old men did."

Wilson recalled, "Before I even turned 12, there were images of me on foot fetish websites and photoshopped into child pornography. Every time, I felt ashamed."

"Hollywood has resolved to tackle harassment in the industry, but I was never sexually harassed on a film set," she added. "My sexual harassment always came at the hands of the media and the public."

Christina Ricci

Calling her pre-teen times on the set of The Addams Family films her "glory days," Ricci told PEOPLE how proud she is to be a former child star.

"I loved working. I loved being a kid who had a talent," she said. "I loved being good at something. I loved all that positive reinforcement I got every day. I loved getting to use my imagination in a way that really created things. It was incredible to be able to do that so young."

Alyson Stoner

After her impressive dance moves stole the spotlight in Missy Elliott's 2002 "Work It" video, Stoner went on to roles in Cheaper by the Dozen, the Step Up franchise, Phineas and Ferb and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. The actress/dancer/voice artist later got candid about her experience with childhood fame in a YouTube video.

"Being famous as a kid is weird and unhealthy," she said. "I'm learning to appreciate the present moment because I was a pack mule growing up. Living in that little box? Being part of that little machine? It takes a huge toll on you. The competition, narcissism, perfectionism, the pressure, schedule, the traumatizing experiences that we can never talk about, because we're either under contract or we'll get shot or other things will happen to us if we open our mouths."

Stoner is now ready to move on from her kid-famous past and reclaim control of her career. "I have some really cool bucket list projects and dreams that are coming true right now. [I'm] finally tapping into a life that I want to live," she shared.

Jodie Sweetin

Sweetin is no stranger to the spotlight — but the Fuller House star does admit that there are highs and lows to growing up in the public eye. The actress, who landed the role of Stephanie Tanner on Full House at the age of 5, has had her share of struggles, all of which were subject to public scrutiny.

"The blessing and the curse of being in this industry is that people want to know about you and what it is that you do and have done, the good and the bad," Sweetin told PEOPLE. "What that affords you is the opportunity to be able to share those things and be able to grow with people and in front of people."

Beverley Mitchell

"Obviously, I'm iconically going to be Lucy Camden and it's very difficult in the business to change people's minds, because they see you in one way and they love you and adore you and you're great, but they don't want to see you in something else," Mitchell, who starred as Lucy Camden on 7th Heaven for 11 years, told PEOPLE of being typecast in Hollywood after finding fame as a child.

She continued: "But in the real life standpoint, I love it. Because I've been able to grow up with so many of these people and I'm so much a part of their lives and to hear them talk about watching the show with their grandma and having conversations, that's really something special and I feel like that's a gift and I'm ever so grateful for it. So yeah, I'm Lucy."

LeAnn Rimes

The actress and country star — who rose to fame in 1997 at the age of 13 — has no regrets about her road to stardom, but admits that becoming famous at a young age isn't for everyone. "I would not recommend it to anyone, but it's my path, so I've accepted it and learned from it," she told PEOPLE. "I can really appreciate it at this point — all of it."

Miley Cyrus

The star formerly known as Hannah Montana has been criticized for her outlandish outfits and behavior, but she explained to Harper's Bazaar that it's a way for her to reclaim her youth: "I was an adult when I was supposed to be a kid," she said. "So now I'm an adult, and I'm acting like a kid."

Cyrus also revealed to Marie Claire that her time on the show left her with some lasting body issues. "I was told for so long what a girl is supposed to be from being on that show," said Cyrus. "I was made to look like someone that I wasn't, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long, and then when I wasn't on that show, it was like, 'Who the f--k am I?' "

Selena Gomez

Gomez told GQ that growing up as a child star means having the entire world watching you navigate adolescence — and rooting for you to fail.

"It's disgusting, because it's interesting to grown adults that these kids go through weird things because they're figuring out, 'Do I like this? Do I love this? Maybe I love this person. Oh, I'm exposed to this, people are reporting my every move and this and that because of Instagram and Twitter and you can find out everything,' " she said. "Because it's, I don't know, fun, maybe? It's like watching a car crash as you're driving past it. You want to watch it."

Still, she has no regrets about stepping into the spotlight at a young age. "I chose this. So I'm not gonna sit here and say, 'Oh my God, poor me, I didn't have a normal childhood,' " she continued. "I don't give a f— about that."

Daniel Radcliffe

The Harry Potter star is often upheld as one of the rare, well-adjusted former child stars in the industry, but he admits that he simply "got lucky."

"People expect me to be an absolute a--hole. And when I'm not, that always plays in my favor," Radcliffe told Playboy in 2015. "The most underrated way I and all the producers on Potter got lucky was that I f--king loved the work. I've seen kids on set who are bored, and I'm like, 'What are you doing? This is the best place on Earth.' I loved it from the word go. I loved being on set. I loved the hours. I loved the people ... Acting was the focus for me, and I wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize being an actor."

Radcliffe has been open about his struggle with alcohol as a coping mechanism for fame, and in 2012, announced he was sober.

Hilary Duff

Though she admitted that it was hard for her to shake the public's perception of her as Lizzie McGuire for years after the show ended, Duff only has positive memories of her time on the Disney Channel show.

"As torturous as it has been at some points in my life to be Lizzie McGuire, I think that when that show came out, it was such a part of who I was, I didn't feel like I was playing a part," she told PrideSource. "The writers all knew me so well and were writing things that were happening in my life and things that I would say, and I was dressing exactly like I wanted. It was so me."

Raven-Symoné

The former Cosby Show and That's So Raven star admitted that being famous at young age is part of the reason that she felt the need to hide her sexuality for so long.

"I knew I couldn't say it out loud because, 'Oh my God, Little Olivia is gay? This is crazy!' " she said. "I had the No. 1 show on Disney, I had multiple albums, I was on tour with 'NSYNC. People had bucket lists, my bucket list was finished at 18. I didn't want to deal with that." She never thought she'd come out because "my personal life didn't matter," she said. "It was only supposed to be sold as the Raven-Symoné brand."

Demi Lovato

Lovato has been very outspoken about her struggles with addiction and an eating disorder, and how being famous at a young age and the events of her Disney Channel days still haunt her.

"We joked around that it was Disney High, except we all were shooting shows and really overworking. I joke that I sometimes have PTSD after leaving the channel, because if my schedule starts to get too busy, I rebel and I get bitchy..." she told Billboard. "When you're on set, you work like an adult. I always wanted to be the next Shirley Temple, to be the youngest person to ever win a Grammy and an Oscar. It didn't turn out that way. I don't regret it, but I probably won't allow my kids to get into the industry unless it's on their terms."

Joe Jonas

Jonas opened up about his Disney past in a now-famous essay published on Vulture, where he revealed that he felt like a puppet when he and his brothers were working with the channel.

"Being a part of the Disney thing for so long will make you not want to be this perfect little puppet forever," he wrote. "Eventually, I hit a limit and thought, 'Screw all this, I'm just going to show people who I am.' I think that happened to a lot of us. Disney kids are spunky in some way, and I think that's why Disney hires them. 'Look, he jumped up on the table!' Five, six, 10 years later, they're like, 'Oh! What do we do?' Come on, guys. You did this to yourselves."