Who hasn’t envied the lives of child actors at least once in their lives? I mean think about it…beauty, fame, fortune, praise, practically any material thing at your disposal, who wouldn’t want that kind of life? Well, fast forward a couple years and the consequences begin to truly reveal themselves. Former iconic child stars such as Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes, Justin Bieber, and Miley Cyrus have tarnished their image through scandals, tattoos, drugs, and issues with law enforcement. But why? What causes these glamorous, youthful icons to go “bat-s*** crazy”? In her article, “7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy“, former child actress Mara Wilson provides an “insiders perspective” on this ongoing phenomenon.

Wilson begins her article by stating that the fact she wasn’t “Olson twin famous” behooved her. Additionally, she lamented that parental intervention is almost nonexistent for some of the big name child stars, which causes them to have bad and/or distant relationships with their parents. To go along with Wilson’s statement, Psychotherapist Christine Webber claims that “discipline enables parents to demonstrate acceptable and non-acceptable behaviour to their child”; therefore, it can be inferred that the child stars without parental supervision neglect the discipline received from good ol’ mom and dad.

Another important and modern example Wilson comments on is the fact that many stars, especially females, are, or have been, sexually exploited. She tells a brief anecdote about one time when she was around the 7th grade and she looked herself up on the internet. Little did she know that she would find herself on a “foot fetish website dedicated to child actresses.” Although it seemed meaningless and comical at the time, a couple years later Wilson put two and two together and realized she was practically featured on a child porn site…doesn’t seem so funny and innocent anymore, does it? Fortunately for Wilson, her average physical features served as a blessing in disguise as she was left out of the more seriously messed up “child porn sites.” Some of the youthful celebrities who, in Wilson’s words, “never seemed to go through an awkward age” and smoothly transitioned into beautiful adults never thought badly of the attention they received from sexual exploitation. The less clothed, the more attention. The more attention, the better, they thought. Webber would argue that the reason why some child celebrities experience the “Miley Cyrus” effect is because “when parents are critical or inconsistent or even unloving, their children will usually grow up undervaluing themselves”,
lacking self esteem and self respect. That half-naked picture of Lindsay Lohan everyone thought was so “hot” might make ladies around the world feel envious of her looks; however, they shouldn’t feel envious of the fact that they have had a stable family life and a good set of morals.

Sometimes the lives of others can be extremely deceiving, especially when looking at those of celebrities. Thanks to Mara Wilson, we have uncovered what the life of a teen idol is like, and that it is not in accordance with Dr. Christine Webber’s essentials to raising a good kid. Essentially, what it ultimately boils down to is having a solid family life and balancing all the aspects of your life. Aristotle taught that in order to live a good life, we must find our “golden mean“, or the balance between the two extremes. If there’s any take away from this, it’s to be happy with your own lives and not to become preoccupied with the lives of the famous because more often than not, the grass is ALOT greener on the other side.