If there’s anything us common folk, who spend a considerable amount of time glued to celebrity gossip on our phones, know - it’s that showbiz is complicated and cruel. And even more so when you’re a child with your feet in the real world but heart still set on a giant red trampoline.
On 3 August, American pop-singer Justin Bieber, who went from being a 13-year-old YouTube nobody to topping music charts in unprecedented ways, opened up about his personal life on social media. Filled with grammatical errors and inconsistent usage of ellipsis, Bieber’s message is impactful and makes it a tad difficult to feel anything but sympathy for the ‘Sorry’ singer.
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In the Instagram post, Bieber wrote about the pressures of becoming famous at a young age, the rabbit hole of drugs, abusive relationships and finally, how he bounced back from the abyss of being a rich 20-year-old who had “no skills in the real world.”
To be fair, one Instagram post does not absolve Bieber of his countless wrongdoings. But it does tell us a little something about what having the paparazzi constantly follow you might feel like. And how important as well as difficult it is to own your narrative in a world that’s constantly trying to snatch it away from you.
The Disney Trap
I grew up with the Disney stars. When I was 10 and fighting over the television remote with my younger brother (pre-Netflix era when TV remote ownership was the ultimate crown), 14-year-old Miley Cyrus was peaking as her onscreen alter ego Hannah Montana - a TV character that propelled her music career. But as time passed, she grew out of her wholesome onscreen persona. Following her 2013 VMA performance with Robin Thicke, the idea of Miley Cyrus as the wild child had permanently cemented in everyone’s minds. Not to forget, Cyrus’ tumultuous decade-long relationship with former husband Liam Hemsworth. An issue so talked-about that it urged Miley to release an official statement on social media on 23 August.
Like Bieber, Cyrus’ post had a similar confessional undertone. But despite the unapologetic assertiveness that Cyrus seemed to be going for, it was obvious that somewhere, deep down, the Hannah Montana star felt bullied. “I have grown up in front of you, but the bottom line is, I HAVE GROWN UP,” wrote Miley as she listed the many mistakes of her career. Her words reeked of desperation, frustration. Cyrus was grieving, growing, and once again, she wasn’t allowed to do it at her own pace.
There’s no denying the fact that being a child celebrity is definitely harder than someone who enters the industry in their early twenties. Stardom, though superficially alike, hits both very differently. When every action, every step you take is being aggressively scrutinized by those who benefit from not just your success but downfall as well, it’s not always easy to evolve with your moral compass set right. And as someone who is deeply embarrassed by her archival Facebook posts every now and then, I can only try to imagine the horrors of early stardom.
Becoming a popular celebrity when you’re still dependent on your parents means that your parent’s source of income is deeply linked to yours.
American actor Lindsay Lohan, who found success as a young 12-year-old in Walt Disney’s The Parent Trap is a similar cautionary tale. She has been sent to a rehab six times. At one point, her infamous run-ins with the law were constantly being talked about. While talking to Oprah Winfrey, Lohan admitted that she was addicted to alcohol and had lied about doing cocaine because she “was terrified of being judged.” Lohan also opened up about the terrible environment in her home and how it affected her.
So is singer Britney Spears, who also started out young with the pop show The All New Mickey Mouse Club, and later struggled with a drug problem.
Families Thrive on Young Stardom
However, substance abuse is not the only fallout of achieving stardom at a young age. Becoming a popular celebrity when you’re still dependent on your parents means that your parent’s source of income is deeply linked to yours. And by the time you’re able to pull away from the toxicity and make better decisions for yourself, the damage might already have been done.
Eventually, Culkin quit on his parents, but the toxicity lasted. He later referred to his father as “abusive, physically and mentally.”
In 1990, Home Alone, a comedy film about two burglars who keep falling for booby traps set up by a child, became Macaulay Culkin’s ticket to fame. But the 10-year-old actor’s stardom came at a price. As his career, briefly, escalated, so did his father’s. As Culkin’s sought-after PR executive, Kit developed a certain unlikable brand of arrogance and bad attitude that eventually led to the death of Culkin’s acting career. One of the reason’s for this was that Kit, as a young man, had failed to become a successful actor and was now living his dreams through his son. Kit both resented his son and wanted him to become famous at the same time.
Eventually, Culkin quit on his parents, but the toxicity lasted. He later referred to his father as “abusive, physically and mentally.” A few years later, drug charges against the Home Alone actor got media attention, but Culkin denied them.
Macaulay Culkin was also known for his close friendship with the legendary Michael Jackson and his daughter Paris. Similar to Culkin, the King of Pop thrived due to the presence of an abusive father in his life. Joe Jackson, a frustrated guitarist himself, physically beat up Michael as well as his brothers. He would even carry a threatening belt to the rehearsals.
Social Media & Cancel Culture
In January 2019, the internet erupted over an Instagram story uploaded by child actor Millie Bobby Brown, who became famous for her character Eleven in Netflix’s Stranger Things. The 15-year-old English actor had taken to social media to defend Penn Badgley’s character in You, a Netflix show about a psychopath’s unhealthy obsession with a woman. Brown called the character “not creepy” and said, “he's in love with her and it's okay.” Naturally, outrage poured. While many got hostile with their words and attempted to ‘cancel her’, others came to her defence.
The reaction to Brown’s comments made one thing clear: being a child actor today, in the age of social media, is just as hard. Perhaps even more. When hoards of people on the internet are 24x7 speculating about your life, demanding explanations, and passing judgement - is there any way out?
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