Content warning: The following article discusses themes of child abuse
Within the past few years, many former child actors, including Demi Lovato, Jennette McCurdy and Drake Bell, have shared their horror stories as children on television and film sets.
On Sept. 17,Lovato released a documentary called “Child Star” and included interviews with former child actors about their experiences growing up in the entertainment industry. The documentary featured JoJo Siwa, Drew Berrymore, Kenan Thompson, Raven-Symoné, Alyson Stoner and Christina Ricci. The stars opened up about their experiences and how some things that happened to them as child stars affected them as adults.
Berrymore and Lovato shared that adults in the industry gave them drugs and alcohol as children. Lovato and Stoner shared their experiences with eating disorders while filming “Camp Rock” (2008). Symoné explained she knew how much money she made when she was three years old, when she started her role on “The Cosby Show,” and was very aware that acting was her job.
Thompson shared he was scammed out of a lot of his earnings from Nickelodeon due to the lack of laws protecting child actors in Florida. Siwa detailed her experience with Nickelodeon after coming out at 17. She revealed the company had the rights to everything except her social media pages and made her call retailers to say she was “not going crazy” after publicly coming out on Instagram.
Earlier this year, “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” premiered and made headlines as more former child stars spoke about their experiences. The docuseries exposed top Nickelodeon executives for their cruel and abusive treatment of child stars. “Drake & Josh” and “The Amanda Show” star Drake Bell revealed he was sexually assaulted by dialogue coach Brian Peck, who was sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2004.
Another driving force behind the conversation surrounding the protection of child actors is former Nickelodeon star Jennette McCurdy. In her memoir, “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” McCurdy detailed her experiences of growing up as a child star, a career her mother forced her into.
McCurdy also revealed her struggles with eating disorders and her experiences with “The Creator,” an unnamed figure that pressured McCurdy to drink underage and made the “iCarly” set toxic and terrifying.
These stories from prominent former child actors raise questions about what kinds of laws protect child actors. The California Child Actor’s Bill, or The Coogan Law, protect child actors’ earnings. The child’s employment company must set aside 15% of the child’s earnings into a blocked trust account until they reach the age of majority.
New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kansas, North Carolina, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico and Tennessee all have laws very similar to the Coogan Act, and rights and protections for child actors varybetween states. There are no federal protections for child actors since children in the entertainment industry are exempt from the protection and labor laws of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Despite the countless stories from former child actors detailing abuse and mistreatment they faced on set, there are limited laws put in place to protect child actors.
