Drew Barrymore and Corey Feldman, pictured at the 61st Annual Academy Awards in 1989, both rose to fame as children and in the years since have discussed the challenges that came with working in the industry. Photo / Getty Images
Drew Barrymore and Corey Feldman, pictured at the 61st Annual Academy Awards in 1989, both rose to fame as children and in the years since have discussed the challenges that came with working in the industry. Photo / Getty Images
Warning: This story contains references to self-harm, domestic violence, and addiction.
Two former child stars have made headlines this week, and they’re among many who have grappled with the challenges of fame.
Hollywood is no stranger to tragic stories and cautionary tales of once-promising child actors.
Many other former child stars have spoken out about their time in the industry and reflected on the challenges faced as they grew older under the spotlight.
Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Jake Lloyd, and Kenny Baker in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Photo / Lucasfilm Ltd
Demi Lovato — who got her start on Barney & Friends at 10 - has openly talked about her struggles with early fame, revealing in Hulu series Child Star that much of it came down to how she felt about herself as she grew.
“I looked at my success as my self-worth,” she said.
“I had a really hard time differentiating the two, and I dealt with a lot of need for external validation.”
Conversely, Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood notably talked about how nurturement during his early acting days helped him transition into adulthood.
A critically acclaimed child actor by age 9, Wood told Q he was “never really wooed by the dark aspects of the industry”, and that his success and lack of trauma came from how his mother raised him and handled his early career.
Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood on Lambton Quay during the parade for the world premiere of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Being in adult spaces, working long hours, and easy access to narcotics and alcohol are just some of the things Child Star interviewees have said caused them to struggle as they grew older.
Besides general labour laws, there are no federal law protecting child actors in the USA, but some states laws require safeguards like chaperones and work hour restrictions for those under 18.
Lloyd, Ty Bryan and Lovato are far from alone, with many child stars struggling as they reached adulthood.
Orlando Brown (That’s So Raven)
Former Disney star Orlando Brown appeared on Dr Phil for an intervention in 2019. Photo / Getty, Dr Phil. Youtube
Gaining his first role aged 8 in the Marlon Wayans comedy Major Payne (1995), Los Angeles-born Orlando Brown was thrust into the limelight of Tinseltown with a promising career in his sights.
His major break came when he secured the role of Raven Baxter’s friend Eddie Thomas in the hit sitcom That’s So Raven, a role he played until 2007.
Brown’s legal troubles came thick and fast after the cancellation of the sitcom and his career pivot into the music business at 20, starting with marijuana possession in 2007 and continuing to as early as 2023 when he faced domestic violence charges.
Other arrests cover everything from burglary, felony drug possession and assault.
Eventually, things got to a point where Brown’s friend and manager, Solomon Barron, took Brown on the Dr. Phil show in 2019 for an “intervention”.
Brown explained on the show about his past experiences with alcohol and drugs, including marijuana and crystal meth, and how they impacted his behaviour.
“Just the influence and the demons that come with that drug kind of took over,” he told host Phil McGraw.
“I just found myself in a dark place because I couldn’t really find everybody. It’s kinda like looking for your keys, when you stop looking, they’re right there type of deal”.
Brown continues to take on small acting roles today despite his legal troubles and said in recent interviews that he wanted to focus on his family.
Amanda Bynes (All That and its spin-off series The Amanda Show)
Amanda Bynes has struggled to come to grips with fame during her adulthood. Photo / Supplied
While Bynes enjoyed major success in her childhood and teens with myriad movie hits like She’s The Man and Hairspray, she slowly fell victim to the stresses and pressure of the industry, eventually taking a hiatus in 2010.
“Being an actress isn’t as fun as it may seem,” the Big Fat Liar star tweeted while announcing her hiatus.
While enrolled in university, legal troubles and personal issues saw her constantly make headlines.
A 2012 DUI charge saw Bynes sentenced to three years of probation in exchange for dismissal, but in 2013, she was charged with reckless endangerment and marijuana possession in an incident where she allegedly threw a bong out of a 36-storey apartment building.
She was also placed in a conservatorship under her parents, Lynn and Rick Bynes, in 2013, following her substance abuse issues and legal troubles.
As of today, Bynes' conservatorship has ended, and she remains alcohol and drug-free but still receives follow-up outpatient treatment after a number of previous self-harm-related incidents.
Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgement Day)
Terminator star Edward Furlong has been in and out of rehab since the early 2000s. Photo / Getty Images
Starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger at just 13, Edward Furlong won both Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his performance as John Connor in James Cameron’s 1991 Terminator sequel.
While he enjoyed a string of moderate success in the 90s, his career slowly declined after 2000.
He visited rehab for the first time in 2000, one year after he broke up with his tutor Jacqueline Domac who was 14 years his senior. Domac later went on to sue Furlong for domestic violence and a portion of his earnings.
Speaking to Daily Mail UK in 2022, the American History X actor opened up about his abuse of meth and heroin throughout his 20s and 30s, which led to his overdosing a “couple” of times.
In the interview, Furlong revealed he “didn’t have too many people looking out” for him and was “left to run wild” as a young actor.
“If I was older, I wouldn’t have made so many bad decisions,” saying much of his drug use stemmed from wanting to “fit in”.
In 2009, his then-wife Rachael Bella filed a restraining order against him after he allegedly punched her while under the influence of drugs.
He was arrested again in 2012 and charged with felony domestic violence against his girlfriend Monica Keena, leading to a stint in jail and more time in rehab.
Since a 2016 arrest for being under the influence of drugs, the star has stayed clean and has opened up about his journey to sobriety.
“It’s nice to get a second chance,” he told Daily Mail UK, saying he was focusing on fatherhood and reconnecting with his family.
Drew Barrymore with her mother (right) at the ET premiere. Today Barrymore hosts her own talk show. Photo / Getty
Steven Spielberg classic ET made Drew Barrymorea star at 7, but it would come as a surprise to many that she was cleaning toilets by 16 and had already been in rehab by age 12.
Born into an acting dynasty, talk show host Barrymore recalled in her book Wildflower that she was a “party girl”, from a young age, going out with her mother and her mother’s friends up to five times a week.
At 13, she found herself beginning an 18-month stint in hospital, where she was treated for alcohol and drug addiction.
“I was so scared of not knowing where I was going. I really had a fear that I was going to die at 25,” she told the Guardian.
“My life was not normal. I was not a kid in school with normal circumstances. There was something very abnormal, and I needed some severe shift”.
When asked if she enjoyed child stardom, Barrymore said she had mixed feelings about it.
“I don’t think I understood what was good, or pleasurable, or bad. I was probably chasing joy, but I don’t think it was the real joy. I was just too young to know”.
Now the host of popular talk show The Drew Barrymore Show and recipient of multiple acting awards, Barrymore has been open about her past struggles and is seen widely as a success story of those who have overcome the struggles of child fame.
According to Daily Mail, she has also been sober for around five years after quitting drinking sometime in 2019.
Corey Feldman (Gremlins and The Goonies)
Corey Feldman has been open about the abuse he suffered as a young actor in Hollywood. Photo / Getty Images
Emancipated from his parents, The Goonies star said he turned to drugs and alcohol as a way to escape abuse from his mother and the sexual abuse he suffered while in the film industry.
“I can tell you that the No. 1 problem in Hollywood was and is and always will be paedophilia. That’s the biggest problem for children in this industry. ... It’s the big secret,” Feldman told ABC News in 2011.
“It was a symptom,” he said of drug and alcohol abuse.
No stranger to authorities, Feldman was charged with possession of heroin in 1990, his second narcotics-related charge that year.
He told ABC he underwent a 10-month rehabilitation process to recover from his addiction to heroin.
Now sober for over three decades, he told Salon last year that he “never looked back or showed up high on a set or got arrested again”.
While he said there were “a lot of good people” in Hollywood, there were also “really, really sick, corrupt people who had gotten away with it for so long that they feel they’re above the law, and that’s got to change”.
He’s still starring in shows and plays to this day.
Macaulay Culkin in 1990 and Culkin now. Photo / News Corp Australia, Instagram
Home Alone star Culkin was thrust into the spotlight aged 9 and starred in multiple hit 90s films growing up.
At 24, his police mugshot made headlines after he was charged with possessing marijuana and a controlled substance without a prescription, the first of many concerning pictures taken of the star, who often looked pale and thin.
He received three one-year suspended prison sentences and was ordered to pay $540 in fees.
Speaking about recreational drugs in 2021, Culkin told Esquire that drugs were like “old friends. But sometimes you outgrow your friends”.
On an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Culkin said he eventually grew tired of fame at a young age.
“I actually wasn’t a huge fan after a while...being the centre of attention. It does become a job after a while”.
Now partner to former Disney star Brenda Song (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody) with whom he shares a child with, Culkin is now sober and continues to appear in film and TV roles.
In an interview with Variety, Song noted that she and Culkin had “vastly different” experiences being child actors, and that the experience taught her to “not take anything personally at a young age. At the end of the day, this is just a job”.
Lindsay Lohan (Another World and The Parent Trap)
Lindsay Lohan's 'party girl' persona was put down to years of pressure from tabloids and the paparazzi. Photo / Getty Images
Tabloid scrutiny and being in the public eye are things Herbie: Fully Loaded actress Lindsay Lohan has cited as reasons that drew her to turn to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism.
According to Hello, several reports were published about Lohan’s “party girl” lifestyle, and individuals who worked with the young star began to comment to the press about problems working with the actress on set.
Legal issues and battles with addiction came as early as 2007, when Lohan was twice convicted of drunken driving, once for cocaine use, made three trips to rehab and served an 84-minute jail stay.
“When I was younger, I was definitely going out too much and I was drinking too much,” she told Piers Morgan Live in 2013.
She went on to tell Morgan in that interview that former co-stars Meryl Streep (A Prairie Home Companion) and Jamie Lee Curtis (Freaky Friday) tried to help her over the years, with Lee Curtis advising her to ditch the “hangers-on”.
A big part of her work on herself was learning to say “no,” she told Bustle in 2024, revealing that as a child actor, “They teach you to say ‘yes’ to everything, and that’s not really what life’s all about”.
Where to get help: • If you or someone you know needs support and treatment to reduce their alcohol intake, call the Alcohol Drug Helpline on 0800 787 797, visit their website, or free text 8681 for confidential advice.
Drug addiction
Where to get help: • 0800 METH HELP (0800 6384 4357) • Alcohol Drug Helpline (Phone 0800 787 797 or text 8681) • They also have a Māori line on 0800 787 798 and a Pasifika line on 0800 787 799
