When fame kills family values

By CAHAL MILMO

Joss Stone did not have to find the money for her first car. Nor did she have to pay for her second. Both - a yellow Mini and a metallic Audi TT - were given to her by corporate admirers; namely her record company and a grateful manufacturer for whom she performed a private gig. At the age of 17, she has not even taken a driving lesson. For the mildly dyslexic teenager from Devon, lauded as the owner of the best white soul voice for years, the material benefits of fame and fortune are rapidly mounting.

But while the giggly youngster with a voice 20 years older than her body makes light of the trappings of wealth, they are increasingly accompanied by pressures. Her representatives were this week forced to deny claims that she has become the latest in an illustrious roll call of teenage superstar millionaires - ranging from Shirley Temple to Charlotte Church - to be enmeshed in an acrimonious battle with their parents for access to their personal wealth.

With more than two million album sales to her name, a duet with Mick Jagger due for release this Christmas and a list of admirers ranging from Gladys Knight to Tom Cruise, she has so far amassed a fortune of NZ$11.8 million. By the time she reaches her 18th birthday in April, it is estimated that figure will have doubled.

As one prominent London-based agent put it: "Anyone with a successful teenager on their books lives in fear of them reaching 18. Not only do they have to reinvent themselves as an act but, most of all, the question of filthy lucre crops up. They know it, the parents know it and the media knows it."

It is at this stage that the showbiz rumour mill goes into overdrive, sensing the potential to rehearse its vocabulary of "bitter splits" and "angry sackings" as a wayward and newly moneyed teenager achieves financial independence.

Psychologists argue, however, that beneath the glitz of a high-profile row, the normal dynamics of family life are all too easily distorted. Under the adulation of millions of fans and the full glare of a global media, a child star's tantrum or a parent's financial probity can all too easily spark a schism.

From the extraordinary history of Gary Coleman, the star of the 1980s American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes who lost most of his $29 million trust fund in a legal dispute with his parents, to Charlotte Church's dismissal of her mother as her manager, it seems famous children all too often end up wresting the cheque book back from parental control.

Ever since Stone first shot to prominence as a 14-year-old on a television talent contest, her earnings have been secured in a trust fund set up by her parents: Richard, who runs a dried-fruit import business, and Wendy, her chaperone and some-time manager.

The age at which she will gain access to the money has been progressively lowered, after "discussions" between the youngster and her parents, from the age of 25 to 23 to 21. In the meantime, she has reportedly "sacked" her mother as her manager and, according to a "close friend", is in the midst of an unpleasant domestic struggle to take control of her money when she turns 18.

The singer, who is on the verge of attaining the musical holy grail of breaking into America's multi-billion-dollar record industry with her latest album, Mind, Body & Soul, recently complained that she survives on "pocket money" and is "broker than my friend Emily who works in Burger King". One friend said: "She doesn't want to go wild - she just wants to buy a house and treat her friends."

Publicists strongly denied the claims, describing as "conjecture" the idea that she wanted her money next April and rejecting any suggestion of a family split. Spokesman David Woolf said: "There is a grain of truth in this in the sense that Joss' parents have agreed for her to gain control of her trust at 21 rather than 25.

"There has certainly been no row with her parents. Things are happening so quickly for Joss that both she and her mother decided earlier this year it was better to bring in an experienced manager. It was a mutual agreement - there was no row. As to her wanting to use some of her money before then, I am sure that if between the ages of 17 and 21 she wants to buy a flat or a car, then her parents would just write the cheque."

While the denials were categorical, it is unlikely that the gossip will abate if the debate in the Stoker family (she was born Joss Stoker and adopted her stage name on her American agent's advice) follows previous examples of domestic showbiz wrangles.

If she does seek full control of her wealth next year, she could follow the example of Charlotte Church, who consulted lawyers before winning a reduction in the age limit on her trust fund from 21 to 18.

By the time she turned 18 this February, Charlotte Church, whose embodiment of choral innocence helped her to sell 10.5 million records, had amassed a fortune of at least 16 million pounds ($42 million) - and a history of parental disagreements and rows that would keep showbusiness editors happy for weeks.

After a bitter disagreement with her professional manager, Jonathan Shalit, which was settled in the High Court in 1998, Church's mother, Maria, took over management of her career. During the court case, Shalit famously described Maria as a "fiery and emotional" woman whose raison d'etre was the "pursuit and retention of money".

Certainly, Maria Church ran a tight ship, allegedly complaining about a 9.99 pounds ($26) courier fee for documents. It is a story that underlines the fact that, no matter how exemplary the parents' behaviour as managers, there will always be differences with their offspring.

Asked before her 18th birthday whether she wanted to be free of her parents' influence, Charlotte Church said: "All the time. We have completely opposing opinions. Teenagers and parents don't get on anyway, and being with them all day every day you just feel, 'Get out of my face, I can't stand you'."

Church's succession to her fortune has sparked an avalanche of stories about her spending habits - a 10,000 pounds ($26,300) holiday in the Mediterranean for her boyfriend and four friends, an allegedly rejected credit card in Dubai and plans for an & 800,000 pounds ($2.1 million) yacht.

But according to psychologists, the long-term damage in such circumstances is less likely to be to the starlet's bank balance than to their relationship with their parents.

"In all families, there is normally a sense that the parents have the final say - they are more experienced, older and have the economic power to give gifts and finance the teenager's life," said Susan Van Scoyoc, a psychologist specialising in family relationships. "But in a situation where a child becomes famous and independently wealthy, that relationship is transformed. The child is suddenly much better off than the parents and the child will be surrounded by people telling them that they are right to want whatever they want. There is a friction of will and a friction of power. If the parents are the guardians of that wealth, there is a sense that it isn't theirs.

"It is completely normal for teenagers to rebel against their parents but in these situations the ramifications are hugely exaggerated. The child is financially independent and lives under the scrutiny of the media and perhaps has a manager. In that scenario, a resolution with the parents is less likely to happen."

The results can be a dramatic falling out. Macaulay Culkin rejected his father's attempt at a reconciliation four years ago after a long legal dispute with his parents over his childhood earnings of $26 million. Drew Barrymore, the precocious star of ET, "divorced" her mother Jaid after a very public dispute over her childhood earnings and upbringing. As Barrymore put it: "I never really had a childhood. I was around adults all the time. My favourite book when I was 8 was Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex - But Were Afraid to Ask. I was not afraid to ask."

Joss Stone may do well to consider the words of one London-based manager: "At the end of the day, these are people who are living an unreal existence. Their parents are their last link with reality and it's madness to destroy that relationship just because you want your platinum card early."

- INDEPENDENT