All actors launch their careers at some point. And, just like other people, celebrities have their fair share of problems. But for those who began as kids, the road to fame reflects the bumps and dips of adolescence.
It wasn’t always like this, though. Or at least, the public was never fully informed of the public lives of young stars.
Shirley Temple, easily the most popular and well-known child star, who began her career at the tender age of five, illuminated televisions all across America throughout the ’30s.
Her rise to fame and life in the spotlight didn’t seem to contain nearly half of the shock and scandal which accompanies many young stars in this day.
However, it seems as if the “child actor” phenomena has become commonplace for our generation: today, tabloids are rife with photos and degrading stories about young celebrities’ fall from grace and into the hands of jail, addictions or, simply, sorrow.
Every refresh of social media sites makes another offense public.
Two months ago, pop-star Justin Bieber’s arrest rocked the pop culture world.
A few months ago, Miley Cyrus shocked the country with her provocative dance performances at the VMA’s.
Last year was Amanda Bynes’ drug charge scandal, and before that came Lindsay Lohan’s court cases and DUIs, with countless other run-of-the-mill issues constantly being torn apart by newspapers and magazines.
This begs the question: how big a role does the media play in all this?
How would the lives of many growing stars be different had the influence of technology and media not played such a large hand?
Of course, there are plenty of child stars whose adolescence seamlessly transitioned into adulthood.
Hilary Duff and Natalie Portman are now happy mothers; Neil Patrick Harris and Joshua Jackson also began their careers very early and both steered clear of scandal, now continuing to expand their acting careers while starting families.