The Childhood Fame Monster

Three years ago, my wife and I were vacationing at Walt Disney World when we ran across the High School Musical Show at Hollywood Studios.  This was after Vanessa Hudgens was exposed (literally) to the world when she thought she was sending private picture messages to boyfriend Zac Efron.  After watching the performance, I famously said to my wife that “Today’s Disney Stars become Tomorrow’s Tabloid Stars” and that I predicted Miley Cyrus would be next on the Tabloid list.  Three years later, and darn if I didn’t nail that prediction.

Of course, Disney is not the only place that has brought up young talent only to see that wholesome talent fall into sex, drugs, and crime and they are not the first.  Exploiting childhood actors has gone on for years, and it seems that for every success story (see Shirley Temple, Ron Howard, and Leonardo DiCaprio) there are train wrecks (see Dana Plato, Wil Wheaton, and Todd Bridges) and others who have been to hell and back (see Drew Barrymore).  But the list of Disney talent that has gone through the tabloid ringer over the last 15 years is incredible.  Christina Agulara, Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, and The Olson twins are just some of the Disney talent to experience trouble as young adults.  Add in Nickelodeon’s Jamie Lynn Spears plus if you consider Michael Jackson was a kid prodigy that turned into tabloid fodder and you have an incredible list of casualties in my lifetime.

Amazingly, some of the childhood talent has either escaped the trappings of the fame monster.  I think it has more to do with the people they surround themselves with more than anything else.  If you have a parent or advisor that will lay the law down, you tend to survive childhood stardom and go on to have a successful life.  It doesn’t matter if you continue in Hollywood (like Ron Howard or Jennifer Love Hewitt), go on to Broadway (like Keri Russell) or leave Hollywood for a different life (like “Winnie” from the Wonder Years).  As long as your advisors or parents can make sure you stick to acting, do your schoolwork, and not fall into the trappings of fame, your childhood fame can carry you to whatever your dreams desire.

The problem is that the parents in many instances drive the kids to embrace the fame in order to fatten their own bank accounts.  The most obvious example is Joe Simpson, who pushed his girls, Jessica and Ashley, into the musical spotlight.  Both have since fallen off the landscape, with Ashley now a mom, and Jessica a Cowboy-wrecker.  Another example is the Lohan parents, who basically allowed Lindsey to rise up to stardom and whose fall may be one of the most tragic.  And you have to put Billy Ray Cyrus in that mix as well.  Billy knew about the problems of stardom, and he still let Miley get caught up in it.  Sorry Billy, but you can’t blame Disney for your Achy-Breaky Heart with regards to Miley and your soon-to-be ex-wife.  You knew better.

Even those manage to dodge the trappings of fame as youngsters are forever changed from dealing with the stress.  For example, consider the New Kids on the Block, the dominant boy band of the late 1980s and early 1990s.  During that time, the band members were inundated by young girls and their moms who basically wanted to “meet” the band.  It was even known that Jonathan Knight was dating pop star, Tiffany.  Now, we come to find out that Jonathan Knight no longer likes girls, but has instead come out of the closet, joining such past music heartthrobs as George Michael from Wham, Ricky Martin, and Lance Bass from N’ Sync. 

That brings me to the current flavor of the moment, Justin Beiber.  Does anybody really believe that Justin and his driving parents can manage the wave that is the fame monster any better than past victims?  No chance.  The question is not if Justin’s star will crash but when as far as I’m concerned.  I give him five years at most before he enters the dark side of the fame monster.  And even he can survive and dodge the fame monster, how much do you want to bet that Justin’s overexposure to young girls and their moms will lead him to come out of the closet at some point later in life?

The sad part is that as long as Hollywood exist, there will always be childhood stars that will become superstars and young sex symbols.  And we will continue to see the childhood fame monster chew up and spit out some of these stars.  Who's next?  Selena Gomez?  Demi Lovato?  Maybe one of these young children doing casting calls for Disney and Nickelodeon?  Enjoy riding the wave, but always beware of the fall.