Yahoo Lifestyle 15 Heartbreaking Revelations From Former Child Stars That Completely Change The Way You Watch Their Iconic Shows
Warning: this post contains mentions of body dysmorphia and eating disorders.
Growing up with the "Golden Age" of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon shows, we mostly only saw the "good" parts of the actors' lives — the famous friends, the cool clothes, the global popularity, etc. However, as adults, many of their former child stars have spoken out about the negative experiences they had on set.
Here are 15 heartbreaking revelations from former child stars:
1.In 2024, That's So Raven star Raven-Symoné told The Unplanned Podcast, "There is an understanding that if you’re short and you wear heels, it thins you out. ‘Cause if you look taller, the proportions work out. Behind the scenes, my team — and, I’m sure, conversations — always led to me wearing heels."
She pointed out that, in The Cheetah Girls, she was the only one who wore heels.
She continued, "When you look at That’s So Raven, every single outfit had heels. I would be wearing heels and pajamas sometimes, just because it makes you look thinner."
2.In the 2015 OWN documentary Light Girls, Raven said, "When I had my own show, I used to tan three or four times a week in a tanning bed to get darker. It's funny, one of the lighting guys came up — I love him to death — he goes, 'Raven, I need you to stop tanning. You're getting too dark, and we have to relight the whole entire show.'"
She said, "I was like, 'Sorry, I was just trying to be pretty!'"
3.In 2016, Raven, who was also on The Cosby Show, told Entertainment Tonight, "My likeness, whether you see it in an interview, whether you see it on print, however you see it, at that time, had 15 people dictating what I should and should not look like. If I did whatever I want, I'm not gonna sell, 'cause it doesn't go with the brand."
She continued, "I was branded at such a young age, and then you wonder why all these child stars have these issues. You were not allowing them to grow up as human beings. You were stifling them at the youngest and most important development age of their time, and then you expect them to be normal later?
In my head, I have three different brains. At that age, you had to compartmentalize. When you're in the public eye, you have to."
4.Raven also told Entertainment Tonight that she was aware of her sexuality at 12. She said, "I didn't wanna tell my parents because...I didn't. I knew I couldn't say it out loud because, 'Oh my god, little Olivia's gay? This is crazy!' I had the number one show on Disney. I had multiple albums. I'd been on tour with NSYNC. People have bucket lists. My bucket list was finished at 18. I didn't wanna deal with that. I didn't wanna deal with it...There was nothing that would've made me wanna deal with my own issue at that time...But that eats at your soul."
She continued, "I never thought that I would come out. I never thought I would come out because my personal life didn't matter, it was only what was supposed to be sold as, you know, the 'Raven-Symoné brand.'"
However, she was "over it" when she fell in love and also decided to (temporarily) retire from the industry.
Raven publicly came out in 2013.
5.In a 2024 TikTok video, The Naked Brothers Band actor Allie DiMeco said, "There was an episode where [her character] Rosalina 'cheated' on Nat and kind of kissed a French guy. He’s a 30-year-old man. I’m sorry, I couldn’t even watch it. It gives me fucking the ick, and it honestly gives me PTSD. "
She said that the documentary Quiet on Set calls for change to the environment so that child actors are able to say no or express their discomfort.
Allie continued, "And I’m like, yeah, maybe they do express that though, it’s also more important to create an environment that listens to the kids and actually does not make them do things when they don’t want to do them because they made me kiss this 30-plus-year-old man when I was like, what, 14 or 15?
I told them many times that I didn’t want to do it. My mom was very against it, and they pretty much made me feel like I was going to lose my job, that I might be fired if I didn’t do it. It was weird."
In a statement to BuzzFeed regarding alleged behavior on past productions, Nickelodeon said, "Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct. Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience."
6.In 2022, Victorious actor Daniella Monet told Business Insider that she felt some of the teen actors' outfits on the show were "not age appropriate."
She said, "I wouldn't even wear some of that today as an adult."
7.Daniella also told Business Insider that she contacted Nickelodeon about a Victorious scene where she ate a pickle and put on lipgloss. She expressed her worries it was too sexual to be broadcast, but her concerns were reportedly ignored.
She said, "Do I wish certain things, like, didn't have to be so sexualized? Yeah. A hundred percent."
8.In her memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died, iCarly actor Jennette McCurdy did not mention series creator Dan Schnieder by name. However, referring to him as "The Creator," she wrote about several times he made her feel uncomfortable. For example, she said that, during a photoshoot, he insisted the girls wear bikinis, despite her unease.
She also said that, while filming a kissing scene that was also her first kiss, he shouted instructions while angrily forcing retake after retake.
In a statement from Dan Schneider's team to E! News following the release of Jennette's book, former Nickelodeon President of Content and Production Russell Hicks said, "[He] cared about the kids on his shows even when sometimes their own families unfortunately did not. He was the shoulder they cried on when something happened to them. He understood what they were going through. Dan was like the great high school counselor you could always turn to for help and guidance. And he was their biggest champion.
Nickelodeon's reputation as the best in kids' television required that nothing went on without the company knowing. There is a standards and practices group that reads every script and programming executives looking at every episode. Add to that everyday on every set, were the parents and caregivers and their friends watching every single frame of footage and listening to every joke. They had a billion dollar brand to protect. Every single thing that Dan ever did on any of his shows was carefully scrutinized and approved by executives at Nickelodeon."
9.And in 2022, Jennette told the Hollywood Reporter, "At the time, I struggled with my character being so focused on food, being that I was suffering from life-threatening eating disorders."
"But now I see it as the true gift of comedy gold that it is. That kind of juxtaposition is just absolutely my sense of humor, where there’s something really tragic that’s underlined by something that’s really polished. It’s hilarious," she said.
10.In 2015, Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus told Marie Claire, "From the time I was 11, it was, 'You're a pop star! That means you have to be blonde, and you have to have long hair, and you have to put on some glittery tight thing.' Meanwhile, I'm this fragile little girl playing a 16-year-old in a wig and a ton of makeup. It was like Toddlers & Tiaras. I had fucking flippers."
She continued, "I was told for so long what a girl is supposed to be from being on that show. I was made to look like someone that I wasn't, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long, and then when I wasn't on that show, it was like, 'Who the fuck am I?'"
11.Miley also told Marie Claire, "Every morning, I was getting coffee jammed down my throat to wake me up. I just had to keep going, be tough, be strong. Everything happened to me on that set."
She began experiencing anxiety.
She said, "I would have anxiety attacks. I'd get hot flashes, feel like I was about to pass up or throw up. It would happen a lot before shows, and I'd have to cancel."
12.In 2022, Drake & Josh star Josh Peck told the BFFs podcast, "There were challenges, there were hard times...especially being 300 pounds on television when I was 16. A lot of kids have awkward teenage years, and then they burn their yearbooks and swear their families to secrecy when they grow out of it, but mine are in reruns."
He continued, "A lot of people grew up with me, and I think they have an image of me as this idealized, happy dude. And like, while I’m certainly happy today, it was challenging in moments."
13.In 2018, Shake It Up star Bella Thorne told The Tom Ward Show, "I came from the [Disney] Channel, and I was told to be a very different person than I am." She was reportedly almost fired over a picture of her in a bikini.
She said, "They said, 'You're lucky Bella has such as fanbase that we can't afford to fire her at this moment in time, but if she does one more other thing, we'll [fire her].'"
14.In 2015, Bella told J-14, "Zendaya and I were put in a very unfortunate position where we were kind of forced to compete against each other [during Shake It Up], which made the whole first season of the show just very awkward for us. We wanted to love each other, but yet we were constantly being put against each other. It was, 'Who's better at this?' and 'Who's better at that?'"
"And then second season we kind of just had this tell-all talk where we started crying and really just put everything out there on the table, and that's when we became best friend," she said.
15.And finally, in 2022, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody star Cole Sprouse told the New York Times, "My brother [Dylan] and I used to get quite a bit of, 'Oh, you made it out! Oh, you’re unscathed!' No. The young women on the channel we were on [Disney Channel] were so heavily sexualized from such an earlier age than my brother and I that there’s absolutely no way that we could compare our experiences. And every single person going through that trauma has a unique experience."
He continued, "When we talk about child stars going nuts, what we’re not actually talking about is how fame is a trauma. So I’m violently defensive against people who mock some of the young women who were on the channel when I was younger because I don’t feel like it adequately comprehends the humanity of that experience and what it takes to recover.
And, to be quite honest, as I have now gone through a second big round of this fame game as an adult, I’ve noticed the same psychological effects that fame yields upon a group of young adults as I did when I was a child. I just think people have an easier time hiding it when they’re older."
If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453(4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.
The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.
