(Content warning: This story mentions sexual assault and mental illness.)
While the conversation of what happens behind-the-scenes to beloved child actors has been more talked about in recent years, with iCarly star-turned-author, Jennette McCurdy’s book, I’m Glad My Mom Died, to the popular docuseries, Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, what exactly has been done to protect kids on sets now? What can be done? And with such recent deaths of beloved actors like Hayden Panettiere and Daviegh Chase, are we too late?Â
In recent years, many actors have come forward about their experiences as child actors, what they go through on set, and how rarely they had people in their lives who cared enough to save them. Â
Jennette McCurdy’s memoir details her story, and how her abusive mother vicariously lived through her. McCurdy didn’t want to be an actor, but was constantly guilt-tripped to continue, despite her own personal struggles with mental health, and an eating disorder. This is a common thread with a lot of young actors. A lack of support and a lack of ability to speak up keeps them in this cycle, and it makes them the perfect victim for the showrunners. Â
Quiet On Set goes into greater detail on the industry itself and the individuals who created the toxic and abusive environment that only recently came to light. In interviews, many actors expressed that Nickelodeon showrunner and executive producer Dan Schneider had created, fostered, and allowed the toxic work environment that defined their entire childhoods. Schneider, who left the company in 2018, allowed and even encouraged the sexualization of children, verbal and physical abuse, and turned the lives of young children into lists of traumatic events. The series especially highlights the sexual abuse Drake Bell (Drake & Josh) experienced at his time at Nickelodeon, and how little he was able to do until it was far too late.
These incidents are far from exclusive to the Nickelodeon company. Child actors everywhere have fallen into similar situations due to abusive parents or showrunners. While people like Jennette McCurdy and Drake Bell were able to continue their lives, speak out about their trauma, and do what they can to work through it, unfortunately, not everyone can. Â
The late Hayden Panettiere blamed much of the hardship in her life on the fact that she was forced to act so young in roles that weren’t suited for a child of her age. She acted in her first major role at age 7. She played the character Lizzie in the long-running show Guiding Light, who gets kidnapped, kills another character, and battles leukemia.Â
In Panettiere’s memoir, This is Me: A Reckoning, she writes, “Subconsciously, I began to associate catastrophe with adoration… People loved me when make-believe bad things happened to me.” In the late 2000s, Panettiere found her breakout role in Heroes, but also was subjected to scrutiny that many women experienced during that time. She faced ridicule and criticism over her weight, looks, and love life at only 17 years old.Â
Throughout her career, Panettiere had few to turn to. In her final years, she had given up custody of her child, was in a physically abusive relationship, and was battling drug addiction. As she described in her memoir, her own views of love were severely skewed by her childhood. This resulted in her living a life most people couldn’t imagine.Â
Daveigh Chase faced similar circumstances. Although she’s most known for voicing Lilo in Lilo and Stitch and the dubbed voice of Chihiro in Spirited Away, she also starred in comparable psychologically troubling roles for a child, such as Samara Morgan in The Ring, and Samantha Darko in Donnie Darko. Â
Chase’s life had spiraled, as she found her way into addiction and was reportedly homeless in her final few years. Like Panettiere, it’s speculated that the lack of support and care Chase had in her life pushed her into a harmful lifestyle, which ultimately resulted in her tragic death.Â
Child actors, put into these situations oftentimes by abusive or neglectful parents, have their childhoods taken from them. They ultimately leave their respective franchises and companies with trauma and are left with none of the money their own work should have gotten them. Â
With little support and little ways to cope, many of them unfortunately turn to drug abuse or alcoholism, oftentimes costing them their lives. While deeply heartbreaking, the deaths of Hayden Panettiere, Daveigh Chase, and all the other former child actors have been lost in recent years are also signs that something must be done to protect future young actors, and soon.Â
So, what can actually be done about this? Getting rid of child actors entirely sounds far-fetched, but there are laws and protocols that could be put in place that would save a lot of livesÂ
In my opinion, including actors in the Fair Labor Standards Act (the baseline for minimum wage and youth employment) could help protect children from spending more time than necessary on set, and allow them to still have a childhood outside of acting. Â
Another way to reform could be having mandatory and frequent mental health checks. SAG-AFTRA, and other associations that work to better the lives of actors, should be making sure children, especially those on sets of productions that have adult themes and topics, are not being negatively affected by the material, which could save them from the trauma. Â
A final, and very important addition would be stricter background checks for everyone on the set and production team. Ensuring that everyone, even if those that aren’t directly interacting with child actors, has no history of criminal behavior could help so many children from becoming victims.Â
Of course, these precautions won’t save every single child actor, but these steps could help guarantee that significantly less kids would be harmed both mentally and physically on sets.Â
Discussing these topics also brings attention to these very necessary reforms. Shows like Quiet On Set, and books like I’m Glad My Mom Died brought global focus to how Hollywood allows the children they employ to be treated, and, hopefully, the stories of Hayden Panettiere and Daveigh Chase inspire more people to speak up and demand change.