“Lindsay Lohan Is Off The Rails” or “Demi Lovato Is Spotted In Rehab” are just some of the exploitative headlines that adorned the covers of tabloid magazines during our childhood. Chances are, you’ve most likely seen covers of magazines with titles like these and photos of former Disney Channel stars trying to hide their faces from the unrelenting paparazzi. While there are some child stars that have unfortunately had to endure trauma as a result of their fame, there are others, such as former Good Luck Charlie star Bridgit Mendler, that cash their checks and move on with their lives relatively unscathed.
For those of you who don’t know, Bridgit Mendler has traded in her scripts for textbooks and has gone on to receive a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in media arts and sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently enrolled at Harvard Law where she is working towards her Juris Doctor, or JD, degree. While Bridgit Mendler’s amazing accomplishments should be praised, I often think about how she was able to exit the entertainment industry so seamlessly and without any trauma that seems to impact nearly every former child star.
I think one of the most obvious reasons as to why young entertainers struggle so much is because being exposed to the realities of fame while growing up can be rather jarring. In my opinion, fame is like its own subsection of trauma; take Macaulay Culkin from Home Alone, for instance. He was 10 years old when the Christmas classic was released and instantly became a household name. While that’s great in theory because there’s usually a hefty check that comes along with successful films, the lack of normalcy that becomes your life once you’re famous can be traumatic. Between being chased down by the paparazzi, wild rumors circulating, and nosy onlookers trying to get close to you, combined with having to feed into the interest about one’s self by going on talk shows and press tours, it’s no wonder Macaulay Culkin pretty much disappeared from the public eye for most of the 2010s.
Another component that most likely contributed to Macaulay Culkin’s, and many other former child stars, need to disappear is the financial exploitation that occurs when you become successful. With stars like Britney Spears who became their family’s sole breadwinner in their teenage years, the power dynamic of their family is thrown off as everyone thrusts financial responsibility onto the child star. Situations like these have affected many familial relationships and have resulted in these young entertainers having to sue their parents for the money they earned during their childhood. While this unfortunate reality for many child stars seemed to have skipped Bridgit Mendler’s family, I think that it can be attributed to the Coogan Act. The Coogan Act ensures that 15% of a child performer’s earnings are set aside in a trust that is not to be touched until the performer is 18.
With the help of the Coogan Act, or great financial management on her part, I think that Bridgit Mendler was protected from the harsh realities of life after stardom. By having a portion of her earnings set aside, Bridgit Mendler has been able to focus on her studies, and even pay for her mom to finish her degree as well. Unlike Macaulay Culkin, it seems as though Bridgit Mendler has been fortunate enough to have parents that protected her from the exploitation of show business and have guided her to pursue other ventures outside of acting.