#child star

[fayegonnaslay]

Elizabeth Taylor, the legend that you are <3

From Julie Burchill's "Girls on Film", 1986.

[gleetournaments]

The Ultimate Episode Tournament: Round 1 Match 24

[unknownsolarspaceexe]

Happy new year y'all 🎉🎉🎊

Ft: child Star/ Star child

Sorry I don't have a colour pallet for child Star

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL

[helloparkerrose]

[mwdthroughoutdigitalmedia]

Blog Post #3 - The Child Star Fate

Think about how many child celebrities you know. Now think about how many have had “successful” careers (at least by today’s standards). How many did you count?

Bella Thorne—an ex-child star—launched her career on Disney Channel, akin to many other child stars, but these days most of her fame comes from being featured in articles headlined “List of Child Stars Turned Bad.”

During Thorne’s time at Disney, she was adored by little girls. People loved her spunky character, Cece, and loved Thorne just as much because of it. Thorne even released music with Disney and got several songs onto the Billboard Hot 100. She ended up becoming an advocate for children with dyslexia. She did it all, and people thought she was going places. People saw her potential.

When Shake It Up was canceled, Bella Thorne was coming into her late teen years and started appearing in media that was more age-appropriate. She played roles in The Duff, a teen romcom, and The Babysitter, a teen comedy. As she was growing older, her roles were too.

After some roles in films and small parts in TV shows, she had her directorial debut with PornHub, created an OnlyFans account, and began dating/hanging out with problematic celebrities like Tana Mongeau.

How many other celebrities can you think of with a similar path as Thorne? Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan, and Demi Lovato just to name a few. As these child stars grew older, they began to make risque, oftentimes illegal choices, that brought them lots of attention in the media.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with Bella Thorne pursuing pornography as a career, however, this is clearly some sort of pattern where these child stars feel a need to embrace their sexuality as they grow older. Everyone goes through some sort of stage in which they embrace their sexuality, but child stars tend to do so in a very overt and often problematic way.

There are lots of reasons why this happens. One major reason can be a traumatic childhood, which Bella Thorne had as she was a victim of sexual abuse and began her acting career to help her family with money. Many other child stars have spoken about eerily similar childhoods. Trauma at a young age, obviously, impacts decision-making and human development in general. This among many other factors can lead to the “child star path,” however, I believe that the MWD is one of the greatest contributors.

When child stars are children, they are treated as Madonnas. It’s completely sick and pedophilic, but people often think of and will treat these children as untouched and therefore “pure” girls. They are innocent and are therefore clean and worthy of respect. They’re young and all potential—and therefore are treated as Madonnas. However, as these girls grow older, they may realize that they don’t want to be treated as Madonnas—which, again, is completely fine—and would rather be seen as sexy and adult. They may look up to celebrities such as Kim Kardashian who is seen by the media to be sexy and beautiful while simultaneously maintaining a level of respect in the media, despite her career having been started by a sex tape. These child stars may want to be wanted; to have people falling at their feet the way Kim Kardashian does.

To be clear, child stars, just like anyone else, don’t necessarily want to be the Wh*re in the MWD; they still want to be treated as humane and may even want to have families in the future. They just want to be simultaneously sexy, famous, and respected—respected in the same way any other human deserves.

However, they’ve maintained a certain image for a very long time—that is, the image of being the innocent, childlike Madonna. However, they are now adults and don’t want to be seen that way. This is where they begin to become overtly sexual to overcome being viewed as a Madonna. This may be because the star wishes to do so, the star’s manager’s wishes, the record label, etc., or a combination. Nevertheless, the outcome is almost always the same.

This is how we get videos such as Wrecking Ball. Not to say that Miley Cyrus created this video purely to overcome being seen as a Madonna—there are many reasons why she would make that video. However, there is little doubt in my mind that the MWD plays a large role in the purpose of the video.

By no means did the public respond positively to Wrecking Ball. It sparked immense controversy in the media due to its highly sexual nature—leading people to call Cyrus “crazy” among many other, oftentimes nastier names. Cyrus’ intention was more likely to be viewed as sexy, but the media began to treat her as a Wh*re. People wanted her to be banned from YouTube. People thought that her embracing her sexuality was disgusting. She was ostracized and lost a great level of respect—something that, in many ways, she is still trying to overcome despite her complete change in style, music, and general character. 

This happens to most, if not all, people who go down the “child star path.” They are told they’re “washed-up” and “child stars gone wrong.” These women make these choices due to the massive influence of society that leads to their desire to be perceived as sexy, yet society criticizes these women for doing so.

After that stage, these child celebrities often end up having drug and alcohol abuse issues, mental health struggles, and other problems. This will often lead to the destruction of their careers. I certainly can’t remember the last time I heard Amanda Bynes’ name in the media.

Not all child celebrities have this path, though. Zendaya is a prime example of a child celebrity who continues to have an excellent career in adulthood. However, she’s one of few and far between. Even Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez, two child celebrities now with highly successful careers, have struggled greatly with mental health issues, Ariana Grande struggling with alcohol abuse as well. 

The MWD is directly affecting the course of many people’s lives, specifically child celebrities who often fall fate to the “child star path” in life, and end up becoming “washed-up.” Society turns on these women, going from treating them with a great level of respect as Madonnas, to treating them as Wh*res, after being the ones to put pressure on these women to become sexier in the first place. If society can change this line of reasoning, then other child stars can be saved from falling to the same fate.

[tina-aumont]

🐋🕷️🐻🐮🐷🐯🦧4th October, World Animal Day🦊🐴🐶🐘🐨🦈🐝

World Animal Day is a social movement charged with the Mission of raising the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. 📷Photo 1: María pictured with her pet Terry in Madrid in 1965.

📷Photo 2: María with a beautiful donkey.

[gleecontext]

GLEE S06E09 Child Star

[drama-glob]

I find it funny that the little blonde child actress from “Helluva Boss” is somehow less sadistic/evil than the one from the children’s movie “Cats Don’t Dance.” O_O

*I seriously watched that movie so many times growing up and laughed so hard at the Darla Dimple reference when I saw “Seeing Stars.” (The fact that Darla Dimple was a parody of Shirley Temple was not lost on me either ;) XD).

[2000spopcultureobsesed]

Children in the media spotlight: early 2000s Disney and the pressures of child stardom. 

Miley Cyrus has released her new single 'Used To Be Young'. Miley reflects on her career from the best moments to the worst controversies, from her beginnings as Hannah Montanna to the present. Through a series of short TikTok promoting her new single, Miley provides her fans with an intimate look into the singer's true feelings regarding each period of stardom. Miley was only 12 when the singer and actress rose to fame with the Disney sitcom Hannah Montana. Miley played a normal girl (Miley Stuart) who lived a double life as the ultra-famous pop star Hannah Montana in the four-season show, which eventually became a reality for Miley off-screen. However, Miley's transition from Disney star to professional singer came with intense scrutiny. 

In the TikTok series, Miley reflects on her intense schedule as a Disney star: a thirteen-hour day of interviews, hair and makeup, and photoshoots. She also reflects on her controversial vanity fair photoshoot, which was shot when Miley was 15. The public interpreted Miley's efforts to distance herself from Hannah Montanna during the photo shoot as an inappropriate hypersexualisation of America's most beloved and recognisable child star. Fifteen-year-old Miley was forced to apologise for the photoshoot and had to face the media. This begs the question, why did we interpret the image in a sexualised frame, even though it was innocent? Why did the media view a 15-year-old in a sexual frame? Why was so much responsibility held upon a 15-year-old? This backlash would be enough to send a grown adult into hiding, let alone a child!

Disney's obsession with public perception

Disney's practice of attempting to maintain the public perception of its stars' innocence long after they have reached adulthood is troubling. Perhaps because it is aware that the media and the general public dislike seeing these actors and their onscreen representations of childhood innocence mature. On the other hand, the media tends to sexualise young girls while condemning those who express their sexuality on their own terms. Britney Spears' video for "... Baby One More Time," which showed the 16-year-old in a schoolgirl skirt and shirt knotted around her midriff, sparked a moral panic in 1999. Having to follow a heavily curated image is highly damaging to young stars. You either have to be one or the other, but never in between. Many of these ex-Disney stars may have felt compelled to act boldly on their image because they were taught to think in extremes. Disney is built on archetypes - the hero, the villain, the damsel in distress, the bully - and the media, too, perpetuates constrictive "womanhood" tropes: virgin/whore, good girl/bad girl.

Purity culture and the obsession with the private lives of child stars

Many child stars of the early 2000s rose to prominence when the United States was experiencing a "purity panic," and evangelical groups such as the Moral Majority were urging schools to teach abstinence rather than sex education. However, just as messages of sexual abstinence were shown to be ineffective in reducing unplanned pregnancies or sexual activity among teenagers, the "purity ring" craze at the beginning of the 2000s decade only served to keep everyone guessing about which Disney stars were having sex. One of the most notable examples is when the Jonas Brothers donned purity rings at the 2008 MTV Awards. Women have expressed feelings of being trapped in their skin. Purity culture lives on in the memories, bodies, relationships, and trauma of those raised there and is especially damaging for child stars who had to live through it and represent it. 

[paulmeowcartney]

☁️ I wrote you a letter to become a member of your fanclub ☁️ ☁️ But all I got in the mail was return to sender ☁️

[texasthrillbilly]

Why am I just now finding out that Bill Mumy was on an episode of The Dating Game in the 70's?

Look at him!

Total pimp.

[mydailyvintagephotos]

Remembering Ann Gillis 🌹🕊️on her Birthday

✨February 12th 1927✨💫💐

[unknownsolarspaceexe]

It's star child/child Star

Yay

Some doodle's I made in school

[helloparkerrose]

Bill Mumy is one of the greatest young actors of his generation. He's evolved into a complete Renaissance Man.

[travsd]

Butch Patrick Turns 70

Having already knocked my brains out writing this piece about rock bands earlier today, I’ll keep this 70th birthday tribute to Butch Patrick (be. 1953) short and sweet. However, isn’t it funny? After semi-retiring from acting in 1975, Patrick played in rock bands himself, with names like “Eddie and the Monsters” for years. A theme emerges. The above autographed publicity still is from the…

[tina-aumont]

❤️❤️ Happy birthday sweet María ❤️❤️

We wish you the best of days!! ❤️

María page on tumblr

Tina & María fan page at instagram