“The joy of life began to disappear”: celebrities who became famous in childhood, exploited by their parents

The childhood of these celebrities was not at all carefree. Someone ended up forgiving their parents, and someone openly accused them of self-interest and expressed whatever they thought.

Brooke Shields’ manager early in her career was her mother. And already at that time, Shields had enough work that outraged the public. One of the most scandalous was the film “Pretty Child”. At the age of 12, Brooke starred in the movie of her age named Violet, which becomes a commodity at a brothel auction. There were also explicit scenes in the tape. At the Cannes Film Festival, the film caused an uproar, and the young actress was even attacked – someone tried to cut strands of her hair. According to Brooke, it scared her a lot and generally became a traumatic experience.

But Brooke forgave her mother. In interviews, she constantly tried to defend her, saying that she found the film rather bland compared to what is now acceptable in cinema. But in 2018, when asked if she would let her daughters star in a movie like Pretty Baby, Brooke admitted she wouldn’t. It seems that after all, Brooke still wasn’t as happy with her bed scene in her early teens as she tried to show.

Macaulay Culkin, who became a star after the release of the movie Home Alone in 1990, was managed by his father, Keith. With his son, he was pathologically strict: he forced him to memorize roles at night and even forbade him from using tips on the set of the SNL show (and Macaulay was then only 11 years old). The actor then explained that his father was simply jealous of him: everything the man tried to do in his life, his son realized it before he was even 10 years old.

When Macaulay quit acting after the 1994 movie Richie Rich, he told his parents, “I’m done guys, I hope you made your money because there’s nothing left. which comes from me.” After Macaulay even sued his parents to stop them from disposing of his $17 million fortune.

Mum Drew Barrymore started making money with her daughter when she was just 11 months old. It was at this age that Drew started acting in commercials. But the real glory fell on Drew when she was seven years old and she starred in the movie “Alien”.

When the girl was only nine years old, her mother had already taken her to parties at the infamous Studio 54 club, where Drew first tried illegal substances. At 12, the young actress was already in a rehabilitation center.

When asked if she felt like her parents were exploiting her, Drew replied, “I think the way my mum did it was definitely over the top.”

Judy Garland, the Wizard of Oz star, admitted she only felt like a beloved child when she performed – so her mum was thrilled with her. Judy started coming into the limelight when she was just two years old. She sang and danced with her sisters before a movie screening at a movie theater her father owned in Minnesota. The real trouble started when the family moved to California – closer to Hollywood.

“All of my family’s beautiful carefree fun and joy started to fade away. All of a sudden mom decided we should be stars. She started dragging us to any place where anyone someone important could see us,” Garland said.

Already at the age of two, thanks to her parents, Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen had a contract with the modeling agency Ford Modeling. The first significant film role for Momsen was the role in the film “Prophet of Death” with Dennis Hopper. She was only six years old then. And at the age of 14, Momsen signed a contract with IMG Models. Shooting, photo shoots for covers, recording songs – the life of a young Taylor was far from what is called a carefree childhood.

“Nobody wants to work when they’re two, but I had no choice. I went to school, then I dropped out. I had no friends. I was constantly working, and I had no real life, ”confessed the actress and singer.