Former Disney Star Cole Sprouse Criticizes Exploitation of Child Actors: ‘Fame Is Trauma’

Known for Zack and Cody: Twins in Action(2005) and riverdale (2017), Cole Sprouse remembered the time of disney, when he was a child actor, and criticized the exploitation that young people suffer in this industry. In an interview with The New York Times, sprout described fame as torture and said you can’t go through it without coming out “unhurt.”

“My brother and I used to be a bit like, ‘Oh, you did it! Oh, you are unharmed!’ But no,” she stated. sprout acted alongside his twin brother, Dylan, for years on the Disney Channel. Actors participated in two series of the network, in addition to appearing in several films.

“The young women of the channel we were on [Disney Channel] were sexualized at a younger age than my brother and I so there is no way to compare our experiences. And every person who goes through this trauma has a unique experience. When we talk about child stars going crazy, what we’re not talking about is how traumatic fame is,” she explained.

sprout was not the only one to feel the effects of childhood fame become a burden in adulthood. Castmates like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato also faced several traumas due to exposure to the spotlight in childhood, as well as Lindsay Lohan and even Justin bieber.

For the actor, these same problems can appear in adulthood, the difference is how people deal with it when they are older. “To be quite honest, as I’ve now gone through a second big round of this fame game as an adult, I’ve noticed the same psychological effects that fame has on a group of young adults as it did when I was a kid,” he explained.

At the moment, sprout is part of the main cast of riverdale, which prepares for the filming of the seventh season. Plus star actor Our Dreams from Mars (2022), novel with Lana Condor that arrived at HBO Max in March.