Celebrities Who Have Regrets About Their Time as Child Stars

Being a child star is a tough business, and it can lead to issues once an actor grows out of those roles. It’s a topic that today’s child stars-turned-adult celebrities, including Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez, have spoken out on.

“I wouldn’t start that young if I could do it over again,” Demi said during a Cannes Lion panel in 2017. “It was a difficult transition from child star to transforming into a mainstream artist. It’s something that is very challenging.” The singer-actor got their start on The Disney Channel’s Barney & Friends from 2002 through 2004 and went on to star on the network’s Sonny With a Chance from 2009 to 2011, as well as the Camp Rock franchise.

“You have to find your identity,” they added. “For so long, you’ve been molded into something and then, you’re expected to figure out who you are very fast in front of the entire world. It definitely has been difficult, but it’s been a learning experience. I am still figuring out who I am every day.” Demi went on to become a successful adult recording artist but has made several trips to rehab over the years, including one in July 2018 following a near fatal accidental drug overdose.

Selena has also successfully transitioned into an adult music and acting career but was also beset by trips to rehab for anxiety and depression in her 20s. The brunette beauty most recently starred in the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building.

“I’ve been in makeup since I was 7 years old. I feel like that kind of messed with me,” Selena told Elle in a December 2021 interview. She began working on The Disney Channel’s Barney & Friends in 2002, then went on to star on the network’s The Wizards of Waverly Place from 2007 through 2012.

“You’re so young and then working. I have professionals doing my makeup, and suddenly, I can look 25 when I was 16, and it was crazy,” the Rare Beauty founder recalled. “Then, I felt like, ‘Oh, I look too young all the time. I should achieve that look more. I should try that.’ It just made me question my beauty for what it was.”

Scroll down for celebrities who have regretted their child stardom days.

Hilary Duff

The How I Met Your Father star explained she was typecast by producers and casting directors after her starring role on the Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire. “‘Oh, she’s too famous. She’s too sweet. We know her as Lizzie McGuire,’” the actress recalled to Bustle, adding, “I’m like, ‘Why are you giving me the callback then? Don’t f—king waste my time.”

“I was like, ‘I’m me! I’m Hilary, not that person. That’s a made-up person,” she continued. “It was a desire to be seen as a person outside of a character. By the time I was 18, I was like, ‘If I hear that name [Lizzie McGuire] one more time!’”

Miley Cyrus

Miley not only successfully shook off her Hannah Montana Disney Channel character, she’s gone on to become an adult pop-rock superstar and a pop culture icon. But her teen actress days have still haunted her.
“Talk about an identity crisis. I [was] a character almost as often as I was myself, and actually, the concept of the show is that when you’re this character [and] when you have this alter ego, you’re valuable,” Miley explained in a March 2021 episode of the “Rock This with Allison Hagendorf” podcast. “And then, the concept was that when I looked like myself, when I didn’t have the wig on anymore, that no one cared about me.”
“I wasn’t a star anymore. That was drilled into my head, like, without being Hannah Montana, no one cares about you,” she added.

Bella Thorne

Bella starred on The Disney Channel’s Shake It Up from 2010 to 2013. In 2021, the actress told Fox News, “I wish I would have been true to myself. When it came to filming, I would talk in a higher voice or do different things to make myself appear more innocent. It made me feel like a liar because I had to pretend to be someone I was not — even if it made me famous.”

She revealed that she took the job to help her relatives out financially. “I did it for my family because we were on the brink of poverty, and I was told this is what I had to do,” Bella told the outlet, adding, “I don’t like being recognized as a former Disney child star because I was always told I had to fit into a certain mold and be this person I wasn’t. It was like being in a box.”

The Disney Channel stigma followed Bella as she pursued adult roles. “It’s been hard for me to still be recognized in that light. People didn’t want to read me or see me because they only saw me as a Disney Channel star. When everyone expects you to be perfect, falling short of those impossible standards gives people the wrong impression,” she explained, adding, “I basically had to start from the bottom and work my way up again after Disney.”

Christy Carlson Romano

The Disney Chanel star is best known for her roles on Kim Possible and Even Stevens. She wrote a moving essay for Teen Vogue in 2019 where Christy explained, “During a period of time in my life, I grappled with depression, drinking, and more, desperate to find fixes for how I felt.”

“I won’t be the last child actor to tell you the pitfalls of early onset fame. But if I’ve learned anything from these experiences, it’s that being famous should come second to creating a life that you personally feel fulfilled with,” the Christy’s Kitchen Throwback star added.

Cole Sprouse

Cole is a legitimate adult star on the CW’s Riverdale, but acting in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life on Deck left him feeling like an “automaton.”

“There was a feeling of machination; I felt like an automaton,” Cole told Entertainment Weekly in 2016. “I needed to take a break and step outside myself … I needed a dose of reality and I needed to see myself in a more objective point of view. And now I think I can enjoy [acting], which is a really fundamental part about being an actor.”

The Jonas Brothers

The JoBros admitted during their 2019 Amazon Prime documentary Chasing Happiness that their Disney Channel show, Jonas, was a mistake.

“[It] was a big regret. We shouldn’t have done that. It really stunted our growth. I feel like it was just a bad move. It was just not the time. Literally, we couldn’t evolve because of it,” Nick explained. Joe added, “It didn’t feel like it was us anymore. It felt young and we were becoming adults.”