Ex-child stars and perils of early fame

New Delhi, March 4 : Rivkah Reyes, who rose to stardom as a child star portraying Katie in the 2003 hit, “The School Of Rock”, has joined the list of former child stars who have spoken up about navigating their teenage years through the darker side of harsh spotlight, often being sexualised by fans and the media alike.
“Especially after production wrapped, when I first came back to school, people were really nice or really mean. There was no middle ground. I was literally followed around the school with people chanting ‘School of Rock’,” Reyes told New York Post recently.
The subject has come to focus ever since the documentary “Framing Britney Spears” was released last month. Promoted as an effort that “re-examines her career and a new assessment of the movement rallying against her court-mandated conservatorship”, it has led to a slew of child stars talking about the perils of fame at an early age.
Former child actress, Mara Wilson, who rose to fame as one of the three children, Natalie Hillard, in the 1993 comedy film, “Mrs. Doubtfire”, alongside Robin Williams, wrote about how, despite coming from different backgrounds, she and Spears followed a similar trajectory in the industry.
In an opinion piece in New York Times, which was published last month, Wilson recalled being sexualised in the media, despite conscious efforts from her family and friends to project her as just a child. “People had been asking me, ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ in interviews since I was 6. Reporters asked me who I thought the sexiest actor was and about Hugh Grant’s arrest for soliciting a prostitute. If it wasn’t reporters asking me inappropriate questions, then it was adult men sending me love letters. It was cute when 10-year-olds sent me letters saying they were in love with me. It was not when 50-year-old men did,” she wrote.
The now 28-year-old Reyes, who uses they/them gender-neutral pronouns, revealed something similar and recalled how they too were “sexualised” as a minor, with grown men telling them they “couldn’t wait” for Reyes to “turn 18”.