12 child stars who were exploited by their parents (13 photos)

The child stars captivate audiences with their captivating performances and innocent charm. But let's not forget that their successful careers would not have been possible without long days on set, hours spent practicing lines or rehearsing songs, and parents deciding that their children should pursue a career in entertainment. Sometimes this turns into real exploitation.





1. Michael Jackson



Michael Jackson said that his father, Joe, regularly forced him and his brothers to work harder and harder, not above using physical violence as punishment. “When he came to see me, I felt sick,” Michael said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1992. “I started vomiting out of nervousness.” When the guys made a wrong step or note during rehearsals, Joe would hit them with an electrical cord or belt buckle. “None of us remember him hugging us or saying, 'I love you,'” Jermaine Jackson says of his abusive father in his memoir.

Joe Jackson not only physically abused his sons, but also sexually abused his daughters. The eldest daughters of the Jackson clan, Rebbie and La Toya, accused him of this. They stated that their mother, Katherine, was complicit in these attacks because she knew what was happening. "When your father gets out of bed with your mother and goes into bed with his daughter, you hear the mother say, 'No, Joe, not today. Give her a rest. Leave her alone, she's tired,' it drives you crazy." mind,” La Toya wrote in her 1991 memoir.

2. Macaulay Culkin





Macaulay Culkin's on-screen family in Home Alone was loving, if somewhat scattered. However, the reality in his real family was completely different. His father, a very domineering man, forced young Macaulay to work a busy schedule, neglecting his desire to play and make friends with his peers. At age 11, while Macaulay was hosting Saturday Night Live, his father, Keith, whom he describes as a "crazy man," forbade him from using cues and forced him to memorize every line, which seemed excessive even to the show's adult hosts.

According to the actor, his cruel father seemed to be jealous of him because everything he tried to do in his life, his son accomplished before he was 10 years old. Tensions with his parents forced Macaulay to go to court to prevent them from controlling his $17 million fortune. Since then, she and her father have not communicated. "I learned to read court papers at age 14," the actor said in 2006.

3. Brooke Shields



At age 12, Brooke Shields played the daughter of a prostitute in the 1977 film Lovely Child, including some nude scenes. The film is based on a true story and follows a teenage girl who is raised by her prostitute mother in a brothel in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans. Brooke's mother and manager, Teri Shields, received the leading role in the film.

“I was such a naive, innocent child. I wasn't Lolita. I didn’t have that early understanding of my sexuality,” the supermodel said years later about the controversial film while promoting her memoir, “Once Upon a Time There Was a Girl: The True Story of My Mom and Me.” Brooke gave up her mother's services as a manager when she married tennis star Andre Agassi in the 1990s.

In 2018, when asked if she would allow her daughter to star in such a film, the star replied: “In this environment, with social networks and dangers of this level, and just being a mother now, looking at my 11-year-old daughter, I wouldn’t began to contribute to this.”

4. Britney Spears



The fact that Britney Spears has a talent for show business became clear at the age of 11, when she starred in “The Mickey Mouse Club.” Later, the singer managed to become one of the most successful pop stars in the world, and her name became synonymous with the pop genre as a whole.

Her father, Jamie, was well aware of this and began legal battles to get a larger piece of the multimillion-dollar pie. In 2008, he was appointed as his daughter's conservator shortly after Britney was taken to the hospital by ambulance for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation. Court documents obtained by the New York Times show that the performer strongly objected to theive of his guardianship over her and doubted that her father was suitable for this role.

Britney felt the agreement became an "oppressive and controlling tool against her." According to court documents, the singer told a forensic investigator in 2016 that she was "tired of being taken advantage of." She also stated that “only she works and earns money,” and everyone else “is supported by her.” On November 12, 2021, Judge Penny officially ended the conservatorship following Britney's first public statement in which she accused her father of abuse, mistreatment and coercion.

5. Judy Garland



Before Judy Garland had blown out three candles, her mother had already found her a job: singing and dancing with her older sisters before the start of the family movie theater.

Judy's mother, a vaudeville performer, moved the family to California when Judy was 4 years old, a decision that had a profound negative impact on her mental health. “From the day we arrived in Lancaster from Minnesota, all the wonderful, carefree fun and joy in my family began to disappear,” Judy said. “Suddenly my mother decided that we should become stars.” She started dragging us to any place where someone important could see us.”

According to Garland, as a child she felt like a “welcome child” only during performances.

6. Tatum O'Neal



At the age of 10, Tatum had already achieved what hundreds of actors spend their entire lives trying in vain to achieve: an Oscar. But the award for her role in the film “Paper Moon” was not easy for her. The sparkling figurine stood in stark contrast to a childhood filled with neglect and abuse—emotional, physical, and sexual.

When Tatum was eight years old, her mother, actress Joanna Moore, suffered from alcohol and drug addiction so severe that she could no longer care for her children. She left her little daughter alone with strange men who pestered her. After that, the girl moved to live with her father, actor Ryan O'Neal, who, according to Tatum, began to resent her success, fearing that it would overshadow his own career.

“People tell me that when I got an Oscar nomination, Ryan hit me,” Tatum writes in his memoir. “The feeling that I most strongly associate with winning an Oscar is the overwhelming sadness of being abandoned by my parents. And yes, they hit and spanked me constantly. The attitude was very rude"

7. Shirley Temple



Shirley Temple is a charming little girl with chubby cheeks and blond curls who became number one in the Hollywood box office in the thirties of the last century. But in reality, Shirley's life was far from sunshine and rainbows.

By the age of 12, Shirley had already appeared in 44 films. Her mother, Gertrude, brought her into showbiz when she was very young. 20th Century Fox paid the young talent $250 a week, but Shirley was given no more than $20 in pocket money. In her 1988 memoir, the actress called the series of short films "Baby Burlesque" a cynical exploitation of her childhood innocence.

As an adult, Shirley found herself with $44,000 in her bank account, a pittance compared to the $3.2 million she earned in her acting career. Her father, bank employee George Temple, allegedly failed to put her income into a court-appointed trust, leaving Shirley with almost nothing.

8. Gary Coleman



At 18, actor Gary Coleman found his accounts nearly empty, prompting him to sue his parents and former manager. Gary accused his parents of misappropriating the multimillion-dollar fortune he made as a child actor on the hit sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. Gary ended up receiving $1.3 million.

However, 10 years after the trial, in 1999, he filed for bankruptcy after a series of failed investments, legal fees and medical bills due to lifelong kidney disease. He died in 2010 at the age of 42 after falling down the stairs at his Santaquin home and hitting his head, possibly following a seizure. At that point, he had not spoken to his parents for 20 years.

9. Lindsay Lohan



Lindsay became famous at the age of three, when the prestigious modeling agency Ford Models signed a contract with her. AShe had her breakthrough film role in 1998 when she played Hallie and Annie, the charismatic twins in The Parent Trap.

Days spent on set became her way of escaping her hectic life at home. Her father Michael was violent and cruel, repeatedly breaking the law. “He put me and my mother and my mother’s parents through such hell,” the actress told Vanity Fair in 2010. “From death threats to throwing boots at my grandfather’s head and giving him a concussion to threatening to kill my mother in front of my little brother.”

According to Lindsay, the trauma she experienced as a child forced her to "grow up very quickly." “Mom tried to protect me from this as much as possible, but I decided to be in the center of events all my life,” the actress admitted.

10. Ariel Winter



Ariel Winter didn't grow up dreaming of becoming an actress. It was more like her mother's wish. Since she herself could not achieve this goal, she forced this fate on her daughter. Unfortunately, fulfilling her dream required strict control over what the girl eats and with whom she communicates. Ariel told the Hollywood Reporter that since she started acting, her diet has been "very, very poor" and her education has not received the attention it deserves.

Ariel also recalls that from the age of 7, she was sexualized and dressed in "the tiniest miniskirts, sailor suits, low-cut things, the shortest dresses you've ever seen." “If I had to do a nude show at this age, my mom would agree a thousand percent,” says the “Modern Family” actress. A traumatic childhood led to Ariel being legally emancipated from her mother at age 14 and moving in with her sister Chanel Gray, which also helped her reunite with her father.

11. Mischa Barton



Mischa Barton is best known for her role as troubled teenager Marissa Cooper on The O.C., but her career dates back to 1999, when she was a little girl starring in Notting Hill and The Sixth Sense.

In 2015, the actress sued her mother and former manager Nuala Barton, alleging that she abused her, withheld her earnings without her knowledge and kicked her out of her $7.8 million Beverly Hills mansion, which she convinced her buy.

The legal document describes "a greedy mother of a child star posing as a talent manager who, instead of acting in the best interests of her daughter/client, plotted to defraud her unsuspecting victim." The actress's mother controlled her finances, providing Misha with irregular benefits at her own discretion. She also lied to her daughter about her income and forged her signature on documents “so she could pocket the difference.”

12. Taylor Momsen



When news reports surfaced about her bad behavior on the set of Gossip Girl, Taylor Momsen immediately blamed it on her parents, who signed her up with Ford Modeling when she was just two years old.

“No two-year-old wants to work, but I had no choice,” the 17-year-old actress, who played Jenny Humphrey, told Revolver magazine at the time. — All my life I either studied or didn’t study. I didn't have any friends. I was constantly working and had no real life.”

Years before appearing on the teen drama series, 7-year-old Taylor played Cindy Lou in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.