Chelsea Alexandra
Child Star opens up by asking two simple questions to a group of children; the first, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and the second, “Do you know what it means to be famous?” The children answer the only way they know how which is with honesty and the understanding that they have of the world around them. Their answers remind you how self-aware children are and how they are more perceptive than we sometimes give them credit for. They dream big and want to reach for the stars. They don’t just want to be teachers or firefighters; they want to be gamers, famous singers, and athletes. Even with big dreams of stardom, they are aware of fame and what comes with fame. In the documentary, produced by Demi Lovato, Child Star unpacks the layers of growing up under the spotlight. For as much negative there is with growing up with the immense pressures of fame, there can still be light. In the 90-minute documentary, Lovato uses her platform to raise awareness of the lack of protection for child stars and creators.
With Child Star being produced by Lovato (co-directed by Nicola Marsh), a child star herself, she shares her experience. She shares a personal story about how Shirley Temple inspired their career. Temple was a highly successful child actress having got her start in 1934’s Stand Up and Cheer! And skyrocketing to stardom in Bright Eyes that same year. After watching a film with the young actress, Lovato wanted to be the greatest child star, succeeding past Temple’s success. While sharing her journey and struggles with stardom, Lovato doesn’t make herself the focus. She allows the space for others to share their personal stories. It is through some of these shared experiences that Lovato allows herself to heal.
Lovato’s documentary only scratches the surface of childhood stardom. It rehashes a lot of the same topics that have been covered already in such series as Quiet on Set and in podcasts like Dear Hollywood hosted by Alyson Stoner (they/them). Unlike Quiet on Set which came out earlier this year and exposed all of the nightmare aspects of childhood show business, Child Star sheds a faint light on the nuances around business. Audiences will think that the documentary took a safe route when talking about the industry, however, that is not the case. Child Star sheds light on the nuance of growing up in the business. It doesn’t exploit any of the stories of the former child stars who are featured in the documentary. Child Star focuses on the personal experience of each former. It never assumes that they all had the same experience.
One conversation that sheds light on the lighter moments was between Lovato and their Camp Rock co-star Stoner, host of Dear Hollywood. The two stars were open about their struggles with eating disorders. They also touched on how they were a close-knit group of teens who had fun one summer shooting. They mentioned cast dinners and having the support of one another during some of the darker moments in Lovato’s career. When speaking on the stress of stardom and shooting the sequel to the DCOM musical, Lovato openly apologized to Stoner for her aggressive behavior. She once again opened up about how she had been struggling with undiagnosed bipolar disorder.
Escaping one’s day-to-day reality was something Lovato had in common with former child stars, Drew Barrymore (Never Been Kissed) and Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow). Both Barrymore and Lovato have been very public with their struggles with addiction and early childhood stardom, most of the new revelations came from Ricci as she gave insight into her family’s dynamic. This is one of the few times Ricci has publicly talked about being a child star.
The documentary does an excellent job in pulling several voices from different generations to share their stories. It showcases that not all stories are the same even if they have shared experiences intertwined. With these voices coming together to paint a broad picture of the experience. The documentary also shows the several ways the industry has evolved.
There has been a rise in content creators over the past few years. Child Stars takes a moment to shine a light on there being no current legislation for the state of child content creators. It also points out some of the red flags of child content creators. The rise of Jojo Siwa marks the shift in how accessible it is to begin being a child content creator. Siwa was not only a Nickelodeon star but also has almost 50K subscribers on YouTube. In one revelation, Siwa tells Lovato that she posts over 300 times a day on the social platform Snapchat and was obsessed with numbers when she was younger.
Lovato has been publicly open about her mental health and addiction struggles. It was clear that a documentary directed by the actor/singer would focus on the mental health effects of growing up in the industry. The statistics mentioned were jarring but unsurprising. However, Lovato makes a point to focus on the financial pressure placed on children in the industry. They make sure to note how the weight of being a young “breadwinner” can be detrimental to one’s mental health while also blurring the power dynamic lines between parent and child. In a previous documentary about Lovato’s personal life, she had mentioned how being the top earner in their family had done harm to the relationship between Lovato and their parents; noting that if they were going to make adult money then they should be able to party like an adult.
Child Star doesn’t set out to exploit the industry or be as shocking as Quiet on Set was earlier this year. However, it does claim that two things can be true at once. There is a lot of nuance when discussing child stardom and not one story is the same. The one thing that Child Star does well is it never shifts blame on the child or the adults. Lovato provides personal insight to their experiences and allows the space for other previous child stars to share their authentic stories. With only scratching the surface of what comes with childhood stardom, the documentary is coming from a place of empathy and care. Lovato cares about protecting the next generation entering an industry that isn’t highly concerned about their well being at times. This was a passion project for Lovato. Child Star allows Lovato to be vulnerable once again and bring awareness to an industry that is always evolving.
(At the time of writing, Demi Lovato uses she/they pronouns)
