Hollywood's dark side exposed: A chilling look at child actors whose promising careers were derailed by traumatic experiences, abuse, and industry pressures that left lasting psychological scars.
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00:00I knew that everything I knew that my life was going to be absolutely completely different from that point on
00:06Welcome to watch mojo and today. We're looking at roles that negatively impacted the lives of child stars
00:11But Anissa Jones never lived the charmed life that Buffy enjoyed there was something else tugging at her
00:18but she would
00:21Cover that up
00:23Corey Haim
00:25Licensed to drive Corey Haim was among the most prominent young stars of the 1980s
00:29Dad, do you think that there's any way you could tell me for sure if I could borrow mom's car Saturday night?
00:34Here's the deal less first get your license
00:36And we'll talk from early in his career though Haim struggled with substance use while filming The Lost Boys
00:42Haim smoked a joint for the first time yet
00:45He cited next year's license to drive as his breaking point
00:49Haim led this teen comedy as Les Anderson a kid with a car, but no license
00:55Anderson the only difference between you and that greaseball said he has a license
00:58And you don't co-star Corey Feldman recalled being high throughout the shoot
01:02Haim also remembered hitting a low point as one drug provided a gateway to an even worse one
01:07The experience marked a turning point for Haim who checked into rehab
01:12Unfortunately substance use continued to follow Haim throughout his life
01:15Which was cut short when he died from pneumonia in 2010
01:17but the autopsy ultimately found that the 38 year old died from pulmonary congestion a
01:23Tragic end for the young man who once said quote
01:26I want people to think I am just really really good Taylor Momsen how the Grinch stole Christmas
01:32This former actress turned singer won the role of Cindy Lou who in Ron Howard's live-action adaptation of the Grinch
01:38I just don't understand something
01:41Why won't anyone talk about the brain?
01:44He kids in the Grinch
01:46You see Cindy the Grinch is a who who?
01:50Actually not a who
01:58Although it might have seemed like an early Christmas present at the time the role was far from the gift that keeps giving in
02:042023 Momsen revealed that she was made fun of relentlessly growing up because of her involvement in the film
02:10She struggled to make friends at schools where the other kids generally knew her as Cindy Lou who who knows?
02:16This humiliation could change my entire outlook on life really no
02:25Even after she landed a role on Gossip Girl as Jenny Humphrey
02:28Momsen still fell alienated in addition to being the new girl. She was still the Grinch girl
02:33She would find friendship through her middle school garage band allowing Momsen to be herself
02:38Well, I grew up listening to a lot of vinyl. My dad's a big rock and roll fan
02:42So, I mean the first band I ever heard was the Beatles and they're still my favorite Jeanette McCurdy
02:46I Carly Jeanette McCurdy was pushed into the spotlight by her abusive mother landing the role of Sam Puckett on iCarly
02:53Thanks for letting me hang at your place this afternoon. No way. It can be around my mom right now
02:57You guys fighting now? She's wearing some gross new perfume. Can you smell it? I just thought your cat peed in the car again. I
03:03Wish although McCurdy developed a hugely healing friendship with her co-star Miranda Cosgrove her dynamic with the show's creator
03:11Contributed to her childhood trauma in her memoir
03:14McCurdy recounted how the creator pressured her into underage drinking and gave her an unwanted shoulder massage
03:20What were the pitfalls of child fame? You're playing an adult's game
03:25You're in an adult's world and you don't recognize that you're incapable of being on that level
03:30but you are confused and you think that you are the role of Sam also proved difficult for McCurdy who was coping with
03:36Anorexia and bulimia while playing a character who's constantly eating a few years after her mom died
03:42McCurdy left acting in favor of writing and directing when offered a chance to reprise her role in the iCarly
03:47Reboot McCurdy made it clear that she had left Sam Puckett in the past
03:51I just wish I could have shown my 20 year old self me now
03:55I would have known what I was aiming for
03:57I would have had something to hope for something to be encouraged about I didn't have that Judy Garland the Wizard of Oz
04:03It's a beloved classic
04:05But the Wizard of Oz was also a production nightmare with Dorothy herself and during much of the distress
04:10Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
04:15Who me
04:17I'm not a witch at all. I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas. Oh
04:21Well, is that the witch?
04:24Total totals my dog. Well, it's been debated whether the munchkin actors harassed Garland
04:29There's no denying that the studio put her through hell in addition to working on reasonably long hours
04:34Garland underwent breast binding to appear younger and was essentially starved to keep her weight down
04:39Metro wanted its 4 foot 11 inch star to maintain a camera thin 95 pounds
04:45doctors prescribed the miracle appetite suppressant benzidrine
04:49Judy lost weight and sleep
04:52Necessitating the use of barbiturates, although this exhausting shoot wasn't her introduction to drugs
04:57Garland became increasingly reliant on amphetamines and barbiturates her substance use didn't end on the yellow brick road
05:03Reflecting on her time at MGM Garland felt her childhood had been taken away
05:07Her struggles lasted into adulthood resulting in her premature death from an accidental barbiturate overdose
05:13maybe everybody wanted a piece of Judy, maybe it's just
05:18Judy yourself when you have someone with that much talent
05:22the exploitation of it
05:24becomes
05:26part of the adulation
05:30And I'm sure there was a lot of people around who thought they were doing the right thing
05:36Gary Coleman different strokes Gary Coleman was around 10 when he was cast as Arnold Jackson a role
05:42He'd play until age 18. I've never seen a black goldfish before. That's okay. He never saw rich white man before
05:50Arnold appeared ageless due to a kidney disease that restricted Coleman's growth
05:54Although different strokes made him TV's highest-paid child star for a period
05:58Coleman's medical struggles and long working hours often left him depressed
06:02Coleman's money wasn't in the best hands either
06:05Culminating in him suing his adoptive parents and former manager for misusing his trust fund you
06:11were fleeced
06:12Pretty much who walked away with Gary Coleman's millions, you know, even after the lawsuit was concluded
06:20I still don't know. I
06:23Don't know where 18 million dollars went
06:26He received a little over 1 million dollars only a fraction of the 3.8 million dollars that Coleman felt
06:32He was owed even after returning to acting Coleman could never shake his former child star status
06:37Coleman's financial and health issues persisted until he died in 2010 Gary Coleman
06:43Who as a boy provided so much amusement so many laughs on the hit show different strokes died today in a Utah hospital
06:50Two days after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was just 42 years old and he battled illness throughout his life
06:56Drake Bell the Amanda show
06:59Drake Bell's rise as a Nickelodeon star began on the Amanda show playing characters like totally Kyle and Tony pajamas
07:06I didn't have any dinner tonight
07:08Yeah
07:10And it was to my understanding there was gonna be food backstage. Uh-huh
07:16I'm starving over here. Could you get me like a sandwich or something?
07:21Sandwiches, oh
07:23Can we order in or something?
07:24You know some hot wings the sketch comedy series launched him into fame
07:28But it led to possibly the darkest period of Bell's life working on the show
07:32He regularly interacted with dialogue coach Brian Peck while Bill's father had suspicions about Peck others assumed
07:39He was just being friendly. He just seemed like
07:43Any other
07:46Nice co-worker
07:48You know at that point before moving on to Drake and Josh Bell was sexually abused at the hands of Peck would only be sentenced
07:55To 16 months Bell's career proceeded
07:58Although the trauma stuck with him as he faced other personal demons after keeping his pain buried for years
08:03Bell spoke publicly about the abuse for the first time in 2024 beginning the healing process. Have you ever told your story?
08:12publicly before I
08:13Have never told my story publicly
08:19No
08:21Jake Lloyd Star Wars episode 1 the Phantom Menace
08:25Jake Lloyd beat out more than 3,000 actors in the running for Anakin Skywalker
08:29You're a funny little boy
08:31How do you know so much? I listen to all the traitors and star pilots who come through here
08:37I'm a pilot, you know, and someday I'm gonna fly away from this place
08:41Although it seemed like the role of a lifetime
08:43there was a darker side to playing such an iconic character as an adult Lloyd claims that he left acting due in part to the
08:50Press's negative reception and mistreatment from his peers
08:53There was more to the story as Lloyd was also dealing with personal and mental health struggles
08:58eventually receiving a paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis, so I get some pretty crazy questions and
09:04I get a lot of a lot of people
09:08Asking me a lot of random stuff the retired actor has learned to cope with his condition and has even embraced Star Wars again
09:14Lloyd's mother feels her son was shielded from the worst of the Phantom Menace backlash growing up
09:19Even so Lloyd's upbringing might have been easier without Anakin Anakin
09:25Training to become a Jedi is not an easy challenge and even if you succeed, it's a hard life
09:32But I want to go it's what I've always dreamed of doing Anissa Jones family affair
09:37There's an urban legend that family affair is cursed
09:41misfortune befalling several cast members
09:43Who's he?
09:44He's the maid
09:48Does he like kids?
09:50I don't think so
09:52Could he run fast?
09:56No
09:58Anissa Jones who played the pigtailed Buffy was the first to suffer tragedy to maintain a youthful appearance throughout the show's five-season run
10:06Jones had her chest bound and was obligated to carry a mrs. Beasley doll around
10:11Do you think I'm too old to play with mrs. Beasley?
10:15Well, you're gonna be pretty big girl
10:17What's that all about mrs. Beasley by age 9 Jones started to feel embarrassed and repressed pretending to be a six-year-old
10:24Jones couldn't find work after the show ended while also finding herself at the center of a custody battle
10:30Co-star Kathy Garver feels that Jones fell into drugs as a form of rebellion
10:34Having been forced to play a little girl for so long
10:37Jones was just entering adulthood when an accidental overdose claimed her life in 1976
10:42Paramedics tried to revive Anissa, but it was too late
10:46She was declared dead on the afternoon of August 28th Bobby Driscoll Peter Pan for several years
10:53Bobby Driscoll was Disney's go-to child star leading films like Song of the South and Treasure Island
10:58His most famous role was arguably the voice of Peter Pan my stories
11:03But they're all about you, of course, that's why I like him
11:07I tell him to the lost boys despite playing the boy who never grows up
11:11Driscoll was going through puberty no longer sure what to do with him. Disney ended Driscoll's contract
11:16He was subsequently enrolled in public high school where Driscoll was mocked for his child star days
11:21While Driscoll later switched schools. His future was riddled with substance use and legal troubles
11:27Driscoll still found occasional acting work. Although nobody recognized him when his body was discovered in 1968
11:33Succumbing to heart failure Driscoll was buried in an unmarked grave before the authorities connected the dots
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11:54Mika Dinlay and Renee Shin-Yi Chen
11:57Twilight Zone the movie
11:59Twilight Zone the movie would go down as one of the most notorious productions in Hollywood history costing three actors their lives
12:06Renee Shin-Yi Chen and Mika Dinlay were cast in director John Landis's segment as two Vietnamese orphans
12:19In the intended scene Vic Morrow's bigoted character was supposed to find redemption by rescuing the children as a helicopter attacked their village
12:27This scene didn't make the final cut as the helicopter crashed
12:31Killing Morrow and his two co-stars. That crash occurred last summer when the helicopter evidently got too close to some special effects explosions
12:38That damaged their chopper and it plummeted to the ground
12:42Striking the three people on the ground. The shoot broke multiple child labor laws making the young actors work after hours and around
12:49Explosives no less. While Landis and his associates were found not guilty
12:52Many still accused the director of putting his cast in harm's way. Our being found not guilty doesn't change the tragedy
12:59It doesn't change the accident. Which child star story shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments. I
13:05Ain't got no more hard feelings burn
13:08You want to shake on it?
13:22You