Watching at a young age, you may look up at the TV and wish that was you. It seems so fun, doesn’t it? In children and young teen shows, it seems like the real problems revolve around singing, dancing, and friends. The problems at the beginning of episodes are always resolved after 30-minutes, too. As children, we find these shows to be something we can look up to. In reality, these characters oftentimes have very serious issues behind “closed” doors that no child should endure. Countless child actors have fallen victim to drug abuse, sexual abuse and being bullied on set, leading them to harmful, dark places.
Child actors often fall into victimization at a young age while on set, doing things that they don’t realize are inappropriate at the moment. “Quiet On Set” reveals the truth behind what many actors go through. One of these actors is Drake Bell, who fell into victimization with a person he was close to. These incidents led to him being involved in serious drug usage, severe anxiety, and depression.
Britney Spears is another superstar who, after giving many years of her life to acting and music, went on a rebellious streak. She was said to be struggling with drug usage, and it was almost encouraged by those around her to keep her awake
or moving throughout the day.
Yet another who struggled, especially with drugs, is Demi Lovato, who started using drugs at the age of 14, saying that she was , “like a machine that couldn’t stop” – relating to her work. Demi said the only time she truly felt happy was when she was doing drugs or “rebelling” against what her characters portrayed.
Most of these stars are suffering because they are severely overworked and have no time to be kids. Most of the time, children in the industry are introduced to narcotics very young from those around them. This leads to the question: should there be a stricter limit on the amount of work put on kids in the entertainment industry?
Many people are saying that children on set should be closely monitored to ensure that there is a stable environment around them. Most child actors begin to act out when they feel they have no control over anything. Making people and especially teens feel like they have a say and a stable environment is important for development. Will the industry start to change the workload on kids, or will they continue to ignore the children they have broken?
