Top 10 Child Stars Destroyed By Fame
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Hollywood can be a dream maker, but more often than not, it’s a dream breaker.
The pressures put on child stars are enormous, and not all child actors can handle the stress, particularly if they don’t have the loving support of a sane family.
Unfortunately, bright lights, fame and fortune sometimes come at a high price for such young blood.
Here are some of those tragic young souls who lost their way, and in some cases, found their way back, in the midst of the crazy that is Tinsel Town.
1. Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Culkin got his start in Hollywood in 1988’s “Rocket Gibraltar,” but rose to stardom in “Home Alone,” the wildly popular and highest-grossing movie of 1990, in which he played darling Kevin McCallister who cleverly fought the bad guys after being left… home alone.
Just as Culkin was hitting adolescence in 1995, allegations arose that his father, Kit Culkin, was mismanaging his fortune. A nasty custody battle ensued as his parents greedily fought for control of the child and his fortune. If that won’t destroy a kid, what will?
Culkin was arrested in Oklahoma in 2004 after police found 17.3 grams (just over half an ounce) of pot, along with a couple of prescription drugs for which he had no prescription. He received a one-year deferred sentence on each count and paid $540 in court costs.
Although nearly 60 percent of Americans have smoked pot at one time or another, Culkin was demonized for his drug use, maybe because too many people had trouble separating the flesh-and-blood, 24-year-old human Macaulay from his precocious 8-year-old character Kevin.
At any rate, Culkin, now 33, can be seen these days performing with his Velvet Underground cover band, “Pizza Underground,” which features lyric changes that have to do with… pizza. We hope he’ll find his way back to the silver screen someday soon.
2. Edward Furlong
Edward Furlong was born on August 2, 1977, and at the age of 14 played the role of John Connor in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
He won several awards for various roles between 1991 and 1993, and appeared in 1998’s “Pecker” and “American History X.”
When he was just 15, Furlong became romantically involved with his 29-year-old tutor, which led to his emancipation at the age of 16.
After six years together, the couple split in 1998, and a year later she claimed that she had suffered physical abuse by Furlong.
In the 2000s, Furlong’s career headed down a steady decline after numerous allegations of alcohol and drug abuse, as well as several arrests for domestic violence.
He married girlfriend Rachael Bella in 2006, but she filed for divorce in 2009, citing irreconcilable differences and domestic abuse.
She later filed a restraining order against him, which he violated twice: later that year, he was arrested for punching her, and in 2011 he was arrested again for violating the protection order.
He was arrested yet again for domestic violence in 2012 after an argument with a female companion at an airport, and still again in 2013 for violence against his girlfriend, Monica Keena, who filed a restraining order that he also violated twice.
In July of 2013, he avoided jail by agreeing to a 90-day stint in rehab, followed by a year’s worth of domestic violence counseling. We’ll see how that pans out.
3. Lindsay Lohan
Born on July 2, 1986, Lindsay Lohan began her career in the spotlight as a fashion model at the age of 3.
In 1998, when she was 11, Lohan starred as twins in Disney’s remake of “The Parent Trap.” After 2003’s “Freaky Friday” and 2004’s “Mean Girls,” Lohan became a household name and an acclaimed actress.
She also became a massive target for the tabloids and paparazzi. In 2006, Lohan attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and went to rehab for 30 days.
In May that same year, she was arrested for DUI, and two weeks later, she was arrested for cocaine possession, DUI and driving without a license.
Things only got worse from there. In August of 2006, she pleaded guilty to various charges and was sentenced to community service, one day in jail, 3 years of probation and an alcohol education program. She entered rehab later that month, and stayed until October.
In 2010, after missing a DUI hearing, she was sentenced to 90 days in jail, of which she served 14 days, and 90 days of inpatient rehab, from which she was released after just 23 days.
In September of the same year, she entered rehab again. In January 2011, she was charged with the theft of a necklace from a jewelry store and served part of a 120-day jail sentence at home.
In March of 2013, Lohan pleaded no contest to charges that stemmed from a 2012 car accident. She was sentenced to community service, lockdown rehab and 2 years’ probation.
She has been ordered to stay in therapy until her next court appearance in November of 2014. We can only hope for the best for this talented, but troubled, actress.
4. Jaimee Foxworth
Born December 17, 1979, Jaimee Foxworth rose to fame as a child star for her role as Judy Winslow in the long-running TV sitcom “Family Matters.”
She was written out of the series after the fourth season because although her character was a minor part of the show, Foxworth had asked for a raise.
Foxworth started a short-lived band called “S.H.E.” with her sisters, but drug and alcohol addiction took its toll.
Not yet 20 and desperate to make ends meet, Foxworth turned to the adult film industry and starred in several porn films under the screen name “Crave.”
She appeared on “Celebrity Rehab” in 2008, and in a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, she revealed that her real turning point came later that year, when she learned she was pregnant.
In May of 2009, Foxworth gave birth to a healthy son with her longtime boyfriend, Michael Shaw. Four months later, she filed a restraining order against him, citing verbal and physical abuse.
5. Jeremy Jackson
Jeremy Jackson, born on October 16, 1980, started his acting career at the age of six, starring in a successful Mattel commercial.
Many, many commercials later, he beat out Leonardo DiCaprio and 3,000 other 10-year-old kids to land his iconic role as Hobie Buchannon on the wildly popular 1990s TV hit “Baywatch.”
“Baywatch” was the most watched TV program in its time and Jeremy was a part of it. Jeremy says he left the show because drugs gave him a crazed sense of self importance.
During his nine-year stint on Baywatch, Jackson released two full-length albums that garnered him two top-ten hits.
He also developed an alcohol and drug problem during that decade that gave him a self-admitted heightened sense of importance. Jackson’s story, unlike so many others, has a happy ending.
In 2000, at just 20 years old, Jackson checked himself into rehab. He emerged clean and has remained sober since, devoting his time to fitness, helping other stars beat their own addictions and marketing a successful clothing line.
He’s also appeared in several movies and played himself in the first (and only) season of VH1’s “Confessions of a Teen Idol.”
Jackson is currently an avid Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitor, musician and DJ.
6. Amanda Bynes
Amanda Bynes was born on April 3 1986. Her acting career began at age 7 with a television commercial for Buncha Crunch.
She found her way into the spotlight shortly after that, appearing in various stage productions, including “Annie,” “The Secret Garden” and “The Sound of Music.”
From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Bynes was a regular on Nickelodeon’s “All That.”
She starred in “The Amanda Show” from 1999 to 2002, and promptly embarked on a four-year starring role in the WB sitcom, “What I Like About You.”
After starring in several movies between 2003 and 2010, Bynes announced in 2012 that she was retiring from acting. That’s when things got weird, and fast.
In March of 2012, she was ticketed for using her cell phone while driving. A month later, she got a DUI after an accident involving a police car. Five months after that, she was charged for two hit-and-run accidents. In September of the same year, she was caught driving on a suspended license. Just ten days later, the same thing.
In May of 2013, she was sentenced to three years’ probation.
Shortly thereafter, she was arrested at home for possession of pot, during which she threw a bong out the window of her 36th floor apartment, adding charges of tampering with evidence and reckless endangerment to the list.
It all came to a head in July of 2013, when Bynes started a fire in front of a stranger’s house in Thousand Oaks, and ended up in a mental health treatment center. She was released in December, moved in with her parents and enrolled in the Fashion Institute for Design & Merchandising.
On March 24, 2014, she posted a picture of herself and her parents on Twitter, attending a fashion show in Los Angeles, looking happy and healthy. Hopefully, this signals another happy ending.
7. Taran Noah Smith
Taran Noah Smith is famous for his role as Mark Taylor on the long-running sitcom “Home Improvement,” playing the role from the age of seven until he was 16.
After “Home Improvement” aired its last episode, Smith admitted that he had no idea what to do next, since he’d spent his formative years working on the show.
The next year, at age 17, Smith married a 33-year-old woman. The marriage lasted six years, which is a pretty good run by Hollywood standards.
When he was 18, Smith sued his parents to get control of his trust fund, worth $1.5 million, part of which he claimed Mr. and Mrs. Smith had squandered on such luxuries as a new mansion.
In 2005, two years before their divorce, Smith and his wife opened a vegan cheese factory and restaurant that featured organic, vegan fare.
On February 1, 2012, Smith was arrested for DUI and the possession of hash. He was given three years’ probation and attended a six-month drug counseling program.
An interesting side here is that Tim Allen, Smith’s TV dad and star of “Home Improvement,” spent two years in Federal prison in the late 70’s for selling cocaine to an undercover cop.
8. Britney Spears
Oh, Britney, where to begin?
Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981. At the age of 11, she was cast in “The New Mickey Mouse Club,” joining pop sensations Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. She was on the show for two seasons.
In December of 1998, she was signed to Jive Records and released her first single, “…Baby One More Time,” which hit the top of the charts late the next year.
The overtly sexual video that accompanied the song signaled the beginning of the criticism that relentlessly followed Spears for the next decade.
The year 2000 found Britney with another top-selling album and a new boyfriend named Justin Timberlake. In 2001, Britney shed the last vestiges of innocence with her album “Britney.” She and JT broke up in 2002.
The famous Madonna kiss occurred in 2003, leaving no doubt that the virginal Britney Spears from “The New Mickey Mouse Club” was gone forever.
In January 2004, Britney spent two days married to her childhood pal Jason Alexander, and nine months later, remarried backup dance Kevin Federline, who left his pregnant girlfriend for her.
Two years later, after the birth of her first son, she was caught driving with the infant on her lap. She and Federline had another son in 2006, divorced in 2007, and Britney eventually lost custody of her two sons.
Federline, who turned out to be a pretty okay guy, joined her on tour a few years later so that she could spend time with the children.
After her divorce, Britney went through a well-publicized party girl phase, performed disastrously at the MTV Music Awards, visited rehab a few times and shaved her head while the paparazzi snapped photos.
Spears, now 33, seems to have wised up and moved on from her turbulent younger years. She became an “X Factor” judge in 2012 and in 2013 released her 8th studio album, “Britney Jean,” which was met with mixed reviews.
9. Matthew Underwood
Matthew Underwood started modeling in 1990 at the age of six months.
As he grew into childhood, he played roles such as “tough kid” in “Just Us Kids,” “bully” in “Method & Red,” and “additional voices” in “My Neighbors the Yamadas.”
In his early years, Underwood enjoyed extreme sports, including kite surfing, parasailing and skydiving.
After moving to Hollywood to pursue a more robust acting career, he landed the role of sexist, egotistical Logan Reese on the worldwide hit “Zoey 101,” which he nailed for four years.
At the end of his run with “Zoey 101,” he moved back to his home state of Florida. In April, 2012, Underwood was arrested at his home for marijuana and paraphernalia possession after police executed a search warrant for narcotics.
Underwood has seemingly shed his evil ways and is now an acting teacher who travels the world helping young entertainers learn their craft.
He may be keeping his head above water and staying on the scene for mostly right reasons – the only major blip he has had is being busted for possession of marijuana.
We are sure that Nickelodeon will not approve of such behavior. Tut tut.
10. Jodie Sweetin
Jodie Sweetin, forever imprinted in our collective consciousness as Stephanie “How Rude!” Tanner, was born in Los Angeles on January 19, 1982.
When she was just five years old, she joined the “Full House” cast and struggled for the next eight years with trying to fit in at school and live a normal life, joining the high school musical theatre and chilling with friends.
But after “Full House” was cancelled in 1995, Sweetin began drinking. In college, her partying led to a .9 GPA, and she soon moved home to her parents.
In 2002, Sweetin married police officer Shaun Holguin, and began experimenting with harder drugs, including crystal meth, ecstasy and cocaine.
After three years of serious drug abuse, Sweetin entered rehab. Partly as a result of her drug use, she and Holguin divorced in 2006.
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In 2007, she married set designer Cory Herpin, had a daughter and divorced seven months later. She married her third husband, Morty Coyle, in March of 2012, had a second child, and split with him in June of 2013.
Her autobiography, “unSweetined,” was released in 2009 and chronicles her years of drug abuse and her struggle to fit in.
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