The stars of the movie “The joy of life began to disappear”: celebrities who became famous as children and were exploited by their parents

The childhood of these celebrities was not at all carefree. Someone finally forgave the parents, and someone openly accused them of self-interest and expressed everything they thought.

Brooke Shields’ manager early in her career was her mother. And already at that time Shields had enough work to outrage the public. One of the most scandalous was the movie “Pretty Child”. At the age of 12, Brooke starred in a movie about her age called Violet, which became a commodity at a brothel auction. There were also explicit scenes on the tape. At the Cannes Film Festival, the film caused an uproar and the young actress was even attacked – someone tried to cut off strands of her hair. According to Brooke, it scared her a lot and overall it became a traumatic experience.

But Brooke forgave her mother. In interviews, she constantly tried to defend her, saying that she found the film rather bland compared to what is now acceptable in cinema. But in 2018, when asked if she would let her daughters star in a movie as Pretty Baby, Brooke admitted she wouldn’t. It seems Brooke still wasn’t as happy with her early teenage bed scene as she tried to make it seem after all.

Macaulay Culkin, who rose to stardom after the release of 1990’s Home Alone, was directed by his father Keith. He was pathologically strict with his son: he made him memorize roles at night and even forbade him to use tips on the set of SNL (and Macaulay was only 11 years old at the time). The actor then explained that his father was simply jealous of him: everything that a man tried in life, his son achieved even before he was 10 years old.

When Macaulay quit acting after the 1994 film Richie Rich, he told his parents: “I’m done guys, I hope you’ve earned it because there’s nothing coming from me anymore.” After Macaulay even filed a lawsuit against his parents to prevent them from disposing of his $17 million fortune.

Mom Drew Barrymore started making money from her daughter when she was only 11 months old. It was at this age that Drew began acting in commercials. But real fame fell on Drew when she was seven years old and starred in the movie “Alien”.

When the girl was only nine years old, her mother already took her to parties at the infamous club Studio 54, where Drew first tried illegal substances. At the age of 12, the young actress was already in a rehabilitation center.

When asked if she felt her parents were taking advantage of her, Drew said, “I think the way my mom did it was definitely over the top.”

Wizard of Oz star Judy Garland has admitted that she only felt like a loved child when she was performing – then her mother was happy with her. Judy began to enter the scene at the age of just two. She sang and danced with her sisters before a movie screening at a movie theater her father owned in Minnesota. The real problems started when the family moved to California – closer to Hollywood.

“All the beautiful carefree fun and joy in my family started to disappear. Suddenly mom decided we should be stars. She started dragging us anywhere where someone important could see us,” Garland said.

Already at the age of two, the star of Gossip Girl Taylor Momsen had a contract with the modeling agency Ford Modeling thanks to her parents. The first major film role for Momsen was the role in the film “The Prophet of Death” with Dennis Hopper. She was only six years old then. And at the age of 14, Momsen signed a contract with IMG Models. Filming, photographing covers, recording songs – young Taylor’s life was far from what is called a carefree childhood.

“No one wants to work when they are two years old, but I had no choice. I went to school, then I left. I had no friends. I was constantly working and I didn’t have a real life, “the actress and singer admitted.