For ages, Hollywood has been riddled with children adding cuteness to the television and cinema screens. From Shirley Temple to Miley Cyrus, child stars have been the driving force for the future of the industry. But the public can be a harsh frienemy. Just ask Shirley Temple herself; she didn’t have a career as an adult because no one could get past her adorable childhood.
Miley Cyrus can’t just be Miley Cyrus. She is doomed to be known as former Hannah Montana star, Miley Cyrus, all because people can’t get past the fact that she, as a young adult, actually grows up and changes. Her target audience isn’t 8-year-olds anymore. Cyrus is stylish and smart, she has a good healthy head on her shoulders, but still has a bunch of haters following her every move and essentially bullying her because she’s not what she was.
I am an intern at TheCelebrityCafe.com and since starting a little over a month ago, I have had my nose deep in the celebrity news and information chain. One trend that I have noticed is what people say about certain topics or celebrities. I despise the obsession with celebrities, the constant need for paparazzi to follow the biggest or most controversial stars.
Every person in Hollywood, from child stars to mega-stars, are acting, singing, directing, and so on because they love doing what they do. But when these celebrities are child stars and they grow in popularity, their success only rising, the child stars are going to be in the public eye much longer.
So when Lindsay Lohan first made the remake to 'The Parent Trap' and shot to fame, she was doomed to grow up in the spotlight. The awkward phases, the rebel phases, the try-anything-once phases that happens when you go from child to adult are suddenly plastered all over magazines and websites. When someone is constantly watched and judged, it is hard to do normal kid things and deal with the growing pains.
These celebrities, these young child stars, are working professionals and at the end of the day, they are no different than the accountant working out a budget for the film they are staring in. Telling Miley Cyrus that you do not like what she has turned into is pointless because she a normal, young adult doing what she wants like the rest of us young adults.
It’s fine to follow your favorite stars and see what they are doing, from their latest projects to what their newborn’s name is, but there’s a line that Hollywood and a majority of everyone else has passed.