Do Former Child Stars Really Have More Personal Problems?

If you believe the mainstream media, nearly every kid who's worked in Hollywood has struggled as an adult.

Their lives on the brink of disarray, these young people leave the industry unwanted, unnecessary, and usually uncertain about a future that typically includes drug abuse, criminal charges, bankruptcies, and other headline-worthy setbacks.

But in fact, that gloomy backdrop only applies to a handful of child actors whose personal story plays out publicly.

Most former child stars simply move on. There's no tragic fall from Glitzville to the gutter, marked by a few stumbling efforts to recapture earlier fame and success.

Some stay in the industry to produce or direct. Others keep acting. Many leave the business entirely to pursue new careers in fields like interior design or teaching.

It's often the most productive Hollywood alumni who attract the least press coverage and public interest, however.

"The ones that don't get the attention are probably the ones living the most normal lives," says Don Grady, who acted professionally as a child and young adult from the late 1950s through the early '70s. His career included a stint as a Mouseketeer, appearances on shows like The Rifleman, and his 11-year signature role as Robbie Douglas on My Three Sons.

Since his days as an actor, Grady has established himself as a skillful music composer, creating a variety of scores and songs for both television and films.

But he hasn't made the cover of many tabloids.

"The media survives on sensation," he says. "It focuses on those who either struggle or who've had major success."

Life in the spotlight

Budding performers who find prominent roles in television or movies can't avoid scrutiny, according to Paul Petersen, the former child actor who played son Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show in the late 1950s and early '60s.

"The complicating factor for kid performers is that thing called fame," Petersen says. "It's not that you have such different problems than anyone else your age, they're just blown up beyond recognition."

And the exposure can last long after the cameras have stopped rolling. Some child stars have to adapt to a celebrity-obsessed culture that will feed on their personal problems well into adulthood.

"People want to know what happened to the kids they grew up with, even if some of the kids they grew up with they knew only through TV shows or the movies," says entertainment journalist Joal Ryan, founder of the website Former Child Star Central and author of Former Child Stars: The Story of America's Least Wanted.

By focusing almost exclusively on once-famous child actors who falter as adults, the media can distort public perception. In the tabloid press and elsewhere, even the rarest personal problems quickly become "life as usual" for all former child stars.

Finding a support network

How underage celebrities handle their transition into adulthood - and the lingering fame that can be part of it - may begin with the people around them.

"In many instances, it all depends on the child's parents," says Jane Covner, a former television network executive who worked with young performers. "Some parents get so wrapped up in their children's acting jobs that they lose all sense of reality. No longer do their kids have to make their beds, empty the trash, or do things that good parents require."

Though laws have been passed over the years to protect child actors, the few youngsters who do have serious trouble adjusting to private life get virtually no support from the entertainment industry.

"So many former kid stars actually have very little to show for their labors but the memories, and memories have very little currency in today's world," says Petersen, who now runs A Minor Consideration, a nonprofit foundation that helps young actors "past, present and future."

But Covner believes that children who work in show business aren't necessarily destined to lead troubled lives. She points out that most of them don't, even early in their careers.

If you check with any social service agency that helps teens, she says, "you will see that the unfamous people far outweigh the famous."