Fame often looks glamorous from the outside, but many young performers were met with its darkest side at home. Several child stars later accused their parents of abuse, control, jealousy, or emotional neglect. Their stories show how early success can become painful when the people meant to protect them treat childhood like a career opportunity instead.
Child Stars Who Faced Abuse and Control
Several former child stars later revealed that fame did not protect them from painful experiences at home. Over the years, many accused their parents of being abusive, controlling, or emotionally damaging during the height of their early success.
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson often spoke about the pain caused by his father, Joseph Jackson. In his 1988 memoir “Moonwalk,” he wrote, “If you messed up you got hit, sometimes with a switch, sometimes with a belt. Dad would make me so mad at him that I’d try to get back at him and get beaten all the more.”
He later told People, “To this day I won’t lay a finger on my children. I don’t want them to ever feel that way about me. He didn’t allow us to call him Daddy, and I wanted to call him Daddy so bad. He said, ‘I’m not Daddy, I’m Joseph to you.’”
Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Culkin has been blunt about his estranged father, Kit Culkin. “He was a bad man,” he said on “WTF with Marc Maron” in 2018. “He was abusive, physically and mentally, I can show you all my scars if I wanted to.”
On “Sibling Revelry” in 2025, he added, “He deserves it, too. He’s a man who, he has seven kids, and now he has four grandkids, and none of them want anything to do with him.”
Now a father himself, Culkin said on “Mythical Kitchen,” “There’s a word that I use in my household, because it’s something that I didn’t really hear enough of when I was a kid. And that’s ‘proud.’”
Child Stars Who Felt Pushed, Used, Or Resented By Their Parents
For many young celebrities, success came with pressure that extended far beyond movie sets and red carpets. Several former child stars later admitted they felt controlled, pushed too hard, or emotionally neglected by the very parents who helped guide their careers.
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore’s childhood was famously chaotic, with her mother, Jaid Barrymore, taking her to clubs before she was even 10. “I came to resent her because it seemed so much [of her] life and career was invested in me,” Drew told People in 1989.
In “Wildflower,” she wrote, “Work was a very positive thing in my life, and sadly it had been taken away, because my mother also put me in an institution because she felt helpless. But when people found out, they just wrote me off as damaged goods, and I sadly understood that.”
Judy Garland
Judy Garland described her mother, Ethel Marion Gumm, as “the real Wicked Witch of the West.” In “Judy Garland on Judy Garland,” she said, “The only time I felt wanted when I was a kid was when I was on stage, performing.”
Speaking to Barbara Walters, Garland recalled, “She would sort of stand in the wings when I was a little girl and if I didn’t feel good, if I was sick to my tummy, she’d say, ‘You get out and sing or I’ll wrap you around the bedpost and break you off short!’ So I’d go out and sing.”
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor told Barbara Walters her father’s jealousy turned painful. “When I was a little girl, my father was abusive when he drank and seemed to like to bat me around a bit,” she said.
She later reflected, “But when I left home and had my own child I started thinking about my father and how it must have felt for him to have his 9-year-old daughter making more money than he was.” Taylor added, “I know he was drunk when he did it. He didn’t mean to do it. He didn’t know what he was doing.”
Fame & Painful Family Estrangement
Behind the fame and success, several former child stars have admitted that their home lives were far more painful than fans realized. As time passed, many opened up about strained relationships, emotional wounds, and the lasting impact their parents had on their childhoods and personal struggles.
Jennette McCurdy
Jennette McCurdy detailed her difficult childhood and complicated relationship with her late mother, Debra McCurdy, in her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, the former Nickelodeon star explained how deeply emotionally dependent she had become on her mother while growing up.
Kaya Scodelario
Kaya Scodelario revealed that Jennette McCurdy’s memoir helped her recognize the toxic nature of her own upbringing. In a social media comment referenced by BuzzFeed News, the actress said therapy and McCurdy’s book helped her understand that she had experienced abuse from her mother. She later told SheKnows that her mother’s severe depression placed enormous emotional pressure on their relationship during her teenage years.
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato has repeatedly spoken about the pain caused by her father, Patrick Lovato, including in her music and interviews. During a 2018 appearance on Dr. Phil, she described him as someone who struggled with personal demons but still wanted to be a good father. In her documentary Simply Complicated, Lovato also connected her own substance abuse struggles to witnessing her father’s addiction while growing up.
Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber admitted in a 2015 Billboard interview that his relationship with his mother, Pattie Mallette, had become distant for a period because of shame and personal struggles. Years later, Bieber sparked attention again with a sarcastic response to one of his mother’s public prayer posts on Instagram.
Shaun Cassidy
During an appearance on Nostalgia Tonight with Joe Sibia in 2026, Shaun Cassidy claimed his father, actor Jack Cassidy, struggled with jealousy over the success of other family members, including David Cassidy and Shirley Jones. Shaun suggested his father found it difficult to celebrate the fame surrounding his wife and children.
Brooklyn Beckham
Brooklyn Beckham publicly accused his parents, David and Victoria Beckham, of controlling the public narrative around their family. In a lengthy Instagram statement shared in 2026, Brooklyn criticized what he described as performative family dynamics and claimed “Brand Beckham” mattered more than authentic relationships.
For many of these former child stars, the hardest battles were never fought in front of cameras or audiences, but behind closed doors with the very people who were supposed to protect them most.
