Were you a Disney kid or a Nickelodeon kid? We all had our favorite series and stars, and maybe you even spent some time daydreaming about how fun it would be to get slimed with your friends on TV. But after years of child stars speaking out about unfair working conditions, their earnings being kept from them, and rampant sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, it’s clear as adults that being a kid actor isn’t all fame and hanging with friends. The new Hulu documentary Child Star, premiering Sept. 17, asks the question at the heart of this conversation: Is the price of fame worth your childhood? And a familiar group of faces came together to answer, based on their own experiences.
Today, Demi Lovato shared the trailer of Child Star on her Instagram, announcing it will premiere on Hulu on Sept. 17. The documentary is her directorial debut, and she looks to be the central figure viewers will follow through the story. We see her sit down in group settings and one-on-one with Christina Ricci, Raven-Symoné, Drew Barrymore, Kenan Thompson, Alyson Stoner, and Jojo Siwa, talking through how young they were when they entered the industry, when they first tried drugs and alcohol, Thompson’s accountant stealing his earnings, and more.
Lovato has been open about her struggles with addiction, both online, in interviews, and in past documentaries (Simply Complicated and Dancing with the Devil). In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lovato shares that her story will be the main thread, woven together with the experiences and journeys of all her fellow child stars. Instead of being an indictment of one studio or authority figure, it’s a broader look at how young actors try to navigate the complexities of becoming famous — and how they think about their childhoods now that they’re finally where they always wanted to be. It sounds like we’ll even get a peek at how they interacted with each other on set, with Stoner confronting Lovato about her behavior behind the scenes.
Child Star follows on the heels of Quiet On Set, the February 2024 documentary in which child actors, including Drake Bell, leveled serious abuse allegations at Nickelodeon director Dan Schneider and other powerful figures at the studio. Hulu is a Disney-owned streaming service, and many of the famous figures in this doc are Disney alum, but the Child Star team was given full control of the narrative in the documentary, according to that Reporter chat.
Whatever they decide to divulge, hearing all of these celebrities talk about their experiences behind the scenes of our favorite childhood shows — and the toll fame took on them as kids — is sure to have us glued to the TV on September 17.
