Keke Palmer and Raven-Symoné are taking Hollywood to task for failing child actors.
While talking on Raven’s podcast with wife Miranda Maday, titled “Tea Time,” Palmer tore into Hollywood for abandoning child actors once they age out of the industry.
“That’s what they do to child entertainers. That’s what people don’t understand – ‘why so-and-so went crazy,’” Palmer said. “First of all, I don’t believe people go crazy. I don’t. I don’t believe it’s just like that. Child entertainers – you have to understand, people say, ‘You are a has-been.’ Your life hasn’t even begun. You’ve done all of this stuff, and you’ve created all you’ve done. You’ve done years and years of work, and then people have decided you’re done just because you got older.”
Raven, who was a child star herself, having starred on “The Cosby Show,” “That’s So Raven” and the Disney Channel Original Movie “The Cheetah Girls,” agreed with Palmer. She said it should come as no surprise that so many former child stars act out once they reach a certain age.
“And then they wonder why we act the way we – I say we very clearly,” Raven said. “We get old. So, you’re saying that I’m only useful in this life when I’m younger and making you money and making you laugh? The rest of my life doesn’t matter to you?”
The pair’s conversation comes in the wake of Hayden Panettiere’s death. The actress was a major star in her youth – appearing in things like “Remember the Titans” and NBC’s “Heroes.” When news of her death hit, plenty were quick to call out the Hollywood system and how people did not do enough for Panettiere or those like her.
“I’ll miss you. I’m so sorry you suffered,” Jack Coleman, who played Panettiere’s father on “Heroes,” wrote. “I’ll remember how happy you were on set and on the European press tour; how you championed Tess when she was being bullied; your commitment to animal welfare and the courage to put yourself in harm’s way to protect them. I only wish you had been given that same protection.”
Palmer did think that with the continued rise of content creators, there was a signal of how things could be better. Now that so many more are having their lives out there from an early age, she hopes people will offer more care for child stars as they grow.
“Everybody’s online and being perceived like we were being perceived as kids, and you know, it was only a certain avenue you could go to be looked at publicly like that,” Palmer said. “Now you can be a YouTube family, and they could know you when you came out the womb. So more people are actually having the same experience that we’ve had in different scales, in different niches, or worldwide.”
She added: “I think it lets people say, ‘Well, hey, wait a minute. There’s something we’re not talking about here.’ I think that’s something we’ve had a lot of experience with.”
