Anna Paquin is looking back at the dangers of childhood stardom.
“It’s not a coincidence that so many former, specially pre-sexualized female ‘child stars’ have profoundly sad lives and untimely ends,” Paquin, 44, wrote via Instagram on Friday, August 21, reflecting on her experience as a child actress. “We were not as protected by the ‘systems’ that look great on paper, as we are supposed to be.”
She continued, “It’s a strange, small club we belong to and you are worthy of support no matter how our industry made us feel. Literally DM me. I believe you, and I will stand by your side. You aren’t alone. Let’s have each other’s backs. It might make public discourse less terrifying.”
Paquin, who rose to fame as an adolescent via various roles in films like The Piano, Jane Eyre, She’s All That and X-Men, further offered her condolences to the families of Hayden Panettiere, Michelle Trachtenberg, Daveigh Chase “and too many others.” (Panettiere, Trachtenberg, Chase each died in their early 30s this year.)
The Oscar winner didn’t go into detail about her own experiences compared to those of the late former child stars.
“I’m speaking very specifically about the experience as a child on set that finds themselves prematurely a ‘sex object,’” Paquin added on Friday. “I’m not implying damage is not done outside of the context of entertainment. But that is a longer post for a different moment.”
Paquin was met with support from other child actresses in the comments section.
“I’ll never forget my first tv gig on True Blood. Watching as a mother whispered something awful into her daughter’s ear to make her cry,” Galadriel Stineman replied. “Fiona Shaw asked you, ‘Who would do something like that?’ And you said, ‘Everyone would.’ And that they had done it to you. I had just had my first child. I never forgot it. Thank you for speaking up.”
Evan Rachel Wood, Alyssa Milano, Shiri Appleby, Mighty Ducks actress Marguerite Moreau and The Testaments’ Rowan Blanchard all responded with heart emojis.
“Thank you so much for this. ❤️,” Matilda star Mara Wilson also commented.
Former Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert, for her part, thanked Paquin for speaking out, adding via Instagram, “Thank you Anna. Someone has to say something. Someone has to change this. Someone has to help.”
Gilbert, 62, further noted in a Substack essay shared on Friday that Panettiere, Trachtenberg and Chase’s respective deaths have personally affected her.
“We are all members of the same tribe [of] Female Former Child Performers, and when one of us dies, it runs through all of us like an electrical current,” Gilbert wrote in part. “When three of us die so close together, something is very, very wrong.”
Paquin issued a follow-up statement several hours later.
“One more thing — as an adult I’ve had the pleasure of working on productions where the welfare and mental health of young performers was handled incredibly carefully,” she said in a follow-up upload shared Saturday, August 22. “Especially around material that was intense. It is possible to holistically look after the kids on set and tell complex and sometimes upsetting stories. It just has to be the top priority of the production.”
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