Anna Paquin’s alarming words on child stardom following deaths Hayden Panettiere and Michelle Trachtenberg

 

Anna Paquin has opened up about the dark side of growing up famous, following the recent deaths of fellow child stars Hayden Panettiere, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Daveigh Chase.

Anna Paquin, who won an Oscar at 11 for her role in The Piano shared a candid post on Instagram about what that kind of fame actually costs.

The post that she published on August 21 on Instagram remembers her fellow child stars: Hayden Panettiere, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Daveigh Chase. All three died before turning 40. 

Paquin didn’t beat around the bush in her post, instead straight out claiming it’s no coincidence that so many former child stars, especially young women who were sexualized early on, end up with profoundly sad lives.

She also questioned whether the systems that are supposed to protect young performers actually manage to do so. “We were not as protected by the ‘systems’ that look great on paper as we are supposed to be,” she wrote.

She directed the ending of her message at other former child stars reminding them they’re not alone and that she believes in them.

A handful of other former young actresses, including Alyssa Milano, Mara Wilson, and Shiri Appleby, backed her up in the comments.

Several other former child stars shared their thoughts too

Melissa Gilbert, who started acting on Little House on the Prairie at 10, shared Paquin’s post. The next day she shared an essay of her own.

Former child performers are basically their own tribe, and when one of them dies, it runs through the rest like an electrical current, Gilbert explained in her post.

She also coined a phrase for something a lot of former child actors seem to recognize: “Doctor Show Syndrome,” basically the unspoken rule that you keep working no matter how sick, hurt, or emotionally wrecked you are. She remembered going back to set just months after her father died, at 11 years old, and not one adult on set said a word to her about it.

Her ask now is pretty simple: let kids in this industry actually be kids. Give them therapy. Let them say no.

Hilary Duff wrote about staying up late talking and gossiping with Panettiere. Alexa PenaVega remembered all three women as girls she genuinely grew up alongside, in a world she called exciting and incredibly hard at the same time.

Christy Carlson Romano put it in an especially haunting way: the industry hands you the wound, then acts shocked when you go looking for something to numb it.