By India McCarty
E.T. star Henry Thomas admitted he “wasn’t ready” for the fame the movie brought him as a young actor.
“I wasn’t ready for it and never saw it coming,” Thomas said during an episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s “It Happened in Hollywood” podcast, referring to the instant fame the premiere of E.T. brought him at just 9 years old.
He continued, “The first time someone recognized me, it felt bizarre. And then there was this pressure to follow it up.”
E.T.’s Henry Thomas Gives Rare Interview on Not Handling Child Stardom Well https://t.co/YrDEXTd21l
— E! News (@enews) March 24, 2026
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The actor pointed to his life in Texas as something that helped him stay grounded, adding, “I didn’t approach my career in a strategic way. It was always about the experience or the people. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn’t.”
Thomas would go on to have a long career, with notable recent credits including Netflix’s horror series THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, as well as movies like LEGENDS OF THE FALL, GANGS OF NEW YORK and DEAR JOHN.
“I just kept going. There were periods where things were great and periods where it felt like you couldn’t get arrested,” the actor reflected. “You realize eventually it’s all cyclical. You don’t get a rule book. You just keep showing up.”
Thomas has often spoken about the changes E.T. brought to his life. In a 2023 interview with The Guardian, he shared, “I had no clue that my life would change in any way. I worked on this movie, then I’m back on the farm, I’m back at school — but now people are pointing at me in the street.”
“My whole family weren’t really well equipped to deal with anything like that,” he continued, adding that his mother did “the best job that she knew how to do” to keep things normal for their family.
He also had some words of advice for any other aspiring child stars: “Pursue it when you’re older.”
“I still don’t think it’s a great way to grow up,” Thomas said. “It was exciting for me, I went to some strange locales and met some interesting people. But it was also very disruptive to my parents’ marriage. Our social life got weird…As a kid, that’s a lot to deal with. And when you’re an adult [too], but at least then you have all of the faculties, hopefully, to deal with fame.”
Thomas would eventually move his family from LA to a farm in rural Oregon, telling Yahoo! Entertainment, “I grew up on a farm and I wanted to have that for my kids.”
E.T. changed Thomas’ life, but the actor has been transparent about the challenges the movie’s success brought to his life.
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