Former Child Star Matthew Lawrence Says ‘Great Family Unit’ Kept Him Grounded
By Movieguide® Contributor
BOY MEETS WORLD star Matthew Lawrence is opening up about what it was really like to be a child star—and why it’s “not exactly as the way it looks.”
“I can’t really say I would go back and change [anything],” Lawrence admitted to Fox News but added, “It was an odd upbringing that I had, it wasn’t normal.”
He continued, “I got everything in, but I didn’t get it in on the same timeline that you normally get. Like, things I should have learned in my teens, I had to learn in my 20s and vice versa. So, I got it all in, I was fortunate. I had a great family unit.”
Lawrence credits his strong family connections with keeping him “grounded,” saying he was “very, very fortunate” that his parents made sure he had a relatively normal life.
“But you know there are still times it wasn’t always easy. As long as people understand it…it’s not exactly as the way it looks,” the actor continued. “I came up in an era in the business where they would throw you in, and if something bad happened, they’d expect you to roll with it, whether it was on camera or off. And that’s just the way that it was.”
He continued, “I think people are more aware [of] it these days, and I think things are starting to change, and that’s great. We can always only get better.”
Lawrence has previously spoken about the darker sides of the entertainment industry.
“There’s been many times in my life where I’ve been propositioned to get a huge role,” he said during an episode of his BROTHERLY LOVE podcast.
Lawrence claimed he was fired from his agency after leaving a meeting with a prominent director in a hotel room, where the director “showed up in his robe, asked me to take my clothes off, said he needed to take Polaroids of me and said if I did X, Y and Z, I would be the next Marvel character.”
He’s also spoken about the double standard men face when it comes to reporting instances of sexual harassment and assault.
“Terry Crews comes out and says it; people are laughing at him. People don’t support him,” Lawrence explained. “They kick him out. Why? Because he’s a man that represents masculinity, and I think our society is less ready to hear that situation going on with men than they are with women.”
The actor continued, “Not a lot of guys in my opinion have come out and talked about this in the industry. There is also this same situation. Now granted, it’s probably about a third of what women go through. The amount of men… Men go through this as well, whether it’s another woman or another man in power.”
