Why Actress Christy Carlson Romano’s Kids Won’t Be In Entertainment Industry
By Movieguide® Contributor
Former child star Christy Carlson Romano shares why she won’t put her children in the entertainment industry.
“There is a difference between a stage parent and a parent who has a child in the industry,” the EVEN STEVENS star explained. “You have to be the parent first. I think that’s something that I just realized, and I would probably not put my kids in the industry.”
Romano rose to fame on the Disney Channel show, as well as KIM POSSIBLE, where she voiced the titular spy character. Today, she hosts “Vulnerable,” a podcast where she and fellow child stars unpack the experiences of being young in Hollywood.
She also pointed to young YouTube stars as others who are suffering in the entertainment industry, saying, “[They] are so influential to so many people’s kids, and yet [these kids] are suffering in so many ways in which you’d never want your own kids to suffer.”
Romano frequently speaks up for young people in the industry and has expressed her concerns about how little things have changed over the years.
“I don’t think things are changing,” she told Fox News. “I think until there’s any kind of changing of the fundamental infrastructure, things can’t change. Because we’re working on outdated information on how kids are being treated on sets.”
She continued, “Look, at the end of the day, these kids are union-paying members. And they’re not getting protected by the union. They’re not getting schooled enough directly from the union. They may have little workshops here and there, but they do not have enforcers. They don’t have people that are enforcing protections, and that’s the biggest problem.”
Romano listed some changes she thinks need to happen in an interview with Vulture, saying, “They need mental-health advocates on every set. They need either social workers or they need a protocol to report wrongdoings or mental-health stressors.”
“Right now, we have studio teachers, and studio teachers are extremely compliant to production needs. I’ve seen them forge numbers of teaching hours. And we’re not just talking about Hollywood; we’re talking about any state that does any production ever,” the actress explained. “Right now, we’re talking about intimacy coordinators on the set of EUPHORIA. It’s the same type of thing. We have that for adults, but shouldn’t we start with kids?”
Movieguide® previously reported on Romano’s thoughts on keeping her children out of the entertainment industry:
Romano moved to Austin two years ago in part to protect her two daughters Isabella, 6, and Sophia, 4, from the fast-paced Hollywood life. She does not want to bar them from ever getting into the arts, rather, Romano wants her daughters to organically find a love for the arts instead of having it forced upon them from a young age.
“I want my kids to have a genuine relationship with the arts. Because the arts were not created to basically be commodified, especially for children,” Romano said.
“I think kids need to believe in the magic of arts and just to find their way into their different skill set, whether it’s singing or dancing or performing,” she explained. “Even if they’re not that good at it, that’s OK too. It’s the rejection bit and the marketplace elements and the ambition that really kind of sully this otherwise beautiful experience of having a relationship with the arts.”
