By Michaela Gordoni
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU star Jennie Garth did not want to communicate directly with the show’s co-creator, Dan Schneider.
Schneider is the main subject of the documentary QUIET ON SET: THE DARK SIDE OF KIDS TV, in which he was accused of abuse, sexism and creating inappropriate situations with young women in his career on Nickelodeon.
Garth starred in the show opposite Amanda Bynes.
“He was [on] the Amanda side of it,” Garth said in a recent podcast. “She had worked with him a lot on THE AMANDA SHOW and all the things. So he had hooked his wagon onto her.”
Garth stopped talking to Schneider and communicated through the other co-creator.
She said she was getting bad vibes “to the point where I said to Will, ‘I would rather just communicate solely with you. I trust you. I think that you have my best interests in mind, and I don’t feel that way with your partner. So I’d rather just be with you.’ And he was like, ‘No problem.’”
Related: Kel Mitchell Reveals On-Set Fight With Nickelodeon’s Dan Schneider
In 2024, Garth said, “I don’t want to talk about Dan Schneider ever again in my life.”
In the years since Bynes acted, she’s struggled with substance issues, mental health and legal issues. Garth and others suspect she faced abuse or manipulation from Schneider.
However, Garth believes that Bynes’ issues are not all caused by Schneider.
“There were a lot of problems in the ecosystem of her,” she said. “When we did the pilot, I had just turned 30, and she had just turned 16. I didn’t know how to be around a teenage girl. She taught me so much.”
“I just love her and I would love to see her at any point,” she said in 2024. In 2019, she told Entertainment Tonight, “We’re like soul sisters.”
Part of Movieguide®’s review reads of QUIET ON SET reads, “QUIET ON SET makes clear that children between 8 and 15 are extremely vulnerable and need to be protected from exploitation. Every aspect of this series is important for exposing the underside of Hollywood. QUIET ON SET has a very clear, strong moral worldview, with a few brief mentions of prayer. Although there’s very little visual sex or violence and practically no foul language in QUIET ON SET, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution because of the subject matter.”
Candace Cameron Bure and other celebrities also responded to the documentary, with several saying it opened their eyes to the dangers child actors encounter.
“It’s so tragic, it’s horrific and disgusting,” Bure said.
Kenan Thompson said, “It’s a good thing that the doc is out, and it’s putting things on display that need to be, stories that need to be told for accountability’s sake.”
Kirk Cameron, Bure’s brother who was also a child actor, responded, saying that the evilness in Hollywood is “shocking and sickening.”
He added, “The evil, the darkness, the twisted sickness of Hollywood has been going on for a long time.”
“Thank God I got out of there unscathed in the 1980s,” he continued. “Those people who did this stuff to these kids are the same kind of people in the industry today. Still making twisted, sick, perverted material that’s hurting children today. And they need to be completely rooted out and replaced.”
Hopefully in Hollywood, there’s a better understanding now that children have to be protected.
Read Next: QUIET ON SET: THE DARK SIDE OF KIDS TV
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