Actress and author Mara Wilson, best known for her work in “Matilda,” “Mrs. Doubtfire ”and“ Miracle on 34th Street, 1994 ”have written a powerful article for the New York Times about Britney Spears and the dangers of child stardom.
On Tuesday, the NYT published an opinion piece in which Wilson, 33, recalled manipulating and having sex with the media from an early age – and sympathizing with the pop icon Spears, who she told a reporter she hated her at the age of 13.
“I didn’t hate Britney Spears,” Wilson wrote. “But I would never have admitted that she enjoyed it. I had a strong climb of ‘Not Like the Other Girls’ at the time, which feels embarrassing now – even though I wasn’t on was on believe me, when I spent so much of my childhood hearing against so many other girls?
“Some of it was really jealous, it was beautiful and cool in a way I would never be. I think for the most part, I had already adopted the version of the Statement that surrounded it. ”
Wilson’s shadow comes weeks after the animated FX documentary series “Framing Britney Spears” sparked widespread speculation about how the poisonous media circus has failed young female talent by unknowingly examining them all movements and harassment in the darkest times.
In addition, the doc illuminates the many ways in which media figures sexualized Spears as a minor – giving the young artist a look at her romantic interests, breasts and sexual activity. Wilson could connect.
“I have never appeared in anything more revealing than a knee-length sundress,” Wilson wrote of her early acting beliefs. “It was all deliberate: My parents thought I would be safer that way. But it didn’t work. People had been asking me, ‘Do you have a boyfriend? ‘in interviews since I was 6. Reporters asked me who I thought was the sexiest actor and about Hugh Grant’ s arrest for looking for a prostitute.
Young Mara Wilson shakes to fans at an event in Hollywood.
(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
“It was nice when 10-year-olds sent me letters saying they were in love with me. Not when 50-year-olds did. Before I even turned 12, images of me were on foot fetish websites and photoshopped into child pornography. Each time, I was embarrassed. Hollywood has decided to deal with harassment in the industry, but I was never sexually harassed on a movie set. My sexual harassment has always been in the hands of the media and the public. ”
Wilson also recalled being described as a “damaged rug” by a Canadian news agency after he became involved with a journalist about her experience of working almost non-stop as a child. It was her 13th birthday, and she was disappointed that she spent it in the back interviews on a press tour for “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” in 2000.
“The way people talked about Britney Spears was horrible to me then, and it still is,” Wilson continued in her essay. “Her story is a great example of the wonder I saw years ago: Our culture raises these girls just to destroy them. Fortunately people are becoming aware of what we have done to Ms Spears and are beginning to apologize to her. But we still live with the scallops. ”
Read Wilson ‘s full article here.