I’ve Worked With Child Stars — And I Felt Bad For Them
So young, yet so old.
I now work in the Marketing department in a new company where it requires me to work with a lot of celebrities.
And after working with several of them, I feel like there’s this facade that they must keep when creating content. That was also how I wasn’t so hot when I was around these celebrities.
After all, no matter how big they are, they too are still human.
When The Mask Slips off
Thankfully, the KOLs or celebrities I’ve worked with are, so far, humble people.
So I got to talk to them about their general life and all. The usual chit-chat, just to spark a conversation. I also got to talk to their crew members too, they talked a lot about the production team and their work.
When I got to know them, there was something interesting I found about their work.
Off-camera, they weren’t as excited as they are on camera.
Sure, there is a lot of happy face on the posts and camera. But in reality, they are just doing their jobs.
Since these celebrities and KOLs are essentially actors, they must have had to keep this happy face all the time no matter what. Even when they are tired, they must force this positivity that everything is great, and so is their lives.
However, when I saw them off camera, it was not always like that.
There is a facade that they must keep, and this includes kids celebrities.
The Truth Off Camera
For Adults, I’m certain they would know how to handle fame.
But for kids? I don’t think they could understand much about the world they should live in.
I would prefer if kids were able to enjoy their childhood. Hang out with friends, play whatever they want without being judged, and just be happy.
But when you are a child star, I don’t think they could even live their childhood.
And I can see it in their faces when I was working with them.
When the cameras were off, there was a break between takes. That’s when I got to know the child stars. I spoke with them as you would speak to someone you are about to meet their acquaintance.
So far, the stars I met were all humble, so speaking to them wasn’t too much of a problem. That’s when I tried to slowly bring out the subject of their personal lives, just the general one. I’m not nosy, but I’ve seen how they had to keep this facade, so I would prefer to have an honest conversation with them rather than smouldering over them as if I’m some paparazzi.
And that’s when they revealed some things to me.
They told me that they just finished school, and they had to come straight here. When they came here, they were drowsy and sleepy. One of them even had to do something again after shooting something.
For me, that was all the information I needed, for I didn’t want to sound like a creep wanting to breech their personal lives. Heck, they worked until the night after 7 pm, something most kids shouldn’t be doing.
But what I can see is that they had to keep this facade, and work after-school all the time.
Most normal kids didn’t have that, and I think we’ve all experienced normality of school.
But these kids? I don’t think they even have a choice. They have to maintain their faces and keep working. I don’t think I can handle what they had to go through after school.
That’s why I felt bad for them.
Celebrities are still human too.
When I was working in the cinema industry, I’ve seen interviews and articles about how actors were very annoyed when fans come up to them for a selfie.
But most couldn’t say ‘no’ so that they can keep a good image of themselves.
Some lost their temper and don’t give a crap about what the media had to say.
And I feel for them, especially child stars.
When my team invited them, I was actually feeling bad for making the child stars work.
I don’t even think they understand much about scheduling and time management in their lives. They have a crew to do that for them.
Now, I’m not saying that the child stars I met were wrong and that they will fall, and I really hope they don’t.
But I want to tell you that their lives aren’t as colourful as it looks on their social media pages.
In fact, I think they would kill to be in our places when we ourselves would kill to be in their places.
Then again, everyone wants something they don’t have.
And the gratitude to be thankful to be in the place where we’re at is something that I’m doing my best to practice every day.
Because I think we all need that in the world of social media where everyone is comparing themselves to others.
