Child stars power 'profitable storytelling machine'. But who protects them?

Hayden Panettiere's death raises fresh questions about state of child star laws At just 16, Hayden Panettiere was handed a pill that would propel her "downfall of addiction". The US star — who died last week aged 36 — wrote she was given the drug as a teen to boost her energy ahead of a red carpet appearance. It was just one of the candid disclosures she made in the weeks before her death, in a memoir that laid bare the challenges of child stardom, substance abuse and postpartum depression. Early coronial reports from Panettiere's death say she suffered a cardiac arrest, while police dispatchers said they were resuscitating the star after a possible "overdose". The US Drug Enforcement Agency has also reportedly joined the investigation. And while it's still unknown if drugs or alcohol played a factor in her death, Panettiere has joined the tragic roll call of former child stars who have died prematurely over the last year or so. Her Ice-Princess co-star Michelle Tratchenberg died aged 39 last February, as a result of complications from diabetes — with co-star Rosie O'Donnell later alleging Tratchenberg struggled with addiction before her death. Daveigh Chase, of The Ring and Lilo & Stitch fame, died in June aged 35 of AIDS, after suffering from drug abuse and homelessness. Child stars have long been a vital facet of Hollywood, but this latest triad of deaths has reignited calls for better protections. In an essay following Panettiere's death, Even Stevens star Christy Carlson Romano said stars like herself powered "one of the most profitable storytelling machines in the world, while their mental needs are treated as inconvenient or irrelevant". "Those of us who make it are given the adoration of saints — and then, if we don't climb to A-list fast enough, we're torn down as if we've committed some unspeakable mortal sin. All before our frontal lobes have fully formed," she wrote for Elle. "Is it any wonder so many of us struggle with addiction? "The industry gives us the wound and then acts surprised when we reach for something to treat it." Anna Paquin, who was 11 when she won her Oscar for The Piano, said the deaths were more than coincidence, in a separate statement about Panettiere's death. "We are not as protected by the 'systems' that look great on paper, as we are supposed to be," she wrote on Instagram. The first child star who almost lost it all There is one key piece of US law that enshrines the rights of child stars — and it is nearing 100 years old. The 1939 Coogan Law is named after Jackie 'The Kid' Coogan, arguably Hollywood's first child star. At age four, he was foisted onto the screen by Charlie Chaplin to star 1921's The Kid. Coogan became a hit, making millions but still only received a weekly allowance of $6.25 from his family. Then when he turned 21, he found his mother and manager-turned-stepfather would not give him a cent more. Coogan eventually won the subsequent lawsuit he waged, albeit recovering only a small portions of his earnings. As Coogan Law currently stands, it ensures 15 per cent of a child actor's earnings are set aside in a blocked trust, and also codifies issues such as schooling, work hours, and time off. Yet despite decades of regulation, the extent of Hollywood's alleged 2000s lawlessness has been made fully apparent. The child stars from Nickelodeon's heyday have grown up, and now they're speaking out against the machine and long-time producer Dan Schneider. The 2024 documentary Quiet on Set delved into how dialogue coach Brian Peck was brought onto Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody after previous convictions for the sexual abuse of Nickelodeon stars. Meanwhile, Disney star Alyson Stoner says unsafe working conditions left her malnourished and chronically stressed, despite the labour laws in place. And just this week, former child star Raquel Lee Bolleau has sued Disney, alleging a middle-aged employee repeatedly raped her on a 2001 set while other visible adults failed to intervene. These are the same spaces Panettiere grew up in. And now, some fear a new era of child stars could face similar problems with even less oversight. Fame arrives from 'the first ultrasound' In 2024, former Disney star Demi Lovato shone a light on a new child star industry, booming and unregulated. She was ushering in two new Californian bills that brought kidfluencers in line with the financial restraints of Coogan Law. Risks of promoting children as influencers remain largely unregulated around the world, including in Australia where there is no specific legislation around kidfluencing, despite being a multi-million industry. Social media communication researcher Catherine Archer says she has seen how some kids are famous "from the first ultrasound". What follows can be enormous pressure to gather large followings that may result in thousands of dollars in earnings for the family — with no guardrails. "If it's your source of income and you're also their parent, there's a bit of a conflict of interest there, isn't it?" Dr Archer notes. "It's going to be that pressure to continue, particularly if (your child is) getting the likes, the shares and the comments." No case is a better example of the risks of unregulated family vloggers than Utah mother Ruby Franke, who created a "concentration camp-like setting" for two of her four children. Her daughter Shari Franke later testified to politicians as a "victim of family vlogging". "If I could go back and do it all again, I'd rather have an empty bank account now and not have my childhood plastered all over the internet," she said. "No amount of money I received has made what I've experienced worth it." Complicating the issue is a general "reluctance to regulate what goes on in people's homes" Dr Archer adds, while acknowledging the entertainment relies on that very access. "You see the kids in their bathrooms getting ready for bed. You'll see them in their bedrooms getting ready," she says. "There's this lack of privacy." Saving stars from 'a lawless area' France now regulates the hours under-16s can work online, their earnings — and their right to be removed from online platforms at their wish. MP Bruno Studer said the bill was France's duty to protect children from the internet "which must not be a lawless area". Panettiere's death and those of Tratchenberg and Chase have reignited a debate about the treatment of children on movie sets. Yet the rise of the kidfluencer shows the new and insidious ways child entertainers continue to face harm. These are children who often just started with a dream to be creative, as Dr Archer says. "I don't want to say it is 100 per cent all bad because there are things to enjoy," she says. "But there's definitely another dark side to it too." As Anna Paquin says, it can be "possible to holistically look after the kids on set and tell complex and upsetting stories". "It just has to be the top priority of the production."