Former child star details the dark side of Hollywood in new tell-all

Alyson Stoner had worked in showbiz for nearly 20 years when the former child star checked a bank account, expecting over a million dollars – and there was nothing.

The entertainer had been performing since turning 3 years old. The 32-year-old danced alongside Missy Elliott, and appeared in “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “Camp Rock,” among other films. Yet after being “groomed to be sold,” the bank account had zero dollars. Stoner is now exploring the pitfalls of fame in a new memoir, “Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything.”

“Even though I was absolutely frugal, and I continue to be, there are a lot of loopholes that leave room for a child’s money to be mishandled, even by people who have good intentions but don’t understand the unique business structures of entertainment expenses,” Stoner told Fox News Digital.

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“It was shocking to wake up to zero dollars in an account,” Stoner admitted. “I was mostly in denial at first. I was afraid for my future. I wondered after all this time, if I can be duped once, will I be taken advantage of again? Do I have the competence, the life skills to find my way outside the industry?”

The entertainer, who uses they/them pronouns, was in their early 20s when they made the shocking discovery.

Stoner and their older sister teamed up to investigate years of records, the book details. The duo discovered that Stoner’s business team had mismanaged finances, splurging on lavish gifts. Their mother, a “career bookkeeper,” had been paying herself a monthly salary since Stoner was a child, plus taking “one-off payments” of “several thousand” over the years. 

There were also decades of hefty expenses to maintain a successful career in Hollywood. There were never any conversations about budgeting and saving.

Stoner wrote that 15 years of labor turned into “a crumbling house of cards.”

“A lot of folks are unaware that it can cost between $10,000 and $20,000 for different expenses,” said Stoner. “Many artists are losing money while spending a lot of time and energy and resources auditioning, only to be rejected a majority of the time… The creative industry is largely unpaid labor. When you’re a child, the assumption is that you can afford to do this for fun, because you aren’t necessarily the breadwinner.”

A devastated Stoner met with an entertainment lawyer. Ultimately, they decided against legal action, writing that they “can’t burn a bridge with my mother.” Stoner said they felt loyalty and compassion for the matriarch, who had also struggled with alcohol. 

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“I began performing at the age of 3,” Stoner reflected. “I attended a performance convention in New York at age 6. Unbeknownst to me, this was a recruitment funnel for Hollywood. And my Midwestern family had zero affiliation with the industry.”

“I had zero aspirations to pursue the industry,” said Stoner. “And yet, there was a funnel with lots of different players, from agents, to managers, to casting directors, who were used to seeing children go through this process almost like a conveyor belt, becoming packaged products for audiences.”

“At 6 years old, I couldn’t understand the short- and long-term implications of… having corporations own my name, image and likeness,” Stoner continued. “It was also impossible for my family, who were given no upfront manual for what to expect, to recognize the consequences of disrupting every area of my childhood development, removing me from school to navigate 80-hour work weeks.”

And Stoner paid a big price for growing up in the public eye. After navigating stalkers, kidnapping plots, grueling schedules and excess demands, all the pressure eventually led to an eating disorder.

“I would see forums online and comment sections and interactions with fans nitpicking specific aspects of my appearance, as if it correlated to my talent, my ability to work and my inherent value,” said Stoner. “I also wanted to fulfill the industry’s wishes, fulfill the expectations of someone like me, which is namely to stay thin, be fit and be so versatile.”

The book revealed that Stoner prepared to audition for “Hunger Games” while battling an eating disorder. Stoner claimed that at age 17, they convinced a “world-renowned medical weight-loss camp” to help, with the goal of building muscle for the film, not shedding pounds. But desperate for the role of Katniss, they went into “starvation mode” until they “completed the biggest binge of my life.” The part ultimately went to Jennifer Lawrence.

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Stoner was encouraged to press onward in their career. They described that for many performers, turning 18 is an “expiration date.” But their body was “screaming for help,” they said.

“I was experiencing flaking nails, I had sallow skin, my weight was dropping, and I was navigating intense anxiety,” said Stoner. “Some OCD tendencies were forming… I needed help.” 

“The bittersweet truth is that oftentimes, when you’re vying for deeply competitive spots, there’s a sense that there’s never going to be a good time to take care of yourself. You’re willing to sacrifice absolutely anything to secure your spot… I needed to try to get myself back on track if I wanted any kind of future in the industry. Or any future at all.”

At age 17, Stoner sought treatment.

“I recognized that I was in such a degree of distress that if I didn’t get help, I was looking at potentially fatal consequences,” Stoner admitted.

Stoner also noted that as they grew older, they felt uneasy being expected to play more seductive characters at a film studio.

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“One of the areas that was most uncomfortable was being in a casting room where you’re playing opposite adults, and you’re being coached to come across as provocative, and you’re rewarded with maybe a callback if you showcased the right amount of skin,” said Stoner. 

“If [you’ve] gone through the process of being able to work as a legal 18, you might be on set without any guardians. Crew members may not even know your age. And it leaves a lot of room for pushing the envelope, potential grooming and being taken advantage of.”

“I have countless stories of young people who were hired to play one character, and upon showing up on set, they were slowly and systematically coerced into doing more than what was originally on the page,” said Stoner.

Today, Stoner is the founder of Movement Genius, an online platform that aims to make mental health support more accessible. Stoner is also a voice actor for Disney.

“I strongly encourage people to pursue local community theater first,” Stoner offered up when asked about advice for parents. “For a young person to be able to develop healthfully, they need developmentally appropriate experiences. At the moment, entertainment productions are not equipped to provide those experiences.”

Stoner noted that being an advocate for the next generation of child performers is one of their most important roles today.

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“My memoir gives people an opportunity to learn about the intimate details of what happened on all those sets growing up, while also answering very timely questions about what it means to navigate the world,” said Stoner. “I tell people, ‘Come for the childhood chaos. Stay for the cultural critique.’”