Several former child stars have discussed their experiences financially supporting their families in the beginning of their careers
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Zendaya, JoJo Siwa and Demi Lovato have all opened up about how child stardom made them their family's breadwinners
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Other stars, like Cole Sprouse and Jodie Foster, have reflected on the pressures of being a young person making a lot of money
In somefamous families, there's no shortage of star power.
However, there are also several entertainers who were the first members of their family to become famous. As they grew up on various television shows and movie sets, they also received more paychecks than the average kid.
In the years since becoming famous child stars, many of them have opened up about being the "breadwinners" for their families and helping with their finances. Some stars — likeSydney Sweeney— have even gone on to help with their parents' homes.
Read on to learn more about the young stars who've opened up about supporting their loved ones.
Zendaya
While speaking toVoguein April 2024,Zendayashared that she has"complicated" feelings about child stardom.
"I don’t know how much of a choice I had," she told the outlet. "I have complicated feelings about kids and fame and being in the public eye, or being a child actor."
"We’ve seen a lot of cases of it being detrimental," she continued. "I think only now, as an adult, am I starting to go, 'Oh, okay, wait a minute: I’ve only ever done what I’ve known, and this isallI’ve known.'"
The actress, who got her start on Disney Channel'sShake It Upsays that because of the success she found as a young actor, there was a shift in her family's dynamic.
"I felt like I was thrust into a very adult position: I was becoming thebreadwinner of my familyvery early, and there was a lot of role-reversal happening, and just kind of becominggrown,really," she explained.
Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hartlooked back on her experience growing up as the oldest of eight siblings andthe ways in which she supported her familyduring an appearance on ABC Audio andGood Morning America’sPop Culture Momsin August 2024.
"I felt like I had to behave to be a role model for them,” she said. “You know, the money that I made on commercials andClarissa[Explains It All] or any of my acting jobs, it always went to the family.”
“I got to go pick out a Barbie and like, as I got older, some people were like, ‘Oh, that's not right. You should have kept your money,’ ” she added. “And I was like ... I would rather put food on the table and make sure my siblings had good clothes and bicycles for Christmas, you know, things like that. So, I definitely felt like I wanted to be responsible for them.”
JoJo Siwa
After competing onAbby's Ultimate Dance Competitionat age 9,JoJo Siwa's career took off with appearances onDance Moms,a wildly successful YouTube channel, a hit song "Boomerang" and a Nickelodeon deal that included a slew of merch — which of course included bows.
Now grown up, Siwa opened up onAlex Cooper'sCall Her Daddypodcastin April 2024about the impact her financial success has had on her family.
She said her mom,Jessalynn Siwa, thanked her for not leaving their family "high and dry" when she turned 18 and could access all the money she made as a child.
"My mom actually said something today to me that was really sweet,” Siwa said. "When you are a kid, 15 percent of every penny you make goes into a Coogan account [to protect her earnings]. My parents thought when I turned 18, I was gonna get my Coogan account money, take all of my money and have it all be mine."
“That’s always been a fear of theirs, always has been. Just because the opportunity of me leaving them high and dry was right there," she continued. "People have done it before. Child stars have done it before, but I would never do that to my family.”
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Sydney Sweeney
After starting her acting career at "11, 12 years old,"Sydney Sweeneysaw what her parentssacrificed in order to help her reach her dreams.
“I watched my parents lose a lot. We filed for bankruptcy, and they lost their house back home on the lake," Sweeney toldWomen's Healthin November 2023. "We couldn’t afford life in L.A. We couldn’t afford life anywhere."
To help her parents make ends meet, Sweeney worked at Universal Studios, babysat and cleaned restaurant bathrooms.
“It was hard because they were supporting my dream, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” she explained. “I didn’t want to fail them. No matter how long it took, I was going to be in a TV show or a movie, and I wasn’t going to stop until something happened.”
Women's Healthnoted that Sweeney has since bought back her great-grandparents' home on the same lake where her parents lived and in March 2024, she told WhoWhatWear that she hadpaid off her mom's mortgage.
Demi Lovato
After years in the spotlight, fromBarney & FriendstoCamp Rockto a successful music career,Demi Lovatoopened up about how being her family's "breadwinner" impacted them for years to come.
"I noticed that when I came into the spotlight at a young age, and then was the breadwinner ... there wasn't a manual for my parents to read and it say, 'Here's what to do to raise a child star,' " Lovatosaid on an episode of her podcast,4D with Demi Lovato,in 2021. "They didn't get that."
"So when they would try to ground me at 17, I would say, 'I pay the bills.' And I cringe now when I think about that attitude," Lovato continued. "But when the world is putting you on a pedestal, you kind of think that you could do no wrong. As I've gotten older, I see my parents just as big kids themselves."
Keke Palmer
As a child,Keke Palmer's dream was to move to L.A. from the Chicago suburb where she lived with her parents. That dream would eventually come true, but not without some bumps in the road. While the plan was initially forher dad, Larry, to find a job once they moved, he ultimately stayed home to care for Keke's siblings as her mom, Sharon, was working closely with her as her manager, theLos Angeles Timesreported.
"It just hit a point where my dad could no longer do a job because if he did a job, then there would be nobody to take care of my older sister and my younger siblings because my mom was always with me," she told theTimes. "So it was like, all of our roles were switched. I became the financial breadwinner because my career was bringing in the most money, and my parents wanted to support me but they couldn’t have their own jobs because their own jobs would not even allow them to really be able to sustain a stable household."
"So everybody’s positions were flipped upside down," she added.
Because of this flip, Palmer said, she later began to feel the "pressure" that came along with supporting the family.
"I started to realize that I was the financial breadwinner, and that if I didn’t have a job, who would have a job? Or how could my parents have a job? Or how could we sustain the same lifestyle even if they did have a job? Because I was making the kind of money that many people never make," she said. "It put us in a crazy position."
Cole Sprouse
During a sit down with Alex Cooper for herCall Her Daddypodcast in March 2023,Cole Sprouseopened up about the ups and downs of growing up in the spotlight.
Sprouse, who started acting as an infant alongside his twin brotherDylan, explained what he sees as the "two types of kids" who get into acting at a young age.
"There's, like, the thespian children who choose to do it and then there's the working-class kids that, in our case, at least ... I mean, it started, really, as a means to put bread on the table," he said. "My parents did not come from too much."
Cole explained that he doesn't resent his parents for the decision or "regret" his early work, adding, "I have now been granted a life of primarily financial stability —and surplus in very many cases — that is the byproduct of working for 30 years and trading my childhood."
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