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Being a child star can be deeply challenging. There are a lot of elements to both acting and fame that can be too much to handle for developing minds, not to mention that being on set all the time leads to a very different childhood than the average kid. There's a reason why quite a few child stars end up having "normal" jobs as adults — fame is a seriously tough mistress. So, it's really not a huge surprise when child stars disappear from the limelight as adults, but in the case of young actor Mara Wilson, it did seem a little shocking. After all, at just nine years old she was fast becoming one of the biggest stars in Hollywood as the titular character in "Matilda" and it seemed like she could have whatever career she wanted as an actor. However, after making the critically panned "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" in 2000 opposite Alex Baldwin,...

Mara Wilson had her doubts about being a child star.

The “Mrs. Doubtfire” breakout actress, who went on to cement her status as a ’90s icon in “Matilda” and “Miracle on 34th Street,” opened up about the “sexualized” pressures of growing up in the spotlight.

“I don’t think you can be a child star without there being some kind of lasting damage,” Wilson told The Guardian while promoting memoir “Good Girls Don’t,” adding, “People don’t realize how much constantly talking to the press as a child weighs on you.”

Wilson began her career at age six. By seven years old, Wilson’s fame “kind of snowballed” and she began being asked by journalists if she knew what French kissing was or could pick out which fellow actor she found “sexiest.”

“I had people sending me inappropriate letters and posting things about me online,” Wilson continued, citing that her...

A star at nine, the actor was soon struggling with the death of her mother as well as nosy journalists and demanding fans. Angry, confused and thoroughly lost, how did she ever find her way back?

It never made sense to her, Mara Wilson writes in Good Girls Don’t, that the enduring image of a child actor is of a spoilt brat. “A bratty child is one who won’t do what they’re told; child actors only do what they’re told. Brats are selfish and greedy; child actors often support their families. A spoilt and misbehaving child will not get very far in the entertainment industry.” Wilson, the star of some of the biggest family films of the 90s, including Mrs Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street and Matilda, only wanted to please.

She wrote the short-form memoir – an ebook and audiobook for the digital platform Scribd – after thinking...