From Emma Watson to Britney: Here’s the devastating truth behind being a child star

Emma Watson admitting to wanting to leave the Harry Potter franchise highlights the trauma that child stars are put through, from loss of identity to sexualization

Kat Morris
5 min readJan 14, 2022
Image Source: Getty

Emma Watson candidly spoke in the Harry Potter 20 Year Anniversary Reunion about feeling overwhelmed and terrified as the films progressed and fame increased, the pressure and attention leading her to consider walking away from the Harry Potter franchise. This should come as no surprise to any movie fanatic who’s followed the careers of childhood stars because, after all, Emma Watson is not the first actress to speak out about the struggles of being a super-famous child.

Emma isn’t the only one who struggled with the startling fame that the Harry Potter movies bought. Rupert Grint, before and during the Harry Potter reunion, has spoken about struggling with fame at such a tender age. During the reunion, he talked about finding it difficult to recall life before Harry Potter, and of loss of identity:

“I think I lost myself a bit along the way. With the fame, you’re almost being the character even when you’re not in character. From the moment I got the part, my life completely changed.”…

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Kat Morris

Writer ✍️ SEND TA 🏫 Fascinated with the brain, probably cos mines a bit odd.