Mara Wilson Says She Was "Sexualised" As A Child Actor

Actor Mara Wilson recently penned an essay criticising the treatment of young stars, including Britney Spears, Drew Barrymore, and Amandla Stenberg, by the media and Hollywood. Wison featured as a child alongside late actor Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. In her essay, she drew parallels between her life as a child artist and that of Spears, adding how her parents went to great lengths to ensure she never followed the same "dark path".

Beautiful, heartbreaking piece from @MaraWilson on what the media and we the public do to young women in the public eye. https://t.co/H17JDmtVw3

— Adam Conover (@adamconover) February 23, 2021

Writing for The New York Times, the Matilda star recalled the inappropriate interactions she experienced while working on a number of films throughout the 90s. She recalled how the media and her fans objectified and sexualised her even as a pre-teen for never appearing in “anything more revealing than a knee-length sundress.” Wilson wrote that people asked her about her romantic relationships when she was just six, and men over 50 years of age wrote her love letters. “Hollywood has resolved to tackle harassment in the industry, but I was never sexually harassed on a film set. My sexual harassment always came at the hands of the media and the public,” she said.

Wilson went on to reveal that she had a support system in the form of family and close friends, unlike Spears, while she was growing up. She noted that the pop-star did not have the proper space to deal with personal issues like her divorce and motherhood. "As a result of the constant paparazzi and media attention," she says, Spears became "a spectacle for tabloid and gossip," Wilson said.

My sexual harassment always came at the hands of the media and the public: Mara Wilson

Writing on Spears’s “breakdown” Wilson added that it never needed to happen. According to Wilson, the narrative of Spears splitting with her husband, shaving her head, and furiously attacking a paparazzi's car with an umbrella was forced upon her by the media, but the reality was that she was a new mother dealing with major life changes. "People need space, time, and care to deal with those things. She had none of that,” she wrote.

Mara Wilson's opinion titled “The Lies Hollywood Tells About Little Girls” comes after Hulu’s Framing Britney Spears documentary shed light on the media and general public’s treatment of Britney Spears, and how that led to unfortunate consequences for the popstar.

Image Credits: Independent UK