Alyson Stoner on growing up Hollywood and why child performers need strong advocates for education, mental heath

Alyson Stoner talks to Yahoo Entertainment about growing up Hollywood, and why child performers need strong advocates for education and mental heath.

Video Transcript

ALYSON STONER: Can a six-year-old really choose? That's a great conversation to have. There are a lot of characteristics that create the sort of cocktail for potential kid actors. And I fit all of them.

Hi, I'm Alyson Stoner, and I'm eight years old. And I'm auditioning for the part of Eloise.

I started dancing at the age of three in Toledo, Ohio. And around six, I attended a convention for aspiring models and creatives. And the feedback was very positive. We were encouraged to audition and find an agent in Los Angeles. Our family had no experience in entertainment.

And it was a roller coaster from day one. Did I choose it? There was absolutely some sense of volition. I spent more time auditioning and working than attending school. So the audition room was actually my classroom. The toddler to train wreck pipeline, as I call it, is a measurable industrial complex in which young artists are subjected to an incredibly unique set of pressures and risks and experiences.

I have a lot of stories in that regard-- chronic sickness and burnout, missed academic attendance, and improper schooling alternatives, invasion of basic privacy, complex PTSD, smear campaigns from press that cause measurable damage to the young person when they're just trying to perform and do their job and build a career. All of these experiences have reached our doorsteps in varying degrees.

It does not negate how special and profound it is to also do something that you love and to reach audiences around the world and grow with them for this many years. Depending on the set, some adults will treat you like a child in an appropriate way. Other adults will treat you like a fellow adult and colleague. I want to be ultra clear that Missy Elliott and most of the people I've worked with are wonderful.

And the relationships that were built have been longstanding. I will say Bonnie Hunt stands out as one of the most beautiful human beings on planet Earth. She provided such a nurturing and nourishing maternal presence for each of us kids in "Cheaper by the Dozen." We're still in touch. She was invested in our well-being, in our craft and development, as well as providing a safe place for us to be our age and have healthy interactions. So I'm forever grateful for her.

On other sets, I had adults offer me a cigarette when they went out for their smoke break. As someone who really built an identity around being able to hit my mark and deliver a performance consistently. It was very crushing to reach a level of burnout where my body and my mind seemed to give up on me. And I wasn't able to show up and fulfill my job.

I'm very fortunate that I paused and went to rehab. Had I gone later, I might not have made it. We don't have clear enough regulations and child labor laws and set protocols, as well as standards and practices are not always on set monitoring. There's a lot of room for change and improvement in the industry.

This is a partial list and a starting point, but everything should be discussed alongside health and industry professionals, artists and the families. First, child labor laws in all 50 states. There are still 17 states that don't have any laws at all, but all 50 have child performers. Two, we need professionals on set or available, whether that's an entertainment psychologist, a mental health practitioner, and occupational therapist, child life specialist. Whatever the name is, they need to be present and available.

We need better union regulation. I would love to see the union invest in more mental health services and resources and these kind of supportive programs. And I think there should be some sort of training, a media literacy, industry competency material for families and artists prior to signing with an agency. Families and kids do not know really what they're getting into.

And there, like with many industries, needs to be better options to safely report misconduct with a no retaliation policy. I would love to have conversations with the general public to hear everyone's voice because what we don't want to do and don't need to do is blame, shame, and name a singular villain in this. Since I released my essay, there have been numerous people from past projects as well as fellow child actors, former child stars who have reached out.

And what I would like to see instead of another cautionary memoir, another documentary, another set of memes rolling out is a roundtable of us, intergenerationally, intersectionally, coming together and having a conversation in real time and inviting voices as well from the general public. My goal right now is to really honor everyone's reality and needs and create a core group that can approach the union proactively, that can carry this conversation.

Many people have reached out. And everyone is in a very unique position. So we will move forward accordingly. And what we don't need to do is subject ourselves to something psychologically or physically endangering. So we'll put our well-being first as we make decisions together.