4 child actors who grew up and sued their parents

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

An early career in the modeling business and the film industry suggests that the parents of a talented child will be in charge of financial matters and selection of suitable roles. But if you imagine how large fees are paid to their children, then a situation may well arise when careless parents can take advantage of their position. Today we will talk about family conflicts between child actors and their loved ones, which were continued in court.

Leighton Meester

Everyone remembered this actress for the role of the wealthy, eccentric Blair Waldorf from the TV series "Gossip Girl". Meanwhile, in ordinary life, the girl was completely different. Her childhood was spent in Florida, where her grandparents were engaged in raising the future star. The baby was born outside the prison walls, as her mother was serving a sentence for transporting a large consignment of drugs from Jamaica to the States. After her early release from prison, the enterprising Constance Meester got involved in a dangerous business and turned all her energy into promoting her pretty daughter.

With her suggestion, Leighton, at the age of 11, signed a contract with the famous modeling agency Wilhelmina, and later photographer Sofia Coppola began to work with her. The debut of the young actress on television took place when the girl was 13 years old - she played Alice Turner in the popular TV series Law & Order. From that time on, Leighton became, in fact, the breadwinner in the large Mister family, since it was at the expense of her fees that numerous bills of relatives were paid. Realizing that her daughter could reach great heights, Leighton's mother authorized the family to move to Los Angeles the next year to be closer to the major film companies. Ultimately, the young actress became known and in demand among directors, and her income increased with the release of each new season of her favorite teenage series.

At this time, Constance Meester began to lure large sums of money from the girl, allegedly for the treatment of her younger brother, who was really seriously ill. The girl could not believe that her mother could cheat. But in fact, Mrs. Meester was spending her daughter's fees on new outfits and plastic surgery. When the whole truth was revealed, Leighton sued for custody of her younger brother. Constance also tried to sue, but in June 2012 she lost the case.

Drew Barrymore

Drew comes from a famous family of actors who have been in the profession since the early 19th century. Therefore, it is not surprising that they began to shoot the baby even when she was not yet a year old. The girl's full acting talent was revealed at the age of 7, when she was entrusted with a role in the children's science fiction film "Alien". However, early success and popularity also had negative consequences. The introduction to the glamorous Hollywood party, a visit to the popular Studio 54 club led to the fact that at the age of 9 the girl tried alcohol and drugs. Parents, on the contrary, strongly encouraged this lifestyle of their daughter, because it also allowed them to be among movie stars and eminent directors and producers.

As a result, at the age of 13, the girl was admitted to a drug addiction clinic for a whole year. This unpleasant experience helped her understand that if in the future she returned to her relatives, she could completely ruin her life. Therefore, immediately after rehabilitation, 14-year-old Drew filed a lawsuit to be released from parental custody.

As strange as it sounds to us, her mother did not interfere, saying that it was high time for her daughter to learn independence. Drew bought an apartment and started going to a regular school. Since the shooting took most of the time, the girl left the family profession and began to earn money in a cafe. Subsequently, she returned to the cinema, but she does not like to remember her childhood, because she believes that he simply did not exist.

Macaulay Culkin

Everyone remembers the nimble boy from the popular New Year's comedies of the 90s "Home Alone". This role earned him the title of "Child of the Year" and an increase in the fee from 100 thousand dollars in the first part to 4.5 million dollars in the next. However, subsequently, this young actor did not have more or less significant roles. And the fault was the financial ambitions of his father. Not having a lot of income, the former loser actor decided to make movie stars out of his children. Seven of his offspring went to a special school with a truncated training program, since they spent most of their time in theaters and on film sets.

Of all the Kalkin brothers and sisters, Macaulay achieved the greatest success. The father became his manager and received 15% of the commission from all the fees of the young actor. But the parent's greed led to the fact that he began to ask for too large amounts to pay for his son's participation in films. The producers had to choose - whether to continue shooting the young star, paying most of the film's budget into his pocket, or looking for more accommodating child actors.

As a result, several films turned out to be disastrous - not only did Culkin not improve as an actor, but also the income from the rental of films with his participation was minimized. At this time, the pretty baby grew into a teenager and had already decided to decide his own destiny on his own. Also influenced by the divorce of the parents, who in court tried to resolve the issue of custody of the children. You know the result - neither the actor's career nor his musical experiments with Macaulay Culkin succeeded.

Mischa Barton

Misha always trusted her mother - both when she was only 8 years old and her acting career was just beginning, and after, when the star child turned into an attractive girl. As a teenager, Misha starred in the TV series Lonely Hearts, after which her income increased significantly. Mom Nuala Barton continued to deal with her daughter's finances, independently deciding what to spend money on.

And then one day, when the actress was already 29 years old, it suddenly turned out that she had a significant debt of more than 100 thousand dollars on a mortgage loan. The star was shocked as the bailiffs seized the property. However, her mother not so long ago acquired a luxurious mansion for herself for $ 7, 8 million, and of course for her daughter's money.

When Misha asked her parent to put this house up for sale, her mother kicked her out, changed all the locks and ignored all real estate agents trying to sell. In this situation, there was no choice but to bring Misha Barton to court in Nuala Barton as a thief, because the standard percentage of American agents is 10%. And the calculating mother clearly enriched herself at the expense of her talented daughter. In the end, it was still possible to resolve the dispute amicably.