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Tini Stoessel Speaks Out About Her Mental Health Struggle
Just a couple of days ago, Argentinian singer and performer Tini Stoessel broke down mid-concert, revealing she had been struggling with panic attacks in recent weeks and she didn’t know if she was able to continue going out on stage. This situation unraveled an all-too-familiar story of former Disney child stars who have been open about their mental health.
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Tini became a global sensation after starring in the Disney series Violetta, a show about a young teen who, while attending music school, discovers her true vocation while making friends and finding love. Tini was just 14 years old when she got cast as the title star, and after the series ended, she went on to become one of the most popular singers in the world, with a successful career in both Latin America and Europe.
However, during her recent tour in Barcelona, Stoessel stopped, started crying, and said: “Three weeks ago I found myself far from being able to get on stage again and it was a goal that I had set in my mind. Being here is a tremendous achievement, and a big part of that is because of all the love you give me. Thank you very much, seriously, thank you very much. Literally, three weeks ago I was in the process of hitting rock bottom. I couldn’t get out of bed, I had panic attacks, for different, personal reasons.”
The topic went viral on social media, as fans were quick to note how many other Disney former child actors have also struggled with their mental health. This has even been showcased on the recently ended HBO Max show The Idol, in which the protagonist was a child actor who, due to her trauma, ends up canceling tours, goes off the rails, and joins a cult.
Child actors are thrown into the spotlight at a very young age and are expected to be perfect. They’re often hyper-sexualized and expected to transition into adulthood smoothly, without any kind of awkwardness. But, once they are adults, they are criticized for being themselves and not the child they once were. Many former stars have come forward about how Disney had exploited them and how they struggled while working for the company when they were still just children.
Former Disney Child Actors Who Suffered With Their Mental Health
Demi Lovato
Demi revealed she was exploited with an excruciating amount of work during her Disney days. She has also confessed to being raped at 15 by another actor and was constantly being told to lose weight. While dealing with all of this, Demi was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
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The former Camp Rock actress first checked into rehab when she was just 18 years old, and at one point in her life she reportedly consumed cocaine several times a day, even smuggling it onto planes rather than go without her fix. After staying clean for six years, Demi had a near-death experience after she overdosed on heroin – which she now believes was laced with fentanyl – and, after being taken to hospital, suffered three strokes and a heart attack.
Britney Spears
Once a Mouseketeer in The Mickey Mouse Club, Britney is now best known for being one of the world’s biggest pop sensations. But in 2007, after divorcing Kevin Federline, Britney endured a famous public meltdown which saw her shave her head and went into rehab.
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Her father went on to have legal conservatorship over her for almost 15 years, keeping Britney away from her children, money, and music. Even though she finally won the case, Britney continues to struggle with her mental health, as she also recently miscarried.
Miley Cyrus
While working on Hannah Montana, filming 12-hour days became the norm and, as a child, she developed anxiety attacks and nausea from the stresses of work. She also told Marie Claire: “I was made to look like someone that I wasn’t, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long.”
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After the show ended, Miley shocked the world as she ditched her Disney presence and became a sexual adult, who twerked, smoked weed, and posed naked. She was harshly criticized for living her true self, who she had to hide during her Disney days. “I mark that up to doing some extreme damage in my psyche as an adult person.”
Lindsay Lohan
Even though she is currently married, expecting her first child, and back on the movie scene, her last years haven’t been the easiest. After modeling as a child, Lindsay made her acting breakthrough in the 1998 Disney film The Parent Trap, when she was just 12. She followed up with a string of high-profile film appearances, including Mean Girls, before returning to Disney in 2005 with Herbie: Fully Loaded.
However, her life has been peppered with legal run-ins and controversies ever since an alcohol-fuelled car crash in 2007, and she has had a notably sour relationship with her father which may have contributed to her turmoil. She then had an hour-long stay in prison for cocaine possession and drunk driving, and she was fitted with an alcohol-monitoring device as a condition of her bail. In 2010 she then earned a two-week prison sentence for failing to attend her court-ordered weekly alcohol education classes and eventually ended up in rehab after leaving jail.
Selena Gomez
A child star since her Barney days, Selena Gomez skyrocketed to fame thanks to The Wizards of Waverly Place. The singer first sought treatment in 2014 after she was diagnosed with lupus. She has since attended various voluntary programs to manage anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. She was also reportedly dabbling with marijuana and experimenting with prescription drugs such as Xanax and Ambien – and ended up back in rehab in September 2016 after a high-profile feud with her former boyfriend, Justin Bieber.
The first trailer for Selena Gomez’s ‘MY MIND AND ME’ has been released.
The documentary releases on November 4 on Apple TV+ pic.twitter.com/lL5BSCAnV6
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 10, 2022
After she completed treatment in January 2018, US Weekly confirmed she was seeking “opened-ended” mental health treatment. In April 2020, Selena revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. “My lupus, my kidney transplant, chemotherapy, having a mental illness, going through very public heartbreaks — these were all things that honestly should have taken me down,” Gomez said in Elle’s first LatinX issue.
In her November 2022 documentary My Mind & Me, Gomez broke down the “psychotic break” that led to her past stay at a treatment center. She revealed she didn’t “wanna be alive,” saying, “It was one of those moments where you look yourself in the eyes and there’s nothing there. It was just pitch black and it’s so scary. You’re like ‘OK, f—k this. This needs to end. We’re going home.’”
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