The Internet can be a brutal place.
A few weeks ago, I made some comments about the untimely death of child actress Michelle Trachtenberg, who as a preteen was one of my early celebrity crushes. I got some comments on an unrelated conversation about how that was "objectifying women" and a reason why I am and always have been single. Said commenter read way too much into that, methinks.
Anyway, today, I came across
an article written by one of Trachtenberg's close friends, fellow child star Mara Wilson. It was both a eulogy to a close confidante, and an insight into the life of child stars beyond what you see on camera. It's a fascinating read, and one that I found not particularly surprising, but it did make me a little nostalgic for a lifestyle that I never really got to experience. For the most part, despite being famous, their lives were a lot more normal than you might think. They had friendships, suffered bullying from other classmates, and had a lot of life outside their jobs.
My parents openly discouraged me from pursuing a path as a child entertainer. There were quite a few reasons they did that--they didn't want me following the path of degeneracy that so many child stars fell into, they didn't think I had much of a chance of success against what seemed like thousands of other wannabes... me? Even though I had quite a bit of talent as a kid, I didn't see it as a practical way to make a living. I mean, yeah, fame appealed to me, but my idea of being famous was the local TV weatherman, which was the path I ended up pursuing until the bottom fell out of the economy as soon as I got my degree. Plus, I lived in a rural area where opportunities to perform simply didn't exist. Reading Wilson's essay, I couldn't help wondering what might have been, namely, the idea of having of circle of friends that we had something in common with each other more than just living in the same town, which isn't much to be honest. It took me many years into adulthood to find that, and by the time I did, a lot of the friends I had made moved on to marry and have families of their own. I can only imagine the kind of difference it would have made to be able to relate to my peers as a kid.
Ironically, Trachtenberg had a knack for being cast in the kinds of roles that were the same kind of oddballs I could relate to myself, the kind that, slightly older,
Dean Friedman might write songs about her. Perhaps that's why she was so lovable, and why her death shocked a lot of people of my age and generation. You have to understand that when it comes to being a successful actor, it's usually not about how good you are, it's about how well you can play the role being offered. Wilson's essay reveals that Trachtenberg was a genuine, kindhearted woman who happened to fit into roles that often made her look like a villain. That's a tough situation to put a kid.
Of course, I'm under no illusion that, even in some other space and time where I did end up a child star, that I ever would have stood a chance with her.
Mainly because she was Jewish.
