Demi Lovato talks pressures, pitfalls of child stardom in Hulu doc

LOS ANGELES -- Drugs. Eating disorders. Bullying. Social media pitfalls. The life of a child star can be dark and dangerous and the Hulu documentary, "Child Star" looks at all of it.

Demi Lovato, who started acting at around age ten, is a co-director, executive producer and a subject of this documentary, an idea that Lovato's had for years.

"You know I wanted to do an in-depth look at the history, you know the past and the present, of child stars," Lovato told On The Red Carpet.

"As I got into my 30s, I was more reflective of my own story and was like... 'why did I get into this industry?' And, you know, 'why am I sticking in it?' And so there was a lot that I needed to learn of my own journey as well."

In the documentary, Lovato spoke with Drew Barrymore, Christina Ricci and Kenan Thompson about the trials and tribulations they had as young performers.

Lovato also sat down with "Camp Rock" co-star Alyson Stoner for what turned out to be a rather difficult conversation. At the time they were working together, they were both dealing with eating disorders, but not speaking out about them.

"This was a particularly complex and nerve wracking conversation for us to have because it was the first time I'd reconnected with Demi in person in about 14 years after a very serious incident happened while we were working together," Stoner revealed.

"So the decision was hopefully for both of us to meet each other as adults and have a healing conversation, one of clarity, and also to reflect on the complexities of what it meant for us to grow up in an environment as working children."

Raven-Symoné was working as child actor as a baby. And as we find out in "Child Star," she understood even as early as age three that what she was doing was a job. And she says the stories viewers hear should be a cautionary tale.

"I hope that they know that this is not just a playground," she said. "This is a business. And at young ages, we had to be business people treated in an adult world like a kid, but then still like an adult."

JoJo Siwa has had to walk that line between child and adult since she burst onto the scene in the "Dance Moms" franchise. She later worked for Nickelodeon, which she says, at one point, owned the rights to everything she did, with the exception of social media. In the documentary, she said her social media presence grew exponentially and she gave so much of herself online that there was nothing left for herself at the end of the day. While that may seem like a deterrent for some, Siwa says her "open book" style of communication is just her way of life.

"Everyone always is like, 'you need to go to media training.' And I'm like, 'nah, I'm just going to answer whatever I'm asked,' you know what I mean," Siwa revealed.

"As an adult, those questions get a little harder. And especially in a doc like this, those questions are harder. But whatever somebody wants to know. I have nothing to hide, you know what I mean? And so I'm not ashamed of any parts of my life. I always try to live with a good heart, to be a good person. And so I think that shedding light on some things are (sic) a good thing to do."

The documentary shows Lovato speaking to kids in the "Looking Ahead" program, an organization that helps young performers. Lovato tells them there's no manual to being a child star, but told On The Red Carpet, this documentary could help educate.

"I thought that this could definitely be a learning experience for people, just because being a child star isn't something that most people are familiar with. As we were working on the film, it became more and more clear that protections need to be put in place for future generations of child performers."

"Child Star" is streaming now on Hulu.

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