Mara Wilson played a large part in our childhoods; with roles in “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Matilda”, she was a big star at a very young age. For a lot of actors, that spells trouble, and Wilson was smart enough to know that when she felt the world of Hollywood wasn’t for her anymore, it was time to get out.
“I think it was the realization that I didn’t have to do it anymore,” she said. “It felt like a constant in my life for a very long time … but I was never really that crazy about it after ‘Matilda,’ I would say. After that, I wasn’t as passionate about it anymore. And people grow out of things. That’s something people don’t really understand.”
The ugly side of young Hollywood is rarely seen until a star has a public breakdown; Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes, and Lindsay Lohan are just a few examples. The problem is that young people are seen as a commodity more than anything else. When their success starts to fade because they’re doing what comes naturally–growing up and forming their own opinions about things–they are tossed aside.
“It’s basically a real-life version of ‘Logan’s Run.’ A child actor who is no longer cute is no longer monetarily viable and is discarded. He or she is then replaced by someone younger and cuter, and fan bases accordingly forget that the previous object of affection ever existed,” Wilson wrote in a blog post.
Wilson is now a writer (check out her awesome blog here) and says that, as far as her breakup with Hollywood, it was mutual.
“I was 13 and I was awkward, and I was gawky, and I was not a very cute kid anymore,” she said. “So, Hollywood didn’t really want me at that point, and I was kind of over it, too. So, after a while, it feels like a mutual breakup. That’s the way that I’d describe it.”
The 26-year old occasionally writes about her acting days and the memories she has from certain films, and is frequently asked about “Matilda”, which is considered a classic film for those of a certain age. Recently, a few of the actors from the film got together and reenacted a few of the more famous scenes, which completely made this fangirl’s week.
