Christy Carlson Romano demands change in working conditions for child actors

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...ld-actors.html

By EVE BUCKLAND FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 18:28 EDT, 12 June 2023 | UPDATED: 18:45 EDT, 12 June 2023

Disney star Christy Carlson Romano has demanded a change in working conditions for child actors in an emotional new interview with Fox News Digital.

Romano, 39, who rose to fame as Ren Stevens on Disney Channel series Even Stevens, a role she played from 2000-2003 - is campaigning for child actors to receive better support while at work, while reflecting on her own experiences.

The actress, who also voiced the title character on animated series Kim Possible, also said she felt 'triggered' after Elle Fanning claimed she missed out on a movie role aged 16 because she was deemed 'un****able.'

She said: 'I don’t think things are changing in that. I think until there’s any kind of changing of the fundamental infrastructure, things can’t change. Because we’re working on outdated information on how kids are being treated on sets.

'Look, at the end of the day, these kids are union-paying members. And they’re not getting protected by the union. They’re not getting schooled enough directly from the union. They may have little workshops here and there, but they do not have enforcers. They don’t have people that are enforcing protections, and that’s the biggest problem.

She said: 'I don’t think things are changing in that. I think until there’s any kind of changing of the fundamental infrastructure, things can’t change. Because we’re working on outdated information on how kids are being treated on sets.

'Look, at the end of the day, these kids are union-paying members. And they’re not getting protected by the union. They’re not getting schooled enough directly from the union. They may have little workshops here and there, but they do not have enforcers. They don’t have people that are enforcing protections, and that’s the biggest problem.

She began her ten-minute video by revealing she began 'making money with Disney' at 16, which was partially protected by the Coogan Law.

She explained the California Child Actor's Bill 'protects minors from their parents spending all their money' until they are legally adults.

'That's not exactly what happened to me, but I will take you on a journey to my path of financial fluency and how I made and lost millions of dollars,' Romano stated.

The mother-of-two continued: 'I really regret not investing my money wisely. I didn't get a house. I didn't take any money and store it away other than the Coogan money. That money I used towards going to college at 18.'

'I left the business and I went into college and I took a lot of that money and put it towards not having student loan debt. That was smart, sure, except that I left school a year and a half in and then I had this money at my disposal,' she reflected.

For a long time, she said she was 'never told how much money' and 'money didn't have a purpose' for her.

'I didn't really know what it was. I just knew that I had it and I didn't care about it. That's a problem,' she confessed.

She added: 'You got to teach kids the value of each single dollar that they make, everything that they do, the energy that it brings to their life and what it takes to make that dollar. It's a relationship that you have to do it.'

At 21, Romano said she 'decided to part ways' with her family for 'like a year' because she 'didn't like the way that [her] money was being managed.'

'It was a sad year for me, but it was also an interesting year. You know, I started to understand that I had a certain amount of money and that made me feel super confident,' she told viewers.

When people told her she 'wasn't good enough,' the Cadet Kelly star said she would 'feel better' and more 'accepted' by purchasing 'really big ticket items.'

'I was using buying things and money as a weapon,' she shared. 'I felt like if I could just buy certain things, I would feel better or if I just lived a certain lifestyle, I would be closer to that joy of feeling accepted and a lot less alone because I felt really dumb for not knowing about my money and I never really made peace with that. Even to this day, there's nothing I can really do about the fact that money came and went.'

Among her 'biggest' regrets, Romano owned up to seeing a psychic who 'managed to get a bunch of money' from her.