Childhood Stardom: It's Not Like in the Movies

The inspiration to write this post came from an episode of Oprah that was on a while ago. For those of you judging me, I have two responses: my mom watches Oprah, not me. The computer where I was working at the time is in the same room as the TV so back off. Second, I owe my degree to Oprah. No, my parents didn't attend one of her lavish birthday parties where the goodie bags included a voucher for a free college education. And I wasn't on her "Give free stuff for those who managed to get tickets for this show taping day" and hocked all the merchandise on eBay. What actually happened was when I was in elementary school, I watched an episode where the one of the guests was doing algebra. (I guess at one point in time the show didn't just have celebrities plugging their latest movies.) I didn't have a clue what was going on and my mom sat me down and taught me algebra that afternoon. Of course she didn't teach the three years worth of algebra that I got in junior high and high school, but I got the idea. When I got tested to be put in the advanced math class I knew what to do because my mom had already taught me. From then on, I was one class ahead of my peers in math. During my senior year I passed the AP Calculus test and in college I told myself to just keep going. Now I have a B.S. in Math and the right to feel like a smarty pants whenever I want. I should thank my mother and yet I give credit to Oprah for starting the whole thing. (I should point out that my mother has received eternal gratitude for the influence she has had over me including the math thing so no judging. I swear I have a point coming up.)

What does this have to do with entertainment you might ask? I give you this additional information for a reason. I have a tendency to ramble and say things that almost have to do with what I was talking about in the first place. But more importantly these points in my childhood helped build me into the person I am. I consider myself to be a pretty decent member of the human race. I look at pictures of me at eight years old and wonder how I got to this point in my life. And like it or not, we do the same thing with childhood stars. Case in point, that episode of Oprah I was talking about (see, it all ties together) featured an interview with Jamiee Foxworth.

That's Foxworth, not Fox. And it's Jamiee with two e's, not one. This is not about the Academy Award winning multi-talented actor who had a slight lapse in judgment when he signed on for the movie Stealth, but the young actress who played Judy Winslow on Family Matters for four years. Her character just one day wasn't there anymore (this has been referred to as Chuck Cunningham syndrome). And if you watch subsequent episodes, there is no reference to the third Winslow child.

On this episode of Oprah, she admits to turning to porn as a means of income. If you were to look up her film credits you will see they include some titles not suitable for younger viewers. I personally had to absorb this information for a minute. You notice some young actors disappear for a span of time and you marvel at how they changed when you do see them again, but this was too much. She is an incredibly beautiful woman and here she was admitting that she did it because it was a quick and easy way to make money. Not a few weeks later I found an article about Jodie Sweetin (aka middle daughter from Full House) admitting to a crystal meth addiction. Her reason for taking drugs is that she was bored.

I don't want to sound callous but this sounds more along the lines as standard young star behavior. I'm young with all this money. I need to do something. I mean so many young stars are associated with drug problems so this seems normal. There was so much speculation that Olsen Twin #2 really didn't have an eating disorder, but a drug problem. In either case, you have a teen with serious problems that the public would rather dish on then address that it's probably a good idea to find a way to protect younger performers.

We look at Drew Barrymore and think about how it's so great how she turned her life around from the teenager with drug problems to a beautiful thirty-something with her own production company and some decent movies under her belt. I say good for her. Some others aren't so lucky. Just recently Brad Renfro pleaded guilty to heroin possession. Hopefully he was just holding it for someone. Then again having it in the first place isn't a great start.

For those of you how aren't familiar with Brad Renfro, I would call him a low grade Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Funnily enough they were in the movie Tom and Huck together back in 1995. Speaking of which, last I read Jonathan Taylor Thomas has been out of the spotlight for awhile and was studying at Harvard. Here's the other side of the spectrum. He's going the way of Jodie Foster (assuming he returns to movies and wins a few Oscars). I have to say that's the way to go.

Though there is no easy way to mention this, as long as I am on the Tiger Teen Beat cover boy subject I have to make a note of Jonathan Brandis. He was one of those guys I admit to having a sixth grade crush on. I was shocked when I read that he had committed suicide in 2003. I have no jokes, judgments or witty remarks to make here.

There is one childhood star I would like to give my kudos to before finishing my post. This actor has seven movies to his credit. Five of which feature Academy Award winning performers while one more features an Academy Award nominated actress. Oddly enough it's because of the movie that has no Oscar prestige attached that I found myself developing a fondness for him. Can't Hardly Wait is a guilty pleasure and one I admit to owning. It's full of bad stereotypes that you find yourself rooting for one type and praying for humiliation for another. Blame my math geekiness background, but I have a soft spot for "the nerd". At least that's the stereotype title for such a character. I would call him the overachiever (in a good way) or the guy who will be worth something more after high school. Marry the football star if you want, but there's more glory to be had after high school. I'm sorry, I got caught up in a Revenge of the Nerds moment.

Anyways, he is Charlie Korsmo. (My apologies to him if his biography on imdb is accurate. He prefers to be called Charles. That might work out for him, but not so much for Charlie Sheen.) This fine young man has managed to graduate from M.I.T. with a degree in Physics. He's currently a student at Yale Law School. I'm sorry to be so inappropriate right now but I have to say how freaking hot is that? Alas I have to also say that he is a Republican and now I know he and I could never be. Such is life. But I commend him on his accomplishments.

I don't know from personal experience but based on what I have witnessed, it's not easy being a star as an adult. Why do people think children can handle it? For those of you trying it, I wish the best to you and for those parents trying to force their children into it, make sure you've thought this through beyond the paycheck. Not everyone will end up like Ron Howard. In fact, if you make it to Clint Howard status, consider yourself grateful.

Celebrity Sighting #1

This last Friday I had the extreme pleasure of attending the AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm for the first time. That's right, I got to be one of those people that pisses off the golf fanatics because I'm just there to gawk at the celebrities. Yep, sixty buck was dropped on behalf of my internally squealing to myself "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I'm less than ten feet away from Carson Daly."

Okay I really didn't think that. There were two major celebrities there that caused little girl jumping up and down in my head moments, but I did not get the chance to get that close. Which is more impressive? Being close enough to Bill Murray that I could hear what he sounds like without the help of surround sound, or being so close to Carson Daly that if I fell forward with my arms out I could probably grab his shoes? I guess I should have maintained my dignity and used the former. I can say that I was in the realm of people who had to duck when Samuel L. Jackson's ball went a little off course and hit a window. He was wearing the most awesome lime green argyle sweater with a magenta hat. As I pointed out to my boyfriend's mom, (who was gracious enough to provide the transportation, financial means, and non-celebrity entertainment) Samuel L. Jackson is probably the only man who can get away with that and look good.

Now back to the event at hand. I felt bad. I know nothing of the sport. For a while I confused Pismo Beach and Pebble Beach. That is why I couldn't find info on the event for the first couple of days. It took me half the day to realize what Pro-Am meant even though I knew professionals were paired up with not so much professionals. What I know about golf can be thanked to roughly thirty hours of playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 on Xbox. But this is a charity event with famous people in it to draw a crowd. I was surrounded my non golf fans. People paid to see the famous people. But I still recognized where I was. Among players of a gentleman's game. When the kind volunteers put up their hands to signal for quiet I shut the hell up, stopped moving my feet, and prayed my allergies wouldn't kick in at that moment. I think because I did that much, I was entitled to be there and not feel that bad for my motives. That and I paid eight bucks for a hamburger.

I got to say though, I did a lot of walking to see a lot of people. They aren't people I was dying to see but it's fun seeing famous people. When I got there at first, I was in full blown little girl getting a new bike for Christmas mode. But my first sighting was Rush Limbaugh. I don't know if this is a shocker to you people, but I don't have posters of him lined up on my ceiling. (And for those of you who do, seek professional help. Like someone with a ladder to get those down.) That moment was up there with the time I saw Pat Buchanan checking into the same hotel I was. (Jealous much?)

But the golfing started so I watched with respect and resisted all urges to knock the cigar out of his mouth. Traditional or not, those things stink. So hovered around the foursome golfing, I could have sworn out of the corner of my eye I saw Bill Murray. But I could only see about a third of this guy's face and what are the odds considering he wasn't due at this hole for another hour or so. But I had to check. Asking the boyfriend to save my spot I moved to the practice putting green and behold, there he was. Of course, how many professional golf players do tournaments in big bulky sweaters and shorts? That fact aside, I though how much do I rock being able to recognize him so far away? That proved to be a disaster for the rest of the day. From that moment, my celebrity sense was tingling and I thought I saw more people that were actually there. Throughout the day I swore I saw William H. Macy, Terri Hatcher, Richard Belzer, and Mark Harmon. I'm pretty good at playing the "if my life were a movie, who would I cast to play that guy" game. But it's no good at events like this with people everywhere. It got so annoying after a while. People need to stop wearing glasses, hats, being far away from me, and looking like famous people.

The rest of the day was pretty interesting. The first few hours we were there, my group was trying to get organized and making a mental list of who we wanted to see. I, of course provided my services of who was in what that made them worthy of walking that far to see them. I'd like to point out the very small amount of sleep we had to excuse the following story. It was very funny to me at the time and maybe not so funny to you. I kept bringing up celebrity siblings at this thing. But the timing was funny. I was talking about how it would be funny to see Brian Doyle Murray at the event. "You know, his brother." Unfortunately my boyfriend's mom thought I was talking about Samuel L. Jackson again. Then laughed when she realized I said Brian Doyle MURRAY. And within the next hour we saw Mark Wahlberg a few greens away from Justin Timberlake. I made a comment that I saw his brother Donnie when I was younger. She thought I was talking about Justin Timberlake. So yes we now have Donnie Timberlake of New Kids on the Block. At four hours of sleep and three on the road, this was funny to me. Also, I cannot blame her confusion. I pride myself in knowing a plethora of pointless celebrity information.

I did get the chance to see a lot of somewhat big names. I have to say it's refreshing to see them up close without their own personal lighting director following them. Oh and on a side note, Mark Wahlberg is a lot shorter and smaller in real life. Let's see, I saw in the order in which I care: Bill Murray, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Dennis Quaid, Andy Garcia, Huey Lewis, Ray Romano, George Lopez, Mark Wahlberg, and Chris O'Donnell. The rest fall into the interesting but whatever category: Carson Daly, Justin Timberlake, Donald Trump, Glen Campbell, Kenny G, Thomas Gibson, Craig T. Nelson and Rush Limbaugh.

Oh and I saw Ozzie Smith. My boyfriend had asked who Ozzie Smith was. I knew he was a sports celebrity and my instinct was to say the first thing that came to me and I responded that he played for the Cowboys. It was after I said it that I thanked God I didn't have a penis because it would have been revoked right there. I took a look at the gentleman and realized he did not have the build of football player. When I went back to my tomboy roots, I searched hard and remembered he played baseball. I used to have so many cards of him. Funnily enough I did get to see Emmitt Smith a few rounds earlier. I knew a Smith did play for Dallas.

But that sums up my celebrity sighting tour. I know this post wasn't as fun as my others, but this one has me out trying to touch the world I want to be in. Or at least touch the men I think are so cool. I knew I built up the day to be more than what I actually got to experience and it was nice to not be so star struck. Maybe I'm out- growing my celebrity obsession. Then again maybe if the tournament was filled with my list of five, I'd be that little girl at Christmas again.