© Getty Images

Bella Thorne -

For Disney star Bella Thorne starred in the show 'Shake It Up' opposite Zendaya between 2010 and 2013 when she was in her early teens. In an interview with Emily Ratajkowski on her 'High Low With EmRata' podcast, Thorne recalled the media frenzy that exploded when she was spotted wearing a bikini at the beach. "I almost got fired off the Disney Channel because I was 14, and I wore a two-piece on the beach,” she told Ratajkowski. "There was a fan, they got a photo of me on the beach. I almost got fired. It was all over the media, it was literally viral in that time. It was, ‘How dare this little girl do this? This is so disgusting.'” Thorne explained that she was seen as too sexual for the Disney Channel, who were put under pressure to fire her as a result. Ultimately she kept her job, but was told only to go to the beach in baggy t-shirts and shorts from then on. 

Thorne recalled another incident that occurred after an audition years earlier when she was just 10. "The casting director calls my agent and the agent calls my mom, and they’re like, ‘So she’s not moving forward because the director felt like she was flirting with him, and it made him really uncomfortable.'" Looking back, Thorne was shocked and disgusted that an adult man would ever interpret a child's behavior that way, no matter what she said or did. 

© Getty Images

Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles -

Former couple Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde addressed the "toxic negativity" they received from so-called fans online about their relationship, which kicked off somewhat publicly in January 2021 despite their best efforts to keep it private. The singer admitted in his September cover story with Rolling Stone that hateful comments about Wilde were hard to hear. “It’s obviously a difficult feeling to feel like being close to me means you’re at the ransom of a corner of Twitter or something,” the former One Direction member explained. He added, “I just wanted to sing. I didn’t want to get into it if I was going to hurt people like that.” Wilde went so far as to say that Styles' real fans aren't the ones spreading hate. "What I don’t understand about the cruelty you’re referencing is that that kind of toxic negativity is the antithesis of Harry, and everything he puts out there,” the actress and director said. “I don’t personally believe the hateful energy defines his fan base at all.” Sadly, online trolls seem to come with the price of fame. 

© Getty Images

Lisa Kudrow -

Lisa Kudrow appeared on the Podcrushed podcast and spoke to host Penn Badgley about struggling with body image. The actress famously starred in the series 'Friends' for a decade and revealed that she developed insecurities about her body during that time that lasted into her forties. Kudrow compared herself to her co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox and couldn't understand why she looked so different, thinking it must be about the tailoring of her clothes for the show. However, even after adjusting the fit, she realized that she simply couldn't look like them. "I'm not trying to say I was overweight," she explained. "I was not. I just had no idea of the actual shape of my body." It was another decade before Kudrow learned to accept her body, reminding herself that she was a character actress and wasn't even interested in playing the blonde bombshell or romantic lead. "That's not a fun role for you anyway, so knock it off. It's OK, you can look fine as you are," she would tell herself. Badgley chipped in to say that feelings of "inadequacy" come up regardless of what type of actor you are. 

© Getty Images 

Chris Pratt -

Chris Pratt received much backlash after he shared a tribute to his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, on Instagram in November of 2021. He made cute remarks in the caption, but it was the line, "She's given me an amazing life, a gorgeous healthy daughter," that stirred backlash. Some felt it was insensitive toward his ex-wife Anna Faris, with whom he shares nine-year-old son Jack who was born two months premature and experienced numerous health issues afterwards. In a recent interview with Men's Health, the actor responded to the backlash for the first time: "I'm like, that is f—d up. My son's gonna read that one day. He's nine. And it's etched in digital stone. It really f—ing bothered me, dude. I cried about it." He added, "I was like, I hate that these blessings in my life are—to the people close to me—a real burden."

© Getty Images

Amanda Seyfried -

In a May interview with Marie Claire, Amanda Seyfried described the downside to her breakout role in the 2004 movie 'Mean Girls.' Seyfried played Karen, a ditzy popular girl who believed she could predict the weather by squeezing one of her breasts. She recalled that male fans of the movie would always reference that particular scene from the movie which made her uncomfortable. "I always felt really grossed out by that," she commented. "I was like 18 years old. It was just gross." Seyfried always made an effort to fly under the radar and avoid the spotlight, but has observed the struggles of young stars who went a different route. "It must make you feel completely unsafe in the world."

© Getty Images

Millie Bobby Brown -

Millie Bobby Brown rose to fame when she was only 12 years old thanks to her breakout role in the hit Netflix series, 'Stranger Things.' The young actress has been a casualty of the over-sexualization of young girls throughout her career, but said she noticed a significant difference when she turned 18 in February 2022. Brown saw that the way people online and in the press spoke about her suddenly changed as if all bets were off now that she was a fully-fledged adult. She was hit with a new wave of sexual objectification. Brown opened up about the topic during an appearance on 'The Guilty Feminist' podcast in April. "I think it's just a very good representation of what's going on in the world and how young girls are sexualized and so I have been dealing with that but have also been dealing with that for forever." Public life is hard for anyone, but particularly for female child stars. 

© Getty Images

Kendall Jenner -

Kendall Jenner grew up in the spotlight thanks to her famous family, and struggled with the media attention for a long time. As the model herself acknowledges, "you can literally find old videos of me screaming at the paparazzi for no reason." Jenner says she's now at peace with things and has learned to manage the anger through therapeutic practices like reading, sound healing, exercise, and journaling once or twice a week. This has helped her to work through some mild depression she was experiencing. "It's important to have a space that's just for you where you can let out your happiness, your anger, frustrations, and stress, the things that are freaking you out, the things that are making you happy and even just ideas." That's easier said than done when you're one of the most famous people in the world!

© Getty Images

Chet Hanks -

Chet posted a YouTube video on February 15, 2022, in which he talks about what it was really like growing up as the son of actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. "There's a lot of advantages but sometimes it can be pretty weird," he said, noting that he is "blessed" to be able to travel the world, stay in nice hotels, and fly private, but people's "jealousy" surrounding his situation made things difficult. "My experience was even more complicated because on top of fame already being toxic, I wasn't even famous," he explained. "I was just the son of somebody famous so I hadn't even done anything to deserve any sort of recognition and that created a lot of contempt." When he went to new schools for high school and college, he said that "People would make up their minds about me before they even got the chance to know me and it was extremely hard to break down their walls." He said they would gossip behind his back which led him to develop a "hard exterior"—not only from anger but also from being "ashamed" and "insecure" about growing up "privileged."

© Getty Images

Jennifer Lopez -

The multi-hyphenate star revealed to Rolling Stone that having little knowledge of Hollywood in her upbringing and not coming from money has sometimes made her feel like an outsider. “I always feel like I was scrapping from the bottom. Always. I always felt like I wasn’t the one that was supposed to be in the room,” the singer and 'Marry Me' actress said. “That’s part of being Puerto Rican and from the Bronx and a woman.” But even with all her success, she still feels like she's being left out. "It’s just 20, 25 years of people going, ‘Well, she’s not that great. She’s pretty and she makes cute music, but it’s not really this and that.’ You know, I think I’ve done some nice work over the years, some really nice work, but there is a club that I just wasn’t a part of. And I always acted like, ‘Yeah, I’m good. I’m fine. I’m OK.' But it hurts to not be included. I don’t know if I will ever be," the star admitted. "There is an inner circle, like, ‘We are the great artists.’ And then there’s the pop artists.”

© Getty Images

Taylor Lautner -

Taylor Lautner struck fame as Jacob in the 'Twilight' film series at the age of 16. In an interview on NBC's 'Today' show, Lautner revealed the fear and anxiety he felt after this huge life change. The teen actor couldn't leave his house without having 12 cars following him, airports were packed with screaming fans waiting for him. "It built up something inside of me where, I didn't know it, but I was scared to go out. I'd get super anxious to go out. So I just didn't," he explained. He avoided grocery stores, malls, and movie theaters for 10 years. Still, he felt confused when the interest in him finally waned. None of his later projects created quite the same excitement as 'Twilight,' and he said he started to question whether people cared about him anymore. "That's the dangerous part, because that can really mess with your mind."

© Getty Images

Michael J. Fox -

Michael J. Fox went public with his Parkinson's diagnosis two decades ago and has been raising awareness and funding for the disease ever since. His openness and activism have been admirable, but the circumstances under which he went public were less than ideal. Fox recalled shameless members of the paparazzi heckling him seven or eight years after he was diagnosed. They would stand in the street outside his apartment and shout "What’s a matter with you?" The constant pressure from the paparazzi forced his hand: “I said, ‘I can’t be making my neighbors deal with this,’ so I came out, and it was great. It was a great thing.” Luckily, Fox received a wonderful supportive response from friends, colleagues, and fans. 

© Getty Images

Kieran Culkin -

Kieran Culkin has recently reached new levels of success as the star of the hit HBO series 'Succession,' but he's probably happy that he's old enough to handle that fame. Growing up as part of the showbiz Culkin family certainly had its challenges, but Kieran remembers his brother Macaulay suffering the most. Macaulay Culkin starred in hit movies like 'Home Alone' (1990) and 'Richie Rich' (1990) which skyrocketed him to child stardom. Kieran remembers his brother regularly being harassed on the street. He told The Hollywood Reporter about a particularly nasty incident: "One time, a woman pulled off his hat and looked at him and said, 'Yeah, it's him! You're not that cute.' And then handed the hat back and walked away." 

© Getty Images

Cole Sprouse -

Stars with younger fans often encounter problems when they start dating. Young fans romanticize their favorite celebrities to the point of obsession. When they start dating someone, it destroys the fantasy, and both the celebrity and their new partner can face serious backlash. Ex-Disney star Cole Sprouse experienced this when he went public with girlfriend Ari Fournier in March 2022. He posted a cute picture with Fournier on Instagram and so many of his fans reported the photo for "violence and incitement" that it was removed. He shared the notification from Instagram with the caption "These kids are insane." He later posted a photo series with Fournier captioned "Time to p*ss off the 14yos again."

© Getty Images 

Anya Taylor-Joy -

Anya Taylor-Joy came into fame quite rapidly after starring in 'The Queen's Gambit,' but she revealed in an interview with Tatler magazine that it's not always fun, particularly in regards to paparazzi. "Well, there are other times when you're just one person facing off against 20 and that's just physically not safe," she explained. "It can be very frightening when there are whole bunches of men with cameras attached to their faces running after you down the street."

© Getty Images

Penn Badgley -

'You' star Penn Badgley revealed on Rainn Wilson's podcast that he was totally overwhelmed by his fame after starring in 'Gossip Girl.' He said that for years he got caught up in the pressure to make a positive impact on social media, given that he had such a big following, but later realized he had just been "wrapped up in ego and our materialist culture." He also shared a story of a disturbing moment he experienced on a press tour two years ago at a mall in the Philippines. He was shocked by fans' "over the top" reaction, described the location as being "packed with thousands of screaming adults," and said the whole thing led him to have an anxiety attack. 

© Getty Images

Gigi Hadid - After being sued for a photo she posted of herself taken by a paparazzo, the model took to Instagram to address all paparazzi, whom she says are "legally stalking" her. "They drive dangerously close and extremely recklessly," she said, adding that she and others have been in accidents because of the pursuit of a photo.

© Getty Images

Emma Watson - In 2014, the actress tweeted her thoughts about a hacking scandal targeting Hollywood stars, and how the lack of empathy from the public was worse than seeing their privacy violated. She was subsequently hacked that year, and again in 2017.

© Getty Images

Shia LaBeouf - In 2014, the actor put a bag over his head on the red carpet that said, "I am not famous anymore." He later claimed that to be a star you “must become an enslaved body. Just flesh–a commodity," and give up your individuality to fit everyone else's ideas.

© Getty Images

Jennifer Lawrence -

The actress told Vogue in 2013 that she was having a meltdown about how the world felt entitled to her private life, adding that fame was also dangerous as police officers would just allow strange men to sleep on her lawn and follow her to Starbucks. “It makes no sense… I am just not OK with it.”

© Getty Images

Zoe Saldana - Saldana described fame as a violation of her rights. She told the Daily News, "I'm an American, I'm a citizen, I vote, I pay taxes, therefore I have the right to my own privacy as much as anybody. What I do as an artist and as a professional has nothing to do with who I am personally."

© Getty Images

Amy Schumer -

The comedian was in South Carolina, when a man "scared the sh-t out of [her]" and demanded she let him take a picture, shoving a camera in her face despite her protests. "I asked him to stop and he said, 'No it's America and we paid for you,'" she wrote on Instagram.

© Getty Images

Robert Pattinson - Pattinson reportedly had some mental health struggles after his sudden rise to global stardom, which he found extremely lonely. He also famously said he hadn’t gone to a supermarket for six years.

© Getty Images

Jessica Alba - In an interview, Alba revealed that the press leaked a story about her engagement before she could even tell her parents. "Journalists feel entitled to do whatever it takes to get a sensational story, no matter how it affects the person involved," she said.

© Getty Images

Alanis Morissette - "It won't raise your self-esteem, it won't create profound connection, it's not going to heal your childhood traumas, it's only going to amplify them," the singer told The Telegraph, adding that the criticism will be as violent as the praise.

© Getty Images

Billie Eilish - Eilish fell into depression when she became a star at such an early age. Though she's adjusting, she described one example of why she hates fame: "I'm in the plane and two girls come and tap me on the f-ing face and take a picture of me while I'm trying to sleep … People forget what respect is."

© Getty Images

George Clooney - Clooney told Fusion magazine, “There’s a real danger when you’re really famous. I can have a drink or two at night... I could say something… and go to sleep and wake up in the morning and my career will be over."

© Getty Images

Megan Fox - The actress told Esquire that being famous is like being bullied in high school, "but on a global scale, where you're being bullied by millions of people constantly."

© Getty Images

Justin Bieber - Bieber has said of the isolation of fame: "This life can rip you apart." He's also empathized with Amy Winehouse, and criticized how the media played a part in her tragic death.

© Getty Images

Kristen Stewart - The actress has been extremely vocal about her distaste for celebrity, and has gone as far as to say, "Fame is the worst thing in the world."

© Getty Images

Bruno Mars - The artist's fame has put equal highlight on his music and his mishaps. He told the McClatchy Tribune, “Becoming famous was never what I wanted to do ... I’m like, 'Can’t I just write and sing?'"

© Getty Images

Katherine Heigl - Fame is so awful for the actress that she'd thought about ditching her movie career, opening a knitting store, and living off her pension savings, according to US Weekly.

© Getty Images

Sharon Osbourne - The star wrote a piece in the Daily Mail addressing how the shallowness and fleetingness of fame is ruining the ambitions of children. She added that fame often forces people "to become the person their public image suggests they are."

© Getty Images

Justin Timberlake - After 48-year-old Karen McNeil was reportedly caught on the singer's property for the third time, JT was forced to take out a restraining order. His court declaration read, "I fear for my personal safety, and that of my family and friends."

© Getty Images

Carrie Fisher -

In her memoir 'Wishful Drinking,' the late Carrie Fisher used her personal experience growing up as Hollywood royalty to explore the rampant sexism, substance abuse, and scandal in Hollywood.

© Getty Images

Brie Larson - The actress told The Hollywood Reporter that the scariness of fame forced her to stay inside a lot, watching Netflix and ordering food. "But I've spent a lot of my life doing that, and it's not better."

© Getty Images

Sia - Social media is a whole other realm of abuse for celebrities, as Sia noted, "I don't go on Twitter. Because when people say things like, I don't know, 'I hope you get cancer and die,' it hurts my feelings."

© Getty Images

Harrison Ford - The actor has said, "There's nothing good about being famous," saying that while the promise of opportunities is great, you also have to sign over your whole private life.

© Getty Images

Katy Perry - The pop star has described fame as "a disgusting by-product of what I do."

© Getty Images

Lady Gaga - The singer said nothing is more isolating than fame. "It is very hard to not be able to engage with people in a real and honest way because they either want something from me or they see me as something that I simply am not," she told Variety.

© Getty Images

Hayden Panettiere - The star told Company magazine that fake headlines cause real drama in her life. "The public wants to read about your personal life, and the paparazzi give it to them by nosing into your personal life and saying things that are just not true and horrible.”

© Getty Images

Zach Galifianakis - At a press conference, Galifianakis said being a celebrity is "dumb." He said he'd rather do his work, go home, and watch TV.

© Getty Images

Keira Knightley - The British actress said it's exhausting when everyone wants a piece of you, as "Every photo takes away a bit of your soul," and she even wished she was an insignificant speck.

© Getty Images

Charlize Theron -

The actress has said that she dislikes the casual attitude towards invading actors' privacy, as if having seven cars following you to the grocery store is what they signed up for.

© Getty Images

Ricky Gervais -

The comedian summed it up in a tweet: "Being famous, means having to hear idiots who have never met you, but who think they know you, tell you that you've changed."

See also: Ricky Gervais' funniest one-liners.

© Getty Images