Wilson had everything going for her.
She was universally renowned as an adorable child star.
“I loved the book.
My whole family loved that book.
“I loved it so much that I started quoting it.
So the book was a big part of my life already.”
Wilson was also growing up and seeing a different side to the industry.
“At 11, I had a visceral reaction to a script titled ‘Thomas And The Magic Railroad.’
Ugh, I thought.
By the time the film premiered, Wilson was 13.
She faced physical scrutiny in casting for other parts.
But I had to keep doing it, didn’t I?
It was the constant in my life.
My family had changed, my body had changed, my life had changed.
Sometimes it felt like acting was all I had.”
For young women, that often involved being sexualized.
Wilson, at 13, knew she didn’t want to be part of that.
Yet, she found that as a public figure, it was inevitable.
“I had already been sexualized anyway, and I hated it.
I mostly acted in family movies the remake of ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ ‘Matilda,’ ‘Mrs.
I never appeared in anything more revealing than a knee-length sundress.
“But it didn’t work.
People had been asking me, ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’
in interviews since I was 6.
It was cute when 10-year-olds sent me letters saying they were in love with me.
It was not when 50-year-old men did.
Every time, I felt ashamed.”
With these experiences, it’s no surprise that Wilson walked away from acting for over a decade.
Now, she pursues acting and writing on her own terms.
