Christy Carlson Romano wants "more protection" for child stars.

Christy Carlson Romano wants more protection for child stars

Christy Carlson Romano wants more protection for child stars

The 39-year-old actress found fame as a teenager starring alongside Shia LaBeouf on Disney Channel sitcom 'Even Stevens' before going on to voice the title role in the action series 'Kim Possible' for the network and was left "very trigged" by recent comments made by fellow former child star Elle Fanning - who alleged she did not get a role in a film after being deemed "unf*******" at the age of 16 - and has called for "change" in regards to the way young performers are treated in the industry.

She told FoxNews Digital: "I don’t identify as a celebrity at all, by the way.

"I think ‘public person’ probably makes more sense, or now content creator.

"I think that the term celebrity is so gross and outdated. And it’s also just extremely triggering because it adds that element of who are you and what’s your relevancy and what’s your value in life, and it’s just extremely dehumanizing in some ways.

"I felt very triggered [by Elle's comments], I felt very helpless and hopeless in some ways because I was like, ‘This just keeps happening.’

"These are people I consider my community. We may not know each other, and at times a lot of us are isolated from our own experience, because how are we ever going to come together and know, ‘Oh did you actually start at four years old?' Oh yeah. ‘Did you have a stage parent?' Oh yeah. It’s like, there’s no, there’s no meeting rooms for recovered child actors."

Christy believes current working guidance surrounding young actors are "outdated" and called for further union protection.

She continued: "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"Because we’re working on outdated information on how kids are being treated on sets.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."

The 'Cadet Kelly' star went on to insist that she was not intending to be a "whistleblower" with her claims but explained that the "problem" is not exclusive to a single broadcaster and is instead an industry-wide issue.

She added: "We have this industry that benefits off of convenience. We want it loud, fast, funny, and cheap, and we need it right now, and that’s how productions work. It’s not just a Nickelodeon problem, or a Paramount problem or whoever it is. It's not one particular network's issue. It’s an entire industry issue.

"Which is why it comes back down to either SAG or even child labor on a federal level. That’s what I have experienced. I think that that’s valuable. So, if I’m talking about it, I’m not trying to whistle blow, it’s more or less me just advocating for change."

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