When Demi Lovato announced she was leaving her tour with the Jonas Brothers to seek medical treatment for “emotional and physical issues,” the news was simultaneously surprising and not surprising.
cynically read, “Every time a teen star goes to rehab a Disney executive gets his win
The stress that fame brings is worse for still-maturing teens than for adults, said Dr. Jenn Berman, a Beverly Hills psychologist who counsels troubled young performers. Berman said that when a young performer “has the right background,” pressures can be surmounted and stardom can be “a great experience.” Adding to all that is today’s media environment, which puts young stars under a magnifying glass, said singer Tiffany Darwish, who scaled the heights of teen pop stardom under the name Tiffany in the late 1980s. Lovato’s schedule has only become tougher since then. Not only does she star in the Disney Channel sitcom “Sonny With a Chance,” she’s released two CDs on the Disney-owned Hollywood Records label, makes Disney movies and performs concerts.
Before Lovato checked into a treatment center, she was part of a world tour to promote “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam,” a Disney Channel movie. Disney’s multimedia marketing of its teen stars has them taking on a massive workload, said Alison Arngrim, a former teen star who played bully Nellie Oleson on TV’s “Little House on the Prairie.”
Paul Petersen, a former child actor and pop singer who provides support to troubled former child stars through his non-profit organization A Minor Consideratio, said problems that crop up when teen actors are overworked often get overlooked
More struggles ahead? “The road is a hellish place,” Petersen said. Petersen said he hopes any help Lovato received won’t be temporary. “People didn’t talk about cutting 20 years ago.
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