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The Rules Episode 5 - Child Stars
THE RULES: CHILD STARS
Child stars have a story. Discovery, difficult phase, drugs, breakdown, comeback. We've been eating that story for decades and it tastes great. This episode is about what that story was designed to obscure: a system that isolates children, sidelines the people protecting them, and turns their pain into someone else's revenue.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Coreyography - Corey Feldman (2013). Feldman's memoir, the first major public account of systemic abuse of child actors in Hollywood.
My Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys - Corey Feldman, dir. (2020). Documentary in which Feldman names his abusers on the record.
An Open Secret - Amy Berg, dir. (2014). Documentary following former child actors who came forward about abuse in the California film industry.
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV - Investigation Discovery (2024). Five-part documentary on the culture of abuse on Nickelodeon sets from the 1990s to 2000s. Drake Bell names himself publicly for the first time.
The Woman in Me - Britney Spears (2023). Spears's memoir, covering the conservatorship and the conditions that preceded it.
Framing Britney Spears - Samantha Stark, dir. (2021). New York Times documentary on the conservatorship and the media's role in constructing the breakdown narrative.
The Wizard of Oz - Victor Fleming, dir. (1939). Judy Garland, 16 years old at time of filming.
THE COMPANION PIECES
Non-fiction: The Clock Was Always Running - therulespodcast.substack.com/p/the-clock-was-always-running
Fiction: Bloody Virgin - therulespodcast.substack.com/p/bloody-virgin
Director's Cut: The Real Rules of Child Stars - available from 15 May 2026 - therulespodcast.substack.com/
The Rules is an independent podcast from Pegasus Podcasts. New episodes drop weekly. If you liked this one, the best thing you can do is tell someone.
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By Neil ChapmanTHE RULES: CHILD STARS
Child stars have a story. Discovery, difficult phase, drugs, breakdown, comeback. We've been eating that story for decades and it tastes great. This episode is about what that story was designed to obscure: a system that isolates children, sidelines the people protecting them, and turns their pain into someone else's revenue.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Coreyography - Corey Feldman (2013). Feldman's memoir, the first major public account of systemic abuse of child actors in Hollywood.
My Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys - Corey Feldman, dir. (2020). Documentary in which Feldman names his abusers on the record.
An Open Secret - Amy Berg, dir. (2014). Documentary following former child actors who came forward about abuse in the California film industry.
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV - Investigation Discovery (2024). Five-part documentary on the culture of abuse on Nickelodeon sets from the 1990s to 2000s. Drake Bell names himself publicly for the first time.
The Woman in Me - Britney Spears (2023). Spears's memoir, covering the conservatorship and the conditions that preceded it.
Framing Britney Spears - Samantha Stark, dir. (2021). New York Times documentary on the conservatorship and the media's role in constructing the breakdown narrative.
The Wizard of Oz - Victor Fleming, dir. (1939). Judy Garland, 16 years old at time of filming.
THE COMPANION PIECES
Non-fiction: The Clock Was Always Running - therulespodcast.substack.com/p/the-clock-was-always-running
Fiction: Bloody Virgin - therulespodcast.substack.com/p/bloody-virgin
Director's Cut: The Real Rules of Child Stars - available from 15 May 2026 - therulespodcast.substack.com/
The Rules is an independent podcast from Pegasus Podcasts. New episodes drop weekly. If you liked this one, the best thing you can do is tell someone.