I felt ‘sexualized’ as child star

Mara Wilson cemented herself as one of the top child stars of the 1990s with roles in movies like “Matilda” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” — but she doesn’t look back on the time in her life fondly.

Wilson, now 35, has opened up about about feeling “sexualized” as a young kid growing up in the film industry.

“I don’t think you can be a child star without there being some kind of lasting damage,” Wilson told The Guardian. “People don’t realize how much constantly talking to the press as a child weighs on you.”

The “Miracle on 34th Street” alum then recalled how she began acting at the age of six-years-old, and by the time she was seven, her fame skyrocketed.

She noted that the media began to ask her questions in her early years if she knew about “french kissing” and which actor she thought was hot.

“I had people sending me inappropriate letters and posting things about me online,” she said. “I made the mistake of Googling myself when I was 12 and saw things that I couldn’t unsee.”

She also revealed that she discovered her face Photoshopped onto adult women’s bodies and shared on porn websites.

Despite her experiences, the California native revealed that Hollywood didn’t “destroy” her, saying she “always felt safe on film sets.”

“There were definitely some sketchy, questionable things that happened at times – adults that told dirty jokes, or sexually harassed people in front of me,” she added.

“People who did things like ask me if it was OK if I worked overtime, instead of asking my parents, but I never felt unsafeI think that’s because I worked with a lot of really wonderful directors, who were used to working with children.”

When Wilson hit her preteen years, a director asked her to wear a sports bra so she could cover her growing chest.

This affected her confidence, with Wilson believing that she wasn’t a “cute” child star anymore.

She had this “Hollywood idea” etched in her mind that if she’s not this adorable, sweet kid anymore, then “you’re not beautiful” and “you are worthless.”

“Because I directly tied that to the demise of my career,” Wilson said.

“Even though I was sort of burned out on it, and Hollywood was burned out on me, it still doesn’t feel good to be rejected. For a long time, I had this kind of dysmorphia about the way that I looked and I obsessed about it too much.”

Wilson took a hiatus from acting in 2000, however, just before taking a break from cinema, she lost out on one of her final auditions to Kristen Stewart.

This move hurt the “Good Girls Don’t” author’s self-esteem, with her saying to herself: “You think, ‘I’m ugly, I’m fat.’”

“I became much more guarded, more anxious and depressed and cynical, and when you’re like that, it’s very hard to land a role, because in an audition, you have to be open and honest. It took a toll on me,” she admitted.