Emma Roberts revealed she was left ‘completely horrified’ after watching Investigation Discovery’s tell-all docuseries, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side Of Kids.
After watching the five-part documentary, which shared harrowing accounts from former child stars during their time working for Nickelodeon, the actress, 33, recalled feeling ‘shocked’ as ‘that was not’ her experience with the network.
‘It made me really, really, really sad that that was happening to people that I literally saw often and had no idea,’ she told Variety.
The Wild Child star who starred on Nickelodeon’s show, Unfabulous, between 2004 to 2007, raved that her show had an ‘amazing woman named Sue Rose’ as its showrunner.
‘I didn’t realize at the time, but a female showrunner back then was not very common,’ she recalled. ‘But that was my intro into working on a TV show.’
Emma Roberts revealed she was left ‘completely horrified’ after watching Investigation Discovery’s tell-all docuseries, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side Of Kids (pictured last month)
She continued: ‘Also, my mom was with me 24/7, and even I would be like, “You don’t have to be here all the time,” she was like, “I do actually. I’m not letting you out of my sight. You’re not going to a fitting by yourself when you’re 13 years old.”‘
The performer added that watching her peers come forward about their experiences of abuse makes her ‘really sad.’
‘I just feel like children need to be protected on sets, as do adults, and I feel like we’re working towards a better work environment in that sense. But yeah, that documentary really kept me up at night,’ she continued.
The Holidate star first made her acting debut at age 10 in the 2001 crime drama Blow, three years before landing her role as Addie Singer on her sitcom Unfabulous.
Two years later, she went on to star in the 2006 hit movie Aquamarine and has gone on to appear in countless movies, from Holiday rom coms to horror films and everything in between.
She has also been a recurring character in Ryan Murphy’s anthology series American Horror Story since 2011 and played the lead in his horror comedy show Scream Queens, which aired from 2015 to 2016.
Despite working for more than two decades in the industry, Roberts recently opened up about being labeled a nepo baby.
The mother-of-one – who is the daughter of Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts – pointed out that she feels ‘young girls get it harder with the nepo baby thing’ while appearing on Tuesday’s episode of the Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast.
The Holidate star first made her acting debut at age 10 in the 2001 crime drama Blow, three years before landing her role as Addie Singer on her sitcom Unfabulous; seen in 2004
‘I don’t really see people calling out sons of famous actors – not that they should be called out. I don’t think anyone should be called out for wanting to follow their dream,’ she said.
She went on to quip: ”I always joke, “Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby?” [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon.’
But all jokes aside, the American Horror Story actress explained that people shouldn’t assume that the offspring of the rich and famous didn’t have to work hard to get where they are.
‘That’s the thing that I always talk about – people kind of only see your wins because they only see when you’re on the poster of a movie,’ Emma said. ‘They don’t see all the rejection along the way.’
Despite working for more than two decades in the industry, Roberts recently opened up about being labeled a nepo baby
Which, in turn, has led the Unfabulous alum to be transparent in her own career.
‘That’s why I’m always very open about things I’ve auditioned for and haven’t gotten the part for,’ she confessed. ‘I think it’s important to talk about – otherwise, people just think everything’s been so great and linear and easy, and no, it’s not at all. But of course it looks like that to the outside perspective or to the naked eye.’
As for why Emma feels the public is so quick to label someone a ‘nepo baby’ despite years of hard work?
As she put it, ‘I think there’s something to be said where everybody loves the kind of overnight success story.’
‘If you’re kind of not the girl from the middle of nowhere that broke into Hollywood, there’s kind of an eye roll of like “Well, your dad was this,”‘ Emma noted.
Roberts also reflected on how she shifted her priorities watching her aunt, Julia Roberts, navigate her level of fame
Roberts also reflected on how she shifted her priorities watching her aunt navigate her level of fame.
‘I saw very up close what that really looks like with my aunt Julia,’ she recalled. ‘It’s obviously fun and it’s great, but there is a part of it that’s really scary. So I’ve wanted to kind of carve my own path…Fame has never been the goal, because fame at a certain level is kind of scary.’
And Emma felt that way during her younger years in the spotlight, too.
‘Even in my later teens, I was like, I never want my fame to outweigh my work,’ she continued. ‘Because there’s nothing scarier to me than being so famous that you’re never left alone, but also you’re not getting good jobs.’
A route that Emma saw many others in Hollywood take.
‘That was kind of happening to a lot of people when I was in my teens and early 20s,’ she reflected. ‘I never wanted that to happen to me.’