The ‘Suite Life’ star says Disney Channel sexualized its young female cast members.
(LifeSiteNews) — An actor who starred as a child in a hit Disney Channel show with his twin brother said the network “sexualized” its young actresses.
Cole Sprouse, who starred in “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody,” told the New York Times that child actors regularly endure trauma.
“My brother and I used to get quite a bit of, ‘Oh, you made it out! Oh, you’re unscathed!’ No,” Sprouse said in a interview published April 4.
“The young women on the channel we were on were so heavily sexualized from such an earlier age than my brother and I that there’s absolutely no way that we could compare our experiences,” Sprouse said.
“And every single person going through that trauma has a unique experience. When we talk about child stars going nuts, what we’re not actually talking about is how fame is a trauma,” he continued.
“So I’m violently defensive against people who mock some of the young women who were on the channel when I was younger because I don’t feel like it adequately comprehends the humanity of that experience and what it takes to recover.”
“And, to be quite honest, as I have now gone through a second big round of this fame game as an adult, I’ve noticed the same psychological effects that fame yields upon a group of young adults as I did when I was a child.”
“I just think people have an easier time hiding it when they’re older.”
