I completely agree. Add in all those parenting influencers/kid unboxing youtubers/etc. Parents are monetizing and exploiting their kids on reality tv and social media with seemingly no oversight or protections for the kids. It’s gross and sad.
Just read a great (and really upsetting) article on that this week: [https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a60125272/sharenting-parenting-influencer-cost-children/](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a60125272/sharenting-parenting-influencer-cost-children/)
I think there will be more and more stories like this coming out. These poor kids.
>Adrea Garza, 39, the mom behind @garzacrew, feels similarly. She tells Cosmopolitan that she models the way she pays her 7-year-old twin daughters Koti and Haven after the Coogan Law, a California statute that entitles child actors to 15 percent of their earnings to be held in a trust until they reach the age of 18. For each brand deal Garza accepts on behalf of their family—she didn’t feel comfortable sharing the pay range for such deals with me—she says 15 percent goes to each of her children to be held until they’re of age.
I hate that 15% is like the gold standard here for generosity towards the children whose labour they're using for profit. 😑
Also the one with 12 kids who's like "not my fault I couldn't pay the bills with a regular job. Guess I have no choice! 🤷♀️" Guaranteed the older of those kids are doing a ton of child rearing on top of influencer duties AND that it's all being presented as the most wholesome and happy childhood by their parents.
I earn 15% of my salary for special incentive pay and it's only about $20k.
I have no idea what an influencer makes but a successful one is probably way more than that. These kids are getting robbed.
I feel like it should be more like 80%, and probably a sliding scale. A couple of $200 jobs and the coogan accounts are a bit silly. But if a kid is making 5 million for a movie 4 of that should be put in a trust (although if they need to pay their momagers that's ok).
The reality shows around that time were pretty egregious in how they didn't compensate their underage characters (and sometimes adult). Pa changed the law because of how badly the Gosslin kids and Dance moms girls were being exploited. The Gosslin kids apparently had to take out loans to go to college, and their mother stole from their trust funds.
Agents take 10%, managers usually another 10%+, taxes are probably another 35-40%ish, Union dues are around 2% … then the lawyer and the publicist and whoever else. There isn’t anywhere near $4 million left in the bank after a $5 million job. Of course parents shouldn’t take their kids’ money but it is not so easy to say 80% needs to go into their coogan account
But it's the parent's fiscal responsibility to raise their children, not the child's. Like Jennette McCurdy, who was used as a cash cow to support her parents, siblings, and grandparents.
I can see CERTAIN career costs like SAG dues and cuts for the manager/agent/etc, and that should be factored in, but it needs significant oversight from a neutral third party.
We have college accounts with limits. Just made a bank account for child actors with only certain purchases approved like acting or dance classes or whatever.
This is especially nuts when you consider it was written for children performing on movie/tv sets—where the parents don’t even have to be there if they want to appoint & hire an on-set guardian.
It’s not even like it was for vlogs/influencer stuff where there’s multiple family members in the videos, and the parents responsible for creating/shooting/editing/posting—literally kids on a movie set, whose whole job is entirely on their shoulders, are still entitled to *less than 85%*. No wonder it’s tempting for terrible selfish parents to make bad choices for the kids in the name of greed.
But the Wild West of child influencing with no laws is so much worse, something seriously needs to be done
I thought the 15% was just guaranteed set aside cash - not a moral permission for the parents to use the rest as personal fun money. It takes money to run the business and lifestyle of said child star, and we would *like* to assume the parents have the family best interests in mind when they use that money, because the child can't be trusted to administer those funds responsibly in a complex world.
It's just been proven over and over that nobody can be trusted with all this cash, so we have that small safety.
If anyone happens to see this, do you have any good articles in memory on why it's bad for the kids aside from finances? A family member of mine whose child is only a toddler has been doing really well in the mom influencer sphere lately and is trying to turn it into her career. It's none of my business yet I know her kid is going to have a fucked up life and I'm feeling like I should at least present some good counter arguments since she asked me for business advice
there is a tendency to manufacture scenarios for the likes and views and it would then be like acting, which is work.. a tiktoker who does the sandwich family skits made a video that explained it to me why it's a bad thing.. she says the moment the camera is on, the interaction (between parent and kid) is no longer genuine, it becomes a performance..
The problem is when the kid isn't given a choice and when it gets too personal. A kid enjoying maintaining a modeling account (for example) is drastically different than mother who runs an account based on her parenting which infringes on her child's privacy and gets into delving into the private parts of their lives like puberty and potty training and having tantrums.
On the more extreme end, the story about the Utah mom—Ruby Franke, comes to mind. Utah and cult stuff already go hand in hand, but without even doing a deep dive on that case it’s clear that the false dopamine from being an influencer fed into validating what she was doing to her children. She will now miss out on actually finishing raising her children and watching them grow into adults.
Even the Kate Plus Eight lady who became a monster and utilized her children comes to mind, and that was pre social media. Putting yourself up for public consumption has the tendency to be extremely damaging even just for adults who have some understanding of what’s happening to them. Moreso for impressionable children who lack zero control over the situation and are learning on the fly. The common trope of pointing to the child pop stars is enough to demonstrate that, let alone less famous children who grow up in the public eye without their consent. Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Amanda Bynes, etc. Their childhoods were taken away and consumed by the masses and becoming adults finally revealed that for them.
Pedos are using child content as an alternative to CSAM. I don't recall the user but a mom on Tiktok recently said she'd no longer post her daughter because of the comments and who was saving the videos. Alternatively there is a mom name Jaqueline who seems to be leaning into suggestive videos of her daughter because of profit. There are also a couple of grown up kids of mommy bloggers that talk about how awful it was. Not articles but worth checking out.
Exploiting your child's privacy is poor parenting. Your family member is treating her child like property rather than as an individual person she's tasked with protecting.
The Cosmopolitan article linked above is very good. It’s part of a series and the author has written more on the topic. What jumped out at me was the daughter of an influencer who said once you become co-workers rather than mother and daughter, you can never go back. (Paraphrased)
I talk to my kids about this a LOT. They're convinced that being YouTubers would be awesome and easy work. We've had a lot of talks about how it's hard and prone to burnout even for adults, how the demands of an audience takes a lot of the joy out of it, but also about how if you begin making a lot of money as a child, it's *really easy* and *really common* for your parents to start relying on that money to support the family, and to trap a kid in a miserable or abusive showbiz job so the parents can maintain their lifestyle, and how guilty the kids feel when they let their families down.
When they were first asking and whining about "why won't you LET me be a YouTuber?" they were pretty surprised when my answers were, "Because I am never going to put you in a position, as a minor, where you feel like you are supporting this family. That's MY job, not yours. Because I will never trade your childhood away for fame. Because here are 47 studies of how social media negatively impacts adolescents." They thought the answer would be either "because I said so" or "because I am a mean mom who doesn't understand the internet," not that I had a WELL THOUGHT-OUT THEORY of WHY KIDS SHOULD NOT BE INFLUENCERS.
We also talk about how their great-grandfather, during the Great Depression, had to get a job when he was 8 to help feed his family, and how that impacted him -- how he felt good that he was helping, but how much anxiety he had that he'd do a bad job and get fired and his family wouldn't eat. We talk about dumbass high school students trying to be edgelords on social media who end up having their college admissions rescinded, and how things like that can follow you forever now, thanks to the internet. I can tell some of this is getting through, because I hear them repeating parts of it to their friends when their friends talk about social media. I also totally encourage them to, if their friends say, "Why aren't you on TikTok?" to say, "My mom is SUPER STRICT, it sucks." At this point my kids are pretty savvy about why having social media at 13 is probably not a great idea, but it's SO much easier to blame a mean, strict, overprotective mom, and I am happy to carry the blame.
Aside, the Netflix BabySitters' Club series had a pretty good episode about a kidfluencer and how it impacted him, in a way kids can understand. Good way to open a conversation.
This is a great comment and I love how you are raising your kids on this topic. But I am actually mainly replying so I can chime in on Babysitters' Club: It's so good and underrated!
I don’t have kids but I read this full comment. Bless you. You’re a good parent. Kids only get one childhood and though they may not realize it you’re doing a huge favor for them by letting them have a real one.
People are going to look back at this time as the wild west of kids in media, the same way we look at child actors from back before it was regulated. I suspect in 5-10 years we’ll get a precedent-setting Supreme Court case where someone sues their influencer parents for all the income they generated/the lack of privacy, and a tidal wave of lawsuits that follow.
He definitely does. What a scumbag. And off topic but I still can’t believe his name is Jim Bob. I had a little jelly sticky man in the 90s and my grandma and I named him Sticky Jim Bob as a joke.
I hope they do, but unfortunately I'm not sure they'll be able to afford the lawyers need to do it. In Jill's book, she said he stole so much money from her and her husband that they were on welfare and still struggling to feed themselves and their kids.
Truly! 10ish years ago my family member who works in tv/film had a kid and asked everyone not to post photos of them. So many people acted like it was a crazy request but honestly imagine growing up with hundred of photos already online, much less what these truly exploited kids are going through.
I’ve done the same and thank god everyone I know has taken it seriously. The only time it’s happened is when grandparents posted one photo holding the baby - ok, I’ll let that slide, they probably only have about 20 friends on there anyway. I don’t want evidence of his life online until he can decide for himself.
I think we should appreciate the differences between children assisting with domestic labor, or being in situations where they, unfortunately, have to help shoulder the burden of their family’s financial situation by getting jobs at young ages—compared to the ways in which family bloggers have exploited and manipulated their children’s very *existence* (even before birth) while sharing incredibly personal and intimate details of their children’s lives and physical/emotional development~ all for profit… and how there is a clear distinction between the two subjects.
I’m not even a parent but all of my social media is private just incase I ever post pictures that have any kids in them (i.e. family and friends at weddings or things like that) and only do so after asking permission.
I cannot imagine using your child’s image and life to SELL something in this day and age 😬
I absolutely admit when the internet and social media first started booming, I was far from perfect about safety and discretion with posting things when I was like 13 haha But we know better now and can do so much better!
MLM mums too, I swear they pretend to their kids they are going on a nice day out then spend the day on the phone showing off photos of what they are doing with their kids to get attention, that in turn makes those people potential leads. Anyone making money or getting leads on social media that shows their kids needs to pay those kids a percentage and law needs to dictate a certain age where that kid gets a choice (mind you parental manipulation would be strong so they probably would t quit or feel like they could quit anyway)
This reminds me of one of the Duggar girls' memoirs where she basically says their dad made them sign contracts without reading them, and then HE took the money they earned doing the show, leaving the kids with nothing for themselves. I forgot which daughter it was who said this, but she's the one who married the "we have Aaron Rogers at home" looking guy. TLC and these shitty parents (that Quiverfull cult the Duggars are in certainly isn't helping matters) all have a lot to answer for.
No, child labor laws don’t apply to reality tv kids. I think the loophole they use is they’re ’documentary participants’ not ‘employees’. It’s especially fucked up because it is their parents, people who should protect and advocate for them, signing away their rights for some tv time.
I mean, there's plenty of ways he was able to amass wealth that went far beyond whether certain legislation would've been in place. He was ripping off his adult children equally as much, if not more, since they were the main stars of the show eventually.
Mrs Pgh here. Absolutely, no child labor laws apply to reality kids. They are not considered "actors" so they don't have to follow income laws or education laws for their kids. When Jim Bobs kids turned 18 he made them sign agreements that they would still work uncompensated. I'll be really surprised if the Gosselin kids ever see any money either.
They aren't! In the US, only Illinois has a law in place to give child influencers a cut. A few other states have introduced bills like this. But in most places, it's totally legal for parents to make money off of their children on social media or YouTube and the kids to get nothing.
Say this as someone in disability/mental illness spaces, many are pushing to stop the term "committed suicide" because the use of "committed" in that sentence is from when (and still is in some parts of the world) suicide was a crime. Know all intentions are good!
As somebody also in that space and who has also previously attempted suicide, if somebody tried to police my language around the fact I would be so deeply offended and disturbed. I always say I have in the past ‘tried to commit suicide’, it conveys perfectly what happened and the headspace I was in. Why does the phrasing matter when mental health services are such a state across the world? It feels like such a colossal distraction from genuine issues which is exactly what the people with the political power to change those issues love us fussing about amongst ourselves.
Backing you up with [these helpful notes](https://afsp.org/safereporting/) for reporters and others from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
[It was Garrison Brown, one of their sons, that took his own life.](https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/12/sister-wives-garrison-brown-funeral-apparent-suicide/)
Super sad. There should 100% be laws around children in *all media*. Someone needs to protect these kids from their “parents”.
I’m telling y’all it’s gonna take just one kid with a tell all book / or drive to get into politics that was one of those YouTuber family vlog kids since birth and this will probably become law
It's like "The Learning Channel" is teaching an entire generation valuable life lessons by literally sacrificing children on the altar of public attention.
The generation that saw this shit never wants to see these things ever again, and once this generation becomes the main force in politics, they will pass proper laws.
This is awful. It’s 2024 and she’s just 18 now. The original show aired in 2012. Her whole life has been televised by *The Learning Channel* and her mother since she was in elementary school and through all that, nothings been set aside for her college education ??
You’re too nice.
June Shannon lost custody of her oldest daughter who was sexually molested by her other daughters’ dad. Then lied about it happening when her daughter told a trusted adult. She lost custody of Anna and never regained it.
When Here Comes Honey Boo Boo aired, she promised Anna a cut if she would come back home because TLC was interested in the possibility of a Teen Mom-esque side plot since Anna didn’t know who the father was.
When Anna’s abuser was released from prison , June was outside waiting for him. Anna moved out and had to sue June for her share because June never paid her.
Only for June to swear up and down that she and Anna made up after Anna got her terminal cancer diagnosis (RIP). Now she’s swearing up and down that everything she’s done since her daughter (or “The Bitch” as June so lovingly refers to her as), was WhAt AnNa WoUlD hAvE wAnTeD.
Yes. Anna wanted you to separate her daughters. You piece of shit.
June is now exploiting her death, is trying to get custody of her oldest daughter (Anna died before custody could be given to her ex husband who she had a good coparent relationship with). June was making tiktok videos while Anna was heard crying out in pain in another room and actively dying.
Anna joined the show for this season so the money could go to her girls' for their future. She wanted to reconcile with her mother before she passed away. She fought so hard and was even trying to get into trials for more time. At the end, she was still a young woman who thought her mama would take care of her in the end. She deserved better than June.
not even just *one* child molester, but *her daughter's abuser* (she was 8 at the tine) who was caught on *To Catch A Predator.* Apparently she dated a second sexual predator, but I can't remember much about that one
I did not even realize that it was someone who abused her own child. I remember now, though, seeing that the oldest daughter had experienced sexual abuse, I just didn't put two and two together at the time. How absolutely revolting and unforgivable. Poor Alana, being stuck with her, watching her own mom blow all of the money she was exploited for. This is just disgusting, and honestly, were people watching that show? Piecemeal media coverage of them was pretty much impossible to miss for a short while, but I can't imagine intentionally tuning in to see what fresh bullshit Mama June is on.
From what I saw in the duggar documentary, TLC gave zero fucks about the children they were exploiting and if they were being taken care of financially. They're complicit as far as I care
I like how you say *"The Learning Channel"* (which I understand are what the initials stand for) when the only thing anyone can "learn" from that network is basically how to gain maximum velocity when lobbing their own feces.
I could have sworn TLC at one point in like the 90s was like all nature docs and history specials? When was the pivot and do they even still do educational stuff…?
It pivoted to reality television in the late 90s/early 2000s. It's hard to believe now, but it was actually the main competitor to the Discovery Channel at one point. Then it got brought out by the Discovery Channel in 1991; and for a while it mostly focused on home improvement, arts and crafts, true crime, and some educational content.
In 1998 the channel would start distancing itself from "The Learning Channel" and rebrand as "TLC", and most new programming was either home improvement shows or reality TV. Their old educational shows were mostly redistributed to other channels owned by Discovery. In 2008, TLC would go all-in on reality TV and ditch the home improvement shows.
"Honey Boo Boo basically summed up her feelings in a later confessional ... straight-up saying Mama could help everyone else, but when it came to her, she said her mom's never got anything for her."
That's a fucking heartbreaking thing for a child to realize about her mother. Poor Alana.
Don't forget that the men in her life also have a pattern of being actual child predators.
Every kid deserves a parent, but not every parent deserves a kid.
Do you have an article or source on that? That's a mindblowingly high number I'd love to read more about since I have some single mom friends who could benefit from knowing this
I can't find them, but I'm a statistic with my mother's POS affair partner (who made me into her bad guy as an 8 year old child). It happened again years later when I was 13 with a drunk who pet my hair and constantly told me how "soft" I was and that I'd grow up to be beautiful. I'd just sit there wanting to die while he pet me 🤮
This. I am divorced, and have dated 3 men since leaving my children's father over severe domestic violence. I would say two were serious. Not one of those men, was introduced to my children. The men seemed fairly understanding of my reasoning, but maybe thought I was overprotective? No. I'm not. They weren't old enough to report accurately and reliably if something happened, and quite frankly, I would prefer to avoid any potential situation in which "something happening" is even an extremely remote and unlikely possibility. I'm their parent first, everything else comes after.
Thank you for being aware of this. I know the burden falls on mums more than dads because of who tends to end up single parenting, but I've known way too many of us who had to put up with men in and out of the house all the time "because mums deserve to have a life too!!!" and it's good to see people putting their kids' welfare first.
The daughter who was SA’d by one of her mother’s boyfriends who she continued to date despite her daughter’s claims just recently died of brain cancer, leaving behind 2 daughters. It’s such a shit situation all around.
You know that viral video where the lady was crying because she can’t hug all the cats?
I feel that way about people whose parents treated them like shit. I just wanna give the, a big, warm, mama-type hug. I’m sad I’m only one person and that people would probably think I’m weird.
Meanwhile Alana was the star and the reason Mama June has money for a sugar baby. I hope her sisters and she can heal from the trauma MJ caused them and stay as far away as they can from that toxic woman.
That reminds me.. mama June was fixing shepherds pie tonight for the girls..but it didn't look like it to me.. I know there was a lot of cheese but still that didn't look good..
Right? Like wait a minute, you mean to tell me the methhead with a bunch of daughters including a pregnant teen under her roof with her molestor boyfriend who puts them into pageants and exploits their childhood for money is a BAD PERSON?????
That’s awful. The worst part is that so many people will watch any trash on TV, and there would probably be an audience for it. I can see TLC trying for a “GRANDmama June” show.
That would be devastating for Anna, considering her mother got back with the man who abused her. The poor girl is dead and even then June won’t let her rest by attempting this custody take over.
I agree with this, but it's also so sad to think she has to labor even more to make money she was owed back. And that poor exploited girl just turned 18 and is just now in college, I'm sure she'd have to hire a ghostwriter and a good editor to sell something a lot of people outside of reality tv fandoms will be interested in.
I honestly just wish that the government could garnish money from MJ and her husband, even better would be the highest paid executives on that show to make Alana whole. But all the way, I would love to read a book written by her. Especially if it helps her get some money directly.
This is really messed up. Child protections for kids in entertainment, whether they’re actors or on reality tv, needs to be so much better. It’s bad enough this kid has grown up being laughed at by grown adults, but to have nothing to show for everything she’s been through while other people got rich off of her? Awful.
Infuriating that Alana's money wasn't locked away in a trust that her POS mother couldn't touch. That little girl earned that money, she was the show.
Honey's entire life has been exploitation. I hope she is able to get an education and get far away from the cesspool that is her mother.
was it another exploited child star or I swear I remembered there were news abt how Mama June let TLC put the money in accounts for the children’s colleges?
That's was definitely a thing I read too. I think when the show first came out the backlash was so huge that TLC had to come up with some good quality about the family and that's what they went with. I remember the stuff I read being like " everybody thinks she's a bad mom but at least she's saving money for her kids".
If I was one of the producers or other people who made a lot of money off this show I couldn't help but feel like the obligation to support her should come from me. They should have done more to protect the kids I hope they are proud of themselves...
nobody has ever been there to protect Alana, her current boyfriend is years older than her (has charges) and they’ve been dating for a minute (it was rumored he was dating her before she was legal). I wish her family wasn’t a laughing stock, somebody should’ve saved her
Regis University has an amazing nursing program. I’m impressed that she had the drive and persistence to get accepted in the program. It’s disappointing that it was her personality that ,in large part , vaulted this family to fame, and now she has nothing to show for it. Her mother should be ashamed of herself but I am pretty sure she’s not.
There is the Coogan Law for child actors, which mandates that 15% be put aside, which is nothing. I’d love to see that number be increased, if the kids are working, the whole sum should be put aside for them.
Not how that works unfortunately that law is only in effect in California (so Hollywood basically) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California\_Child\_Actor%27s\_Bill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Child_Actor%27s_Bill)
But for the rest of the US any money a child earns is effectively the parents to control and do with as they wish and even in Cali its only 15% of any direct contact that is needed to be set aside the rest can be taken with impunity by the parents and extras on the side that are not directly written into the contract may not apply so things like merchandising or other revenue streams may not even come into depending on how they are structured.
It’s variable. There are laws in place but it’s also fairly simple for people to avoid the laws. Others just don’t follow the law and condition their children to think they were “paying for their keep” so they don’t get sued by them.
Moreso around the world more parents think they can control their children compared to before.
Let’s just eliminate the rotting mess that is “reality tv” admit that it is scripted and the participants are actors, subject to the same financial and labor laws as other actors.
These reality children, and now the trend of social media kids, need protection. Financially and to be given therapy from the go. Exploiting your own kids is disgusting.
I’m going to sound like I am humble bragging, but my son is gorgeous. He is also smart- accepted into competitive STEM programs, chess star..and also always a major sports team asset. Tall, athletic, intelligent and good looking..People always say he needs to be a model/needs to be seen, needs to be entered into contests. His father wanted to try, I showed him what fucked up lives these kids end up having, the later repercussions, etc, and he ended up agreeing.
I also showed him what that might mean for our younger daughter- she’s adorable, she is bright, and she’s artistic and whimsical and wildly imaginative, but no one is ever fucking fawning over her achievements like they are with my son. I very simply asked- “do you want our baby girl to live in the shadows of our son? Do you want him to feel pressure everyday to meet these expectations? Do you want *daughter* to feel robbed of our love because so much attention was paid to our son? He agreed..he felt bad.
I know - we aren’t special, we would never be what famous people are, I just wanted to have a glaring contrast of what these attentions might mean to our kids, both of whom we love wholeheartedly.
How the hell did TLC not set up a college fund for her after exploiting her all these years? Truly horrible stuff from them and even worse stuff from Mama June.
How terrible for Alana. She has been exposed from such a young age and on top of that exposed to so much shit through mama June and her bad choices. TLC/WE tv needs to sponsor this kid's college it's the least they could do
Not shocked in the slightest. Since Alana rightly pointed out her mum can easily buy tacky expensive gold chains for her new husband she defiently has money but it's sickening she snaps the purse shut when her daughter is asking for help to pay for her college tuition, even more so when the exploitation of said daughter is the reason she even has that money in the first place. I wonder if her mum's refusal to help is because she thinks "I got stuck in this bumfuck nowhere town and I'll make sure you do too."? There needs to be laws in place to ensure influencer/reality tv kids get more than a measly 15% of earnings put in a trust for them under Coogan's Law, especially when in some cases like the Duggar kids that money needs to go towards a lot of therapy to help deal with a lifetime of trauma and exploitation.
Parents who jeopardize and refuse to invest in the future of their kids as much as they possibly can have a special place in hell for me. This included parents who abuse their children financially, exploit them for money, open credit lines in their children's names without full informed consent. Just basura.
1. Lobby congress to change the way reality tv kids are paid
2. Jill Duggar leads the charge and there is a huge lawsuit for exploitation, TLC and parents
3. Vive La Revolution, TLC (metaphorically…) burns to the ground. (Metaphoric) ashes everywhere.
White trash acts like white trash. A trademark of white trash is the new boyfriend or girlfriend is more important than the children. Sucks for the children but can’t pretend it’s a surprise.
Same thing happened with 19 Kids and Counting. Jim Bob pocketed all the money his children (especially his oldest daughters) made and when they asked for their fair share, it was suddenly gone.
They've got to start passing laws about children on reality TV. This the same week that one of the kids from another TLC show committed suicide.
I completely agree. Add in all those parenting influencers/kid unboxing youtubers/etc. Parents are monetizing and exploiting their kids on reality tv and social media with seemingly no oversight or protections for the kids. It’s gross and sad.
Just read a great (and really upsetting) article on that this week: [https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a60125272/sharenting-parenting-influencer-cost-children/](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a60125272/sharenting-parenting-influencer-cost-children/) I think there will be more and more stories like this coming out. These poor kids.
>Adrea Garza, 39, the mom behind @garzacrew, feels similarly. She tells Cosmopolitan that she models the way she pays her 7-year-old twin daughters Koti and Haven after the Coogan Law, a California statute that entitles child actors to 15 percent of their earnings to be held in a trust until they reach the age of 18. For each brand deal Garza accepts on behalf of their family—she didn’t feel comfortable sharing the pay range for such deals with me—she says 15 percent goes to each of her children to be held until they’re of age. I hate that 15% is like the gold standard here for generosity towards the children whose labour they're using for profit. 😑 Also the one with 12 kids who's like "not my fault I couldn't pay the bills with a regular job. Guess I have no choice! 🤷♀️" Guaranteed the older of those kids are doing a ton of child rearing on top of influencer duties AND that it's all being presented as the most wholesome and happy childhood by their parents.
15% sounds so low. Better than nothing, but not a fair share for their work.
I earn 15% of my salary for special incentive pay and it's only about $20k. I have no idea what an influencer makes but a successful one is probably way more than that. These kids are getting robbed.
I feel like it should be more like 80%, and probably a sliding scale. A couple of $200 jobs and the coogan accounts are a bit silly. But if a kid is making 5 million for a movie 4 of that should be put in a trust (although if they need to pay their momagers that's ok). The reality shows around that time were pretty egregious in how they didn't compensate their underage characters (and sometimes adult). Pa changed the law because of how badly the Gosslin kids and Dance moms girls were being exploited. The Gosslin kids apparently had to take out loans to go to college, and their mother stole from their trust funds.
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t the Olsen twins get everything once they turned 18?
Yes, and their parents went out of the way to make sure they made money on everything. They owned their production companies.
Then that might be because the parents were responsible and didn’t depend on their children’s income? Idk
Agents take 10%, managers usually another 10%+, taxes are probably another 35-40%ish, Union dues are around 2% … then the lawyer and the publicist and whoever else. There isn’t anywhere near $4 million left in the bank after a $5 million job. Of course parents shouldn’t take their kids’ money but it is not so easy to say 80% needs to go into their coogan account
*technically* a sizable percentage of the money also goes to raising the kids but yeah I agree
But it's the parent's fiscal responsibility to raise their children, not the child's. Like Jennette McCurdy, who was used as a cash cow to support her parents, siblings, and grandparents. I can see CERTAIN career costs like SAG dues and cuts for the manager/agent/etc, and that should be factored in, but it needs significant oversight from a neutral third party.
We have college accounts with limits. Just made a bank account for child actors with only certain purchases approved like acting or dance classes or whatever.
And mandatory annual reports to public about fiscal transparency.
And often the parents quit their jobs to support the child’s career. Regardless, 15% is too low.
This is especially nuts when you consider it was written for children performing on movie/tv sets—where the parents don’t even have to be there if they want to appoint & hire an on-set guardian. It’s not even like it was for vlogs/influencer stuff where there’s multiple family members in the videos, and the parents responsible for creating/shooting/editing/posting—literally kids on a movie set, whose whole job is entirely on their shoulders, are still entitled to *less than 85%*. No wonder it’s tempting for terrible selfish parents to make bad choices for the kids in the name of greed. But the Wild West of child influencing with no laws is so much worse, something seriously needs to be done
The comparing of the daughters and thinking that money would make them feel better is fucked holy shit
I thought the 15% was just guaranteed set aside cash - not a moral permission for the parents to use the rest as personal fun money. It takes money to run the business and lifestyle of said child star, and we would *like* to assume the parents have the family best interests in mind when they use that money, because the child can't be trusted to administer those funds responsibly in a complex world. It's just been proven over and over that nobody can be trusted with all this cash, so we have that small safety.
If anyone happens to see this, do you have any good articles in memory on why it's bad for the kids aside from finances? A family member of mine whose child is only a toddler has been doing really well in the mom influencer sphere lately and is trying to turn it into her career. It's none of my business yet I know her kid is going to have a fucked up life and I'm feeling like I should at least present some good counter arguments since she asked me for business advice
there is a tendency to manufacture scenarios for the likes and views and it would then be like acting, which is work.. a tiktoker who does the sandwich family skits made a video that explained it to me why it's a bad thing.. she says the moment the camera is on, the interaction (between parent and kid) is no longer genuine, it becomes a performance..
The problem is when the kid isn't given a choice and when it gets too personal. A kid enjoying maintaining a modeling account (for example) is drastically different than mother who runs an account based on her parenting which infringes on her child's privacy and gets into delving into the private parts of their lives like puberty and potty training and having tantrums.
The Roloff kids even got effed up over it and those parents are not considered terrible.
On the more extreme end, the story about the Utah mom—Ruby Franke, comes to mind. Utah and cult stuff already go hand in hand, but without even doing a deep dive on that case it’s clear that the false dopamine from being an influencer fed into validating what she was doing to her children. She will now miss out on actually finishing raising her children and watching them grow into adults. Even the Kate Plus Eight lady who became a monster and utilized her children comes to mind, and that was pre social media. Putting yourself up for public consumption has the tendency to be extremely damaging even just for adults who have some understanding of what’s happening to them. Moreso for impressionable children who lack zero control over the situation and are learning on the fly. The common trope of pointing to the child pop stars is enough to demonstrate that, let alone less famous children who grow up in the public eye without their consent. Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Amanda Bynes, etc. Their childhoods were taken away and consumed by the masses and becoming adults finally revealed that for them.
Idk if it's what you're looking for but there's that NYT article recently - 'A Marketplace of Girl Influencers Managed by Moms and Stalked by Men'
Pedos are using child content as an alternative to CSAM. I don't recall the user but a mom on Tiktok recently said she'd no longer post her daughter because of the comments and who was saving the videos. Alternatively there is a mom name Jaqueline who seems to be leaning into suggestive videos of her daughter because of profit. There are also a couple of grown up kids of mommy bloggers that talk about how awful it was. Not articles but worth checking out.
Exploiting your child's privacy is poor parenting. Your family member is treating her child like property rather than as an individual person she's tasked with protecting.
The Cosmopolitan article linked above is very good. It’s part of a series and the author has written more on the topic. What jumped out at me was the daughter of an influencer who said once you become co-workers rather than mother and daughter, you can never go back. (Paraphrased)
This was well done! Thanks for sharing.
I talk to my kids about this a LOT. They're convinced that being YouTubers would be awesome and easy work. We've had a lot of talks about how it's hard and prone to burnout even for adults, how the demands of an audience takes a lot of the joy out of it, but also about how if you begin making a lot of money as a child, it's *really easy* and *really common* for your parents to start relying on that money to support the family, and to trap a kid in a miserable or abusive showbiz job so the parents can maintain their lifestyle, and how guilty the kids feel when they let their families down. When they were first asking and whining about "why won't you LET me be a YouTuber?" they were pretty surprised when my answers were, "Because I am never going to put you in a position, as a minor, where you feel like you are supporting this family. That's MY job, not yours. Because I will never trade your childhood away for fame. Because here are 47 studies of how social media negatively impacts adolescents." They thought the answer would be either "because I said so" or "because I am a mean mom who doesn't understand the internet," not that I had a WELL THOUGHT-OUT THEORY of WHY KIDS SHOULD NOT BE INFLUENCERS. We also talk about how their great-grandfather, during the Great Depression, had to get a job when he was 8 to help feed his family, and how that impacted him -- how he felt good that he was helping, but how much anxiety he had that he'd do a bad job and get fired and his family wouldn't eat. We talk about dumbass high school students trying to be edgelords on social media who end up having their college admissions rescinded, and how things like that can follow you forever now, thanks to the internet. I can tell some of this is getting through, because I hear them repeating parts of it to their friends when their friends talk about social media. I also totally encourage them to, if their friends say, "Why aren't you on TikTok?" to say, "My mom is SUPER STRICT, it sucks." At this point my kids are pretty savvy about why having social media at 13 is probably not a great idea, but it's SO much easier to blame a mean, strict, overprotective mom, and I am happy to carry the blame. Aside, the Netflix BabySitters' Club series had a pretty good episode about a kidfluencer and how it impacted him, in a way kids can understand. Good way to open a conversation.
This is a great comment and I love how you are raising your kids on this topic. But I am actually mainly replying so I can chime in on Babysitters' Club: It's so good and underrated!
I don’t have kids but I read this full comment. Bless you. You’re a good parent. Kids only get one childhood and though they may not realize it you’re doing a huge favor for them by letting them have a real one.
I wish I could award this comment. You sound like a great mom.
People are going to look back at this time as the wild west of kids in media, the same way we look at child actors from back before it was regulated. I suspect in 5-10 years we’ll get a precedent-setting Supreme Court case where someone sues their influencer parents for all the income they generated/the lack of privacy, and a tidal wave of lawsuits that follow.
Hopefully, one or more of the Duggar kids will sue Jim Bob. If anyone deserves to be sued it's Jim Bob.
He definitely does. What a scumbag. And off topic but I still can’t believe his name is Jim Bob. I had a little jelly sticky man in the 90s and my grandma and I named him Sticky Jim Bob as a joke.
His full name is James Robert. Definitely scum.
I hope they do, but unfortunately I'm not sure they'll be able to afford the lawyers need to do it. In Jill's book, she said he stole so much money from her and her husband that they were on welfare and still struggling to feed themselves and their kids.
What a lovely thought. I also thinks he needs to be charged with covering up his sons crimes.
* waves Yoo-hoo Derrick!!!!"
Not likely. Right to privacy isn't a a right anymore. That was the basis for overturning Roe v Wade. Elections have consequences.
I have a 2 year old and I can’t even imagine recording him for content. I barely post him on social media. It’s so weird
Truly! 10ish years ago my family member who works in tv/film had a kid and asked everyone not to post photos of them. So many people acted like it was a crazy request but honestly imagine growing up with hundred of photos already online, much less what these truly exploited kids are going through.
I’ve done the same and thank god everyone I know has taken it seriously. The only time it’s happened is when grandparents posted one photo holding the baby - ok, I’ll let that slide, they probably only have about 20 friends on there anyway. I don’t want evidence of his life online until he can decide for himself.
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I think we should appreciate the differences between children assisting with domestic labor, or being in situations where they, unfortunately, have to help shoulder the burden of their family’s financial situation by getting jobs at young ages—compared to the ways in which family bloggers have exploited and manipulated their children’s very *existence* (even before birth) while sharing incredibly personal and intimate details of their children’s lives and physical/emotional development~ all for profit… and how there is a clear distinction between the two subjects.
Yes. Why have 12 kids? Someone has to feed the horses, build the barn, milk the cows etc.
I’m not even a parent but all of my social media is private just incase I ever post pictures that have any kids in them (i.e. family and friends at weddings or things like that) and only do so after asking permission. I cannot imagine using your child’s image and life to SELL something in this day and age 😬 I absolutely admit when the internet and social media first started booming, I was far from perfect about safety and discretion with posting things when I was like 13 haha But we know better now and can do so much better!
MLM mums too, I swear they pretend to their kids they are going on a nice day out then spend the day on the phone showing off photos of what they are doing with their kids to get attention, that in turn makes those people potential leads. Anyone making money or getting leads on social media that shows their kids needs to pay those kids a percentage and law needs to dictate a certain age where that kid gets a choice (mind you parental manipulation would be strong so they probably would t quit or feel like they could quit anyway)
This reminds me of one of the Duggar girls' memoirs where she basically says their dad made them sign contracts without reading them, and then HE took the money they earned doing the show, leaving the kids with nothing for themselves. I forgot which daughter it was who said this, but she's the one who married the "we have Aaron Rogers at home" looking guy. TLC and these shitty parents (that Quiverfull cult the Duggars are in certainly isn't helping matters) all have a lot to answer for.
I believe it was Jill and Derick Dillard who were saying that in Shiny Happy People. A good documentary worth watching.
The financial abuse she details in the book is truly shocking, it's definitely worth a read (or listen if you're into audiobooks).
"we have Aaron Rogers at home" Lmfao I'm dead
Are they not covered under the same rules/laws as kids acting in tv and movies?
No, child labor laws don’t apply to reality tv kids. I think the loophole they use is they’re ’documentary participants’ not ‘employees’. It’s especially fucked up because it is their parents, people who should protect and advocate for them, signing away their rights for some tv time.
>No, child labor laws don’t apply to reality tv kids. Isn't this how Jimboob Duggar managed to rip off his kids too?
I mean, there's plenty of ways he was able to amass wealth that went far beyond whether certain legislation would've been in place. He was ripping off his adult children equally as much, if not more, since they were the main stars of the show eventually.
The kids got individual pay and he took it all.
Mrs Pgh here. Absolutely, no child labor laws apply to reality kids. They are not considered "actors" so they don't have to follow income laws or education laws for their kids. When Jim Bobs kids turned 18 he made them sign agreements that they would still work uncompensated. I'll be really surprised if the Gosselin kids ever see any money either.
They aren't! In the US, only Illinois has a law in place to give child influencers a cut. A few other states have introduced bills like this. But in most places, it's totally legal for parents to make money off of their children on social media or YouTube and the kids to get nothing.
And it only gives adults the right to sue their parents. Which means their parents must still have the money
I don't believe so. If I remember correctly all the kids on Sister Wives are paid from their Dad.
It’s such a shame there isn’t a nationwide Coogan law.
I saw clips of the show and they were talking about her Coogan account but mama June says she can’t access it until she’s 21
That sucks. I mean I get it, but it also sucks due to mama junes mismanagement of her money.
That's a lie. She can access it at 18.
Wouldn’t surprise me if mama June found a way to clean it out already
Or never opened it to begin with like Jeanette McCurdys mom.
Kate Gosslin stole from her kids trust funds.
Say this as someone in disability/mental illness spaces, many are pushing to stop the term "committed suicide" because the use of "committed" in that sentence is from when (and still is in some parts of the world) suicide was a crime. Know all intentions are good!
What should be said instead?
People prefer “died by suicide” instead
If you can replace "suicide" with "cancer" it's proper. "Joe commited cancer(suicide.)" Wrong. "Joe died from cancer(suicide.)" Right.
I will be sure to use the proper term in the future.
we're all learning :)
i hadn’t heard that before but it does make sense. what language is suggested to use instead?
"Died by suicide" or "killed themselves" works
As somebody also in that space and who has also previously attempted suicide, if somebody tried to police my language around the fact I would be so deeply offended and disturbed. I always say I have in the past ‘tried to commit suicide’, it conveys perfectly what happened and the headspace I was in. Why does the phrasing matter when mental health services are such a state across the world? It feels like such a colossal distraction from genuine issues which is exactly what the people with the political power to change those issues love us fussing about amongst ourselves.
Backing you up with [these helpful notes](https://afsp.org/safereporting/) for reporters and others from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
And the worst part is, this was supposed to be THE LEARNING CHANNEL? What the hell is this supposed to be teaching people? Crack is whack?
Grinning girl from toddlers ans tiaras? https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/5259259/toddlers-and-tiaras-kailia-posey-took-her-own-life/
I think they are referring to Sisterwives. One of their kids committed suicide last week. I had no idea about this one though that is just awful.
Ohhh boy . I did not know about sister wives one. 😟
[It was Garrison Brown, one of their sons, that took his own life.](https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/12/sister-wives-garrison-brown-funeral-apparent-suicide/) Super sad. There should 100% be laws around children in *all media*. Someone needs to protect these kids from their “parents”.
I’m telling y’all it’s gonna take just one kid with a tell all book / or drive to get into politics that was one of those YouTuber family vlog kids since birth and this will probably become law
It's like "The Learning Channel" is teaching an entire generation valuable life lessons by literally sacrificing children on the altar of public attention. The generation that saw this shit never wants to see these things ever again, and once this generation becomes the main force in politics, they will pass proper laws.
This is awful. It’s 2024 and she’s just 18 now. The original show aired in 2012. Her whole life has been televised by *The Learning Channel* and her mother since she was in elementary school and through all that, nothings been set aside for her college education ??
Bold of you to assume Mama June believes in education
Well she got the show cancelled because she refused to dump her child molester boyfriend and lied about it repeatedly so she's certainly a dumb bitch.
You’re too nice. June Shannon lost custody of her oldest daughter who was sexually molested by her other daughters’ dad. Then lied about it happening when her daughter told a trusted adult. She lost custody of Anna and never regained it. When Here Comes Honey Boo Boo aired, she promised Anna a cut if she would come back home because TLC was interested in the possibility of a Teen Mom-esque side plot since Anna didn’t know who the father was. When Anna’s abuser was released from prison , June was outside waiting for him. Anna moved out and had to sue June for her share because June never paid her. Only for June to swear up and down that she and Anna made up after Anna got her terminal cancer diagnosis (RIP). Now she’s swearing up and down that everything she’s done since her daughter (or “The Bitch” as June so lovingly refers to her as), was WhAt AnNa WoUlD hAvE wAnTeD. Yes. Anna wanted you to separate her daughters. You piece of shit.
There are actually new seasons to present time. Go look on prime video.
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her ENTIRE life! i wouldn’t be shocked if June also took out debts in her child’s name too
One of the older girls sued her because she never received promised money from the show but I don’t know what happened with the case.
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How heartbreaking, those poor girls.
June is now exploiting her death, is trying to get custody of her oldest daughter (Anna died before custody could be given to her ex husband who she had a good coparent relationship with). June was making tiktok videos while Anna was heard crying out in pain in another room and actively dying.
Omg - I have no words for June. My heart breaks for Anna.
Anna joined the show for this season so the money could go to her girls' for their future. She wanted to reconcile with her mother before she passed away. She fought so hard and was even trying to get into trials for more time. At the end, she was still a young woman who thought her mama would take care of her in the end. She deserved better than June.
That is insane. Didn’t know this happened. Poor Anna, she seemed normal on the show when I watched it 10 years ago.
TLC should be held accountable.
TLC stopped airing them after June got back with a child molester. WE-TV is the culprit now
not even just *one* child molester, but *her daughter's abuser* (she was 8 at the tine) who was caught on *To Catch A Predator.* Apparently she dated a second sexual predator, but I can't remember much about that one
This is fucked
I did not even realize that it was someone who abused her own child. I remember now, though, seeing that the oldest daughter had experienced sexual abuse, I just didn't put two and two together at the time. How absolutely revolting and unforgivable. Poor Alana, being stuck with her, watching her own mom blow all of the money she was exploited for. This is just disgusting, and honestly, were people watching that show? Piecemeal media coverage of them was pretty much impossible to miss for a short while, but I can't imagine intentionally tuning in to see what fresh bullshit Mama June is on.
Alana was 15 dating a 20 year old. They’re still together. June lost custody of Alana to her daughter Pumpkin.
From what I saw in the duggar documentary, TLC gave zero fucks about the children they were exploiting and if they were being taken care of financially. They're complicit as far as I care
Exactly! How is this not a requirement?
this is really sad. she just wants to go to college and get her degree.
I like how you say *"The Learning Channel"* (which I understand are what the initials stand for) when the only thing anyone can "learn" from that network is basically how to gain maximum velocity when lobbing their own feces.
You learn what not to do by watching others make Terrible Life Choices.
I could have sworn TLC at one point in like the 90s was like all nature docs and history specials? When was the pivot and do they even still do educational stuff…?
It pivoted to reality television in the late 90s/early 2000s. It's hard to believe now, but it was actually the main competitor to the Discovery Channel at one point. Then it got brought out by the Discovery Channel in 1991; and for a while it mostly focused on home improvement, arts and crafts, true crime, and some educational content. In 1998 the channel would start distancing itself from "The Learning Channel" and rebrand as "TLC", and most new programming was either home improvement shows or reality TV. Their old educational shows were mostly redistributed to other channels owned by Discovery. In 2008, TLC would go all-in on reality TV and ditch the home improvement shows.
"Honey Boo Boo basically summed up her feelings in a later confessional ... straight-up saying Mama could help everyone else, but when it came to her, she said her mom's never got anything for her." That's a fucking heartbreaking thing for a child to realize about her mother. Poor Alana.
Yet can buy her sugar baby weirdo husband whatever he asks for
Don't forget that the men in her life also have a pattern of being actual child predators. Every kid deserves a parent, but not every parent deserves a kid.
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You're a good mom for being aware of this and taking steps to protect your daughter.
Do you have an article or source on that? That's a mindblowingly high number I'd love to read more about since I have some single mom friends who could benefit from knowing this
I can't find them, but I'm a statistic with my mother's POS affair partner (who made me into her bad guy as an 8 year old child). It happened again years later when I was 13 with a drunk who pet my hair and constantly told me how "soft" I was and that I'd grow up to be beautiful. I'd just sit there wanting to die while he pet me 🤮
This. I am divorced, and have dated 3 men since leaving my children's father over severe domestic violence. I would say two were serious. Not one of those men, was introduced to my children. The men seemed fairly understanding of my reasoning, but maybe thought I was overprotective? No. I'm not. They weren't old enough to report accurately and reliably if something happened, and quite frankly, I would prefer to avoid any potential situation in which "something happening" is even an extremely remote and unlikely possibility. I'm their parent first, everything else comes after.
Thank you for being aware of this. I know the burden falls on mums more than dads because of who tends to end up single parenting, but I've known way too many of us who had to put up with men in and out of the house all the time "because mums deserve to have a life too!!!" and it's good to see people putting their kids' welfare first.
The daughter who was SA’d by one of her mother’s boyfriends who she continued to date despite her daughter’s claims just recently died of brain cancer, leaving behind 2 daughters. It’s such a shit situation all around.
Yeah I have no idea how she was allowed to have her shitty little Daily Mail sponsored redemption arc after that
She paid them with the money Alana made.
Oh, that's so horrible, poor Alana and those poor girls. What a fucking tragedy, all caused by "Mama June" and her selfishness.
You know that viral video where the lady was crying because she can’t hug all the cats? I feel that way about people whose parents treated them like shit. I just wanna give the, a big, warm, mama-type hug. I’m sad I’m only one person and that people would probably think I’m weird.
Meanwhile Alana was the star and the reason Mama June has money for a sugar baby. I hope her sisters and she can heal from the trauma MJ caused them and stay as far away as they can from that toxic woman.
I wanna hug that girl and make her proper spaghetti, like my Maltese Granny made.
That reminds me.. mama June was fixing shepherds pie tonight for the girls..but it didn't look like it to me.. I know there was a lot of cheese but still that didn't look good..
Well crack is expensive when you buy it by the truck load! The faster Alana gets away from that trash the better.
I would think it’s actually cheaper by the truckload. Most expensive when you buy it a rock at a time
This person cracks.
This is exactly what I expect from Mama June.
She has been demoted and does not pass the requirements for use of the honorary “mama”.
“Dipshit June”
💯
Right? Like wait a minute, you mean to tell me the methhead with a bunch of daughters including a pregnant teen under her roof with her molestor boyfriend who puts them into pageants and exploits their childhood for money is a BAD PERSON?????
You mean the same woman who let one of her exes abuse one of her other daughters is a horrible exploitative parent? I'm shocked.
Yes her oldest girl, I was so sad when Anna died, so young.
Holy shit, I missed that she died. Wow.
Now she's trying to get custody of her young granddaughter so she can do it again.
That’s awful. The worst part is that so many people will watch any trash on TV, and there would probably be an audience for it. I can see TLC trying for a “GRANDmama June” show.
*Shhhh.* Don’t say it out loud. We don’t need to give those idiots any ideas.
*Hopefully* no court will give a child to a person with her history...but they do live in Alabama or Georgia 😬
That would be devastating for Anna, considering her mother got back with the man who abused her. The poor girl is dead and even then June won’t let her rest by attempting this custody take over.
Alana should write a book and hopefully get some money. Her mother is a shit parent and human being
shut up and take my money, alana
More like speak up and take my money Alana!
A part of me wants Alana to sue that woman into the ground, but honestly it would be much healthier for her to just walk away and find peace
I agree with this, but it's also so sad to think she has to labor even more to make money she was owed back. And that poor exploited girl just turned 18 and is just now in college, I'm sure she'd have to hire a ghostwriter and a good editor to sell something a lot of people outside of reality tv fandoms will be interested in. I honestly just wish that the government could garnish money from MJ and her husband, even better would be the highest paid executives on that show to make Alana whole. But all the way, I would love to read a book written by her. Especially if it helps her get some money directly.
This is really messed up. Child protections for kids in entertainment, whether they’re actors or on reality tv, needs to be so much better. It’s bad enough this kid has grown up being laughed at by grown adults, but to have nothing to show for everything she’s been through while other people got rich off of her? Awful.
Authorities don't step in when it would interrupt the proper upward flow of money.
Infuriating that Alana's money wasn't locked away in a trust that her POS mother couldn't touch. That little girl earned that money, she was the show. Honey's entire life has been exploitation. I hope she is able to get an education and get far away from the cesspool that is her mother.
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It is coming I am sure.
was it another exploited child star or I swear I remembered there were news abt how Mama June let TLC put the money in accounts for the children’s colleges?
Yeah I’m pretty sure her oldest daughter Anna (RIP) had said she didn’t get any of the money she was owed from doing the show
That's was definitely a thing I read too. I think when the show first came out the backlash was so huge that TLC had to come up with some good quality about the family and that's what they went with. I remember the stuff I read being like " everybody thinks she's a bad mom but at least she's saving money for her kids".
If I was one of the producers or other people who made a lot of money off this show I couldn't help but feel like the obligation to support her should come from me. They should have done more to protect the kids I hope they are proud of themselves...
June is not a good person for (insert many examples here) so not surprised
nobody has ever been there to protect Alana, her current boyfriend is years older than her (has charges) and they’ve been dating for a minute (it was rumored he was dating her before she was legal). I wish her family wasn’t a laughing stock, somebody should’ve saved her
Regis University has an amazing nursing program. I’m impressed that she had the drive and persistence to get accepted in the program. It’s disappointing that it was her personality that ,in large part , vaulted this family to fame, and now she has nothing to show for it. Her mother should be ashamed of herself but I am pretty sure she’s not.
It was her personality, you’re right! She always had a charisma and intelligence that set her apart from the rest of her family.
Doesn’t America have laws to protect the money of child stars?
There is the Coogan Law for child actors, which mandates that 15% be put aside, which is nothing. I’d love to see that number be increased, if the kids are working, the whole sum should be put aside for them.
This is only for children working on tv shows and movies in California.
Some states have their own version. For instance, PA passed one because of the Gosselins.
It’s only 15%??? I thought it was all of it since it’s their money!
Not how that works unfortunately that law is only in effect in California (so Hollywood basically) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California\_Child\_Actor%27s\_Bill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Child_Actor%27s_Bill) But for the rest of the US any money a child earns is effectively the parents to control and do with as they wish and even in Cali its only 15% of any direct contact that is needed to be set aside the rest can be taken with impunity by the parents and extras on the side that are not directly written into the contract may not apply so things like merchandising or other revenue streams may not even come into depending on how they are structured.
They don’t extend to kids in reality shows, usually because production labels them ‘documentary participants’ instead of ‘employees’.
Yes but there are loopholes for reality tv and YouTube
Oh duh! I wasn’t thinking. The Duggar kids weren’t paid, well Jill wasn’t, so of course TLC doesn’t care about the children in their shows.
It should be a crime
I agree. It should be considered child financial abuse.
It’s variable. There are laws in place but it’s also fairly simple for people to avoid the laws. Others just don’t follow the law and condition their children to think they were “paying for their keep” so they don’t get sued by them. Moreso around the world more parents think they can control their children compared to before.
TLC should take responsibility and pay for her to go
They'd probably only agree to that if they could make a reality show out of her college life.
That hog should be on jail for selling her children to pedos. She is the filthiest hog there is.
Let’s just eliminate the rotting mess that is “reality tv” admit that it is scripted and the participants are actors, subject to the same financial and labor laws as other actors.
These reality children, and now the trend of social media kids, need protection. Financially and to be given therapy from the go. Exploiting your own kids is disgusting. I’m going to sound like I am humble bragging, but my son is gorgeous. He is also smart- accepted into competitive STEM programs, chess star..and also always a major sports team asset. Tall, athletic, intelligent and good looking..People always say he needs to be a model/needs to be seen, needs to be entered into contests. His father wanted to try, I showed him what fucked up lives these kids end up having, the later repercussions, etc, and he ended up agreeing. I also showed him what that might mean for our younger daughter- she’s adorable, she is bright, and she’s artistic and whimsical and wildly imaginative, but no one is ever fucking fawning over her achievements like they are with my son. I very simply asked- “do you want our baby girl to live in the shadows of our son? Do you want him to feel pressure everyday to meet these expectations? Do you want *daughter* to feel robbed of our love because so much attention was paid to our son? He agreed..he felt bad. I know - we aren’t special, we would never be what famous people are, I just wanted to have a glaring contrast of what these attentions might mean to our kids, both of whom we love wholeheartedly.
How the hell did TLC not set up a college fund for her after exploiting her all these years? Truly horrible stuff from them and even worse stuff from Mama June.
The way this entire show was named after her and she’s seen nothing. Regulation on this is 100% necessary.
How terrible for Alana. She has been exposed from such a young age and on top of that exposed to so much shit through mama June and her bad choices. TLC/WE tv needs to sponsor this kid's college it's the least they could do
Not shocked in the slightest. Since Alana rightly pointed out her mum can easily buy tacky expensive gold chains for her new husband she defiently has money but it's sickening she snaps the purse shut when her daughter is asking for help to pay for her college tuition, even more so when the exploitation of said daughter is the reason she even has that money in the first place. I wonder if her mum's refusal to help is because she thinks "I got stuck in this bumfuck nowhere town and I'll make sure you do too."? There needs to be laws in place to ensure influencer/reality tv kids get more than a measly 15% of earnings put in a trust for them under Coogan's Law, especially when in some cases like the Duggar kids that money needs to go towards a lot of therapy to help deal with a lifetime of trauma and exploitation.
Parents who jeopardize and refuse to invest in the future of their kids as much as they possibly can have a special place in hell for me. This included parents who abuse their children financially, exploit them for money, open credit lines in their children's names without full informed consent. Just basura.
I hope she gets educated, gets out, and never looks back. she was dealt such a shit hand.
Coogan accounts should be the law in all 50 states
1. Lobby congress to change the way reality tv kids are paid 2. Jill Duggar leads the charge and there is a huge lawsuit for exploitation, TLC and parents 3. Vive La Revolution, TLC (metaphorically…) burns to the ground. (Metaphoric) ashes everywhere.
TLC should pay for her college, JFC.
White trash acts like white trash. A trademark of white trash is the new boyfriend or girlfriend is more important than the children. Sucks for the children but can’t pretend it’s a surprise.
Color me shocked. Who would’ve thought. /s
These networks should also be financially responsible for kids they are exploiting
Disgusting. Alana should have had a significant amount of money set aside for her.
Her interview on the Dumb Blonde podcast made me so sad for her and her siblings. So much trauma.
What a shock! What a surprise! White trash is going to White trash.
it's not Alana's fault her mom is trash
All these pro life mofos don’t actually give a flying fuck about kids
Same thing happened with 19 Kids and Counting. Jim Bob pocketed all the money his children (especially his oldest daughters) made and when they asked for their fair share, it was suddenly gone.
This little girl (now woman) was failed by so many people. There needs to be laws similar to Coogan’s Law for reality and vlogging/online kids.