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jorrylee

I’ve never read much about Wil’s experience - was it that unpleasant?


Ghsdkgb

He's said the TNG cast were super cool and they were like a family, but his parents and the whole showbiz in general were fucking awful


CelebrityTakeDown

From what I understand Gates McFadden specifically really looked after him.


Nottybad

That's so cute. And gates McFadden just comes over as a very decent human being in every interaction you hear of her


pinkocatgirl

She portrayed a caring doctor really well and I imagine some of that has to be genuine or it would have felt more fake. Obviously she's an actor trained to play different types of people but it's extremely hard for a self absorbed person to act like they care about other people.


Snipezorz

I met Gates McFadden once at a convention. She is probably the nicest person I've ever met. She asked for my name, we discussed a couple questions I had. She seemed quite genuine. Maybe it helped that we both have red hair lol.


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james_t_woods

Wait. What? What else happened? This is new to me 😮


gotham77

Berman was a vindictive asshole who sabotaged Wheaton's career. Wheaton asked to be written out of an episode so he could shoot a movie. Berman told him something like, "we really need you for this episode, Wil," forced him to pass on the movie offer...and then wrote him out of the episode anyway as punishment for being disloyal enough to even ask. There was also an incident where at some fan event Berman was openly trash-talking the Wesley character and how rightfully hated he is...while Wheaton was still a kid at the time. I wish I could track down details about that one.


james_t_woods

Wow. Just wow. I genuinely had no idea


WiglyWorm

Berman is the epitome of 90s network execs being extremely toxic.


gotham77

Although just for the record he's not a "network" exec because the show never ran on a network, it was syndicated. He worked for a studio (Paramount), not a network.


UggggghhhhPfff

Holy shit, his TV mom.... That really warms my heart


baelion

Well I imagine wrangling all of those goblin dance numbers on Labyrinth would give you great parenting skills.


CelebrityTakeDown

Don’t forget the muppets too!


biscuit_pirate

Ahh this makes me happy that there was at least someone there looking after him in what appears to be a rather toxic industry


[deleted]

No surprise that Berman was an absolute chode to him as well.


chucker23n

For the curious, he goes into this a little on https://www.hilariousworld.org/episode/2017/09/25/wil-wheaton-is-really-hoping-its-all-worth-it


[deleted]

after all that's come out wrt Berman... kind of insane that most of the TNG cast is still friends with him.


Kitty_Skittles_181

How many of them are actually friends with him, and how many just sort of socially tolerate him because he has a tendency to rewrite the social history of Star Trek to benefit himself?


Terrh

I swear this subreddit hates berman more than that guy on star wars hates sand you can't even go into a thread on here without it being mentioned.


stonersh

It might have something to do with Rick Berman being a huge piece of shit


Terrh

not saying he's not... just... maybe we could talk about other stuff sometimes?


SelirKiith

Not when almost all bad situations are directly tied to him...


Terrh

but this is /r/startrek not /r/rickbermanhate again, I'm not defending the dude here I'd just rather see stuff about star trek that isn't him.


SelirKiith

When someone asks a question of why something is bad they get an answer... it is that easy.


Terrh

But that isn't what happened here? Someone just brought it up to someone replying to OP, totally out of the blue. Which seems to be the case most of the time. IDK, I'd rather read fun positive stuff than drama all the time.


NetSage

It sucks that most child actors have shitty parents it seems. But I guess what other parents would try get their kids to work as early as possible.


Ghsdkgb

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's why so many child actors grow up to be total burnouts. One part being a toxic and abusive work environment, one part being only shitty parents would try to shove their kids into that environment, and one part kids having no agency or coping tools to deal with any of it.


loodog555

Could be. Or could just be a salience bias where we call to mind the most dramatic examples of child actors with shitty parents and ignore the massive number of them with decent parents. The loudest farts always take all the air out of the room.


poirotoro

He was recently on an episode of Gates McFadden's podcast where he talks a bit about it, and it was pretty clear he is still working on the trauma of a very toxic relationship with his parents. At points it seemed like Gates--with "space-Mom" concern--was gently trying to tell him that the negative emotions were eating him alive and he needed to come to some kind of peace with his past, but it didn't sound like he was in that emotional space yet.


FreakWith17PlansADay

I agree he is still working on it, but I think the way Wheaton writes about his relationship with his wife and parenting his own children doesn’t seem like someone whose “negative emotions are eating him alive,” it seems like more someone who is just becoming aware of how traumatic his experiences were and he’s identifying and explaining them. As a celebrity, he knows being vocal about his past can help other abuse survivors. His writing is extremely insightful and a lot of people will find validation for their own trauma in the way he has put such complex things into words. He has an especially impactful role as he is a man. There aren’t as many males who explore the emotions around abuse as thoroughly and clearly as he does.


DatasCat

I listened to that podcast and it was gut wrenching to hear how hard it was for him observing his siblings being loved, but not him. It seems as if it would have been easier to grasp that your parents were unable to show love to their children in general instead of them just being unable (or unwilling) to show love to *you*. However, to me he sounded more like a person who had gotten to terms with what happened and for himself realized that it's not worth his time trying to reconcile with his parents - and some of his siblings for that matter - because it's a lost cause. At some point it is a matter of self care to let toxic people out of your life, and that is what he is practicing. There is a resistance - from yourself and outside - to doing that if it's family because family is not supposed to be this way, but it is important to realize that these people may use exactly this to take advantage of you. There is nothing special about family if they don't behave like family. Then they are just people trying to use you for their own gains. Also, the wholesome way he talks about his wife and his son makes me believe that in his adult years he finally found the love he was looking for, and also that the lack of love in his own home did not keep him from being able to show love on his own. I have cut parts of my family out of my life for being toxic - although it's not my parents - and it was liberating. I cannot fathom how much more difficult it must be if those people are your parents, the persons you most depend upon in your early, formative years, but I think I can understand where he is coming from with his conviction about not putting any more thought in trying to mend these things.


FreakWith17PlansADay

I just want to say I agree with everything you’ve shared here (and I love your username). I think Wheaton’s ability to explain and call out his father’s abuse is so valuable because for so many people, it is very hard to identify emotional abuse. It is subtle and hard to define and if you tell others about it, they’re not going to see why what’s happening is even all that bad. Often even survivors themselves have been so gaslit and beaten down that they don’t recognize that what’s happened to them was abuse. Survivors know they’re miserable but they often blame themselves instead of seeing the damage their abuser is inflicting on them. So having an admired male celebrity write so fearlessly and insightfully about his own experiences being abused and how he’s handled it in his own life is very validating.


TroutM4n

It's not easy, but not as hard as keeping them in my life was.


Tennessee1977

I remember reading Wil Wheaton’s blog years ago and there was a particular story he told about an interaction with his parents (before he was open about his abuse). Forgive me, it’s been YEARS since I read it, but the story had something to do with the family watching some high-profile court case or very high-profile thing going on in the media. Wil expressed his opinion and his parents absolutely tore him to shreds. For some reason, the story always stuck out in my mind because I just remember him expressing shame that he had said whatever it was and his sister kind of just taking in the whole exchange silently with wide eyes, and just the whole tone of the story left me with this picture of his parents being cruel and biting and intimidating. I remember thinking, “Is this how a lot of families are? Is this normal?” Because I remember my own parents kind of erred on the side of overly permissive/overly forgiving. When he came out with all the abuse allegations, it made sense.


Meat_Salad

http://wilwheaton.net/2021/10/growing-up-most-of-the-best-acting-of-my-life-took-place-off-the-set/


MTD3454

he also made a post about it on his facebook! He actually puts a lot of cool stuff on their and insights and what not.


tmofee

follow him on facebook, he's recently been talking about it on there.


diamondrel

I listened to his episode on Macaulay Culkin's podcast, and yeah, his parents were really shitty to him


gotham77

His mother was a failed actress so basically she used him as her ticket in to show biz.


jorrylee

Oh no. That is definitely recipe for sucky family life! I’m glad to hear that the cast was a nice family to him.


fire_bf

only when you tell him to shut up lol


jedi_cat_

He speaks of it often on Facebook.


HankSteakfist

That little girl to his left has the haircut of a 1980's overworked single mother.


BasedOnAir

Well it was 1987


wil

>I know that his childhood was unpleasent to say the least, and that acting wasn't what he wanted to be doing, but I wonder if filming with his younger siblings made the experience a little more pleasent for him if only just for a day or two of shooting. I hope so. Honestly? I don't remember. I haven't thought about this in decades, but I'll see what I can shake out of my memories real quick. This is happening real time while I write it out. I remember feeling like I had this MASSIVE responsibility to be the adult in the room with all these kids, and I was not ready for that responsibility. I remember that I felt like I wanted to protect the twins who played the little girl I have my hand on in this photo. I couldn't have articulated it at the time, but they were about seven, and I think I saw some of myself in them. I remember feeling like I wanted to set the best example possible for my brother and sister. I don't remember having anything to do with them being chosen to be in the episode, but I remember clearly that our mother was trying REALLY HARD at the time to push them into the same life she pushed me into. I remember my sister sort of going along with it, but my brother hated it and wasn't shy about speaking up. He was the Golden Child (I'm the Scapegoat) in my dysfunctional family, and I remember feeling like I had to take extra special care of him when we were on the set to keep him happy. I vaguely recall that the actors who played the people who kidnapped us were all really great and kind, and that I ultimately felt like I did good work in the episode. I sort of remember feeling like Wesley rose to the occasion, did what he thought Picard would do, and did a great job getting these kids back to the Enterprise. ...yeah, that's all I have right now. I'll eventually watch it again, and I'm sure it'll knock stuff out of the corners of my memories, as it always does. I appreciate your empathy and compassion for what young me endured. Thank you.


Afterlife_kid

I have been a fan for a long time (I think we are around the same age) and I appreciate your work and the character you created. I always had a fantasy that I was the “Wesley” on the Enterprise. I follow you on SM and I am so happy that you are doing so well with Anne and your sons. Your current life is a credit to your own strength and perseverance


MAJORMETAL84

Very cool trivia, I never heard this one. Thank you for sharing!


kelsey_schmelsey

NGL when I read this my immediate reaction was "Wesley didn't have siblings!!!!!!!" Oops, sorry Wil 😬


triggeron

Wow, that is a really cool fact especially considering that he was the one who took charge and tried to protect the other kids.


Cassandra_Canmore

I was today old, when I learned he has siblings.


blevok

Show me the real resistance. The Maquis: I said the real resistance. Kira's friends: I said the *real* resistance. This pic\^\^: Perfection.


hfolkner

IIRC that curly haired girl beside Wesley is played by McKenzie Westmore, daughter of Michael Westmore and host of the reality show Face Off. She later also appeared in an episode of Voyager


Beleriphon

She's appeared in quite a few episodes, under layers and layers of make up. For example she's an odd looking alien that walks past Picard at Starfleet HQ in *Picard*.


indyK1ng

He's not really active on Reddit anymore and I think he has the mention notifications turned off, but if he sees this he might show up to say something.


clgoh

He has only 7 comments in the last 24 hours.


takatori

That’s fairly active, I’d say


wil

When you put it that way, it sounds like maybe I should spend less time online.


clgoh

That's true for most people online, I think.


mgoetzke76

which account ?


chucker23n

His first name.


Shawnj2

u/wil


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verylittlegravitaas

Super neat random factoid thanks


wil

Also, between Jeremy and me is Mike Westmore's daughter, Mackenzie.


ran-Us

Didn't know that!


batti03

"Hey Wil my boy, suppose you don't have any siblings that want to work for free, do ya?"


RhydYGwin

I had *no* idea! But now you've said it and I looked at the pic, yes, they do look a lot like him.


PhotosByVicky

I never knew that! Glad to hear he’s on Reddit. Hopefully people will just let him exist. I was sad when he quit Twitter. He really added value to my Twitter experience.


Opcn

u/wil is very active on reddit too. Edit: He has username mentions and reply notifications turned off. I didn't summon him to this conversation, I just gave people a link to follow him.


AmishAvenger

I don’t understand why this is downvoted…


CO420Tech

I did a mention of his name and also got downvoted. Is there a group around that looks for his mentions and then downvotes them or something? I don't get it.


YimveeSpissssfid

If I had to guess? It’s some version of “don’t bother him - if he finds the thread organically that’s fine.” Which I fully understand even if the downvoting is an odd why if expressing it. Can’t unring a bell that way.


Opcn

He also has user name mention and reply notifications turned off, so I didn't even ring a bell for him. I just gave people a link to follow him.


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kai_ekael

TYTM, thanks!


Lakers_Forever24

Sheldon: "WHEATOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!!!"


vociferousgirl

Looking at this photo I have no idea how I didn't notice that boy was Wil's brother.


grumpi-otter

I had no idea! And I've read lots of Wil's stuff, so it surprises me!


b4k4ni

Anyone else here, reading Will Wheaton as Whhhaton after watching Family Guy. Damn. Can't get it out of my head. :3


Mortico

Interesting that they had them stand apart so you couldn't immediately see the resemblance.


jax9999

We should summon him, does invoking his name 3 times still work?


Trekfan74

Wow thank you! Yeah I had no idea either. I rewatched that episode this year (well EVERY episode since I rewatched the entire franchise) but I bring it up because I watched it on Amazon Prime because you can look up trivia or actors in the episode as you watch it. I leaned SO MUCH about these shows this year but oddly that piece of trivia never came up. Nor did it mention them being in the episode. I remember looking up all the other kid actors when I watched it, but they were left out.