Feldman’s Hollywood nightmare
Corey Feldman understands the perils of being a child star.
Corey Feldman understands the perils of being a child star, said Claire Hoffman in Details. That’s why he’s banned his 9-year-old son from pursuing a career in acting. “No way in hell,” he says. “Not gonna happen. Ever.” By the time he started high school, Feldman had already acted in several Hollywood films, including Stand by Me and Gremlins, but his fame held little sway with his classmates. “That was the irony, right?” he says. “I’m in all these teen magazines. There’s millions of kids sending me fan mail. [But] girls didn’t look at me. I was beaten up at school every day.” Feldman was miserable. “I tried to kill myself almost on a daily basis.’’ In Hollywood, the teen idol was “surrounded by a nest of pedophiles” who molested him and his young co-stars. “That was my reality,” he says. “These were devilish, sick-minded individuals.” Meanwhile, his parents squandered his early fortune, forcing him to legally emancipate himself from them at 15. Unfortunately for Feldman, he can’t quit the industry, and still takes small parts. “Because I never made millions of dollars, I can’t just retire,” he says. “It’s pretty embarrassing to look at people like Tom Hanks—when you run into them at the local bagel shop, and they go, ‘So what are you doing these days?’”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
July 13 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include new TSA rules, FEMA cuts, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy complimenting Donald Trump's new wardrobe
-
5 weather-beaten cartoons about the Texas floods
Cartoons Artists take on funding cuts, politicizing tragedy, and more
-
What has the Dalai Lama achieved?
The Explainer Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has just turned 90, and he has been clarifying his reincarnation plans