The world first fell in love with the endearing Mara Wilson in the early 1990s. She was a child actor best remembered for her roles as the bright young girl in beloved family films like Miracle on 34th Street and Mrs. Doubtfire.
The rising actress, who turned 37 on July 24, looked like she was ready for big things, but as she got older, she lost her “cute” factor and vanished from the big screen.
She continues, “If you’re not cute anymore, if you’re not beautiful, then you are worthless. Hollywood was burned out on me.”
To find out what happened to Wilson, continue reading!
When five-year-old Mara Wilson played Robin Williams’ youngest kid in Mrs. Doubtfire in 1993, she won over millions of fans’ hearts.
When the California native was invited to feature in one of the highest-grossing comedies in Hollywood history, she had already made appearances in advertisements.
“My parents grounded me even though they were proud of me.” My mother would always tell me that I’m just an actor if I ever stated something like, “I’m the greatest!” Wilson, who is now 37, remarked, “You’re just a kid.”
Following her big screen premiere, she was cast in 1994’s Miracle on 34th Street as Susan Walker, the same character Natalie Wood had performed in 1947.
Wilson describes her audition as follows: “I read my lines for the production team and told them I didn’t believe in Santa Claus” in an essay for the Guardian. “But I did believe in the tooth fairy and had named mine after Sally Field,” she writes, referring to the Oscar-winning performer who portrayed her mother in Mrs. Doubtfire.
“Very unhappy”
Next, Wilson starred with Danny DeVito and his real-life wife Rhea Perlman in the 1996 film Matilda as the magical girl.
Additionally, Suzie, her mother, lost her fight against breast cancer in that same year.
“I wasn’t really sure of my identity.I was two different people before and after that. Regarding her profound grief following her mother’s passing, Wilson explains, “She was like this omnipresent thing in my life.””I found it kind of overwhelming,” she continues. I mostly just wanted to be a typical child, especially in the wake of my mother’s passing.
The young girl claims that she was “the most unhappy” and that she was fatigued when she became “very famous.”
She reluctantly took on her final significant role in the 2000 fantasy adventure movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad at the age of 11. “The characters had too little age. I reacted viscerally to [the] writing at 11 years old.I thought, ugh. I love it, she says to the Guardian.
“Destroyed”
Her decision to leave Hollywood wasn’t the only one, though.
Wilson was going through puberty and growing out of the “cute” position as a young teenager, so the roles weren’t coming in for him.
“Just another weird, nerdy, loud girl with bad hair and teeth, whose bra strap was always showing,” was how she was described.
“When I was thirteen, no one had complimented me on my appearance or called me cute—at least not in a flattering way.”
Wilson had to cope with the demands of celebrity and the difficulties of becoming an adult in the public glare. It had a great influence on her, her shifting image.
“I had this Hollywood notion that you are worthless if you are not attractive or cute anymore. Because I connected that directly to my career’s downfall. Rejection still hurts, even if I was kind of burned out on it and Hollywood was burned out on me.
Mara in the role of author
Wilson wrote her first book, “Where Am I Now?,” before becoming a writer. “Ancidental Fame and True Tales of Childhood,” published in 2016.
The book explores “her journey from accidental fame to relative (but happy) obscurity, covering everything from what she learned about sex on the set of Melrose Place, to discovering in adolescence that she was no longer ‘cute’ enough for Hollywood.”
In addition, she penned the memoir “Good Girls Don’t,” which explores her experiences living up to expectations as a young performer.
In her Guardian column, she states, “Being cute just made me miserable.” It was always my expectation that I would give up acting, not the other way around.
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10+ People Who’d Really Like to Restart Their Unfortunate Day
Statistics show that people who believe in bad luck will have more accidents on Friday the 13th. Our brains also seem to only hold onto the ill-fated times — like when we drop an egg on the floor, that memory will stay with us for quite some time, even if we successfully didn’t drop it hundreds of times.
Shared sorrow is half a sorrow, and on this note, Bright Side found 17 people who would like to push the “undo” button on their terrible day.
1. “This tree fell and pulled the whole lawn up with it.”
2. “My friend’s car was squished by a tree earlier today after some high winds.”
3. “Started a new job and was told they recycle their earplugs at the end of every shift. I think I’ll just go buy my own.”
4. “I dropped my deep fat fryer on my wooden floor.”
5. “We had a huge storm the other day, and this happened to my friend.”
6. “The watermelon I grew”
7. “That’s my luggage, and it’s not on the plane.”
8. “I have a shy bladder and walked into my worst nightmare.”
9. “The one time I decided to drive instead of ride my bike, this happened halfway to work.”
10. “All I wanted was to make myself some orange juice.”
11. “How my friend’s Friday the 13th started out”
12. “I’ve seen it happen in movies but never dreamed I would see it in real life.”
13. “Just so you know, a 10-foot pipe does not fit in a Toyota RAV4.”
14. “Ate a huge bag of trail mix for about 1 month. Got to the bottom and found 3 rusty screws.”
15. “If you were a cat, there’s a 9/10 chance you’d be named ’Socks.’”
16. “My bedroom ceiling collapsed.”
17. “Tenants called today to tell me the toilet wouldn’t flush, the plumber turned up to this.”
What’s worse — a sock sliding down inside one of your shoes or wearing wet socks? How do you spoil yourself on those days when nothing seems to go right?
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