You probably know her as Matilda or possibly as the youngest daughter, Natalie Hillard, in Mrs. Doubtfire, or maybe the inquisitive and too-smart-for-her-age Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street.
But for former child actor Mara Wilson, that's where most people's knowledge of her stops, and the reasons behind that are heartbreaking.
Diehard fans may have read Wilson's memoir, Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, which came out back in 2016. In that collection of essays, Wilson pointed out that as accidental and invigorating as her career was, it was just as quickly over, abruptly ending when she was just 12.
In the memoir, Wilson attributed this largely to the fact that as work slowed, both her agent and her mother belittled her, saying she was not "pretty enough" in the early 2000s industry. Wilson also shared that she was exploring her place in the LGBTQ+ community, which broke the illusion of her being the sweet, pure little girl she'd portrayed in film after film.
But in a new interview with Channel 4 News, Wilson revealed another factor that was much more sinister.
The pivotal moment came when she decided to look herself up online to see what was out there about her. Disgustingly, there was a whole forum of deep-fake photographs of her in increasingly sexual scenarios, and the photos used were of Wilson when she was as young as 5.
Wilson reflected:
"The summer I turned 12 years old, I decided to look myself up on the internet."
"And I spent the next 25 years or so... I mean, honestly, more than that, still to this day... wishing that I had never done it."
"They had all of these photos of me from ages 5 to 9, and there were people on this forum, saying that they had images of me nude and having sex.”
“Now, I was 12 years old. Obviously, there was nothing like that out there about me. I had never [even] been kissed."
"Most of the pictures of me out in the public eye were of me from ages 5 to 9 … They were using images of me as a prepubescent child.”
“I was incredibly devastated. I could not stop crying. I felt ashamed, I kind of tried to hide. And I think it may have been one of the factors that led me to not want to act anymore."
You can watch the interview segment here:
@c4news 'I could not stop crying... It may have been one of the factors that led me to not want to act anymore.' Actress and child star Mara Wilson opened up about how fake child sexual abuse material made of her after starring in big films like Matilda made her feel 'incredibly devastated' and warns that AI can make what happened to her 'happen to any woman or child.' #Hollywood #AI #Matilda #Film #C4News
X users discussed the interview, disgusted and hurt that Wilson had to experience that.
Other X users cringed at how much worse this situation could potentially be now, between social media and AI.
Wilson went on to pursue other passions, notably her love of writing and playwriting. She's appeared in major publications like Jezebel, The Toast, McSweeney's, and The Daily Beast. And while she's confident she could land roles in Hollywood, she is more comfortable pursuing what allows her to stay true to herself.
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