Dakota Fanning says she was asked “super-inappropriate questions” as child actor
Dakota Fanning has spoken about her time as a child actor and recalled how she was often asked “super-inappropriate questions”.
The star appeared alongside the likes of Denzel Washington in the 2004 film Man On Fire and Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg‘s version of War Of The Worlds a year later. She started acting on television when she was just six-years-old.
Speaking in a new interview with The Cut, Fanning who is now 30, recalled the uncomfortable nature of being a child actor during interviews. She said that the tabloid obsession with the likes of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan and the impact it had on their careers was “deeply shoved down my throat.”
“In interviews at a young age, I remember journalists asking me, ‘How are you avoiding becoming a tabloid girl?’ People would ask super-inappropriate questions,” she said. “I was in an interview as a child and somebody asked, ‘How could you possibly have any friends?’ It’s like, huh?”
Fanning continued: “I have a lot of compassion for people who have been made into examples. If society and the media hadn’t played their part, who knows?”
“I don’t think that it’s necessarily connected a 100 per cent to being in this business; there are other factors, too. I just didn’t fall into it, and I don’t know the exact reasons except that my family is comprised of very nice, kind, protective people.”
The actor and her sister Elle Fanning, 26, broke into the film industry together with roles in the 2001 movie I Am Sam.
Both sisters have been mainstays in the film and television industry ever since with Dakota most recently appearing in the Netflix miniseries The Perfect Couple, the horror movie The Watchers and Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
After being asked about the idea of the “fallen child actor,” Fanning said: “I’ve definitely felt this kind of vibe from people almost wanting me to fail or something. It makes you feel a little bit guarded. I’m just living my life over here.”
Elsewhere, Fanning recently revealed that Tom Cruise buys her a new pair of shoes every year for her birthday.
The post Dakota Fanning says she was asked “super-inappropriate questions” as child actor appeared first on NME.
Damian Jones
NME
