Former Child Actress/Adult Film Star Speaks Out on Hollywood Pressures Facing Young Actors [WATCH]

Former child actress Maitland Ward is sharing her experiences in the entertainment industry, describing how young performers were treated during her early career and reflecting on challenges she says were common for actors at the time, as reported by Fox News.

Ward, who rose to prominence as Jessica Forrester on “The Bold and the Beautiful” and later as Rachel McGuire on the television series “Boy Meets World,” discussed her experiences in an interview tied to an upcoming episode of Investigation Discovery’s “Hollywood Demons,” according to .

In the interview, Ward described what she saw as an environment where young actors were shaped to meet industry expectations. “I can’t speak to how Hollywood is today because it’s such a different animal than it was back when I was getting into it,” she said.

Former Disney star Maitland Ward exposes dark side of Hollywood as a minor: ‘Twisted male gaze’ https://t.co/YlE0En0be9 pic.twitter.com/xEswvLocoY

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“Back then, I think they looked at these young actors as like property coming in. And I really believe the studios, they wanted to mold and form these young actors into what they wanted them to be, what they needed them to be for the company and for the audience, to what they felt would identify with.”

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Ward continued, “I think it was such a factory kind of environment. Like you were just a product being sold, and you knew that yourself.” She added that, at the time, she did not question the situation.

“I mean, I didn’t think anything was wrong at the time with anything that was going on really. I mean it felt ill at ease in my own body and all my feelings and stuff, but I thought that was just me being stupid. I have to be professional. I have to be part of that Hollywood machine. And that’s really what it was.”

Ward said participating in “Hollywood Demons” allowed her to revisit her experiences and discuss them publicly.

“It was very therapeutic to tell the story at the age that I am now about my 16-year-old self, 17, 20, whatever, that my young self coming up in a business that thought of her as a product and was very dismissive of the product a lot of the time. They just wanted it for what they wanted it for. And then cast it aside when they didn’t. And that happened to many, many young actors.”

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She also spoke about the expectations placed on young women in the industry. “I think this show really examines that on a lot of fronts in young Hollywood, especially in that world of the 90s and the early 2000s, where women were just put into this box where you had to be this young woman that was either, a virgin and a slut all at once,” she said.

Ward referenced broader industry trends as well, stating, “It was like the Britney Spears thing. She had to go on TV and swear up and down she was a virgin, but she was being used provocatively for her body and her sexual image, and it was all for this like twisted male gaze that Hollywood was just inflicting on everybody. They were telling us things, like this is what the audience wants, this is how they want you to be, this is how they want women to be. But it really wasn’t true because if you go back or you talk to people now, they were like, ‘Oh, I love this stuff about you, or I love stuff about the show.’ And it’s so different from what we were told the audience was craving.”

Looking back on her time on “Boy Meets World,” Ward said she now views certain scenes differently. In a prior interview, she described being “sexualized” during her time on the show.

She recalled, “I didn’t realize the food fight was such a fetish kind of thing, like, food and feet and all this stuff going on. I didn’t realize all of the innuendos that were made in Rachel’s direction and I think the writers, and Michael especially, really enjoyed playing with that, but then it could not be on my terms,” referencing co-creator Michael Jacobs.

Ward said that at the time, those situations were not widely questioned. “We all just thought it was normal and nobody thought anything of it,” she said. “And I’m sure like a younger audience, like if I was a kid watching that, and I didn’t think anything of that. But when you examine it, adults were creating this space and making this kind of product.”

She added that speaking openly about those experiences has helped her connect with others.

“It’s kind of freeing to say, ‘Oh, wait, you felt that way too? And you went through a similar situation.’ There’s so much of the story that we don’t know. We just see like what Hollywood shows us. But [‘Hollywood Demons’] really peels back that barrier that we have. We can see everything that’s going on, and it’s really important that we do examine this, especially for future generations, the younger generation coming through.”

Ward’s episode of “Hollywood Demons: Child Stars Gone Wild” is scheduled to premiere Monday, April 27, with episodes available for streaming on HBO Max.

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