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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Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has come to a painful conclusion
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, once one of the most talked-about couples globally, have seen their relationship deteriorate into a state of open hostility.
Since their divorce in 2019, the pair, famously known as “Brangelina”, have been embroiled in ongoing legal disputes and public disagreements, along with a series of serious allegations against one another.
Most recently, in April, Jolie submitted court documents to the Los Angeles Superior Court claiming Pitt had physically abused her, a charge he has strongly denied. The former couple is also locked in a contentious dispute over the sale of a French winery they acquired during their marriage.
In a notable development, reports have emerged that Vivienne, one of their daughters, has chosen to drop “Pitt” from her surname. Now, it appears that her sister Shiloh is following suit, taking steps to make this change official.
According to TMZ, Shiloh celebrated her 18th birthday by filing for a legal name change to Shiloh Jolie. The timing of her paperwork submission, on the day she turned 18, suggests that this was one of her first actions as an adult.
While the name change is pending, it seems likely to go through. Shiloh is one of the six children Jolie and Pitt share, and she isn’t the only one showing strained relations with her father.
Recently, Vivienne made headlines when her name appeared in the official Playbill for the production of The Outsiders, which she helped her mother produce, listed simply as Vivienne Jolie. Similarly, 19-year-old Zahara has reportedly begun using the name Zahara Jolie, and the eldest sibling, Maddox, 22, has also dropped ‘Pitt’ from his name.
While Shiloh is the only child to have formally initiated a name change, the broader trend among the siblings suggests a unified stance in support of their mother amid the ongoing tensions with their father.
In 2020, their brother Pax even took to Instagram to express his disdain for Pitt, saying: “You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell”.
He added ominously: “You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want, but the truth will come to light someday”, finishing with: “So Happy Father’s Day, you f*****g awful human being”.
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