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Topics: Film and TV
Lucy Devine
Topics: Film and TV
Matilda star Mara Wilson has opened up about her career as a child actor.
Mara, now 37, shot to fame when she was just six years old, after she appeared in Mrs Doubtfire, followed by Miracle on 34th Street and then the hugely popular and timeless Matilda.
The movie tells the story of Matilda Wormwood, a talented little girl who is barely acknowledged by her parents, who don't appreciate how special she is.
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Meanwhile, after starting school, she encounters Miss Trunchbull - a torturous headmistress who wreaks havoc on her elementary school.
Through her special kinetic powers, Matilda seeks revenge on her parents - and Miss Trunchbull - before being adopted by the kind and caring Miss Honey.
Sadly, despite the film being a favourite among nineties kids, Mara has spoken about how her experience of becoming famous at such a young age was far from positive.
Around the time that Mara shot to fame, her mother sadly died of breast cancer.
Speaking to The Guardian, she said: “I felt completely lost, completely unmoored.
“There was who I was before that, and who I was after that. She was like this omnipresent thing in my life. I really believed that she would never die and as I’ve gotten older, she’s taken on even more of a mythical quality in my mind.
"To lose her felt like this incredible upheaval. I didn’t really know who I was.”
Mara explained that her parents assumed that by working on children's movies, she would be safe.
But Mara said she was 'still sexualised', mainly by fans.
“I had people sending me inappropriate letters and posting things about me online,” she said.
“I made the mistake of Googling myself when I was 12 and saw things that I couldn’t unsee.”
Mara saw her images on porn websites, as well as her head superimposed on to other bodies.
Meanwhile, she recalls that when she was seven, she was asked by journalists if she knew 'what French kissing was'.
Following Matilda, Mara also starred in A Simple Wish and Thomas and the Magic Railroad in 2000.
After this, she decided to take a break from acting and stepped away from the spotlight.
These days, Mara focusses on writing and also provides voice-acting work for audiobooks and podcasts.
She says she probably wouldn't be interested in returning to the spotlight, as she's 'not interested in changing herself'.
“I defined myself for so long by the media’s terms, by Hollywood’s terms,” Mara explained.
“Instead of defining myself by my own goals, my own relationships, my own life.”