What happened to Matilda child star after she disappeared from public eye
Topics: Books, TV And Film, Celebrity
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Sony
Topics: Books, TV And Film, Celebrity
For several celebs that skyrocketed into the spotlight at a young age, the pressure of showbiz seemingly became too much to handle.
While some of these child stars became something of a 'one hit wonder' before calling it quits, others managed to get an impressive handful of professional projects under their belt.
The latter is true in the case of the young actress cast to play the titular character in the on-screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda.
For those in need of a reminder, the 1996 film tells the tale of a six-year-old child prodigy who attempts to navigate her psychokinetic abilities with the help of her loving teacher Miss Honey, all the while avoiding her disreputable family and the cruel head teacher of her school.
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The much-loved flick saw Danny DeVito take on the youngster's con-man car salesman father, Rhea Perlman play her bingo-obsessed mother Zinnia, Pam Ferris cast as the terrifying Miss Trunchbull, and Embeth Davidtz as the ever-sweet Miss Honey.
After garnering praise across Hollywood for her previous childhood productions, nine-year-old Mara Wilson was then cast as Matilda herself.
In the years prior, the rising star had played Robin Williams' adorable daughter Natalie 'Nattie' Hillard in Mrs Doubtfire, and little Susan Walker in festive favourite Miracle on 34th Street.
The roles earned Wilson the 'Young Star of the Year' prize at the 1995 ShoWest Awards, while Matilda saw her achieve further acclaim the following year with a 'Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy Film' win at the YoungStar Awards.
Despite going on to take on leading roles in the 1997 children's-fantasy-comedy A Simple Wish, and the 2000 adventure flick Thomas and the Magic Railroad. The latter would mark Wilson's final film to date.
In fact, for 12 years, the pre-teen actress disappeared from public view - but where exactly did she go? Well, firstly, to school.
After completing high school in Los Angeles in 2005, Wilson relocated to New York, where she attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
During this time, Wilson bravely took on her own one-woman show, which she called Weren't You That Girl?, and which centred on her experience as a child star. She also published a full-length memoir of the same nature, titled Where Am I Now?.
After getting a flavour of writing, a 38-year-old Wilson now works as a writer, contributing most notably to web series.
But what made her quit acting in the first place?
In the years since, Wilson has attempted to answer this question, citing both difficult events in her personal life and the challenges that come hand-in-hand with the entertainment industry.
What many fans of the film might not have realised is that her mother had been dying of cancer while she filmed Matilda, tragically succumbing to the disease six months after filming while it was still in post-production.
On this, Wilson previously told The Guardian: "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."
The former actress also recalled feeling sexualised during much of her on-screen career. In a self-written piece for the New York Times, she claimed that, while it was 'cute when 10-year-olds sent me letters saying they were in love with me, it was not when 50-year-old men did'.
Wilson added: "Before I even turned 12, there were images of me on foot fetish websites and photoshopped into child pornography.
"Every time, I felt ashamed."