”Every teen girl’s dream” in the ’90s now lives a quite life and works as a psychologist

Dads, learning lines instead of math homework, and growing up under the lights.

“I played pretend, and I was good at playing pretend… and all of a sudden people were making a lot of money, and I didn’t want to do it anymore,” he recalled years later.

The teenage heartthrob loved acting but felt trapped by the world it created. Normal childhood moments — playgrounds, friends, school dances — were replaced with studios, scripts, and interviews.

Breaking the mold

By his mid-teens, fame was shaping every part of his identity. Publicists curated his image. Photo shoots and press junkets polished it further.

The boy America adored was suddenly a brand. Soon, he began to wonder who he really was behind the glossy covers.

“He was very well put together, and I wanted to get to know him,” he once said of his public persona.

At 16, he made a bold choice: he walked away from Hollywood to live a normal teenage life.Continue reading…