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.
At 16, he made a bold choice: he walked away from Hollywood to live a normal teenage life.
He enrolled in high school, joined the drama club, mostly “because it was for the rejects, the gay kids, very uncool”.
“I discovered that I liked the world of the theater, which was so different from the world of the teen star.”
