Sidney Greenbush believes many child actors face a harsh reality after their careers in the spotlight fade.
The former “Little House on the Prairie” star, who shared the role of Carrie Ingalls with her twin sister, Lindsay Greenbush, said she was fortunate to find fulfillment beyond Hollywood. She has a new children’s book, “Seven Sisters: The Lantern of Humanity,” and an eco-conscious online community, Greenbush Twins & Company.
Looking back on her career, Greenbush reflected on the challenges many young actors face — and why she believes having supportive parents made all the difference.
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“The hardest transition for a child star isn’t necessarily when they’re working; it’s the fallout afterward,” she told Fox News Digital. “And I think that’s really apparent in a lot of the stories you hear. In Hollywood, there’s a saying that there’s no such thing as bad press, meaning even if you do something bad, people are talking about you.”
“And so, people go from being in the popular crowd, and everybody wants to know their opinion, to all of a sudden, the show ends, and they get dropped,” she said.
“They get dropped by the network. They get dropped by the social circles. They try to get other jobs, but Hollywood sees them as stereotypical characters, and they don’t break out of that. For child actors, you don’t really understand why that happens, or you think you did something wrong — if you could just be better, funnier, more talented, taller or have blonde hair.”
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“It’s really a struggle for them because those little self-doubt voices [play] in your head,” Greenbush said.
Greenbush credits her decision to step away from Hollywood and pursue other passions with helping her avoid the pitfalls that have plagued many former child stars.
“After ‘Little House’ ended, I did a guest spot in a movie called ‘Hambone and Hillie,'” she said. “Going through that whole experience of auditioning and being one of maybe 1,500 children, and then seeing them hire older actors to play younger, you feel like you’re just trying to swim upstream. You don’t know why you were popular, and now you’re not.”
“I remember when they were making the movie ‘Return to Oz.’ My sister made it to the final three girls who were selected,” she recalled.
“They all did screen tests, and for the silliest of reasons, they chose another girl over her. Of course, we all know there can only be one choice in the end, but it’s a lot of pressure for children. So I decided I was going to explore other things because sometimes you go to what they call ‘cattle calls,’ where there are so many people competing for the same role. The casting directors aren’t always nice.”
Greenbush noted that while her father, Billy Green Bush, is an actor, her mother never pushed her or her sister to chase stardom.
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“My mom didn’t push us toward acting because she wanted it to be our choice if we wanted to do it,” Greenbush said. “But then the opportunity came up, and she thought, ‘We’ll try it and see where it goes.’ It led us to an eight-year career. It was never anything my parents planned. It just happened organically.”
Greenbush and her sister were just 3 when they filmed the pilot for “Little House on the Prairie,” the beloved family drama based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic books about a pioneer family on the American frontier.
Their path to the iconic series began almost by accident after a family friend overheard a casting call for twin girls and connected their father with the opportunity. After appearing in the television movie “Sunshine,” director Joseph Sargent recommended the twins for “Little House on the Prairie.”
Even as a child star, Greenbush said her mother made sure there was a clear line between Hollywood and family life. To protect the girls’ privacy, she called them by different names than the ones they used on set.
Greenbush said her mother served as their fiercest advocate, keeping a close watch on the twins and never hesitating to speak up if she felt something wasn’t safe.
“Things for child actors have changed a lot over the years,” she said. “We did have social workers on the set. But really, it fell to my mom to make sure we were dressed, ready to go and not grumpy.”
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“She struggled in the early years because there were two of us. She couldn’t be on set with one of us while watching the other. So, for the first couple of years, they hired a woman to help my mom. If my mom went to the set with my sister, the woman they hired stayed with me.”
“My mom would speak out when she felt they were doing things that were dangerous or not in our best interest,” she continued. “The ‘Ma’s Holiday’ episode is a perfect example because everybody always asks about my sister being on the roof. The truth is she was fully harnessed and attached to the roof. If that hadn’t been the case, my mother would never, ever, ever have allowed that to happen.”
Greenbush has fond memories of bringing “Little House on the Prairie” to life. She recalled showrunner Michael Landon playing with her and her sister on set and Melissa Gilbert dressing them up for trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Greenbush is excited to relive her childhood and see “Little House on the Prairie” find a new generation of fans. Netflix’s reboot of the beloved series will premiere July 9, giving a new audience the chance to discover the stories that first captivated viewers decades ago.
These days, Greenbush has found a new purpose beyond Hollywood. She said the morals and life lessons at the heart of “Little House on the Prairie” inspired her to write her own children’s book while building an online community.
“In entertainment, when you lose your authenticity, people feel it immediately,” Greenbush said.
Today, Greenbush said parents play the biggest role in protecting child actors, starting with respecting their children’s wishes.
“Number one, let it be their choice,” Greenbush said. “If you see they want to do it, and they have the drive to do it, then let them choose to do it. But there’s a lot that goes along with it besides acting classes and interviews. So anytime they say, ‘This isn’t for me. I don’t want to do this anymore,’ let them stop. Don’t force them to do it.”
“There’s so much that goes along with acting,” Greenbush said. “A lot of times, people crave being famous. Then, when they get there, they realize it’s completely different from what they thought it would be.
“And if you get to that point and think it’s too much, it’s OK to do what so many child actors did — and what we did — which is take a step back, pause for a moment and decide whether that’s really the avenue you want to take going forward. There’s no harm in taking a moment to navigate those waters.”
