By David Richardson
We like to describe Australia as the land of the ‘fair go’ but that’s far from the truth when it comes to the treatment of our young stars.
Some people are hell bent on tearing down child stars. Whether it’s fourteen-year-old Jack Vidgen, or six-year-old Eden Wood, there’s no stopping those who are out to get them.
Nikki Webster was the most famous little girl in Australia, a thirteen-year-old who became a household name, until she was cut down by the tall poppy syndrome.
Now it’s time for Australia’s latest talent, Jack Vidgen, to be cut down by a Facebook site offering a bounty to kill him. An unbelievable attack from cyber space, that’s now being investigated by the police.
“Thank God I didn’t have Facebook when I was in the midst of my career. I did have death threats but nothing that was so public. It was more people sending me notes and stuff like that,” Webster said.
The road to stardom in this country is littered with the psychologically broken bodies of young stars – hounded out of their own country and forced to quit promising careers.
Entertainment reporter Craig Bennett is ashamed at some of the dirty tricks and campaigns launched against our youngest stars. “I think it’s pretty heavy going in Australia. In America and Britain it exists, but I don’t think anywhere near the degree, and the really personal degree, that it exists here. And I’m really sad about that,” Bennett said.
Peter Andre is a shocking example of Australia’s obsession with knocking down our stars. “He was literally howled out of Australia. A golden boy singer, and good looking, he had a promising acting career. He then said the death threats began rolling in, the hate mail was tumultuous, to the point where he was having twenty panic attacks a day, and had to seek refuge in a mental clinic in New York,” Bennett explained.
Danni Minogue was also vilified here, and forced to England to launch her own career. Jason Donovan barely survived his Neighbours experience, becoming another star forced overseas.
Hate sites litter the internet, and our young, vulnerable and inexperienced stars are targeted by cyber warfare. The recent, shocking attacks on Bindi Irwin were some of the worst.
“There are Facebook sites springing up everywhere lampooning our fabulous talent, and taking unbelievable potshots, and saying the worst things. ‘Throw a stingray at Bindi Irwin’, is one such Facebook smear campaign, and these things are growing by the second. It is alarming, frightening, and shocking.”
Psychologist Grant Brecht warns the hate cyber sites, and threats do take their toll on young performers.
“Unfortunately because of the bullying and the death threats, we see a lot of child stars, and those with great talent, deciding not to go on with it. The price they pay is too high,” Brecht said.
“Death threats can really traumatise young people, and throw them into a great degree of uncertainty. They can suffer and develop performance anxiety where they don’t want to perform anymore, and don’t want to go out in public because they’re very frightened and fearful of what may happen to them.
“By and large we turn our backs on our own stars that have fantastic talent, so they need to go overseas to realise their full potential. That in itself is a tragedy,” Brecht concluded.
Source: Today Tonight