WATCH: New Documentary Reveals Abuse of Former Child Stars

Former child stars are opening about sexual abuse and emotional trauma resulting from being a child actor in Bill & Ted star Alex Winter’s new HBO documentary, Showbiz Kids. . .

Winter — best known for portrayal of Bill S. Preston, Esq. in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure — does not appear in his documentary, because he “would have overtaken the film.” Winter, now 55, revealed to The Post that he had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of an adult during a show’s run when he was only 12-years-old.

“I didn’t feel safe talking about it for 25 years,” Winter said. “You keep [the experience] compartmentalized and it either blows apart — drugs, alcohol, suicide — or you get help, process what happened and put the pieces back together.”

. . .Several of the former child stars in the documentary noted that their parents had pressured them of living up to their personal ambitions. Wil Wheaton — best known for his role in the hit 1986 film Stand By Me — revealed in the documentary that his mother had pushed him to be an actor because she had her own dreams of fame. “It was never my idea,” he said. “I don’t know a 7-year-old who says they want to go to work.”

Evan Rachel Wood — who starred in the sexually provocative film Thirteen when she “was 14, on the verge of becoming a woman” — talked about how failing to become an actress was not an option in her family. “It would be disappointing to people if I didn’t want to do this because I was talented,” said Wood, now 32. “If I didn’t want to do this, the vibe would have been ‘what a waste.’ I didn’t feel that I could stop because I was good. So I just did it.” (Read more from “New Documentary Reveals Abuse of Former Child Stars” HERE)

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