Frankie Muniz says he would never let his young son become a child actor, despite his own Hollywood experience being positive.
The “Malcolm in the Middle” star, 38, told Pedestrian TV in an interview on Sunday that he doesn’t want his 3-year-old son Mauz, whom he shares with wife Paige Price, to go into acting.
“I would never let my kid go into the business,” Muniz said. “Not that I had a negative experience, because to be honest, my experience was 100% positive. But I know so many people, friends that were close to me, that had such insanely negative experiences.”
Muniz’s comments come in the wake of the Investigation Discovery docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” in which several Nickelodeon stars revealed the verbal, mental, and in one case sexual abuse they experienced while working for the network in the 1990s and 2000s.
“I just think it’s an ugly world in general,” Muniz said.
He also pointed out that even when child actors aren’t abused, their can be a psychological toll.
“I never cared about rejection, but there’s a ton of rejection,” he said.
Muniz left acting, and is now a professional race car driver. In an interview with People last year, he explained that his son is part of what inspired him to race professionally.
“I want him to grow up seeing me reach for my dreams and work hard for something that I’m passionate about, and the one world where I feel like I still have unfinished business was the racing world. So I’m going to go racing,” he told the outlet.
Story via TMX