Dakota Fanning reveals the ‘super-inappropriate questions’ she was asked as a child star – after making screen debut age six

Dakota Fanning admitted she’s still affected by the “super-inappropriate” questions she was asked as a child star.

The 30-year-old actress, who rose to fame after starring in the 2001 film I Am Sam, recalled a number of awkward interviews with journalists, who said she asked her uncomfortable things, such as how she planned to “avoid being a tabloid girl to become’. ‘

“People would ask super inappropriate questions,” the artist told The Cut. “As a kid, I was in a job interview and someone asked, ‘How can you even have friends?’ It’s like, “Huh?”

While nodding to stars like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Drew Barrymore, Fanning said she has “a lot of compassion for people who are made into role models.”

‘If society and the media had not played their role, who knows? I don’t think it’s necessarily 100 percent related to being in this industry; There are other factors too,” she explained.

She then praised her loved ones for always having her back and supporting her through the process.

“My family is very nice, friendly, protective people,” she said. ‘I have a mother who taught me how to treat other people, but also how to treat myself. And she was there every second. I was always treated with respect.’

On set, she said she was fortunate to always be “respected as an actor and as an equal.”

‘When I look back on my life, my career is such a current part of it, but I also really think about childhood memories. My life doesn’t feel out of proportion to my work, and I’m so grateful for that. I’m doing work there that matters,” she said enthusiastically.

When Fanning was asked by the publication about the trope of the fallen child actor, she admitted that she sometimes wondered, “Do you want something to happen to me somehow?” Is that what you want to happen to these people? I definitely felt this kind of vibe of people almost wanting me to fail or something.”

‘It makes you feel a bit protected. I’m just living my life here. I also think I was a little too young to fully realize it,” she continued. ‘People couldn’t get away with things like that so often anymore. By the time I reached that age, it was widely recognized that it was probably not the best way to treat people.”

Later in the interview, she reflected on how different the media was in the “early 2000s.”

“It’s crazy how it was normal back then to talk about someone’s cellulite,” she marveled. ‘Of course it was scandalous at the time, but now it’s just unacceptable, so I’m glad that doesn’t happen so often anymore. I mean, there’s still pressure, different pressures, but I think there’s more freedom to just be a royal.”

The 30-year-old actress, who rose to fame after starring in the 2001 film I Am Sam, recalled a number of awkward interviews with journalists, who said she asked her uncomfortable things, such as how she planned to “avoid being would become a tabloid girl’. (pictured in 2005)

“People would ask super inappropriate questions,” the artist told The Cut. “As a kid, I was in a job interview and someone asked, ‘How can you even have friends?’ It’s like, “Huh?”‘ (seen with Brittany Murphy in 2003)

As for the advice she would give her younger self, Fanning said, “I don’t look back and have no regrets.”

“I’m pretty happy with who I was then,” she explained. “I never really let public perception or anything like that influence the choices I made, and I just tried to stay true to myself. I’m quite proud of my former self.’

She said earlier in 2019 PorterEdit that she “made mistakes… but in private.”

“The hard thing about starting so young, and I’ve come to fully accept that, is that when you grow up and become a woman, people think you’re younger,” she noted.

Dakota, who has appeared in more than 44 films since the age of six, revealed that turning 21 “felt like a weight had been lifted” because there was such enormous pressure for the star to “not mess up” in the public eye.

While nodding to stars like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Drew Barrymore, Fanning said she has “a lot of compassion for people who have been made into role models” (seen in 2024)

She said: “Turning 21 was really liberating for me. Before that, things could be scary… I went to a gala dinner and all the glasses were already filled with wine and I held one up for a toast and [people would say]she drinks wine!

‘No, I wasn’t! Stupid little things like that. I mean, I’d been in bars and clubs when someone had an afterparty for a premiere, but I’d never sneaked in.

‘I’ve never gone anywhere I didn’t have to go. I felt like there was such an expectation that I wouldn’t screw up. That could have driven me crazy, because that’s outrageous to put on someone younger, who should make mistakes.

‘And I certainly made mistakes, but only in private. When I turned 21, I felt like a burden had been lifted; I felt more freedom to come to terms with myself.’

In 2019, she previously told PorterEdit that she had “made mistakes… but in private”

Dakota, who has a string of film roles to her name, including playing the younger version of Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, admitted that her parents never pressured her into acting.

She said: ‘I knew I wanted to act since I was six. But I was never made to do anything. […] That’s why I hate it when people insinuate that I was forced to do something.”