Christy Carlson Romano | The Dark Side of Growing Up on Disney, Shia LaBeouf & Losing Millions!

Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe

Christy Carlson Romano joins Kaitlyn Bristow to discuss her memoir, 'Once Upon a Trainwreck,' revealing the harsh realities behind her early Disney Channel fame.

Key takeaways

• Christy Carlson Romano reveals she blew millions earned as a teen Disney star on psychics, including paying $20,000 for a crystal she never received.
• She became the financial engine for her middle-class family at age 14 to cover tuition and living expenses after her parents faced bankruptcy.

Main topics

• Child stardom and Disney Channel pressures
• Financial exploitation and mismanagement

Notable quotes

"Achievement was the price of love."

Conclusion

The episode offers a candid look at the hidden costs of early fame, emphasizing that vulnerability

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) This episode of Off The Vine is brought to you by Instant Hydration. For a better way to stay hydrated, go to instanthydration.com slash vine and use my promo code vine for over 40 % off your first subscription order. It's Instant Hydration's best offer available. Bowling Branch, upgrade your sleep with Bowling Branch. Get 15 % off your first order, plus free shipping at B-O-L-L-A-N-D, branch.com slash vine20, code vine20. and Macy's. Go check out the downtown Muse trend in-store or online at macys.com. Speaker 4 (0:36) You're listening to Off The Vine with Caitlin Bristow. Speaker 4 (0:40) Hey, everybody. Welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. Now, if you grew up watching Disney Channel in the early 2000s, like I did, you definitely know my guest today. Christy Carlson Romano starred as Wren Stevens on Even Stevens. She voiced the one and only Kim Possible and went head to head with Hilary Duff in Cadet Kelly. Speaker 3 (1:00) But while her career looked... Pretty damn perfect from the outside. Her memoir tells a very different story. So Once Upon a Trainwreck is the book, Speaker 4 (1:07) the fall and rise of a child star. It gets into what was actually happening behind the scenes, becoming a breadwinner as a kid, losing millions of dollars, addiction, toxic relationships, and eventually having to figure out who she was when she wasn't the girl everyone knew from the Disney Channel. We get into literally everything. So I just want to welcome Christy to Off the Vine. Speaker 5 (1:30) First of all, where do you live? So I live in Austin, Texas. Oh, yeah. We came in for for a whole day. That's Speaker 4 (1:37) awesome. We're having a Speaker 5 (1:38) blast. Wait, Speaker 4 (1:39) you're just here for the day? Yeah, Speaker 5 (1:40) I'm just here for the day. It's, you know, it's that press time to market the book. It's freaking wild. Yeah. You got to do it. You got to do it. Are you going to do like a book tour where you get to like meet Speaker 4 (1:50) people? I Speaker 5 (1:51) am. Oh, that's exciting. I am so excited. So I'm coming to New York, LA and Austin. And New York is October 5th, right? October 5th at the 92nd street Y. That's awesome. So that's exciting. And then LA we're doing Zibby's bookshop, October 9th, right? Am I getting the dates? Nice. Nice. On October 3rd, which is coincidentally the first day of ACL, I'm doing Austin, which is my hometown now. Am I Speaker 4 (2:20) crazy? What's ACL? Austin City Limits. Oh, it's like Speaker 5 (2:23) our, I don't know, Woodstock or whatever you want to call it. It's our, you know, it's our everything. ACL is such a huge thing for Austin. It's crazy. How long Speaker 4 (2:33) have you been in Austin? Six years. Oh, wow. Crazy. I love it there. Do you? Yeah, I do. What do you love about it? Well, I'm going to be honest. So I loved it a lot more before. I feel like Speaker 3 (2:44) it was way Speaker 4 (2:44) more artsy and music and all that before. Speaker 4 (2:49) changed a little bit a lot of it but i do love all the food scene the health scene they have like great workouts and like health and wellness stuff there they do yeah Speaker 5 (2:59) they do you're right they have run clubs they always talk about how like if the single scene is really like dominated by pickleball and run clubs hilarious Speaker 4 (3:06) you'll catch me not there i cannot run for the life of me i want to run so bad and i just always like same the idea of being like i don't for a run or like a marathon well that does not intrigue me at all it doesn't intrigue me but i wish i could do it yeah same do you know who neve shulman is no okay he was the host of catfish yes i do know who you're talking about i could just leave it there but i also beat him on dancing with the stars and um i shook his hand and said i would run a marathon and i usually would mean that and i went back on it because i was like i can't yeah Speaker 3 (3:41) i Speaker 4 (3:41) just can't do it Speaker 3 (3:42) no Speaker 4 (3:43) Anyways, can we get to you? Yeah. Oh, please. Speaker 3 (3:45) Whatever Speaker 4 (3:46) works. I first of all, I started reading your book yesterday. Congratulations on all of it. So exciting. Thank you. It is relatable to many people, even if they didn't experience what you've experienced, because you're very vulnerable and open and honest in the book, which I appreciate. And I think people remember you as, you know, the responsible Disney girl, because Ren Stevens was the overachiever. Kim Possible could do literally anything. Behind the scenes, your life was not as put together as people probably assumed, which isn't that for everybody that's a figure online or on TV or something. It's never what you assume. But you wrote in your memoir that you learned really young. And I remember this from the beginning of your book, that achievement was the price of love. Speaker 3 (4:31) So Speaker 4 (4:31) do you mean, for example, you grew up dancing. If you looked the part, if you... performed well, that equals Speaker 5 (4:39) love. Yeah. Is that what Speaker 4 (4:41) you Speaker 5 (4:41) mean by that? I think it's a, it's a larger concept. That's a through line through the book that gets me in trouble quite a lot of times, because I think like the idea of. Speaker 5 (4:53) acceptance and community and family, like all of these themes are things that I think I'm always at odds with. And I think a lot of people are at odds as they're growing up, like, where's my place? Where do I fit in? I think that achievement is a really quick way to feeling accepted, but it doesn't necessarily matter. Speaker 4 (5:18) as much Speaker 5 (5:19) as Speaker 4 (5:19) we think it does. Speaker 5 (5:20) When Speaker 4 (5:20) do you remember first making that connection? Oh Speaker 5 (5:23) my gosh. I mean, in the book, we have one of the first memories I've ever had that I discovered during some deep, I think it was actually, I don't know, it was during a therapist session. Yeah. They were like, what's your first, you know, memory? And it was like peeing my pants on stage. Yeah. And what were you, five? I was about six, just about six, but yeah. Speaker 4 (5:45) Yep. Cause I remember I could picture, I think it was 1989, but you were born in 84. I was dang. You're good with these numbers. I'm just like, she can't Speaker 5 (5:56) run, Speaker 4 (5:56) but she can count. I can. Well, no, I can't. I'm not even good with numbers. So this is really impressive that I'm remembering this, but that's, um, that is such a traumatic first memory because. You've probably felt shame and embarrassment and all of the things that that's always our first memory is the bad ones. I know. And it's tough because, you know, I have two girls and it's like you want them Speaker 5 (6:16) to remember like, you know, the best times and you try everything you can. Well, they will, too. I mean, I hope so. Peeing your Speaker 4 (6:23) pants when you're five is like that. It could be a lot worse. Yeah. But that's that's a that was your first. Okay, wait, no, because I was asking what your first connection was with that. And it was that? Yes, because Speaker 5 (6:34) I was on stage, essentially waiting to be told if I had gotten first place or not. Right. And so, you know, it seems very simple, but to a child's mind, which, you know, something about the book, which I found really cathartic was writing it through the lens of my age. And then, you know, something. special after every chapter is a letter to my daughters. Uh, but every chapter changes so much from the way that I speak to the way that, you know, I'm interacting with people and, um, just the, the lessons that I've learned or haven't learned. Uh, and so, yeah, you'll see as you continue to read to like who I am when I begin, you start to really worry about and invest in because you're like, where is this going? Yes. Yes. Where is it going? Yeah, it's I'm already locked Speaker 4 (7:27) in. I really I really am. You had a very serious job as a kid, which I you know, most kids are out there picking their nose and like playing in a field. And you had like a serious job. Now, at some point, you became part of the financial engine of your family. Do you or I guess did you understand at the time that adults were depending on you to keep working? You know, that's a great question. So at first what Speaker 5 (7:50) it was, was I was the financial engine of my career up until I started to work for Disney and I started making real money. Speaker 2 (7:57) And Speaker 5 (7:57) to be, to be honest, I don't know if I would say that I love the fact that none of that money was put away or rationed or, you know, you know, I think that kids in the industry who are Nepo babies actually have a way larger chance at being. coming successful because they have a lot less to lose. And I know that people want to, you know, smack down on them and stuff. And I actually, I'm one of the people that's like, no, like give them a shot. Like they. give them enough room to hang themselves. But at the same time, like if they're talented, they'll have the stick-to-tiveness to make a career. It's not easy to keep a career in the industry. But when it comes to what it means to have something to fall back on, like there's nothing short of, you know, my family was very scrappy, middle class, I would say. My dad kind of going in and out of consulting jobs and that sort of... leading to bankruptcy for my parents and, you know, just like a bunch of messiness. So for me, the only way that my mom could justify me continuing my career is if the jobs I got as commercials and things as a very young child, I would end up booking, even if it was theater, things that didn't even pay that much, all of that would go into my private school tuition in the city here, or my subways, or our little meals and stuff like that. So that wasn't quite the engine for them yet, but my money was never truly allocated for my financial independence. Let's put it that way. Speaker 4 (9:35) Do you know... Why? Because it was helping them or what? Do you know why? Well, Speaker 5 (9:41) initially, I think it was the mindset of, well, this is the justification for me having four children and she's not going to you're not going to tell me no. My parents had a very contentious relationship. And so in order for her to justify us perpetually leaving the other three children, it had to be that I was I was paying for myself. And in some ways that's, you know, looking back, I'm not, I wasn't expecting anyone to pay my way, like my dad and whatever, but it's, it's, it is a massive sacrifice any way you look at it. Like it's a sacrifice for my mom to sort of displace the rest of my siblings, for my dad to lose a relationship with me. And sort of the sacrifice of sort of, you know, that, that. conventional childhood is it, there's a lot of layers to that. Yeah. What age were Speaker 4 (10:35) you when you started doing Disney? Oh, so I was about 14, 14. Yeah. Okay. That's Speaker 5 (10:40) when Speaker 4 (10:40) we shot the pilot for even Stevens. Speaker 5 (10:42) Wow. Yep. And then on my 16th birthday was when we started the actual filming and all throughout the rest of my high school was when we were filming it. Did you ever Speaker 4 (10:52) want to quit Disney or were you like ride or die loving it? That's a really good question. Speaker 5 (10:58) I think that, you know, I'm the first generation of Disney Channel stars. Yes. So we didn't have the publicity or, you know, the social media and the marketing that they have now. Or even during like 2.0, which would have been like High School Musical. Right. That would have been even like another generation because after me came. I want to say raven. And so we're really looking at sort of the grassroots of when it all started. I could not have known that I would have had this much of a cult following or whatever you want to call it this many years later for doing these shows. And so it goes back to my mom sort of having a very specific mindset. And maybe this is because they were hurting for money, but it was like, say yes to everything. We can't afford to say no. Be nice, be agreeable, be the perfect girl. Just like give them no reason to think that, you know, that you take up too much space. Speaker 4 (12:08) That's interesting because in your book, I think you talk a lot about being a people pleaser. So was that learned behavior or were you always just a people pleaser? Speaker 5 (12:16) A hundred percent. Like if you were to ask me, like, when is. When is the first time you realize that being compliant gets you what you want? It's like immediately. Right. Immediately. I think also to me being the youngest in an Italian American family, it's like sort of keep your mouth shut. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you have three other siblings who are screaming and yelling all the time and fighting. And so I think it's also too partly it's just who I am. I think genetically I just came out the kind of kid, you know, I have two kids. my youngest is feral. My oldest, I can see a lot of me and her. But we've also, luckily, I have a husband who is a former Marine and is a girl dad in a way that's so refreshingly protective, but at the same time giving them their autonomy and teaching my oldest that even though she... she's a little awkward to still have a backbone. So she's never bullied. And I love that for her, you know, and it's like, how do you, Speaker 4 (13:15) how do you teach backbone for kids to not get bullied? I love that. Speaker 5 (13:20) Yeah. I mean, I, I, I gotta say maybe it's some of his genetics, but we at a very early age just taught her to speak up for herself. And I think part of that was me being triggered by the smallest thing, you know, that, that would happen to her. And she'd come home and say, you know, this happened and be like, well, you can, can Speaker 4 (13:37) say this. Yeah. I can't imagine how hard it is to be a parent and not parent due to your own traumas and triggers to, you know, but also that's helpful in a way too. It's exhausting. It feels like it would be exhausting. It's exhausting because you have to Speaker 5 (13:54) check in with yourself all the time. Is this me? Is this my projection? Is Speaker 4 (13:57) this helpful? Is this? No, truly that's it's, it takes a lot of self-awareness to do that. But I do want to talk about the money part of it because i feel like you've been more honest about this than many other child stars that i've heard of nobody talks about money i think that Speaker 5 (14:14) we're just starting to get a lot more case studies and, you know, people talking about this. But I think it's really important to be honest about it. Because you know how you go to LA and you look around and you're like, what do all these people do? How do they make a Speaker 4 (14:29) living? I think that here, walking the streets of New York all the time, I'm like, what is Speaker 5 (14:33) everyone doing? It's expensive Speaker 4 (14:34) here. It's so expensive. It's just expensive to walk down the streets. Two nights here, staying here. And I'm like, it's $3,000. Then you have a tiramisu latte from Starbucks, the fanciest one in Soho. Like, well, there you go. Well, that's probably why. Yeah. Speaker 5 (14:49) I'm not. Yeah. Speaker 3 (14:50) Yeah. Speaker 4 (14:50) That's true. But Speaker 3 (14:51) I Speaker 4 (14:51) mean, you've openly said I've made millions of dollars and I blew it. And I think people hear Disney star, they just think you're set for life. Do they really? I think so. Fascinating to me. A Disney star? Yeah, Speaker 5 (15:02) I would think so. I guess so. Especially because you think of Selena Gomez. Yeah. And she's like one of the richest people in the world. Yeah. And she was able to do that. Zendaya and all of the, you know, Miley Cyrus and stuff like that. I completely guess. I understand that. Speaker 4 (15:17) Yeah. And it's also such a fascinating side to be a child and be the breadwinner and then try to understand money at the same time. Oh, it's horrible. Yeah. I can't imagine. So what is, in your opinion, I don't want to say the dumbest, but like the silliest financial decision you made when you had Disney money? Oh, my gosh. I mean, Speaker 5 (15:37) I've said it many times. I just think that the stupidest thing that I could have done was. give some money to a psychic, right? Like I gave... I've been there, by the way. Wait, you have? Speaker 4 (15:46) Yeah. We need to talk about it. I literally gave her like so much money for, she said it was soap from Jerusalem that would like heal my inner Speaker 5 (15:53) child. Soap? Yep. I Speaker 4 (15:54) feel so good about this right now. Speaker 5 (15:55) Yeah. Speaker 4 (15:56) Because Speaker 5 (15:56) mine's Speaker 4 (15:57) a Speaker 5 (15:57) crystal that I never got. Speaker 4 (15:58) But how much money did you spend on the Speaker 5 (15:59) crystal? So here's the thing that I, that didn't make the book. The first, the first encounter that I had is documented in the book. And then I had another breakup. like I would say about a year later. And I had been engaged to the man and it was like a whole thing. And I felt so left out. And I moved back to California and was in sort of a low place that I went and found another psychic. And I was like, take my money because I need this crystal. And I know I need this crystal. What a lucky day for that woman. Truly. Because I can't wait till you tell us how much Speaker 4 (16:37) you spent on it. Speaker 5 (16:38) So the first time I think I spent about $20,000 and then the next time I think I told her it was $20,000. Can you believe that? $20,000. Yeah. And I didn't really even have that much float. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't like, again, we talk about Disney money and what we're talking about is not what you think. So TV money is not the same when you're on cable. for a kid's network than it is than if you were on Big Bang Theory during primetime TV. It's just very different. Speaker 4 (17:11) Yeah. Speaker 5 (17:12) So Speaker 4 (17:12) if anything, you should have been saving. The $20,000 for a rainy day and not a crystal. Of Speaker 3 (17:19) course. I should have bought a home. But did it... You know? Was Speaker 4 (17:22) there something... positive that came from it because I've had so many experiences with psychics and mediums and some are complete frauds and some I'm like that really like did heal something in me. I also do love crystals. Are you past that phase now? Cause I think I'm more spiritual now, Speaker 2 (17:40) you know, Speaker 4 (17:41) and I was raised Catholic and Speaker 5 (17:42) I think I'm getting back to, I've had a lot of crazy things happen with my health in the last few years. Um, and I think that I'm getting back to the spirituality, but I don't deny that people have gifts, right? Actually, crazy story. My husband was found by a psychic. His biological father kidnapped him when he was like one years old. No. Yes. He was one of the, like a victim of one of those where abusive dad, mom was trying to get away. He caught wind of it and he grabbed him and he went down to Florida with him and nobody could find him because he had told people he went. to Colorado or something. And so his poor mom, she had him at 17. She was like trying to get, to find out where they took him. And they went to the FBI and the FBI said, we work with a psychic. And the psychic- Speaker 4 (18:36) You are kidding. Speaker 5 (18:37) I'm not kidding you. It's crazy story. And the psychic found him, knew exactly where he was and like some very specific details that got them to get him back. Okay. Well, so he must Speaker 4 (18:49) be Speaker 5 (18:49) a Speaker 4 (18:50) believer. He, he is. He's like, I can't deny people have gifts. Wow. That's when people are like, okay, give me the lottery numbers