Why Mara Wilson Left Hollywood After *Matilda* at Just 38
During the early 1990s, audiences globally fell head over heels for the delightful Mara Wilson, the child actress celebrated for portraying the highly intelligent little girl in beloved family films such as Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th Street.
The former child star, who is set to turn 39 on July 24, appeared completely destined for a massive career, but as she matured, she ceased being “cute” and ultimately vanished from cinema screens.
“Hollywood was burned out on me,” she notes, elaborating that “if you’re not cute anymore, if you’re not beautiful, then you are worthless.”
Back in 1993, at just five years old, Mara Wilson captured the adoration of millions when she played Robin Williams’ youngest child in the hit movie Mrs. Doubtfire.
The California-native talent had previously been featured in television commercials prior to landing the role in one of the most financially successful comedies in Hollywood history.
“My parents were proud, but they kept me grounded. If I ever said something like, ‘I’m the greatest!’ my mother would remind me, ‘You’re just an actor. You’re just a kid,’” Wilson, currently 38, reflected.
Following her major cinematic premiere, she landed the part of Susan Walker—the identical character portrayed by Natalie Wood in 1947—in the 1994 holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street.
Within an essay published in the Guardian, Wilson details her audition process: “I read my lines for the production team and told them I didn’t believe in Santa Claus.” Pointing to the Academy Award-winning actress who portrayed her mother in Mrs. Doubtfire, she adds, “but I did believe in the tooth fairy and had named mine after Sally Field.”
‘Most unhappy’
Subsequently, Wilson took on the role of the telekinetic youth in 1996’s Matilda, acting alongside Danny DeVito and his actual spouse, Rhea Perlman.
That exact year also brought devastating tragedy when her mother, Suzie, passed away following a fight with breast cancer.
“I didn’t really know who I was…There was who I was before that, and who I was after that. She was like this omnipresent thing in my life,” Wilson explains regarding the profound sorrow she navigated after the death of her mom. She further notes, “I found it kind of overwhelming. Most of the time, I just wanted to be a normal kid, especially after my mother died.”
The young actress was completely drained, and during the peak of her fame, she admits she “was the most unhappy.”
At the age of 11, she reluctantly took on her final prominent role in the 2000 fantasy adventure picture Thomas and the Magic Railroad. “The characters were too young. At 11, I had a visceral reaction to [the] script…Ugh, I thought. How cute,” she shared with the Guardian.
‘Burned out’
However, her departure from the entertainment industry was not entirely a personal choice.
As she entered her early teenage years, acting offers ceased arriving for Wilson, who was navigating puberty and shedding her childhood “cuteness.”
She felt like “just another weird, nerdy, loud girl with bad teeth and bad hair, whose bra strap was always showing.”
“At 13, no one had called me cute or mentioned the way I looked in years, at least not in a positive way,” she reveals.
Backstage at @OkaytoSayTX supporting #mentalhealth awareness and destigmatization! pic.twitter.com/IqfFkuRiPj
— Mara Wilson (@MaraWilson) March 8, 2018
Wilson was compelled to navigate the immense stress of celebrity and the hurdles of growing into a young adult under the spotlight. The shifting perception of her physical appearance deeply impacted her self-worth.
“I had this Hollywood idea that if you’re not cute anymore, if you’re not beautiful, then you are worthless. Because I directly tied that to the demise of my career. Even though I was sort of burned out on it, and Hollywood was burned out on me, it still doesn’t feel good to be rejected.”
Mara as the writer
Transitioning into a successful writer, Wilson published her debut book, Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, back in 2016.
The publication explores “everything from what she learned about sex on the set of Melrose Place, to discovering in adolescence that she was no longer ‘cute’ enough for Hollywood, these essays chart her journey from accidental fame to relative (but happy) obscurity.”
Furthermore, she authored Good Girls Don’t, an autobiographical work that scrutinizes her experiences as a child star attempting to meet societal expectations.
“Being cute just made me miserable,” she pens in her Guardian piece. “I had always thought it would be me giving up acting, not the other way around.”
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