Dakota Fanning Recalls Being Asked ‘Super-Inappropriate Questions’ as a Child Star

"People [were] almost wanting me to fail or something," Fanning said of her 25-year career.

Dakota Fanning is reflecting on surviving the “fallen child actor” trope. The “Perfect Couple” star, who began acting at age six back in 2000, told The Cut that she endured being asked “super-inappropriate questions” during interviews when she was a kid.

“In interviews at a young age, I remember journalists asking me, ‘How are you avoiding becoming a tabloid girl?’ People would ask super-inappropriate questions,” Fanning said. “I was in an interview as a child and somebody asked, ‘How could you possibly have any friends?’ It’s like, ‘Huh?’”

Fanning added that she has “definitely felt this kind of vibe from people almost wanting me to fail or something” as she has been in Hollywood for almost 25 years.

“It makes you feel a little bit guarded,” she said of outgrowing (and outlasting) the stereotypes of being a child actor. “I’m just living my life over here.”

And it helped that Fanning was always understood to be a serious actor on set, starring in dramas like “I Am Sam” and “Man on Fire.”

“I was always treated with respect. It was never, ‘Bring the kid in! Get her out!’” Fanning said. “I wasn’t working with people who treated me that way — I was being respected as an actor and as equal as you can be for that age. Looking back on my life, my career is such a present part of it, but I really think about the childhood memories, too. My life doesn’t feel disproportionate with work, and I’m so grateful for that. I’m there doing work that matters.”

Fanning added that she has a “lot of compassion for people who have been made into examples” by the tabloids during the early 2000s.

“If society and the media hadn’t played their part, who knows?” Fanning said of fellow child stars’ respective trajectories in Hollywood. “I don’t think that it’s necessarily connected a hundred percent to being in this business; there are other factors, too. I just didn’t fall into it, and I don’t know the exact reasons except that my family is comprised of very nice, kind, protective people.”

Fanning and her sister Elle Fanning will be producing an adaptation of “The Simple Life” icon Paris Hilton‘s autobiography “Paris: The Memoir.” The upcoming biopic TV series adaptation will be produced by Hilton’s entertainment banner 11:11 Media and Middle Child Pictures. A24 is also behind the show.

The “Ripley” star said during the 2024 IndieWire Honors that she “would not change one thing” about her career.

“I have dedicated most of my life to being an actor,” Fanning said. “I am 24 years in at 30 years old, and I would not change one thing. [Being on set is] a freedom that I feel that I have never felt really anywhere else in my life.”