Since its release, several former Nickelodeon stars have commented on the claims made in the documentary, as well as shared their own experiences working for the network alongside Dan Schneider.
In a recent interview with Variety, Liz, who starred in Dan Schneider’s series VictoriousShe confirmed that she had seen the docuseries and even watched it while on FaceTime with her close friend and former co-star Ariana Grande.
Liz’s response comes a month after Ariana publicly spoke about the documentary on an episode of Penn Badgley’s podcast. Crushed pod. When asked about her relationship with acting as a child, Ariana said: “Obviously my relationship with it has changed and is currently changing, and I’m reprocessing a lot of what that experience was like.”
“I definitely reevaluated my experience with Ariana over FaceTime,” Liz told Variety. “We watched it together and then we met up later that week or the following week, and we went through everything in detail and talked about it, and we reprocessed it all together. There was a lot to unpack.”
“It’s tricky when you look back on something incredibly positive and then you learn a lot of information and you also revisit things as an adult through a new lens that reframes the memories in your mind a little bit, or clouds them, or taints them, maybe rightfully so,” he added.
“So it was important to take that time to look back and reevaluate and rethink, and that’s what we did. I’m really lucky to have such a close relationship with my cast, and with Ari, and that we were all able to do that together, because we definitely supported each other and talked to each other and reached out,” she continued.
Then, when asked what protections he thinks should be put in place for child actors, he said: “I think parents should be allowed to be wherever they want, whenever they want. In fact, I think it’s important that there is some sort of guardianship, especially if the children are very young.”
“I guess things are going to be very different from now on. If they’re not different, I think the onus is on the parents to assess the situation. And sometimes the parents are part of the problem, too. I think you have to listen to your kids, too, and know what kind of kid you have. And I know it sounds weird, but some kids don’t really know what they’re getting into. A lot of the realities of acting in general, even if you take the word ‘kid’ out of it, are exhausting, they’re difficult. The kid has to want it very badly,” she added.
“I almost wonder if a psychiatrist or a psychologist should evaluate the child and talk to the parents before giving them permission to be on a set or a show, just because it’s a huge undertaking and kids often don’t know how huge it is, and then they can feel trapped or pressured… (Parents) have to make sure that there’s respect for the kids on set, that they’re treated like kids, even though it’s an adult job. It’s tough, man,” he continued.
“I can’t imagine what it must feel like for a little girl who was pushed there by her parents and had no interest in acting and had to come to work and do that grueling job every day because for me it was a pleasure. And for someone else, I mean, it was a nightmare,” she said.
“It’s like someone forced me to play baseball for 10 hours a day and I had to cry in my room at night. It’s just because it’s not what I want to do. Everything is hard. Sports are hard. Acting is hard. Any job is hard. And if it’s not your dream and you don’t know what you’re getting into, it can be a total nightmare and it can be very detrimental to your life, your mind, and your mental health,” she concluded.
Read Liz’s full interview here.
And you can read the statements of other former Nickelodeon stars about Silence on the set here.