Connect with us

Best Of

Mara Wilson left Hollywood after ‘Matilda’

In the early 1990s, the world fell in love with the adorable Mara Wilson, the child actor known for playing the precocious little girl in family classics like Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th Street.

The young star, who turned 37 on July 24, seemed poised for success but as she grew older, she stopped being “cute” and disappeared from the big screen.

“Hollywood was burned out on me,” she says, adding that “if you’re not cute anymore, if you’re not beautiful, then you are worthless.”

In 1993, five-year-old Mara Wilson stole the hearts of millions of fans when she starred as Robin Williams’ youngest child in Mrs. Doubtfire.

The California-born star had previously appeared in commercials when she received the invitation to star in one of the biggest-grossing 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, now 37, said.

After her big screen debut, she won the role of Susan Walker – the same role played by Natalie Wood in 1947 – in 1994’s Miracle on 34th Street.

In an essay for the Guardian, Wilson writes of her audition, “I read my lines for the production team and told them I didn’t believe in Santa Claus.” Referencing the Oscar-winning actor who played her mom in Mrs. Doubtfire, she continues, “but I did believe in the tooth fairy and had named mine after Sally Field.”

‘Most unhappy’

Next, Wilson played the magical girl in 1996’s Matilda, starring alongside Danny DeVito and his real-life wife Rhea Perlman.

It was also the same year her mother, Suzie, lost her battle 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 says of the deep grief she experienced after losing her mother. She adds, “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 girl was exhausted and when she was “very famous,” she says she “was the most unhappy.”

When she was 11, she begrudgingly played her last major role in the 2000 fantasy adventure film 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 tells the Guardian.

‘Burned out’

But her exit from Hollywood wasn’t only her decision.

As a young teenager, the roles weren’t coming in for Wilson, who was going through puberty and outgrowing the “cute.”

She was “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 says.

Wilson was forced to deal with the pressures of fame and the challenges of transitioning to adulthood in the public eye. Her changing image had a profound effect on her.

“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

Wilson, now a writer, authored her first book “Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame,” in 2016.

The book discusses “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.”

She also wrote “Good Girls Don’t” a memoir that examines her life as a child actor living up to expectations.

“Being cute just made me miserable,” she writes in her essay for the Guardian. “I had always thought it would be me giving up acting, not the other way around.”

What are your thoughts on Mara Wilson? Please let us know what you think and then share this story so we can hear from others!

Best Of

Research shows body senses death is near – it starts in nose

There is one thing in life that every human being will go through, and that is experiencing death. Despite the universality of the experience, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding it.

Humans do not like to be in the dark about things, and perhaps that is why the idea of death scares so many people. However, research shows that while death remains largely a mystery, some of the things surrounding it are becoming more and more obvious.

Keep reading to learn more.

What cannot be explained by science is often referred to as a ‘sixth sense’ by people. And sometimes, scientific research comes out which ends up confirming what humans had long suspected with their sixth sense.

According to research, when a person dies, their body immediately starts to break down. During this, putrescine is emitted into the surroundings. Putrescine is a toxic and foul smell, and humans, at a subconscious level, can recognize this as a putrefying odor. And when the human brain recognizes this scent, it immediately responds to the death.

Researcher Arnaud Wisman from the University of Kent’s School of Psychology in Canterbury, UK, and Ilan Shira from the Department of Behavioral Sciences in Arkansas’ Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas, shared that much like animals, humans can also sense scents and respond accordingly. This is a major survival tactic developed across several species. So when humans come across putrescine, consciously or subconsciously, they respond to it.

The researchers conducted experiments that show that when humans are exposed to the putrescine scent, they move away similarly to animals who also run away in similar circumstances. “We do not know why we like (or dislike) someone’s smell, and we’re usually not aware of how scent influences our emotions, preferences, and attitudes,” Wisman and Shira stated.

“It is hard to think of a scent as frightening,” other researchers have claimed. But it is not untrue that scents make people more alert about their surroundings.

Sex pheromones, which are defined as odors produced by males or females, also have a reaction on human behavior, which usually brings a reaction in another human for the purpose of mating.

“Putrescine signals a different type of message than pheromones, but people’s responses to putrescine (avoidance and hostility) do seem indeed to be the opposite of responses to many sexual pheromones,” one researcher explained.

But unlike other scents, for this one, humans are not aware they are smelling it and their response is more likely subconscious. So it seems our nose can help us figure out if there is death or perhaps ‘danger’ nearby.

It is always so fascinating to learn about how humans work and how our subconscious might be reacting to things we might not even notice! Share this with others so they can also know about this fascinating discovery.

Continue Reading

Best Of

Tom Selleck says fatherhood is the “most important” role he has ever played

Having served in the military and gained international recognition for his work in TV and film, it’s safe to say Tom Selleck has had one busy life.

Yet whilst it’s impressive that he’s managed to retain the respect and love of the masses throughout the entirety of his career, arguably an even greater feat is that he’s kept his family life private over the years.

Shutterstock

The Magnum P.I. actor has faced some serious challenges across the decades, but his golden rule has always been to put his family first.

It’s no surprise, then, that Selleck admitted, as per CBS Local in 2012, that fatherhood is the most important role he’s ever had to play.

Selleck and his wife, fellow actress Jillie Mack, welcomed their daughter Hannah Magaret to the world in 1988. For Selleck, it was a day that changed everything.

The actor even moved his family to a ranch in Ventura County, California, as he believed it would give them the best shot at raising Hannah out of the searing spotlight of Hollywood.

“I quit Magnum to have a family,” Selleck explained to People back in 2012.

“It took a long time to get off the train, but I try very hard to have balance, and this ranch has helped me do that.”

Fast forward to now and that’s a choice that certainly seems to have paid dividends.

Not only was Hannah given a safe, rural environment in which to grow up, but living on the ranch brought her closer to the animals that would shape her own career: horses.

The now 36-year-old forged a career as a world-class equestrian, winning laurels and fame in her own right along the way.

Tom Selleck
Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

“As a kid [my parents] tried to raise me as normally as possible given my dad’s line of work,” she told The Epoch Times.

“Those horses have been a great way for me to have my own accomplishments outside of whatever my parents had done.” Hannah started horse-riding at the tender young age of 4 and there’s been no looking back since.”

Tom Selleck never fails to impress me, and I know I can’t be the only fan of his!

Share this article if you, too, think Tom Selleck is a good actor and, more importantly, a good man.

Continue Reading

Best Of

Sally Jessy Raphael claims Instagram won’t verify her account

Once a staple on daytime television in the 80s and 90s, Sally Lowenthal, also known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is having trouble with people recognizing her.

The former talk show host took to Instagram claiming the social media company refused to verify her account despite her providing them proof of her identity.

“So, Instagram doesn’t want to give me my blue check – no matter what proof I send them,” the 89-year-old wrote alongside an image of a gigantic blue checkmark. “AND there’s a fake account called ‘realsallyjr’, and that’s NOT ME! Help me let Instagram know, so we can fix this.”

Raphael began hosting the The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, later titled Sally, in October 1983. She hosted the tabloid-style show until May 2002.

Her show was one of the first syndicated talk shows that involved audience participation. She helped paved the way for women in the business, including Oprah whose show premiered three years after Sally.

Over the course of 20 seasons, Raphael interviewed countless celebrities, though she always maintained that Audrey Hepburn was her favorite.

“I was so awestruck, I could hardly ask a question. Everything she did, I admired. Everything she had done in her life I found to be exemplary,” she told the DailyMail.

Throughout her career and even into her retirement, Raphael has maintained a signature look that makes her stand out in a crowd.

When filming began for The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, she realized she couldn’t see the teleprompter.

“When we started, I looked at the teleprompter and I said ”I can’t read that! I’m going blind!’ “

404446 04: Talk show host Sally Jesse Raphael tapes her last show April 24, 2002 in New York City. Her last show will air this May. (Photo by Jim Lord/Getty Images)

On her search for a new prescription, Raphael came across an ad for an eye test, glasses and a Pap smear. Despite the bizarre ad, the talk show host booked an appointment.

During the appointment she was told she would need a more expensive pair of glasses, but unfortunately they only color they had was red.

“You got it,” Raphael said.

Although she didn’t anticipate the trouble she’d face from the producers of her show.

TV Personality Sally Jessy Raphael attending 17th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on June 28, 1990 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City, New York. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

“I had to fight to have the glasses. Producers tried to change them. Those shadowy figures objected to everything.”

She has since accumulated over 200 pairs of red glasses.

As of August 2, Raphael currently has less than 650 followers on Instagram, but even though her numbers might not match those of other talk show hosts, her fans are just as loud if not louder with their support.

“The Icon, the Legend of daytime TV, Ms. Sally Jessy Raphael needs her Blue Check Mark ? “

“That’s pretty crazy that someone as famous as you are is having trouble with being recognized. I’m trying to understand what the issue is though”

“We should flood your feed with blue hearts it’s so much better than a blue checkmark”

I remember watching Sally on TV! Do you? Let us know in the comments.

Continue Reading

Trending