But that doesn't mean that every former child star went on to have a troubled future. We found several child actors who grew up to have successful careers outside of show business.
Winnie Cooper from "The Wonder Years," Danny Lloyd from "The Shining" and Rider Strong from "Boy Meets World" have all found success outside of the spotlight.
From teachers to martial artists to firefighters, you'll be surprised to see what these stars are doing.
In 1996, Jonathan Lipnicki played Renee Zellweger's adorable son in "Jerry Maguire." He also starred in the "Stuart Little" films.
Columbia-educated Strong runs Literary Disco, a podcast and blog about literature. He also produced a commercial for President Obama and published a Graphic novel.
Anna Chlumsky starred in the "My Girl" movies back in the 1990's.
Chlumsky went to University of Chicago and worked as a fact-checker for Zagat Survey. However, she returned to acting in 2007 and now co-stars in "Veep."
Ashley Lutz was Business Insider's creative director. Ashley joined BI as a retail reporter in 2012. Her work led to Abercrombie adding plus sizes and Lululemon changing its policy of banning customers who tried to resell clothing online. She was previously a retail reporter at Bloomberg News. Ashley has a Bachelor's of Science degree from Ohio University. Follow her on Twitter @AshleyLutz.
In Hollywood, many child stars fall victim to the curse of fame. 