Emma Roberts reacts to Quiet On Set documentary: 'I was shocked and horrified...'
Emma Roberts had "no idea" of the abuse that was taking place when she was a child star on Nickelodeon.
The 33-year-old actress started her career as a teenager when she landed the leading role of schoolgirl and budding songwriter Addie Singer on the show 'Unfabulous' and was "horrified and shocked" to watch the recent Discovery+ documentary 'Quiet On Set', in which a slew of other former child actors who also starred on the network around the same time alleged instances of abuse and a toxic working environment at the hands of producer Dan Schneider.
She told Variety: "I watched [“Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV”], and I was completely horrified and shocked because that was not my experience. "It made me really, really, really sad that that was happening to people that I literally saw often and had no idea. For me, my show, 'Unfabulous', the showrunner we had was this amazing woman named Sue Rose.
"And I didn’t realise at the time, but a female showrunner back then was not very common.
"But that was my intro into working on a TV show. Also, my mom was with me 24/7, and even I would be like, “You don’t have to be here all the time,” she was like, “' do actually. I’m not letting you out of my sight. You’re not going to a fitting by yourself when you’re 13 years old ."
The 'American Horror Story' actress felt "really sad" when she watched the film - in which former 'Drake and Josh star Drake Bell revealed that he had been subjected to "extensive and brutal" abuse at the hands of Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck while others claimed that 'iCarly' producer Dan had created a "hostile environment" as he made the likes of Amanda Bynes and Miranda Cosgrove into teen stars - and was "kept up" by what she had learned.
She added: "It makes me really sad, and I just feel like children need to be protected on sets, as do adults, and I feel like we’re working towards a better work environment in that sense. But yeah, that documentary really kept me up at night."
