Yahoo Finance Wil Wheaton now finds acting traumatic after being forced into career by his parents
The Big Bang Theory and Stand By Me star Wil Wheaton has admitted that he finds acting both “triggering and traumatic” because he was “forced” into the profession at a very young age.
Wheaton, who is now 48-years-old and is currently out promoting his turn as the villainous Andy in the horror film Rent-A-Pal, recently told Metro that it was never his choice to become an actor.
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He explained, “When I was a kid my parents forced me to become an actor, it was never something I wanted to do.”
Wheaton repeatedly begged his own mother to stop forcing him to go to auditions, as he just wanted to be a child. Things became so bad that Wheaton says it cost him his relationship with his parents, before then adding, “I don’t really enjoy on-camera acting. It’s a little triggering and a little traumatic.”
Wheaton says that in order for him to even consider a role, it has to be “incredible” and he has to feel “really good about” it, too, which is why he has only appeared in a handful of roles over the last two decades. Instead, he has focused on writing and hosting, and when he has appeared on screen it was in comedic parts.
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But while Wheaton doesn’t enjoy acting, he still has no regrets about his career. In fact, he’s still “really proud and grateful for the work” he has done because he loves the life that he has now.
“I wouldn’t have the life that I have right now if anything would have been different. So I will take all the pain, all the sadness [because] on top of that I’ve built a great life. I can’t take one without the other.”