'School of Rock' child star says movie resulted in bullying and addiction, but they don't regret the role

A child star from the School of Rock has opened up about how their role in the 2003 film resulted in them suffering from bullying and addiction.

The revelation comes after the release of the documentary Framing Britney Spears, which has prompted other child stars - such as Mara Wilson - to open up about how they were treated by the media at an early age.

In an interview with the New York Post, Rivkah Reyes - who, at the age of 10, starred as bassist Katie in the movie alongside Jack Black - opened up about the hardships that this early-career success brought them.

The actor, who uses the gender-neutral pronouns they/them, said that like Britney, they've "felt unsafe existing" because of the obsessive fans they gained from early fame, explaining that one man even tried to take photographs of them when they were at sixth grade in school.

The actor said that they was sexualized as a child, and even had grown men commenting on message boards when they was still underage, saying that they couldn't "wait 'til she's 18".

Reyes, like Britney, was bullied from an early age, however, it wasn't by the media or their Hollywood colleagues, but instead, their classmates, who made it a difficult experience to live with offset.

"Especially after production wrapped, when I first came back to school, people were really nice or really mean. There was no middle ground," they said. "I was literally followed around the school with people chanting 'School of Rock.'"

Reyes said that they believed they would never be anything more than "the girl from School of Rock," and that they was desperate to secure another, bigger role to change this and stop bullies from calling them 'Katie'.

The actor explained that from the ages of 14 to 24, they was a "raging addict" who relied on food, drugs, sex, alcohol, and self-harm.

I spent over a decade terrified that I’d peaked at 10 years old,” they wrote in a Medium essay.

However, despite their struggles, Reyes never regretted starring in the School of Rock.

"It was nothing but love and support," Reyes said of the experience. "I have never lost gratitude for that, or wish that I wasn't part of it."