The child actor from E.T. has revealed why he regretted taking the role.
In the past decade or so, more and more former child actors have been speaking out about the traumatizing experiences they had after gaining fame at a young age.
One of the most notable stars that spoke out was none other than Henry Thomas, who played the lead role of Elliot alongside Drew Barrymore as Gertie in E.T.
The Steven Spielberg classic follows a young boy who befriends an alien that has fallen onto Earth, protecting him from the government officials who have come to try and take him away.
Thomas was only nine at the time the movie was released, but now at 53, he can confirm that it's one of his lifelong regrets, despite it also improving the quality of his life.
Speaking to The Mirror, the actor opened up about how his life changed after taking the role.
"Of course there have been times I regretted being the kid in E.T.," Henry told the outlet in a previous interview. "My world went completely crazy. I was that stupid kind of famous, where you can’t go anywhere."
He continued: “It was like that for the first six months after E.T. was in cinemas. I’d go out and get mobbed. I was a shy kid, and being approached by adults all the time just freaked me out."
He even went as far as referring to himself as a "circus freak".
"I was like a circus freak. But the only time I had to deal with it was when I left the house. So I stopped leaving the house. I became an 11-year-old hermit," he added.
Not only was the fame difficult to grasp, but he was also unprepared for what he would be dealing with on set, including his superstar cast member... the alien.
"When I saw this alien with the weird feet and the telescopic neck, I was like: ‘What the hell is this? Where is my lightsaber?' But I guess I got a flying bicycle, so I can’t complain," he stated.
However, when the chaos of filming had ended, the star decided to go back to his home state of Texas and continue with his education - a decision that left him being the target of bullies.
"I was an easy target. Everybody tried to flush my head down the toilet. Perhaps it was jealousy, perhaps it was just kids being kids. They were like: ‘What the f*** are you doing back here? Who do you think you are?'"
In an interview with the Guardian, Thomas also opened up about how the fame impacted his family negatively.
"[My mother] was doing the best job that she knew how to do,” he told the outlet. "My whole family weren’t really well equipped to deal with anything like that. And other than a few precautions, we didn’t change our lives that much.
"Consequently, we got a lot of weird visitors to our residence and things like that, phone calls," he said, noting that his mom was forced to call the police a few times.
"We had to call the authorities a few times. ET was a real sensation, some people were fanatical about it," he added.
Despite his experiences though, he emphasized that if there are children out there that want to do this, he would encourage them to follow their dreams.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was a huge box office success, grossing over $797 million worldwide.
