Amber Tamblyn Reflects on the Pain of Show Business Parents in Britney Spears Essay

To a degree, Amber Tamblyn understands what Britney Spears has had to face. After all, Tamblyn was also a female child star managed by her parents. 

In a newly published op-ed for The New York Times, the actress, who rose to fame first on General Hospital and then in Joan of Arcadia and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, reflected on what it was like to have her mom and dad at the helm of her career and the dynamic that resulted. 

“My money paid for our vacations, dinners out, and sometimes even the bills,” she shared. “When it finally came time to disentangle our personal and professional relationships, it was deeply painful for all three of us.”

While it’s unclear when that time officially came, Tamblyn disclosed that her parents were managing much of her professional life up until she got engaged to her husband David Cross. She was 28 at the time. 

While Tamblyn prefaced that her parents were “supportive and ethical in every way” and described her dad as a “fiercely protective advocate,” the dynamic had still taken a toll. 

“Having my parents on payroll was damaging to our relationship, whether we understood that or not,” she wrote. “I couldn’t shake the feeling that every time I had a conversation with my parents about money it felt as if I was asking for an allowance — only the allowance came from money I’d earned.”