'Sixth Sense' star Haley Joel Osment Says He Grew a Beard to 'Hide in Public' After Childhood Fame
Haley Joel Osment gave insight into his life after child stardom in a new interview.
The actor, who is still known for his iconic performance as a ghost-seeing child in 1999's The Sixth Sense, talked about his life after the movie and how he tried to be anonymous for a time by changing his look.
The actor, now 32, started on an independent track when he turned 18 in 2006 and moved to New York to study experimental theater.
“I did work that practically nobody saw for a long time, which was not a great career move – but, ultimately, was important for me to figure out whether this was what I truly wanted to do for the rest of my life," Osment told The Guardian.
While in the city, and amid playing a series of bad guys, Osment grew a thick dark beard “to try to hide in public. That didn’t really work at all.”
The actor went on to say that not every child star has a "spectacular blowup" and most go on to have fulfilling lives.
"I think the percentage of people having a positive experience working as children is much higher than most people imagine,” Osment said, adding that people don't hear about the actors who "move on to something else that works for them."
Osment also compared his own experience to his younger sister Emily Osment, 28, who gained fame as a teen starring as Miley Cyrus' best friend in the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana.
“That show was squarely aimed towards creating a mania in that age group," he said. "She had to deal with a lot more strange invasions of privacy, not being able to have a normal school life. And what exacerbated all of that was she had to be on social media."
As he transitions to more work behind the camera, Osment still thinks of his time as a child star fondly.
“I’m lucky to have a positive relationship with those periods that can sometimes be difficult for other people," he said. "I feel like I’m always building on it."
