Louise O'Neill

They're her income.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think a child can want to perform.

I mean, I wanted to be an actor when I was a kid.

So I think that children absolutely can love performing.

But I think that when they become the financial breadwinner of the family, when their parents are reliant on their child's paycheck,

as you said, in order to pay the mortgage, in order to pay the bills.

I think the lines between that sort of typical, I suppose the boundaries between the parent-child can become very blurred.

I think it's probably been sitting there for a long time.

I mean, at the time I was quite resentful because when I was about 12... Oh, I bet you were.

Oh, I was...

Raging because I really wanted to go.

I wanted to go to stage school in London and I had sent away for the application forms.

I wanted to go there instead of going to the local secondary school.

And a friend of my parents was an actor and they talked to her about it.

And she said, you know, the industry is no place for a child.

And if I had, if it was my daughter, I wouldn't allow her there.

I wouldn't allow her to go.

And I suppose it really suggests that the industry is, I think, aware of its inherent dangers and the dangers of allowing children to operate within it.

And I think actually now as an adult, looking back, I'm like, you know, I'm really grateful that they, I mean, not that I would have become a star, but I think I'm very grateful that they wanted to protect my childhood in that way.