Star Trek’s Wil Wheaton Says Acting Is Now “Traumatic” After His Childhood

Star Trek star Wil Wheaton is speaking out about his career as an actor, saying that acting is now a “triggering and traumatic” experience for him after what he describes as being forced into the industry as a child. Wheaton recently told Metro that being an actor was never something he really wanted to do, but that his parents had forced the matter, taking away his choice as to whether to be in front of the camera or not.

“I’m not especially interested in being an on-camera actor, that was never my choice,” Wheaton said.

“When I was a kid my parents forced me to become an actor, it was never something I wanted to do,” he continued. “Throughout my entire childhood I begged my mother to stop forcing me to go on auditions, to just let me be a kid and she never heard me.”

He went on to explain that the situation ruined his relationship with his parents and has left him with trauma around acting.

“It was really important to her that I become famous so she could be the famous actor’s momager and it sucked,” Wheaton said. “That choice cost me my relationship with my parents and as a consequence of that, I don’t really enjoy on-camera acting. It’s a little triggering and a little traumatic.”

Even with that negative history, however, Wheaton isn’t entirely opposed to some roles. He said in the interview that he only takes on roles now that he feels “really good about” and earlier this year, he said that he’d bet eager to work with Sir Patrick Stewart in live-action on Star Trek: Picard, should the opportunity present itself.

“Oh, yeah,” he said at the time. “If they were interested in me I would do absolutely everything I could to get to ‘yes.’ If I got to work with Patrick again and if I had the privilege of performing in a scene with him again, it would be such a gift and such a blessing. That would be an amazing, amazing experience that I would absolutely love to happen.”

He’s also proud of the work he’s done already.

“I’m really proud and grateful for the work that I’ve done, I love my life as it is right now,” he said. “I wouldn’t have the life that I have right now if anything would have been different. So, I will take all the pain, all the sadness [because] on top of that I’ve built a great life. I can’t take one without the other.”

What do you think about Wheaton’s experience with acting? Let us know in the comments.

Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood