By the time Christy Carlson Romano was 6-years-old, she was already working full-time as an actress in the ensemble of various Broadway national tours. She booked her first film roles in middle school, and by her teens, co-starred in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens, voiced the titular character in the animated hit Kim Possible, and led movies like Cadet Kelly.
While Carlson Romano, 42, has continued acting on stage and screen, she's also become a vocal critic of child stardom and spoken out about the need for more legal and mental health protections for minors in Hollywood. Her "Vulnerable Podcast," for instance, features conversations with other former child actors—and now with her memoir, Once Upon a Trainwreck, she's getting more candid than ever about her own experience.
As the highly anticipated book hits shelves on October 6, Carlson Romano shares an exclusive excerpt with Marie Claire about what it was like to undergo media training at Disney Channel.
Before we start shooting, a Disney exec calls Shia and me over for a huddle.
“Okay, everyone, we have the upfronts coming up. If you haven’t been, it’s a yearly media event in New York where journalists can ask questions, and we’ll show clips and teasers of the show. Since it’s our first season, I need you guys on your A game, got it? We’ll be setting up press training ASAP.”
I know this is our chance to get the media excited about the show before it airs to the public so that we get coverage and hopefully enough of an audience to get us to a second season. I can’t make decisions like executives, but I can just enjoy the ride and hit my marks and memorize my lines. I just want to do exactly what Disney says, and if I do that, I’m sure they will take care of me.
“What happens during press training?” I ask.
“You’ll get a rundown of Disney rules and codes of conduct, things you can and cannot say. Things like that,” the executive says.
Oh, great. What if I say the wrong thing? Will I be fired? I don’t ask this; I just keep my mouth shut and listen.
“It’s such an exciting time for the channel,” the Disney executive says. He looks right at me and Shia. “You kids are our big, new stars. So get out there and wow ’em, okay?”
“Sure thing!” I say, as peppy as Ren would have said it. I can feel Shia rolling his eyes as the words come out of my mouth.
We can’t say anything “racy.” No cussing. No talking negatively about other Disney shows or people, even though the executives sometimes seem to pit the actors against one another by mentioning how well someone else’s show is doing. Because of this, Mom is always telling me that Hilary Duff is my competition. Mom gets so focused on how popular Lizzie McGuire is getting and how much the Disney star machine is pushing Hilary to be the next big thing. Now she thinks it’ll be good for my career to get to know Hilary.
We’ve been instructed to be upbeat and happy. To “keep it positive.” Disney is big on “synergy,” playing up how things are happening as they’re supposed to and how one good show leads to another. Even Stevens—and the network more generally—is for tweens, kids between 9 and 12, but Disney is still owned by the Disney family and shareholders, and they want all-American values, wholesome dress codes, and no funny business. Now Mom is always talking about synergy too and how we will say yes to anything Disney asks me to do to promote the show. “Say yes to everything, and they’ll love you for it. Be easy to work with, and they’ll put you in more shows and even movies,” she always says.
Christy Carlson Romano and Shia LaBeouf starred as siblings Ren and Louis on Even Stevens for three seasons from 2000 to 2003.
The first day of upfronts is a blur. Shia and I put on our best “we love each other” act for the press, since we have to “keep it positive.” I answer every single question with a smile and talk about how much I love Ren and how great it is working with the whole cast, Shia especially. I talk about how wonderful it is to be part of the Disney family, but all I’m thinking about is hanging out with my friends later. Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful to be on the show, thrilled to be on TV, to be on the Disney Channel. But I still just want to be a normal high school kid sometimes.
Four hours straight of answering questions about playing Ren, working with Shia, and being a perfect girl, and I’m exhausted. Everyone was telling us we’re the “next big Disney stars” and that the show will just keep getting more popular, especially because of the Ren-Louis dynamic. I listened and put on my best “America’s sweetheart” smile, acted polite and upbeat, and did all the things they advised us to do in the media training. Shia was funny but off the walls like he always is. Almost all the reporters asked us how we get along and if we fight like Ren and Louis do on-screen, and we did our best to convince them that it’s one happy family on camera and off, blah blah blah. It’s not that I hate Shia. I just don’t really know the guy.
I am grateful to be on the show, thrilled to be on TV, to be on the Disney Channel. But I still just want to be a normal high school kid sometimes.
After the interviews, I meet my friends Carrie and Sybil in the lobby, and Carrie immediately zeroes in on Peter, another actor who’s here to promote his own Disney show. I promise I’ll introduce her to him later, and we head up to the room to change.
Carrie and Sybil start mixing vodka and cranberry juice from the minifridge. Carrie hands me a glass, and I take a small sip.
“Cheers!”
“Let’s hit the hotel lounge,” Carrie says. “I want to find that Peter guy.”
I’m half hoping Peter isn’t there because I just want to hang out with my friends and not have any drama, but there he is, sitting with Shia and some people from his show. Peter looks at us and waves us over.
“Hey, Christy,” he says. “Who’re your friends?”
“I’m Carrie, and this is Sybil. We went to school with Christy before Disney stole her away.”
Carrie is buzzed, so she’s flirting with Peter like crazy. Sybil and I are a little buzzed too, and hanging out with them makes me realize how much I’ve missed them, how much I loved just being a normal high school kid.
“Where’s Carrie?” Sybil asks.
I look around and can’t find her—or Peter—anywhere. “She worked fast,” Sybil says. “I bet she’s with Peter somewhere. Should we look for her?”
“Nah, let’s go back to the room,” I say.
Carrie and Sybil only took two mini bottles, and the drinks had so much ice. Hopefully Disney doesn’t notice those on my checkout tab.
I’m so tired, I feel like I’m sleepwalking, and I have a whole new round of interviews in the morning. I pass out immediately but wake up later when the door opens. I glance at the hotel clock. It’s past three in the morning.
“Carrie?”
“Sorry,” she says, shutting the door and tiptoeing in. “I’ve been with Peter. Don’t get mad!”
“I’m not mad,” I say. I mean, it wasn’t me who went to his room. “How was it? Did you have sex with him?!”
“Almost, but no. It was awesome, though. He’s an amazing kisser. It’s too bad he lives in L.A.”
“Well, maybe that’s a good reason for you to visit me,” I say. “I miss you guys.”
Ever since I was little, I’ve been under a microscope, judged by adults in a way that most normal kids don’t have to deal with, but that’s part of being a kid actor.
Carrie and Sybil leave early in the morning, so I get ready and meet Mom for breakfast before the interviews start again. The first two go well, but when we’re about to start our third, our press executive walks in, looking serious.
“Christy, can I speak to you alone?”
Crap. Did I say the wrong thing? Did I not look or act “Disney” enough?
I follow her into the hall. It’s never good when an executive pulls you aside like this.
“So, it seems a friend of yours went into the hotel room of one of the actors last night. How old is she?”
My throat feels like it’s about to close up, and my stomach churns. I can’t lie, but I don’t want to get Carrie or Peter in trouble.
“Um, she’s 16. Like me.”
“You know he’s 22-years-old?”
Shit. I am about to lose my job, be kicked off the show, and get sent home forever.
“I, um, thought he was a little younger than that.” It’s true, but I don’t think that will save me. “She went home this morning. She seems fine and isn’t mad at him or anything.”
“You need to watch it, Christy,” she says. “Disney is very specific about how you kids behave. You know this.”
“I’m so, so sorry. It’ll never happen again, ever. I promise.”
“Just think about your reputation, okay? I know it wasn’t you, but still. Guilty by association, right?”
“Right,” I say, even though inside I want to scream, WRONG! Why is this always the girl’s fault? It’s bullshit.
“I totally understand. I’m so, so sorry.”
As soon as the words come out of my mouth, I feel like a fake, but I don’t want to lose this job. Plus I’m used to this. Ever since I was little, I’ve been under a microscope, judged by adults in a way that most normal kids don’t have to deal with, but that’s part of being a kid actor. You have to just suck it up and be professional. And I’m not a kid anymore anyway, even though they are treating me like one.
“Thanks, Christy,” she says before I head back to the day’s interviews. “Oh, one more thing.”
“Yes?”
She glances down at my stomach and squinches up her forehead in a disapproving way. “I can see your belly button. You gotta make sure we can’t see your belly button.”
Carlson Romano and Hilary Duff played rivals-turned-friends in the Disney Channel Original Movie Cadet Kelly.
For the last month, all the Disney executives keep talking about is how Hilary Duff is the “next big thing.”
They want me and Hilary to make a movie together during my Even Stevens hiatus. It’s called Cadet Kelly, and I would play Hilary’s rival at a military school. The executives keep saying we’ll be “perfect rivals” because we’re so opposite. Of course the blond girl is the sweet, fun one, and the brunette (me) is the bad, unlikable one.
I must be getting bolder with age, because I decide to tell the Cadet Kelly director that I don’t want my character to just be some villainous person. It’ll be more interesting if she changes in the end and if she and Kelly become friends. I don’t want to play just a one-dimensional mean girl. I’ve been in this business long enough; I can’t be afraid to speak up anymore.
At breakfast with the director, I explain my idea and tell him why it would appeal to girls more to see me and Hilary coming together in the end, like a form of female empowerment. I’m shocked when he says he’ll talk to the writers and change the script a bit. I want to give her a backstory and make her feel real. I want to play a strong person, someone girls can maybe be inspired by. If I’m being honest, I also just don’t want to be disliked. I know Cadet Kelly isn’t like Shakespeare, and Shia probably thinks it’s a dumb movie, but whatever. By the end of our first Even Stevens season, he’s gone from annoying me to filling me with anger. When we’re in the same room, the tension is palpable. I need this break.
Having the director and writers rework the script is a huge win for me. I don’t have to be just the good little Disney girl. I get to have an opinion. Finally.
Excerpted from ONCE UPON A TRAINWRECK. Copyright © 2026, Christy Carlson Romano. Reproduced by permission of Simon Element, an imprint of Simon Schuster. All rights reserved.