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‘So, how would you say all of this made you feel?’
‘Annoyed.’ Austin let out a deep sigh. ‘I was annoyed I didn’t get a choice. I know I was too young and ultimately it was up to my parents but even when I was old enough to speak my mind and give my opinion on what I did with my own life I still didn’t get a say.’
‘Would you say that your parents forced into acting and modelling?’ Sofia asked as she glanced up from her papers.
‘It definitely felt that way.’ Austin nodded as he leaned back in his chair. ‘My father less so than my mother. She basically made me take job after job against my will. I was bringing in the money. Without me we would still be living in that mouldy flat picking up every coin we saw in the street because every single penny mattered.’
‘But you said that you had a good childhood despite your fast-growing career.’
‘It was good but it wasn’t normal.’ Austin stared down at the table in front of him as the memories came flooding back into his mind. ‘I hardly ever went to school. I was always working. Because of that I never made any friends. Not real ones anyway. Only the kind that would use me for my popularity and money and then talk bad about me behind my back. Not so great for a young kid.’
‘It doesn’t sound like it would be. Did you talk to anyone about this?’
‘I talked to my father. He used to tell me to ignore them. It was really hard to do that though. I was always getting recognised. People were constantly trying to get close to me. They probably thought because of my age that I was stupid and willing to talk to any random stranger that came up to me. I was terrified to be out anywhere in public.’
‘What did your mother do about all of this? Did she offer any support?’ Sofia questioned him.
‘My mother hired a bodyguard. As if I wasn’t drawing enough attention to myself.’ Austin rolled his eyes as he watched Sofia scribbling something down on the paper in front of her, her light brown hair falling down the side of her face. ‘The only thing I ever wanted was to experience what it was like to have a normal childhood. She denied that.’
‘Did you resent her for that?’
Austin looked up sharply. ‘Of course not. I was a child and she was my mother. At that age all I knew was love for her. I will be the first person to admit that, that love diminished over the years but at the end of the day she is my mother. She gave me life.’
'I've noticed something throughout this conversation. You refer to your parents as mother and father. Some people consider that very formal.'
'My mother thought it made me seem more mature. She thought it would allow me to book a variety of roles. I've been doing it for so long now, I'm just used to referring to them as that.' Austin glanced around the room as he began to rub at the back of his neck. 'I can't imagine myself calling her mum or mummy. It's just too weird.'
'Did she make you do a lot of things like that?' Sofia asked. 'Forcing you to do or say stuff so you would look a certain way in the media?'
'Of course she did. My life was essentially in her hands. Almost everything I did when I was younger, she told me to do. And then when I got older, I was so used to doing what she told me to do, I did it automatically.'
‘Were there any moments in your life that stand out for you that were good? Where you were truly happy with your family?’
‘Of course there was. I was booking jobs all over the place. I was making millions by the time I was 10. I could have anything I wanted. I could easily have acted like a spoiled rich brat if I wanted. I didn’t though. My mother did that enough for the both of us. But yes. There were a few good moments.’
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