According to The Hollywood Reporter, Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible, Cadet Kelly) spoke out about how Disney distributed pay in the original series Even Stevens. Romano played Ren Stevens, the older sister of Shia LaBeouf’s (Holes, Transformer) Louis Stevens, on the family sitcom. She recently opened up about her past as a s child star in her newest memoir, Once Upon a Trainwreck: The Fall and Rise of a Child Star.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, after the release of the memoir, Romano took to Instagram to share one of the stories in the book and show fans what to expect. The story she shared was about the pay difference on Even Stevens , specifically about getting paid half of what her male costar, LaBeouf, made for the series that ran from 2000 to 2004.
“I was a kid and the female lead on Even Stevens. I was paid half of what Shia was paid; we were co-leads and had the same screen time. While writing my memoir, I dug through thousands of old photos and letters and found this,” she wrote via The Hollywood Reporter. Romano also shared a throwback photo of her, LaBeouf and her mom, Sharon, in addition to a letter her mom sent to her agent in 2000.
“My mom wrote it to my agent in 2000, asking for equal pay and admitting we were deep in debt,” Romano continued via The Hollywood Reporter. “By then, my paycheck was keeping us afloat. My mom was fighting for me, and she was also fighting for a household that depended on a teenage girl. It took me years to understand I could love her for advocating for me and still wish I had gotten to just be a kid. Shia earned every dollar, and this book is not about him or any other famous name you might recognize. They were part of my story. They were never the story. The story is a girl who grew up too fast, and a business that decided she was worth half. If you grew up taking care of the people who were supposed to take care of you, I wrote this book for you.”
Even Stevens is available to stream on Disney+.