10 Child Stars Who Spectacularly Self Destructed

9. Haley Joel Osment

Haley Joel Osment was just a tender 6 years old when he played Forrest Gump's son, but would go on to become best-known for his role as Cole Sear in M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, becoming an Oscar nominee at just 12 years old for his work on the film. Osment continued to accentuate his profile by starring in Steven Spielberg's A.I., though as he got older, the roles began to dry up, and in 2006, Osment drunkenly crashed his car, resulting in a broken rib and fractured right shoulder blade, as well as, of course, an arrest. A few months later, he was charged with cannabis possession, and sentenced to 3 years' probation, 60 hours in an alcohol and narcotics rehabilitation program, a $1500 fine, and required to attend at least 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. At a mere age of 18, the guy was an alcoholic, something many have speculated as being a product of both the high-pressure nature of Hollywood, and the fact that drugs and alcohol are passed around to youngsters pretty freely in those circles. Sadly, the actor hasn't been in a significant film in a decade, and sticks mostly to voice-over work on the Kingdom Hearts video game series.
 
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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.