Tracey Gold is candidly discussing a difficult period of her life.
On the January 26 broadcast of Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty, Gold, 55, discussed her childhood acting career and her role as Carol Seaver on Growing Pains. Gold claimed that although she had the “best memories of Growing Pains,” her struggle with anorexia, which she linked to some of the events that took place on set, also shaped her time there.
After years of working as a child actor, Gold’s career took a major turn in 1985 when she was hired as Carol, the daughter in Growing Pains. Their parents were Joanna Kerns and Alan Thicke, while her brother Mike was played by Kirk Cameron. The “first few years” were a “great, fun experience,” despite Gold admitting that she was anxious because she had “never done comedy before.” “The ensemble was truly exceptional,” she remarked.
However, the writing became increasingly “edgy” with time. “Unfortunately, I think it became at my expense during that time,” she told me. “Mike Seaver started joking about Carol Seaver’s weight.”
“One thing you have to know about being a child actor is being the best person on that set,” Gold said. You must accept that grownups may laugh and forget your lines if you are a child performer. You should know what your lines are. “You perform your duties and don’t say anything.”
When the fat jokes began, Gold claimed she had “no voice,” but she was able to “brush it off.” However, during her summer break from the series, she gained weight. She claimed that once I got back, the jokes became more vicious and intense.
Gold eventually “sought to find [her voice]” and visited the “intimidating writers.” She said, “Can we negotiate?” It makes me feel bad. However, the authors would “tell her” that “you don’t know what this is like because you don’t have any brothers” because Gold was the oldest of five sisters. This is how brothers and sisters treat one another. They further said that they weren’t calling her fat since “if it was true, we couldn’t say it.”
Gold was still uneasy, though. “You’re talking about more than simply Carol anymore. You’re talking about me, Tracey Gold. And now it’s difficult for me to stand in front of people who are mocking my body, my weight, and myself,” she remarked.
The computer then informed Gold’s agent, her father, that she needed to lose weight. After some time, she saw a doctor, who prescribed a risky 500-calorie diet.
“Suddenly, everyone on the set rushed to me and exclaimed, ‘Oh my God, you look so wonderful,'” she added.” “I guess everyone meant well, but I wanted to know if I had ever looked so foolish before. Did I really think I could be the subject of their jokes and play Carol Seaver on national television?
“I was determined not to be the target of anyone’s joke again after something hit me,” she said. She was always “basically starving” as a result of her rigorous commitment to the routine. She retorted, “You’re in Hollywood, and everybody just kept giving me compliments,” in response to Roby Marshall, her current husband and former boyfriend, voicing worries about her. The Growing Pains narrative also had Carol losing weight because she was in a state of turmoil following her promotion to homecoming queen.
She stated that one of the reasons she decided not to seek assistance was because of the “element of misogyny to it” in the set. The “beautiful actress of the week,” whom the producers were often bringing in and “sexualizing,” was only a few years older than her.
“It was really a boys’ club,” she recalls. She did, however, state that she did not blame the authors for her eating condition. And I was the one most susceptible to it, she told me. If a cheerleading coach had told me the same thing when I was on the cheer squad, I believe something similar would have occurred. I would have taken the path of limitation. Did being on TV cause me to exaggerate? “I’ll never find out,” perhaps.
“After working as a kid actor for so long, I’ve grown to assume that all of the things these producers tell me are accurate. And you listen to them because their viewpoint is important,” she continued.
When the producers finally told her that she needed to gain weight, she was unable to do so. The producers halted recording Growing Pains and sent Gold to an inpatient treatment facility in 1992 when she was at the height of her anorexia. On the cover of PEOPLE in 1992, she discussed her experience with eating issues.
During the podcast, she expressed how “proud” she was to have discussed her anorexia in the magazine. “My voice with the eating disorder suddenly became more powerful after that,” she remembered. In 1994, she was featured on a cover as well.
“They instructed me to remain silent and behave properly on set,” Gold confessed. “But finding my voice was the biggest issue with the anorexia.” She wanted people to understand that it is not merely “vanity” but rather a “real disease.”
