SOPHIA Grace and Rosie were the viral child stars who went from their Essex bedrooms to rubbing shoulders with Hollywood’s finest – landing roles alongside the likes of Ariana Grande, appearing on the Ellen Show and even bagging their own movie.
But fast forward 15 years and the cousins have traded the bright lights of Tinseltown for very different lives back home in the UK, as The Sun lifts the lid on how they coped after they were no longer the cheeky youngsters the world fell in love with, and avoided the dreaded child star ‘curse’.
Sophia Grace, now 23, and Rosie, now 19, were cousins who rose to prominence by uploading videos from their Essex bedrooms to YouTube.
In 2011, it was a video of the duo, who were then eight and five, respectively, performing a cover of “Super Bass” by Nicki Minaj that caught the attention of US megastar Ellen DeGeneres.
She invited them to fly across to the US to appear as guests on her eponymous show, which led to a regular slot for the girls and exposure to fans across the pond, who fell in love with the tutu-wearing duo and their British charm.
The girls had their own segment on the show where they would chat with A-listers, from Justin Bieber to Hugh Grant and Taylor Swift. This then led to them bagging appearances on Nickelodeon show Sam and Cat, which featured Ariana Grande in the titular role, and their own movie by the channel, Sophia Grace & Rosie’s Royal Adventure.
Read more influencer news
However, as Sophia Grace and Rosie got older, the high-flying opportunities also came to a halt, with the young women no longer as in demand as their younger selves once were.
A close friend of the cousins tells The Sun: “People don’t realise how intense it was back then for the girls. One minute Sophia and Rosie were just kids playing dress-up, and the next they were everywhere – on TV, interviews and cashing in on big brand deals.
“It felt like the world couldn’t get enough of them. But that kind of spotlight doesn’t really grow with you, it stays frozen in time.
“I remember when things started to shift. It wasn’t dramatic, the calls just slowed down. Not because they weren’t talented, but because they weren’t those tiny girls in tutus that the world couldn’t help but fall in love with anymore. The industry loves a moment, it’s not always about the person behind it.”
Now, Sophia Grace is a doting mum-of-two and often shares mumfluencer content with her little ones to her Instagram page, which still boasts an impressive 1.5 million followers.
Whilst Rosie, who has just shy of one million followers, is an aspiring pop star and often shares music videos and new songs to her profile.
Despite the pair still successful online, that doesn’t mean it’s been an easy transition, as they navigated being shunned from Hollywood for simply growing up.
The friend said: “They had to go through that strange identity thing a lot of child stars face. Like, who am I if I’m not that version of me everyone fell in love with? It’s not just about losing jobs, it’s about outgrowing a character the whole world still expects you to be.
“There was definitely a period where it hurt. They’d worked so hard, and suddenly it felt like they had to prove themselves all over again, but as completely different people. That’s exhausting, especially when your past success kind of boxes you in.”
This had the girls thinking about what is next as they reinvented their careers, rather than remaining stuck.
“What people don’t see is how much strength it took for them to step back and rethink everything. They didn’t just cling to what used to work. They had to start asking bigger questions like what do we actually enjoy now? What kind of life do we want outside of all that?
“They’ve had to evolve and figure out who they are without the glitz glam and cameras. And I think that was harder than actually being famous in the first place.
“There’s something bittersweet about it. Now they’re building something quieter, more personal and it actually belongs fully to them this time.”
Child stars who have been catapulted to fame so young are famously at risk of falling victim to the “curse”, which has seen numerous celebrities fall off the wagon after earning their careers at such a young age.
From Drew Barrymore to Macaulay Culkin and Britney Spears, several stars have spoken out about their struggles with mental health, addiction, financial issues and more after being put under such pressure so young.
But Sophia Grace and Rosie have managed to successfully manage becoming household names so young whilst avoiding being plagued with the curse.
“People always expect a sad ending with child stars, like it’s inevitable that something will go wrong once the spotlight fades. But that was never going to be their story,” said the friend.
Explaining how they managed to remain grounded, they said that the pair have always been “normal and down to earth”, even when things were “unpredictable” in their careers.
“Sophia was always the one with that natural warmth. Even as a kid, she had this way of making people feel comfortable around her, what you saw was exactly what you got,” said our insider.
“Becoming a mum didn’t change her either, it’s been the making of her. She talks a lot about wanting to give her child stability, something consistent and safe, because she knows firsthand how unusual her own childhood was.
“What people see online is only a small window into their world – behind the scenes she’s very careful, and very protective of her family life. She’s also been smart financially, which people don’t expect. She made sure early on that she wasn’t just spending what she earned, she was thinking about the future. She’s got investments, savings and she’s financially fine for a very long time.”
And for Rosie, it seems that music was always the long-term plan.
“She stepped back, took time to grow up outside of the spotlight, build up her confidence and then came back to it on her own terms. That’s something I really admire about her. She’s spent years working on her voice, writing, figuring out what she actually wants to say as an artist instead of trying to recreate something from the past.
“There’s a lot of discipline there, and a kind of quiet confidence that people may have otherwise overlooked. She’s not chasing attention at all because she’s building something meaningful and long term.
“The thing that really stands out about both of them is that they never lost themselves in it. They had good people around them from early on, family who kept things steady and didn’t let the fame become everything. And they listened to that. They made choices that weren’t the flashiest, but they were the right ones for the lives they all wanted.”
The duo were also meticulously careful about money, our source says, despite having an influx of earnings so young.
“At the end of the day, they didn’t just grow out of being child stars, they grew into adults with lives that are real and wonderful. And that’s something you can’t fake for likes.”