Melissa Gilbert is facing some criticism after reflecting on the pressures placed on child actors and their families following the death of Daveigh Chase.
Chase, who rose to fame as the voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch and later appeared in The Ring and Donnie Darko, died on June 16, 2026, at the age of 35.
Early reports from people close to Chase suggested she had died after battling meningitis, sepsis and severe malnutrition. However, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner later determined that her official cause of death was AIDS, with chronic polysubstance abuse listed as a contributing condition.
After those details emerged, Gilbert shared a lengthy Instagram post reflecting on child stardom and the role parents can play when a young performer’s career becomes the center of family life.
She argued that some parents can ‘lose sight of what their true responsibility is’ when their child becomes successful at a young age.
Gilbert penned: “I shot a pilot for a series with her 20+ years ago. I only worked with Daveigh a couple of days, but I could see she was bright both in countenance and in mind. She was bubbly, sweet and professional.
“But there was something else there, a push or need to perform… for her parents.
“I have been around a lot of child actors, myself included, which makes us all a part of a big multigenerational tribe. As a consequence, I’ve also been around a lot of stage parents.”
The Little House on the Prairie actor continued: “Child stardom, in itself, is not a guarantee of dysfunction. However, when a parent or parents lose sight of who THEY are, of what their true responsibility is, and their lives revolve solely around their little star child, well, that’s where the trouble begins.
“It takes strong parenting to handle all that comes with it. The terrible part is, that so few child actors continue on to have careers as actors.
“For most, it goes away, and when that happens it not only devastates the child but it turns the whole family upside down. Today, reading the circumstances of Daveigh’s death, I’m truly heartbroken.”
Some readers supported Gilbert for highlighting the darker side of child fame, but others felt her comments were misplaced and unfair.
One critic said it ‘wasn’t right’ to use Chase’s story in that way.
Another in the comments of the Instagram post penned: “As if you’re putting all the blame to what happened on her parents?! This is wrong!”
Representatives for Gilbert have been approached for comment.
Chase’s path into acting began unexpectedly. She was raised in Albany, Oregon, and moved into entertainment as a child after her family remained in Los Angeles following a car crash that left her mother unable to drive for months.
By the age of eight, she had landed small television parts in shows including Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed.
Her breakout arrived with cult favorite Donnie Darko, where she played Samantha Darko, the onscreen sister of Jake Gyllenhaal’s character. That role later led to the 2009 spinoff S. Darko.
That same year, she voiced Chihiro Ogino in the American dub of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away.
At just 11, Chase took on the role of Samara in the American version of The Ring, and also voiced Lilo in Lilo & Stitch.
She later worked with manager John Ryan Jr, who said he considered her like a little sister. Following her death, he said she drank alcohol but was not involved with heavy drugs, adding that he had checked her into a couple of rehabilitation facilities years earlier.
In an Interview Magazine profile, Chase said: “I just want to make something that I love and people will respect. I want to do things that will change someone’s life, not something they’ll forget about tomorrow.”
Ryan later said she missed a meeting with Rob Reiner about a possible role and then largely vanished from public view.
He also said she had been ‘sober a while’ before she disappeared.
At one point, Chase was arrested on a warrant after failing to appear in court over a traffic offense. She was also questioned after an unidentified man died from an overdose, following allegations that she left him outside a hospital and drove away. She was not accused of causing his death.
She was later arrested again after being found in the passenger seat of a vehicle believed to have been stolen.
Chase also faced charges of possession of a controlled substance without a valid prescription and possession of drug paraphernalia.
In the days after her death, family members and acquaintances described her as having struggled with addiction and housing instability, and her father later said he was not surprised by the medical examiner’s findings.
Chase died at a hospital in Los Angeles.