The NeverEnding Story was an unexpected success in the 1980s, but one of its prominent actors had to withdraw from Hollywood for a distressing reason.
Tami Stronach, now 52 years old, mesmerized viewers at the age of 10 with her portrayal of the ‘Childlike Empress’ in the 1984 classic, The NeverEnding Story.
Although the fantasy movie has attained cult status over the years, Stronach distanced herself from Hollywood shortly after its release.
In 2024, she discussed her return to the film industry with the movie Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps, penned by her spouse Greg Steinbruner.
Stronach recounted the unwelcome attention she received upon her return to California after filming The NeverEnding Story in Germany.
Despite her young age, men gathered outside her home, and she received marriage proposals and offers for roles in nude films.
Consequently, she and her family chose to halt her budding career.
In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, she explained: “Here’s the door you could walk through — and you’ll have to navigate a lot of that — or you wait until you’re 18 and see what you feel like doing.
“It seemed like a no-brainer to be honest with you. I really threw myself into dance and continued to act [in theater] so I didn’t necessarily feel that I had been cut off from my creativity. It was just like: If you want to pursue film, you would do that as an adult.”
This unsettling revelation surprised many fans of the film, sparking a discussion on Reddit.
On the TodayIlearned board, individuals commented on how disturbing this experience must have been for the young actress and her family.
One user expressed: “Incredibly disturbing. She doesn’t even look like a teenager in that movie she is so young. Ugh.”
Another added: “What a terrible reason for an acting career to stall. Though based on some of the other comments here, it sounds like her parents did the right thing. Keeping your daughter safe is more important than capitalizing on an acting career.”
A third person commented: “Maybe instead of calling her character the “childlike princess” they should’ve called it “literally a child princess. No seriously, she’s only 11 you creeps. An actual child.”
Someone else simply noted: “damnn…humans can really suck.”