Voices for Voices®

From Disney Fame to Financial Ruin: Alyson Stoner's Story (Ep 308)

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 308

Share episode

From Disney Fame to Financial Ruin: Alyson Stoner's Story (Ep 308)

"Who guards the guardians of child stars?" This burning question emerges from our powerful conversation about former Disney star Alyson Stoner, who discovered her bank account completely emptied after nearly two decades in show business.

What happens when a child performer who's been frugal their entire career wakes up to find all their earnings—over a million dollars—vanished? For Alyson Stoner of "Camp Rock" fame, this devastating reality launched an investigation that revealed systematic exploitation by her business team and, most heartbreakingly, her own mother. As career bookkeeper, Stoner's mother had been quietly paying herself monthly salaries and thousands in one-off payments throughout her daughter's childhood career, all without transparency or discussion about budgeting.

The conversation dives deep into the darker aspects of child stardom—80-hour work weeks that disrupt normal development, casting rooms where children are coached to appear "provocative," and an industry designed to package young people as products with virtually no protections. Stoner recalls being a Midwestern child entering Hollywood without any guidance, unknowingly attending what was actually a "recruitment funnel" at age six, and having her name, image, and likeness legally owned by companies before she could understand the implications.

Despite these traumatic experiences, Stoner chose compassion over legal action against her mother. Today, at 32, she's channeled her experiences into advocacy work through Movement Genius, her mental health platform, and by speaking out to protect future generations of young performers. Her story raises critical questions about exploitation, parental responsibility, and an entertainment system that continues to profit from children without adequate safeguards.

When will we say enough is enough? How can we better protect young performers from exploitation—both by the industry and, sometimes, by their own families? Join us in this essential conversation about giving voice to vulnerable children in entertainment and beyond. Subscribe, share, and be part of creating the change needed to ensure no more childhoods are sacrificed for our entertainment.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome to Voices for VoicesⓇ

4:19 Introducing Allison Stoner's Financial Shock

12:04 Mismanagement and Betrayal by Business Team

21:54 The Hidden Costs of Hollywood

34:45 Family Exploitation and Industry Realities

44:05 Advocating for the Next Generation

54:54 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

#AlysonStoner #DisneyStars #CelebrityStories #FinancialStruggles #ChildActors #HollywoodReality #LifeAfterDisney #FameAndFortune #MentalHealthAwareness #SuccessToFailure #BehindTheScenes #InspirationJourney #ResilienceInAdversity #ActingCareerChallenges #PersonalGrowthStory #FromFameToRuin #camprock #jonas #justiceforsurvivors #justice4survivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #factoverfictionmatters #transparency #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices308

Support the show

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Hey everyone, it's Justin on Voices for Voices. Thank you again for joining us on this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Well, over 300 episodes and going strong. Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for subscribing, liking, sharing, giving us the big thumbs up to help us reach our goal of helping 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. And that is all due to your interest, your support, all due to your interest, your support, and we can't thank you enough for being with us from the beginning, or, if this is your first episode, we welcome you. We welcome you here in the United States or across the world, anywhere we're happy to have you, whether you're watching or listening, whether you're listening on an app like Spotify, apple Podcasts, or whether you're heading over to voices4voicesorg forward slash podcast, where you're able, also for free, to listen to all of our episodes all the way back from the beginning. And the best part is at the very top of the page is at the very top of the page, you're able to see the latest and greatest that we have dropped episode-wise, so you don't necessarily need to scroll down to check out additional episodes, which we highly encourage and recommend you have to scroll down, but we scroll down all the time, so not a nothing out of the ordinary. So thanks for being with us. A little bit different, I guess, dress on. I'm not wearing a dress, but just from the attire Got the flowers and more of a summery shirt on. So, yeah, same person, same show. Shirt on. So yeah, same person, same show. It's just a good day to change it up and that is, and that's okay.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

We're going to be talking about another topic. That is something talking about another topic. That is something for you, the public, to be aware of, to know of, and so it'll be informational for a lot of you, for some of you, because we know quite a few individuals in this industry, particularly that we're going to be talking about, may be affected, may have been affected, or maybe know somebody who has been, and so that also is something for the public to be aware of. And so let's go, let's get going. I was made aware of a news article that was posted, and we're going to again give credit where credit's due. This is the story posted on Fox News Digital, right? So you have an Apple device, you type in foxnewscom or Fox News and you'll be able to get to that particular site, but within that or this site is an article that was written by Stephanie Nolasco from is Saturday August 16th 2025.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

And this particular article that we're going to be referencing diving into was published yesterday at 10 am Eastern Time. Eastern Time, and it's a subtopic of this article is child stars, so we can think of one of the biggest that comes to mind for me is Macaulay Culkin, who played Kevin on the first couple Home Alone movies, and so he was a minor and he was a star. There are other actors and actresses in those movies as well. Kevin was really one of, if not the main characters. So Child Stars is where we find this kind of at a sub-level standpoint, and the title of the article is Former Disney Child Star Woke Up to $0 in Bank Account After Nearly 20 Years in showbiz.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

It's a lot to take in. So former Disney star Disney child star woke up to zero dollars, like logging into your banking app or showing up to the bank asking for a balance, and this individual woke up to zero dollars in their bank account, not after six months in show business, not after a year, but after nearly 20 years in show business, and this is specific to the Camp Rock fame for Alyson Stoner, and Alyson has a new memoir, so she has a new book that will detail what we're going to share. We'll get more details in that book. And the book is titled Am I Well Alyson Stoner? feels lost, lost literally everything. And so again, this is Alyson Stoner. You may know of the name from Camp Rock. Same Detailed the mismanagement of financial assets.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

So for a show, for a movie, there's payments that occur, they should occur. Alyson was doing the work and then again just literally looked in the bank account and saw zero balance or somewhere near that. Given the 20 years and the dollar amounts that were paid out over those 20 years, it's really, really something. So Alyson looked at her bank account and was expecting to see over a million dollars and saw, saw nothing. So just think about that. You know we have these expectations where we look at things all the time and some of those we expect to see a certain thing or within a certain range, and I also expected to see thing or within a certain range, and Alyson expected to see over a million dollars and it's all. There is nothing. Alyson has been performing since the age of three. Her age, Alyson's age is 32. 32. So, yeah, 32 minus three, 19. So that's nearly 20.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Just some of the credits that she has to her name is danced alongside Missy Elliott, appeared in Cheaper by the Dozen and Camp Rock, and those are just some of the some of the films by the Dozen and Camp Rock, and those are just some of the some of the films. And the next area we talk about and have talked about, Alyson, talks about how she was being groomed to be sold, and so Alyson looked at her bank account, expected to see over a million dollars, over zero dollars, been groomed her words, not mine. Groomed to be sold, her words, not mine. Groomed to be sold her words, not mine. And so this is what sparked wanting to put experiences back, good faith back. Experiences, thoughts, facts, good faith facts, public safety concerns right, child star, Macaulay Culkin they're referred to.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

I don't know when he started his acting career, but there were payments for the work that he had done, and I don't know how his financial situation is, if it's similar to similar to this or if it's not. And one of the big things here with the stoner is a quote, even though I was absolutely frugal, and I continue to be so frugal. You can look up that definition, but in my eyes, in my opinion, frugal means you know we're watching over the money we spend, that we try not to overspend on lavish things. Do we need an ultra-expensive form of transportation? Maybe, maybe not. Do we need the biggest house with every single upgrade that can be found? Maybe, maybe not.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

But in Stoner's case he was looking after money very closely and wasn't spending in the lavish lifestyle, and even though Alston was and continues to be on that frugal side of things, that there's a lot of areas, loopholes, that leave the child star to have that child's money be mishandled, and so when we think about that, my mind initially went to well, these must be some people, organizations, that are kind of on the outside, you know, not somebody that they respected, a family member, again, just somebody that they respected. But that's not always the case, and that's what the tricky part here, when we talk about this topic, is. In this instance, this donor was expecting individuals and organizations that were going to be handling her money that they're not just solely people that they can trust, and it's been said many times that money sometimes brings out the crazy in people. Somebody passes away, a family that may have had minor concerns, interactions that were tense over the years, and once a loved one may pass, then it's like, okay, so where's all the money at? Who gets it? Where do I get mine at? And so we have people that have what could be considered good intentions but they feel entitled for one reason or another, and when we talk about this particular situation, that all different industries have different expenses.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

So let me bring in, like corporate America, you know, the nine to five, eight to five, whether you go back into the office, whether it's remote, if it's a return to the office, well, usually you can't just come in in pajamas to work. So there's clothes that have to be purchased that are respectable, that are professional, and so that's a cost. And it's especially a cost when we're growing right. Right, we grow a little taller, maybe we gain a little weight, maybe we lose a little weight, and so those are kind of hidden expenses. You get a new job or your current job. You would want to be dressed appropriately, dressing appropriately based off of the organization's dress code policy. Entertainment industry there are different expenses that individuals go through that they have to spend regardless as far as different, you know the business structure as we move forward in this episode.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Alison Stoner you may not recognize that name, but Alison Stoner starred as Caitlyn Geller on Disney Channel's Camp Rock, and so you might click a little bit more. Caitlyn Geller on Disney Channel's Camp Rock. And so, as Alyson mentioned, it's shocking to wake up to that. It'd be shocking to me. There were points of denial that this isn't the case. It's gotta be some form of misunderstanding. And then it got to the point of being afraid for the future that she uses the word duped, kind of taken advantage of, and so Alyson says well, I'm afraid I might be duped again. And so then that goes into that confidence and self-worth, and you were questioning things, and so that came into play with Alyson. And then what really is kind of a more bigger picture is another question that Alyson was asking herself was you know, do I have the competence, the knowledge, the life skills to find the way outside of the industry? And Ariana Grande, or Ariana Grande has a song called break free, and so that's what I'm thinking about, as this article illustrates what has occurred to Alyson. Am I able to break free? Do I trust myself? How do I find people to help me and not hurt me. Alyson is 32 years old now.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

It was in the 20s when I also made that discovery and Stoner and her older sister they kind of linked up to look at records of where did the money go and what they were finding out and did find out was that Alyson, stoner, Caitlyn Geller finding out and did find out was that Alyson's donor, Caitlyn Geller business team, that they mismanaged Alyson's finances. So the money that was made and earned by Alyson, the business team was taking advantage of Alyson. And so a few examples splurging on lavish gifts, making one-time payments to themselves and I talked about earlier about sometimes it's outsiders that do this activity to individuals. But in Alyson's case it wasn't just the business team which included people outside her family, but Alyson also found out that the career bookkeeper which is Alyson's mother mom had been paying herself a monthly salary and the donor was a child. And again I talked about these other additional expenses that the mother was paying herself, not just the monthly salary but one-off payments to herself, that they were several thousands of dollars all over the years. So if we look at Camp Rock, some other individuals that you may recognize name so we have Alyson's donor, we have Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas and the as far as when Camp Rock premiered in Europe. The European TV premiered Camp Rock Was it in the year 2008 in London, in September, at the Royal Festival Hall.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

And then we get into this other area that we talk about. You know budgeting, saving and the expenses that go into being in Hollywood, and so these expenses transcended more than one point in time, one age, and so an individual who had money at a young age was really being led astray. And the business team, the career bookkeeper, her mother. There was never any conversation with Alyson about saving money, budgeting money, and this quote is very, very telling. Alyson Stoner wrote in her new memoir that quote 15 years of labor turned into a crumbling house of art end quote.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Alyson goes on to say that a lot of people, especially people like individuals they're outside of you know the Hollywood, the entertainment industry they're not really aware of these expenses that can come into play, that aren't expected, and Alyson mentioned that it could cost $10,000 and $20,000 for different expenses. That people are losing money when they're spending a ton of time and energy, a lot of time and energy and resources and audition that's a big way shows, movies. There's auditions and individuals have to be collected to go into a particular show, particular movie, and there's more times where an individual is rejected than earning a part in whatever particular show or movie. And so there's a lot of unpaid labor, right? So nobody's going to pay an individual to audition and to audition. Usually the staff would be looking for individuals that memorize lines, that they're able to add different emotion at certain points, that their voice is not monotone, that there's inflection points where the voice is raised and lowered at certain times. All that has to be learned by the individual and individuals who are auditioning.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Alyson goes on to say quote when you're a child, the assumption is that you can afford to do this for fun, because you aren't necessarily the breadwinner. End quote you know, think about being discovered eating at a restaurant, being at a sporting event, conference, and somebody spotting you, and they talk to your parents and it ends up working out where you have an opportunity to audition for a part in a play, a musical, a TV show, a movie, an advertisement, all those. And so the thought is well, the children they're just don't for fun, we don't have to value their time in the preparation. There's not a preparation fee that gets paid to each potential actor or actress, and one of the most devastating parts with Alison Stoner moved forward with a lawyer that specialized in entertainment and a lot of information being shared and questions and answers and research. In the end, Alyson and her legal counsel legal counsel especially in the entertainment industry decided against legal action because quote, can't burn a bridge with my mother. End quote you know the mother, the bookkeeper that was paying herself a salary out of Alyson's earnings for her work, for Alyson's work, not the mother's work, Alyson's work and Alyson was a child. And the talk about budgeting and well, here are things we have to pay or things we don't. None of those discussions happened and so the mom took advantage of it, inserting herself and saying hey, through her action of deciding that she either a monthly salary and also one-time payments from time to time in the thousands of dollars and part of this reasoning that Alyson gives as far as not deciding not to deciding not to continue with legal proceedings against her mother. Alyson has a lot of empathy, forgiveness, compassion towards people and she had and still has that towards her mother, even after learning what's occurred, and one of the reasons is because the mother had also struggled with alcohol. So, as we kind of close out this episode, Alyson began performing at the age of three, attended a performance convention in New York at the age of six and not knowing, Alyson, that this performance convention was a recruitment funnel for Hollywood, right with a funnel, bigger at the top and then smaller, smaller, smaller. And I think about putting, if you have a gas powered vehicle, think of putting, if you have a gas power vehicle, think of putting gas enhancement or cleaning out the gas tank product into the bigger part of the funnel and then it circulates and then that's how it's in there. And so the performance convention was a big recruitment funnel for Hollywood.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Alyson Stoner and her family, up until then the Midwestern family and didn't have any affiliation with the industry. So it's one thing if your family has been in the industry, so it's one thing if your family has been in the industry. Doesn't make make it so that things are going to always run smooth. It just means that they have a potential to understand or be made aware of things earlier than somebody that's trying to learn the industry. At the beginning I didn't have any aspirations to pursue the Hollywood, the creative industry, but again, there's this funnel at this performance convention where there's a lot of players, there's agents, managers, casting directors and they were used to seeing managers, casting directors and they were used to seeing these children go through the process almost like a conveyor belt, becoming what Alyson says are quote packaged products for audiences, unquote.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

I mean it's almost like shows like the Voice or America's Got Talent, where you know these are entertaining shows and they're real, that they're not being rigged or anything like that, and then at the end of the season somebody wins something a contract, a payment, a different for everybody. I mean all these different types of shows. And so if you're a music executive or you're an artist who has their own record label, that those auditions are just like this Individuals that are auditioning, whether they're auditioning with a TV audience as well or not same purpose, same idea. And so then, instead of an executive or label representative having to always just go out and look, they could insert themselves around these shows or in these shows and they can find out that Kelly Clarkson was the very first American Idol winner. You can bet you're good money that whoever noticed and had her under contract made a lot of money. Had her under contract made a lot of money.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Very successful artist singer Alyson also talked about again in that Midwestern family of hers didn't have any experience in the creative Hollywood industry and that nobody gave them a manual of how to, what to do, like step one, step two, step three, four, five, six here's topic A, here's topic B, here's C there wasn't an orientation period and so not only that, Alyson didn't know really the both the short and long term implications, having companies own Alyson's name, image and likeness, so doing that paperwork, getting that signed notarized by the time she finds out, by the time Alyson finds out, there's already legal paperwork where your name, your image, your likeness is already owned and we would think, well, wouldn't that be the parents? And we would think, well, wouldn't that be the parents? No, not always the case, and that's what a big concern is. That's why we're doing this episode, Alyson. It's not the hard way, a lot of people that are stepping out, stepping forward, and so you have this Midwestern family who may have just had paper put in front of them and they signed them, or put in front of them and they sign them, might not have the money to pay for an attorney to defend them, to just look out for their best interests. And so the family didn't know Because, again, there's no manual what to expect what to do. Because, again, there's no manual what to expect what to do.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

The consequences of disrupting every area of their childhood development, removing Alyson from school to navigate 80-hour work weeks it's huge. An area that I want to share is quote one of the areas that was most uncomfortable was being in a casting room where you're playing opposite adults and you're being coached to come across as provocative and you're rewarded with maybe a callback if you showcased the right amount of sin, said Stoner end quote. Does that sound familiar? There's times Alyson was on set without any guardians. Any right Parents, guardians have to work. They're not going to be able to be on set because again they haven't received payment. And the people who have and this includes her mom they come forward in the name of what. We're taking care of this child, and so it's in our best interest for us to have control. Alyson also talks about room members might not even know their age. A lot of room for pushing the envelope, potential grooming and being taken advantage of.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

You may also know Alison Stoner as a voice actor in Phineas and Ferb. There's countless stories that Alison shares in this article as well as in her memoir, of where young people who were hired to play one character and, upon showing up to set, they're slowly and systematically coerced into doing more than what was originally on on that script page. Alyson attended the recent Comic Con in San Diego. We had the District Attorney of San Diego County, summer Stephan, to talk about some of the child trafficking and child abuse that happened last year at Comic Con. She's a big supporter for survivors and works with law enforcement to try to find these individuals who are preying on these children. On the positive here, Alyson Stoner is the founder of Movement Genius, which is an online platform that primarily looks to make mental health support more accessible. Stoner is also a voice actor for Disney.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Stoner strongly recommends encouraging people to pursue local community theater. First. She's giving advice to parents, because for a young person to be able to be healthy in development, they need developmentally appropriate experiences, not showing up for one character only to find the grooming for another. Stone are also states quote at the moment, entertainment productions are not equipped to provide those experiences, end quote. So still to this day, 2025, entertainment productions, entertainment industry is still not achieving the bar donor talk about how being an advocate and this ties right in the voices for voices, uh, on so many levels that we shared with this particular story that for Alyson to be an advocate for the next generation of performers is the most important role of today.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

So this was a very straightforward look at. Look at Yet another Person In the entertainment industry has been taken advantage of. When's this going to end? When's it going to end? When's it going to stop? When's it going to be enough for us to say this I have had it. When is that going to happen? I want to thank Stephanie Nolasko. When is that going to happen? I want to thank Stephanie Nolasko from Fox News, who published this article and did the research. Both with Alyson Stoner Got so much rich detail and information about the past, present and what Alison looks at as the future of.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

One of the biggest roles that one can have is to be an advocate for others. However, that is, it's different for all of us and as a parent, you may be asking well, I'm not in Hollywood, I'm not in the entertainment industry. Whether you're a parent, an uncle, an aunt, grandpa, grandma, we all have ways and we truly want to do good. Look hard enough. We can be an advocate for a lot of good and we can be that beacon of light In a world that has so much darkness, so much trying to divide. So let's support one another, let's respect one another and let's not take advantage of one another.

Voices for VoicesⓇ Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

So until next time. Thank you so much for joining us. Give us a big thumbs up like follow, subscribe, share, tell your friends, your family, tell your whole network about the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. We're the hottest TV Show and Podcast out there. Why? Because we keep it real, we share truth, we share public health, public safety concerns and we share topics that impact not only you but me, and it's up to us to carry on that legacy of helping people and not hurting. Please be a voice for you or somebody in need. We'll see you next time. Thank you so much.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Justin Alan Hayes

Host