Disney Channel alum Christy Carlson Romano and her mother, Sharon Carlson, have reconciled their once-complicated relationship.
“She understands that I feel the way I feel, but she also still supports me,” Carlson Romano, 42, told The Guardian in a Friday, November 6, profile, noting Carlson even supported the release her Once Upon a Trainwreck memoir where “she’s not portrayed in the best light, but it’s a true and complex light. That goes to show just how motivated a stage mother my mom is.”
In the book, Carlson Romano alleged that her mom controlled her childhood acting career.
“[Stage parents] can be very complicated. They are people who have dedicated their lives to their children and not to themselves,” the Even Stevens alum noted to the British outlet. “They’ve often displaced themselves from their marriages and their other children so that they could sacrifice on behalf of one child.”
Carlson Romano continued, “We enjoyed the bond that we had, but that bond got tested over time. It became more toxic and unstable and our dynamic became more professional rather than personal.”
When Even Stevens wrapped in 2003, Carlson Romano claims Carlson often offered unsolicited — and controversial — advice to help her daughter secure more roles.
“I would audition, and some of the feedback would be, ‘She’s not pretty enough.’ Having these conversations felt very demoralizing because I was like, my talent should be enough for me to find a job,” Carlson Romano said, alleging her mom even suggested she undergo plastic surgery. “I did cave and get a breast augmentation.”
The content creator added, “I asked my mom and she said, ‘If you’re going to be taken seriously for adult roles, I think you should.’ So, my mom encouraged me to get my breast implants.”
Carlson’s involvement in Carlson Romano’s career at a young age soon sparked tension with the rest of their family. (Carlson and her late husband, Anthony Romano, also shared son Anthony Jr., as well as daughters Jennifer and Marcella.)
“I have a hard time reconciling how my mom justified being a stage parent to one child and not really to all of us,” Carlson Romano, who shares two daughters of her own with husband Brendan Rooney, noted of her estrangement from her older sisters. “I think that has a lot to do with what happened with my mom just not being there for them.”
Carlson Romano, however, has remained close to her brother, who serves as her financial advisor.
