Alyson Stoner, a Former Child Star, Opens Up About Being Left 'Broke' by Ex Business Managers: 'It Was Too Late'

Former child star Alyson Stoner opened up about being taken advantage of financially as a young actor, claiming they lost nearly $500,000 to questionable business managers. 

“I haven’t spoken about my financials much, but sadly being taken advantage [of] isn’t a unique experience,” the Step Up star, 30, captioned a TikTok video on Friday, August 25. 

Alyson described learning of their missing cash when they were “touring my original music.” “I learned that I had $0 left in one of my bank accounts, which made no sense because I was ultra frugal and I’d been working since childhood. There should have been honestly, like close to half a million in there.”

“When I investigated everything I discovered my former business team and other adults in my life had organized a plan where they were paying themselves extra money from this one account since I was a kid.

And apparently as a kid I had agreed to that,” they continued in the clip from episode 3 of their podcast, “Dear Hollywood.” “But, you know, I didn’t understand what was happening. And years later, even after they weren’t involved in my business like before and even after my work slowed down and I wasn’t making nearly as much money, they continued paying themselves the same amount from this account.”

According to the former Suite Life of Zack & Cody star, their experience of “being taken advantage of” is common to young stars in Hollywood. This was proven with stars like High School Musical’s Olesya Rulin, America’s Got Talent winner Bianca Ryan and Chasing Life actress Haley Ramm chimed in the comments section with similar stories. 

“I just appreciate all this so much. It’s unfortunate how many of us can relate to this,” Haley, 31, wrote, while Bianca, 28, added, “Yep.. this.”

Fellow Disney star, Olesya, 37, responded saying, “Same !!! The only business manager I ever hired had ‘paid’ themselves extra $$$ that I will never see again because ‘I approved it’ as a teen star.” 

For their part, Alyson believed they were being taken care of by their team and family but due to having “little to no grasp” of business, they didn’t “figure out this problem until it was too late,” calling it a “really low moment.”

“Teams of people come in really early and they control all these things. So all we have to do is show up, hit our mark and perform. Many of us never learn the basics of business management,” the Disney Channel alum continued. “This can lead to very poor financial decisions and hardship later and it leaves room for people to mess with our money without us even realizing.”