School of Rock child star Rivkah Reyes 'felt unsafe existing'

Rivkah Reyes and Jack Black in a scene from The School of Rock. Photo / Paramount Pictures

School of Rock star Rivkah Reyes has shared how they struggled with fame when they were a child.

Reyes played the bass player Katie in the hit 2003 movie with Jack Black when she was 10. They shared in an interview with the New York Post about the struggles and harassment they faced. They admit it put them on a path to drug addiction later on in life.

Reyes, now 28, who used the pronouns they/them, shared an article on the platform Medium last year about what their experiences were like after the movie catapulted her to fame.

Reflecting on their experiences, Reyes compares how they felt to Britney Spears' career in the wake of the Framing Britney Spears documentary release, saying their journey was "kind of parallel with Britney's".

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"To quote Britney," they told the Post, "I'm stronger than yesterday."

They experienced obsessive fan behaviour, including a man who attempted to take photos of them at school. They also received comments from men who told them they couldn't "wait until she was 18".

They added the attention meant they "felt unsafe existing".

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"Especially after production wrapped, when I first came back to school, people were really nice or really mean. There was no middle ground," Reyes said.