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The irony of that is, what makes it kind of ironic, is when you do become successful as a professional athlete in particular, a lot of the young children who are emulating these stars do have a different perspective.

Though teenagers are generally very interested in sports, they must realise that education is the most important thing in their lives. They must find the right balance.

Growing up in Hollywood it seemed like every kid was the child of some star.

It is clear from all these data that the interests of teenagers are not focused around studies, and that scholastic achievement is at most of minor importance in giving status or prestige to an adolescent in the eyes of other adolescents.

I would have loved to have been a footballer like my great uncle Matt Busby, but I knew quite early on that I wasn't going to make the grade. Luckily I was told by the age of 13 that I wasn't good enough. That's not a bad thing. You see this 'X Factor' generation of kids now who don't accept that they're not good enough.

Some of today's athletes do not have that kind of pride. They left school at 16, have never had a job in their life and are getting Lottery funding, earning money as an athlete.

We're not in high school anymore and we've had a little more life experiences to help us better understand what were going through in terms of stardom and recognition.

The kids today all seem to think they should be stars, but I wasn't brought up that way.

Kids deserve arts, and it's just as important as science, math, history, English or athletics.

People don't understand being a child star is very hard because first off, to be a child star, you have to be very unique. These kids are talented to be able to do it at such a young age. At the same time, you go through the pressures of bullying and a lot of people not understanding.