January 10, 2007: Bindi Irwin Unnerves Me

OK, am I the only one freaked out by the preternatural smiling presence and MGM-child-star-Mickey-and-Judy-denial-mixed-with-outsized-ambition of Bindi Irwin?

She's got her TV show Bindi, the Jungle Girl. She has clothing lines, a theme park and a film on the horizon. She has a Vegas style singing and dancing revue that's like combining Debbie Reynolds with a trip to the zoo. But her takeover of the talk show circuit this past week has left me cold, frozen really, as if staring into the eyes of the kind of yellow-eyed snake that, apparently, thrills her and rocked the world of her late Dad.

Her appearance tonight on Larry King unnerved me. I mean, the recent Charlotte's Web press junket with 12-going-on-54 child star Dakota Fanning was enough. I think I even saw a glint of fear in Dakota's voiceover co-star Julia Roberts' eyes, as she listened to Dakota's overpowering positivity on everything from homeschooling to the rape scene in her new movie. I think we've seen what can happen. The streets are paved with child stars gone to hell in a handbasket. Drew Barrymore seems like one of the few exceptions.

Remember little "I see dead people" Haley Joel Osment? He was the last child star who captivated a nation. He just drove drunk off the road in LA and has added "mandated rehab" to his IMDB listing. Bindi's manager and her mother both say they aren't pushing her. I am not sure. All I know is that making your personal life into a professional multi media event has to have consequences, and not just the moolah Ms. Bindi is making.

Do preternaturally adult-acting child stars just freak you out, too?