The Shirley Temple Nobody Knew: The Lonely, Overworked Child Star Was Abused by Producers – and Ripped Off by Her Own Parents
Shirley Temple was abused by producers and ripped off by her own parents during her lonely childhood.
May 5 2025, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
America's sweetheart Shirley Temple captured hearts worldwide with her charming smile and fresh-faced innocence – but in real life she spent her childhood friendless, alone and abused by a string of Hollywood bigwigs, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Temple, who died at 85 in 2014, was also ripped off by her own father, who wasted her millions and left her with only $30,000 to her name.
Shirley Temple's mother forced her to rehearse lines at bedtime instead of reading fairy tales.
An insider revealed: "Her childhood was filled with misery. She worked long hours and was mistreated by producers and studio heads. But her parents told her they were setting money aside for her, and one day she would see it was all worth it."
Shirley’s mother, Gertrude Temple, was a domineering stage mom who pushed Shirley into showbiz when she was only three years old.
Spotted by talent scouts, she was signed to a contract for a series of films called the Baby Burlesks.
Exploited and paid slave wages by small-time Educational Studios, Shirley made a mere $10 a day for playing the lead and was cruelly punished for the slightest misstep.
With parents banned from the set and child welfare workers otherwise distracted, studio taskmasters forced Shirley and other child actors to sit on a block of ice in a diabolical "punishment box" if they proved troublesome while filming.
Unbelievably, Shirley credits the horrible treatment for making her a better performer.
She said the abuse taught her important lessons: Pay attention. Time is money. Do as you're told. Get it right the first time.
As an old pro at the tender age of five, Shirley was invited to audition for the film Stand Up and Cheer! and was signed to a deal that paid $150 a week to Shirley and $25 to her mother.
She went on to perform in nine movies in 1934, and by 1935, she was earning $2,500 per week, plus another $15,000 per finished film that was put into a trust for her.
Temple lived in isolation, chauffeured daily to a fortress-like studio life.
While vibrant and happy onscreen, her childhood was plagued by loneliness.
She wasn't allowed to have friends, and each day she was driven in a bulletproof limousine "to a house bristling with protective devices and encircled by a high wall," shared an insider.
Once a year, she had a birthday party with some "friends."
"There were children of people at the studio," she admitted. "It was fun but impersonal."
For Shirley, life was all work, and instead of fairy tales at bedtime, her mother would go over her lines for the next day's filming.
Overworked, the child would parrot back the lines until she drifted off to sleep, with her hair coiled into 56 pin curls, so she'd look picture-perfect the next morning on the set.
But as Shirley reached adolescence, her nightmare got even worse: She had to constantly fight off the advances of perverted, middle-aged men.
Arthur Freed's casting couch advances ended when young Shirley defiantly walked out.
In 1941, when Shirley was 13, she and her mother made their first visit to the MGM office. Shirley was taken to the office of producer Arthur Freed, while her mother was sent to see studio head Louis B. Mayer.
Freed, known for having an "adventurous casting couch," quickly began making sexual advances toward young Shirley.
When she resisted, he threw her out of his office.
Meanwhile, Mayer was making his moves on Gertrude – who pushed him away. Fortunately, Shirley had already signed with the studio, so there were no career repercussions.
In another incident, Gone with the Wind mastermind David O. Selznick actually chased Shirley around his desk. But she managed to avoid the creep's advances.
Eager to escape her Hollywood hell, Shirley, 17, married B-movie actor John Agar – who turned out to be a hard-drinking, womanizing wife-beater. Shirley became so distraught she almost killed herself, but decided instead to divorce the cad – which she did in 1950.
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David O. Selznick once chased Shirley around his desk – another predator in plain sight.
But one more devastation awaited her. After meeting and marrying businessman Charles Black in 1950, she asked her father for the money that had supposedly been set aside for her over the years.
She soon discovered the $3.2 MILLION she'd earned had been squandered and used to pay wages for Temple household workers.
A scant $28,000 remained, which her mother begged her to leave with her father to manage "because it keeps him going."
