Actress Raquel Lee Bolleau reached her breaking point with the media industry after a series of disappointments, the latest of which stemmed from her performance in the explosive docuseries Quiet on the set: the dark side of children’s television, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Bolleau, now 37, was one of several former child stars who spoke out about their traumatic experiences at Nickelodeon on the Investigation Discovery series.
ID broadcast one fifth bonus episode on Sunday, with Bolleau revealing that during her time on the ’90s sketch comedy hit The Amanda Show, star Amanda Bynes was once told to repeatedly spit liquid “right in my face.”
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Bolleau explained that the bit was part of a sketch in which she would say “Spit it out,” and Bynes, now 38, would “put whatever was in her mouth, whether it was the water, or whatever.” her co-squirting. face of the star. But after several takes, the actress said she had had enough.
“Everyone thought it was so funny. Everyone laughs, but I didn’t think it was funny,” Bolleau said during her interview, recalling being the only black actor in the scene. “The third time I was furious.”
“I was so angry that the director rushed and put me on the side of the set and said, ‘Listen, Raquel. Breathe in. Breathe out. She’s the star of the show.'”
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She claimed the director told her, “Don’t make too much trouble. I’m going to ask her not to spit in your face. But you have to stay calm.”
The host of the Quiet on Set episode, Soledad O’Brienpresented the clip of Bolleau’s interview to All of that alum Brian Hearne and his mother, Tracey Brownwho were also interviewed for the series.
“That’s racist,” Brown said in response to Bolleau’s story. “Period of time.”
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“Oh my god, that hit me really hard,” Hearne added. “To just hear, ‘You don’t matter,’ at that moment you’re spit on and told, ‘This person is more important than you. Take it.'”
“We are culturally trained to accept it,” Brown said.
On Wednesday, just days after the episode aired, Bolleau posted a scathing message TIkTok videoin which she speaks out about her frustration with the producers of the ID show.
Nickelodeon
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The former child star, also voice actress on Disney Channel’s The proud family, said she was left out of “a huge discussion” earlier this week where “everyone, I think, was going to come together and talk about the documentary.”
“Do you think they even thought about inviting me to this kind of discussion?” she said in the emotional video.
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“This is what has happened over and over again in my career,” Bolleau continued. “This industry has been doing nothing but hurting me left and right, ever since I was a kid.”
She also claimed that the producers “[didn’t] even tell me what kind of documentary I’m going to be a part of,” and that they called her “the day the fifth episode would be released” to let her know that she would appear in the bonus episode.
The actress revealed that participating in the series was “actually very difficult for me to face”, and that no one on the show “questioned whether or not this would be a trigger for me”.
“Quiet on setthey did the same as the industry. They get what they want from you, and then that’s it.”
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“I’m tired of people in this industry,” Bolleau continued. “I don’t care about an audition. I don’t care about being on someone’s set. I don’t care about no one recognizing me for the work I’ve done.”
“I can’t do it anymore. I gave it everything I could,” she lamented, ending the video by saying she wanted to “go back to my family, my businesses.”
Quiet on set exposed child abuse and a toxic workplace culture at Nickelodeon. Drake Bellwho co-starred in Nick’s Drake & Jos, revealed for the first time in the docuseries that he was sexually abused by a voice coach who worked on several children’s programs.
