After taking a bit of a hiatus to raise her family, Sarah Michelle Gellar is throwing her hat back in the acting ring — thanks in some part to her 13-year-old daughter, Charlotte. But like her titular character on Buffy, Gellar is making sure that everyone is safe on set, and has some parameters in mind for when her daughter eventually steps in front of the camera.
“I hope that I’ve set up an infrastructure, a safety net for these actors that I didn’t have,” Gellar explained to The Hollywood Reporter while reflecting on her time as a young actor. “My generation just didn’t have that.”
The actor was reportedly “difficult” to work with, but according to her Buffy co-stars, she was just looking out for the cast and crew of the long-running series. “If people think you’re a b***, it’s almost better,” she noted of her “difficulty” on set.
Gellar starred in Buffy from 1997 to 2003. While fans still feel the love for Buffy, others are having a harder time championing the slayer due to creator Joss Whedon’s alleged abusive behavior towards Gellar and her other younger co-stars.
“I’ve come to a good place with it, where it’s easier to talk about,” Gellar said without naming Whedon explicitly. “I’ll never tell my full story because I don’t get anything out of it. I’ve said all I’m going to say because nobody wins. Everybody loses.”
Gellar is making sure that’s not the case for younger actors today, including her daughter, who has voiced an interested in acting. “I’ll never stop her from being on a set,” Gellar said of her daughter’s aspirations. “But she’s just not going on camera while she’s living under our roof. There’ll be different expectations for her, so she needs to learn everything there is first.”
Gellar has previously talked about the strict rules she and husband Freddie Prinze Jr. have for their two kids, Charlotte and Rocky James. She has likened posting on social media at a young age to getting a face tattoo, knowing all too well that the internet is forever.
It seems like Gellar is well aware of the potential pitfalls of fame and the internet at large, and she’s doing what she can to keep her kids (and others) safe in a too-often predatory industry.
