While they achieved success and fame, Dylan and Cole Sprouse lived through hell with their mother, Melanie Wright, as the Riverdale actor claims that he spent the money they earned acting on drugs and alcohol.
Dylan and Cole Sprouse career
Dylan and Cole began their successful career when they were just 8 months old in commercials and series. Cole, for example, played Ben Geller, Ross’s eldest son on Friends, and the boy Adam Sandler adopts in Cool Dad.
However, the definitive success would come when they were 12 years old and they were signed by Disney for the series Zack and Cody: Twins in action, which lasted three seasons and even had its own movie for Dsiney Channel.
The boys earned their own money at a very young age, but what very few know is that what they earned was spent excessively by their own mother on drugs and alcohol, as she suffered from a strong addiction.
The sad childhood of Dylan and Cole Sprouse and how their mother spent her money on drugs
It was during an interview for the Call Her Daddy podcast, where Cole revealed the dark childhood that he and his brother lived through their mother’s addictions, in addition to becoming the source of income for their parents: Matthew Sprouse and Melanie Wright.
“My mother put us into acting when we were only eight months old because we needed money,” she explained.
Cole remembers that when they were 10 years old, he and his brother watched their parents fight over their custody.
“My brother and I went through a long legal battle when we were about 10 years old, and eventually my father was given custody,” she said, adding that her father “just wanted his children to have a normal childhood.”
The actor also revealed how his mother spent all the money they had earned on her addictions:
“We lost everything on Friends and Cool Dad. My mother was wonderful and very artistic, but she was the most irresponsible person you can imagine with money.
I think it was the consequence of some kind of mixture of addiction and mental instability, and that is probably the biggest injury of my life.
The Riverdale actor says that after thinking about it a lot, his father gave them permission to act in the Disney series, and he assures that Zack and Cody was like a life saver for them.
“He gave us stability, consistency and a routine; something my brother and I needed at the time.”
Despite everything, the actor assures that he does not regret having been a child actor and having started his career at such a young age.