Tia Mowry on Weathering ‘Curse’ of Child Stardom With Sister Tamera

Tia Mowry candidly discussed the highs — and lows — that came with being a child star alongside her twin sister, Tamera Mowry.

During the Friday, October 25, episode of Tia Mowry: My Next Act, the actress, 46, explained why she was hesitant about letting her 6-year-old daughter, Cairo, enter the entertainment industry, saying, “I learned how to make money and work hard at a young age. That has carried into adulthood, but at the same time it is a curse. You are just a kid, and you are treated like an adult.”

Tia noted that her feelings about allowing Cairo to try acting “change” depending on the day.

“There was a lot of pressure as a child actor,” Tia recalled of her own experience in the limelight as a kid. “It is your job to make people smile and laugh. It is your job — especially with Sister, Sister — to make this show successful.”

Tia rose to fame alongside Tamera, 46, when they played twins on Sister, Sister, from 1995 to 1999. Tia and Tamara went on to costar in Disney Channel’s Seventeen Again along with their brother Tahj Mowry. They also shared the screen in the Twitches movie franchise, Lifetime’s Double Wedding and their Style Network reality TV show.

“My sister and I were in Texas and we were doing a lot of pageants and talent shows. We were only in Los Angeles for three years before we booked Sister, Sister, and then life was never the same,” Tia shared on her WeTV series. “Sister, Sister changed my life.”

The aspect that didn’t change for Tia was the bond she shared with her family.

“The family dynamic really did not change,” she continued. “We had an allowance, chores and we were still kids. They protected me as much as they could, but the problem was they sheltered me so much because I was this child actor.”

While looking back on her childhood, Tia felt as if she missed out on certain opportunities, adding, “I didn’t get the chance to do things other kids got to do. Like, I didn’t have a lot of friends. At a young age, I did lose out on a lot of things. … I feel like I am definitely catching up on normal life now.”

Tia subsequently thanked her cousin Jerome Wiggins for his support. “It is really important to have Jerome’s opinion and point of view because he was there with me before I was a child actor and after,” she concluded. “He understands what I went through.”

The insight into Tia’s family dynamic comes one month after a trailer for her reality show made headlines. At the time, a clip of Tia circulated online where she explained how she wished she and Tamera were “still close.”

“[I wish] I could pick up the phone and call her, but that’s just not where we are right now,” she said in the premiere of her show earlier this month.

Tia has since clarified to Us Weekly that her comments were taken out of context because she was discussing the physical distance between them.

“You could hear it from me, and this is basically what I was insinuating: I feel like as we grow up, we all start our own families and their children need to lean on them. We begin to take on new roles and responsibilities within our lives,” Tia explained to Us. “That is what that was all about.”

Tia continued: “I love my sister very much. She loves me very much. We have a closeness and a beautiful connection. But that’s what that was all about. It’s just how life unfolds, and it happens with many families.”

Tia Mowry: My Next Act airs on WeTV Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET.