1. For every Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, there are thousands of talented teenage girls who can sing. It's not just talent, it takes perseverance, money, connections, luck, hard work, etc. etc. Through a couple of degrees of separation, I know of a young woman who has been trying to make it in the music industry for years, starting when she was a pre-teen. She is very talented and photogenic, and her parents have connections and loads of money. She's still only on the outer edges of the music world and may never break through.
When I was 14 years old, I was obsessed with the idea of becoming a Hollywood actress. There was a book in my high school library, "The Young Actor's Guide to Hollywood", that I would read regularly. The book was so old that it featured an endorsement from Richard Chamberlain as TV's Dr. Kildare, lol.
2. How could anyone think that letting a 14-year-old be a runway model is a good idea? Fashion shows at the mall or catalog work in LA, sure. But 14 is too young for anything beyond that, IMO.
Does anyone remember the model Jaime (James) King? She serves as a great cautionary tale. From her wikipedia entry:
Personal life
During her first job modeling, King began using heroin and had an addiction to the drug from age 14 to 19, at which time she went to rehabilitation for her addiction...She briefly dated Kid Rock at the age of 21.
I mean, heroin AND Kid Rock? No way, uh uh.