'Facts Of Life' Star Lisa Whelchel Opens Up About The Pitfalls Of Child Stardom

Lisa Whelchel's "Facts Of Life" character Blair Warner may have rarely let anything get to her. However, Blair's real-life counterpart experienced some challenging moments in the spotlight.

Whelchel was known for playing the snooty Blair for nearly a decade on the "Facts of Life," the 1980s sitcom about an all-girls boarding school and the shenanigans that come along with coming of age with your besties through thick and thin.

Blair grew up on the sitcom; viewers saw the wealthy queen bee navigate the ongoing realization that life isn't always presented on a silver platter to a self-confidant woman who was thrilled to leave lots of room in her heart for her best friends.

For Whelchel, however, growing up in front of cameras wasn't always exciting; the actress reflects on life in the spotlight during a period ruled by image and excess.

The woman who brought one of TV's most memorable big-hearted villains is sharing the lessons she has learned in hindsight.

Whelchel spoke to Yahoo! about the final year of the "Facts Of Life"; the show was originally a spin-off of "Diff'rent Strokes" and was on the air from 1979 until May 1988.

She told the outlet, "It's been hard to believe it's been 35 years since it ended. That also means it's been 44 years since it started. Both numbers feel just- they're more than a lifetime ago."

Despite being more than three decades since its series finale, Whelchel still remembers the pressure of growing up in Hollywood and being expected to obtain a specific image as a teen star.

The outlet revealed the young actresses in the cast, including "Living Single" star Kim Fields, Mindy Cohen, and Nancy McKeon, were weighed behind the scenes; Whelchel was also subjected to multiple visits to a "fat camp" during the off-season.

Whelchel revealed she feels "grateful" for evolved cultural conversation and the lessons we have learned.

"We're in a different time," she said. "We've learned a lot. We're a lot more body positive now, which I'm grateful for. I mean, it's still an issue."

She offered more perspective, including her teenage understanding of Hollywood's inner mechanisms and the cultural obsession with image.

"But certainly as a teenager, [that] was a lot," Whelchel said. "Though back then, I understood it was a business. They hired me to play a certain character that looked a certain way," she continued. "And it was also really hard because I was going through puberty, and my parents were going through a divorce, and I was living in California, and they were in Texas, so emotional eating was involved," Whelchel admitted.

The "emotional eating" the "Facts of Life" star endured to cope with growing up in the spotlight wasn't "atypical of teenage girls," Whelchel feels. "But I think everyone was doing the best they could back then. And as Maya Angelou said, 'When you know better, you do better.'"

Another element that may have kept Whelchel from embarking on a similar path as many childhood actors past and present? She reveals her preference for keeping to herself played a huge role in her experience navigating stardom in the eighties.

"I was also timid," Whelchel said. "My mom put me in an acting class when I was eight to see if it would help me overcome my shyness- and that never really went away. So I didn't live the Hollywood life. That wasn't attractive to me. It was quite anxiety-producing. So being a big star in the '80s, I kept to myself quite a bit."

The outlet revealed Whelchel also gives a lot of credit to the man upstairs for keeping her grounded. Fun fact: Whelchel released a gospel album in 1984!

These days, Whelchel has been one of the "Collectors Call" hosts for the last four years; the show airs on MeTV.

According to her Instagram, Whelchel is also a life coach when she isn't reprising the role that made her famous. She and the surviving cast members of "Facts Of Life" were the subject of the ABC retrospective series, "Live in Front Of a Studio Audience," in 2021!