As a child actor, Melissa Joan Hart “wanted to take on the responsibility of my siblings.”
Hart revealed that most of the money she made early in her career actually went to her family. The 48-year-old actress’ career began in the ’90s on shows like “Clarissa” and “Sabrina.”
“I felt like I had to be well-behaved to set an example for them,” Hart said of her seven siblings during the show. Pop Culture Mama Podcast. “Any money I made from commercials, from ‘Clarissa,’ or from my acting career always went to my family.”
“I went and picked out a Barbie doll, and as I got older some people were like, ‘That’s crazy, you should have kept the money,'” she added. “But I wanted to put food on the table, buy my siblings nice clothes and bikes for Christmas and things like that. So I really felt like I wanted to be responsible for them.”
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Melissa Joan Hart was a successful child actress in Hollywood, earning enough money to support her siblings and family. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Hart explained that most of her siblings had once lived with her, and she even paid their phone bills until they were 28. Helping to care for her siblings has made her a better mother, the actress noted.
The “Drive Me Crazy” star recalled that when she was 17, her mother went on holiday and she was left looking after all her siblings on her own.
“I went and picked out a Barbie doll, and as I got older some people were like, ‘That’s crazy, you should have kept the money.’ So I wanted to put food on the table at Christmas and buy my siblings nice clothes and bikes and things like that.”
“She went to Mexico. I had kids at home, ages 6 months, 7 years, 9 years, 13 and 15,” Hart said. “I had to take care of them for four days, and I don’t remember how I did it.”
Melissa Joan Hart rose to fame in the ’90s for her role in Clarissa Explains It All. (Getty Images)
“I know my 15-year-old sister went missing,” the actress admitted. “She went to a friend’s house and never came back, but I knew where she was. My other sister had to catch the bus in the morning, and then I had to walk across the street for the other two, and then I had to bottle-feed her all morning and change her diapers and order pizza for her. I don’t remember how I did it.”
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Melissa Joan Hart often helped care for her siblings and even paid their phone bills. (Getty Images)
Hart explained that despite her young age, she feels like an adult.
“If my mom hadn’t known I could do it, she never would have left,” Hart stressed. “I had already finished the show ‘Clarissa.’ I’d been living on my own in Orlando for four years.”
“My 17 is probably someone else’s 24.”
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Caroline Leah and Melissa Joan Hart were photographed on the set of Sabrina. (Getty Images)
Hart began appearing in commercials at the age of four and landed her first leading role in 1991 on the Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It All.
She later went on to star in Sabrina and Melissa & Joey.
Hart married musician Mark Wilkerson, whom she met at the Kentucky Derby in 2002. The couple married in 2003 and have three children: Mason, Braydon and Tucker.
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