Dylan Sprouse has compared modern child actors to children toiling in the "coal mines".
The former Disney Channel star opened up about his experiences as a working minor in a candid episode of his Wildmen podcast, comparing child TV stardom to the underage workers of the Industrial Revolution.
"Some kids used to work in coal mines and guard the mine cart door when they were 15," Dylan, 34, said in an episode published on 1 September. "We just sang and danced. It's still child labour."
Expanding on his point, the actor, who co-starred with his twin brother Cole on the Disney show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody from 2005-2008, added that despite acting offering a cleaner working environment than the mines, the impact of working during childhood still had an aspect of drudgery.
"It's a day job. You go in, you clock in, you clock out, you have a 'cubicle,' you work," he said. "Obviously, you're on a stage, and it's different, but it's the same hours. You work it like that."
Dylan, who is currently expecting his first child with his wife, Victoria's Secret model Barbara Palvin, also reflected on his work as an adult and suggested he had found it difficult to evolve his acting style.
"I have my own bulls**t when it comes to some mental hurdles as an adult acting now in the same industry I've been in forever," he explained. "I act like a kid anyway. So, I wonder if I'm just always chasing that… it feels like my self-esteem for a long time was tied integrally to my ability to work and be on set."
