E.T. star Henry Thomas is pulling back the curtain on his upbringing after starring in the 1982 film.
“I don’t think I dealt with it very well because I wasn’t ready for it,” Thomas, 54, admitted during the Tuesday, March 24, episode of the “It Happened in Hollywood” podcast when asked how he dealt with an “immense amount of fame” at such a young age.
“What’s weird is I never foresaw it happening. Like, I was surprised when people recognized me the first time,” he continued. “I had never thought of it. I had never thought about being famous.”
Thomas added, “It was very bizarre. And then I kind of felt like I had some kind of obligation to kind of continue on, do something better. Like, ‘Oh you gotta follow it up.’”
Thomas — who portrayed the alien’s best friend Elliot in the movie — explained that “no one” in Los Angeles would sign him because he was residing in Texas and his parents didn’t want to relocate.
“They all said, ‘Well that’s great that you’re working, but we don’t want to represent you unless you’re serious about this and you’re going to come out to LA,’” he recalled. “Then of course, E.T. was number one in the box office for two weeks, and my phone started to ring. And all the people that had said, ‘You have to move to L.A.,’ were suddenly like, ‘Well, we’ll represent you and you can live wherever you want.’”
He continued, “So it was a little bizarre. It felt kind of false to me and I never liked that feeling. So I think part of it was me proving to myself that I could actually do it, and part of it was just being on the train and saying, ‘We’re leaving the station. Here we go. What’s next?’”
Thomas explained that he went on to do “some good films and some bad films,” noting that “people forgot” about him.
“I had to remind them that I was still alive, and I was not 10 years old. And I just kept at it, really,” he said. “I just kept at it, and it mostly worked out. I mean, sometimes I regret that decision, but most of the time, I’m pretty happy about being an actor.”
Thomas noted that he didn’t relocate to Los Angeles “for a long time,” staying in Texas until his mid 20’s before moving to New York for a year.
“I didn’t have any luck there, so I went to LA. Then I ended up staying in LA for 20 years or so,” he said, noting that he now lives in Oregon. “I said five years and then 20 years later I said, ‘OK, now I gotta leave.’”
