Emma Roberts breaks her silence on shocking documentary series Quiet on Set that left her ‘completely horrified’ as she recalls her time at Nickelodeon

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Emma Roberts has revealed she was “completely horrified” after watching Investigation Discovery’s eye-opening documentary series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side Of Kids.

After watching the five-part documentary, which shared harrowing accounts from former child stars during their time working for Nickelodeon, the 33-year-old actress recalled being “shocked” because “it was not” her experience with the network.

“It made me really, really, really sad that this was happening to people that I saw a lot and had no idea about,” she told Variety.

The Wild Child star, who starred in Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous from 2004 to 2007, said his show had an “incredible woman named Sue Rose” as showrunner.

“I didn’t realize it at the time, but it wasn’t very common to see a female showrunner at the time,” she recalls. “But that’s how I got into working on a TV series.”

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She continued: “Plus, my mom was with me 24/7, and even though I would tell her, ‘You don’t need to be here all the time,’ she would say, ‘Actually, I do. I’m not taking my eyes off you. You’re not going to a fitting alone at 13.”

The artist added that seeing her peers speak out about their experiences of abuse makes her “really sad.”

“I feel like kids need to be protected on set, just like adults, and I feel like we’re working towards a better work environment in that sense. But yeah, that documentary definitely kept me up at night,” she continued.

The Holidate star made her acting debut at the age of 10 in the 2001 crime drama Blow, three years before landing her role as Addie Singer in her sitcom Unfabulous.

Two years later, she starred in the hit film Aquamarine in 2006 and continued to appear in countless films, from holiday romantic comedies to horror flicks and everything in between.

She has also been a recurring character on Ryan Murphy’s anthology series American Horror Story since 2011 and starred as the lead in his horror comedy series Scream Queens, which aired from 2015 to 2016.

Despite working in the industry for more than two decades, Roberts recently opened up about being called a “baby nepo.”

The mother-of-one – who is the daughter of Eric Roberts and the niece of Julia Roberts – stressed that she feels “younger girls have a harder time with the baby nepo thing” during her appearance on Tuesday’s episode of the Table for Two podcast with Bruce Bozzi.

“I don’t really see people criticizing the sons of famous actors – although they shouldn’t be criticized. I don’t think anyone should be criticized for wanting to follow their dream,” she said.

She continued jokingly: “I always joke, ‘Why doesn’t anyone call out George Clooney for being a baby nepo?’ (His aunt) Rosemary Clooney was an icon.”

But all jokes aside, the American Horror Story actress explained that people shouldn’t assume that the children of the rich and famous didn’t have to work hard to get where they are.

“That’s what I always talk about: People only see your victories because they only see you when you’re on a movie poster,” Emma said. “They don’t see all the rejections that come along.”

Which, in turn, led the Unfabulous alum to be transparent about her own career.

“That’s why I’m always very open about the roles I auditioned for and didn’t get,” she confessed. “I think it’s important to talk about it, otherwise people think it was all great and linear and easy, and no, it wasn’t. But of course, that’s what it looks like from the outside or to the naked eye.”

Why does Emma think the public is so quick to label someone a “baby nepo” despite years of hard work?

As she says: “I think there’s something to be said for the fact that everyone loves that kind of overnight success story.”

“If you’re not exactly the girl from the middle of nowhere who broke into Hollywood, people often think, ‘Well, that’s what your dad was,'” Emma noted.

Roberts also reflected on how she changed her priorities as she watched her aunt navigate her level of fame.

“I got to see what it’s really like up close with my Aunt Julia,” she recalls. “It’s obviously fun and awesome, but there’s a part of it that’s really scary. So I wanted to carve out my own path… Fame was never my goal, because fame on a certain level is pretty scary.”

And Emma felt the same way during her younger years in the spotlight.

“Even in my late teens, I was like, I don’t want my fame to take over my work,” she continued. “Because there’s nothing scarier to me than being so famous that you’re never left alone, but at the same time, not getting good jobs.”

A path Emma has seen many others take in Hollywood.

“That’s what happened to a lot of people when I was a teenager and in my early 20s,” she said. “I never wanted that to happen to me.”