Where is 'Young Sheldon' actor now as star addresses claims he was 'difficult' on set
Child star Iain Armitage has called on people to remember that 'kids are not perfect' amid speculation that he wasn't always a pleasure to work with on the set of Young Sheldon.
The actor stepped into the huge shoes of The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons when he was just nine-years-old in 2017 to star in the prequel series that explores Sheldon Cooper's childhood.
Nearly a decade on from the sitcom's debut, Armitage has now addressed rumours that he was 'difficult' on set, as one of his co-stars claimed that 'people were kissing his ass' while shooting the show.
Armitage, now 18, previously described spending such a pivotal part of his formative years on the set of Young Sheldon as 'incredible' and 'so much fun'.
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Given that he'd already appeared in big TV shows such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Big Little Lies, as well as films I'm Not Here and Our Souls at Night, he said it quickly became second nature to him.
"It's weirdly normal to me, because I've been doing it for so long," he told Entertainment Tonight in 2024. "It's something I kind of realised, that this is such an incredible and weird thing that I get to do...We're really lucky."
Discussing his 'wonderful' experience of working alongside those involved in Young Sheldon, Armitage added: "Every single person that works here, every cast member, every crew member, works so hard.
"[They're] so dedicated to what they do. They're so funny and they really feel like family."
However, a new book penned by Jessica Radloff about what went on behind the scenes of the hit CBS show suggests it didn't always feel like a big happy family on set.
Titled Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy, Radloff's new work provides an 'oral history' of the series and includes some comments from the cast members.
The 'tough' life of a child star
An excerpt obtained by Us Weekly shows how the author delved into the sometimes strained relationships between the stars - noting that although they 'loved each other and still do', they did not 'always get along'.
Radloff writes: "Relationships could get complicated, and there were times where certain bonds were stronger than others. In the two-plus years since the show ended, some relationships remain as if the show never ended; others have cooled because of physical distance and life. But there’s no denying that this cast still shows up for each other, and that wouldn’t be the case if they didn’t genuinely care."
Armitage's co-star Emily Osment, who played Mandy McAllister in Young Sheldon, said she related to the young cast members due to her Hannah Montana days, explaining it can be 'tough' to be a child star.
"You have no idea how tough it is to be in school and also be at work," she said. "It’s a lot to juggle, so I have a lot of empathy for that. Iain and Raegan [Revord] would finish a dinner scene and just get carted off to school.
"There’s no break."
Lance Barber, who took on the role of Sheldon's father in the series, and said that the more mature stars of Young Sheldon built up a good rapport with the youngsters on set.
But he noted that their parents 'gave us freedom to be honest with them in regards to what we needed as professionals', adding: "Occasionally, they had to be shut down."
Actress Annie Potts, 73, played Sheldon's maternal grandmother in Young Sheldon - and claimed that Armitage could sometimes be 'difficult' to work with.
"Here’s the thing...we were all working for Iain," she told Radloff. "We were all serving him. The characters were meant to serve his journey, so that is a lot for a little person to manage psychologically.
"He was asked to work and carry the weight of something that would be difficult for an adult, and we know that a lot of behaviour comes out in situations like that. Yes, sometimes he was difficult."
'Sometimes kids are not perfect'
"But I’ve worked with grown-ups who were a lot worse," Potts went on. "Sometimes I think he was tired, and sometimes I think he pushed people, and people were kissing his ass!
"It’s a very challenging situation to be nine-years-old and be expected to work, behave, and think like a grown-up. And I say that with absolute love and respect."
Reflecting on his behaviour while starring as the child prodigy Sheldon, Armitage said it was a big responsibility for him to shoulder at such a young age.
"It was a complete privilege to be on this show and play this character, but yes, it was a big undertaking for an 8-year-old," he said. "I always did the best that I could, and sometimes kids are not perfect.
"I was grateful to the people who understood that and gave me grace."
Since Young Sheldon wrapped, Armitage has appeared in the CBS series Ghosts for a cameo earlier this year and has been focusing on perfecting his flying after bagging his student pilot's license in 2024.
Potts also acknowledged that navigating your childhood years on a TV set is a 'weird life for a kid', given that it's 'expected that they behave as much as possible like adults'.
"They’d be tired or cranky, or I could tell they just needed to run and burn some energy off," she added. "I always gave out whoopie cushions because it allowed kids to be a little naughty in a surprising way, like, 'Did you just do that?' "And in the early years, it was nice to be like a family off set, too. Every once in a while, if the parents weren’t right there, it was, 'Hey, you need to stop doing that'.
"And if you have a familial relationship with them, it doesn’t hurt their feelings so much. But I especially had a little gravity for them, like, 'Annie doesn’t want us to do this'."
Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy is set to be released on 20 October in the US and 5 November in the UK.
Topics: Big Bang Theory, Celebrity, Nostalgia, TV and Film
Olivia Burke