Once Upon a Trainwreck: The Fall and Rise of a Child Star

Thrust into the spotlight too young, former Disney Channel star Christy Carlson Romano—beloved for Even Stevens, Kim Possible, and Cadet Kelly—seemed to have everything and lost more than anyone knew. In this raw and inspiring celebrity memoir, she reveals what childhood fame cost her, the fantasies she had to unlearn, and the ongoing story of finding her way back to herself.

For a generation of kids, former Disney Channel star Christy Carlson Romano was their TV big sister. At her peak, she was sixteen years old and starring across the Disney Channel universe in Even Stevens, Kim Possible, and the original movie Cadet Kelly. She was Disney’s smart, serious girl next door—polished, dependable, and seemingly in control.

Off camera, she was unraveling.

Pushed into show business as a child, Christy learned early that achievement was the price of love. From indie movie gigs and Broadway performances in New York to television shoots in Hollywood, Christy battled bullying, exploitation, financial instability, and the crushing pressure to appear perfect. Desperate to please, she carried that hunger for approval into adulthood—dating controlling men, partying to fit in, spiraling into addiction, and handing thousands to a predatory psychic who promised answers.

Rock bottom came in an FBI office.

What followed was not a fairy-tale rescue, but a hard-won reckoning: Christy pulling her life back together, questioning the script she’d been handed, reparenting herself, and becoming not the princess she was told to play, but a woman learning how to save her own life.

Raw and impossible to put down, Once Upon a Trainwreck is more than a celebrity memoir. It is an inspiring account of childhood fame, addiction, motherhood, identity, breaking cycles, rewriting the ending, and choosing your own life. Punctuated by letters from Christy to her two young daughters, this is a powerful testament to resilience, accountability, and the courage to claim your own story.

Christy Carlson Romano is an Emmy Award–nominated actress, author, entrepreneur, content creator, host, activist, and former Disney Channel star. A defining voice for a generation of Disney Channel fans, Christy became the first performer to lead a Disney Channel series, a Disney Channel Original Movie, and an animated Disney Channel series in the same era. When she is not filming, hosting, acting, creating content, or building alongside her husband, she can be found spending time with her family in Austin, Texas.