"Annie" star Aileen Quinn has admitted that taking a break from Hollywood at the peak of her career was a "blessing in disguise."
The actress was nine years old when she was cast as the red-headed orphan in John Huston’s 1982 screen adaption of "Annie." The role skyrocketed her to fame but by age 18, Quinn decided to exit Hollywood and pursue other dreams. In an interview with Fox News, Quinn explained that she wanted a sense of normalcy.
"My mom was a school teacher for many years so education was always very important," she said. "They were very strict on the set about me getting my three hours of school a day. And when I came back from filming, my teachers didn’t cut me any breaks. Don’t get me wrong, they loved it, they were happy for me, and they wanted my autograph too, but they were like, 'Welcome back to test-taking. Be your usual A+ student.'"
At the time, Quinn was under contract and she stilled worked in theater but ultimately decided to "get back some normalcy" so she went to college and then she traveled.
"I wanted to learn about the world. I lived in a foreign country and got to experience that for a while. I got to learn a different language and explore another part of the world that was different," she said. "So in a way, it was a blessing in disguise. I was able to grow up, have a normal life, date and see the world, which felt right to me."
Quinn never left acting though. She continued to appear in various theatrical productions and while she admitted it was difficult to transition into other roles, theater allowed her that.
"It was hard in the beginning when I was still a teenager … I've always looked younger. So it was a little hard to transition," she said. "But the great thing about theater is I got to play everything … Luckily, theater kept me growing and I was never pigeonholed. If you can sing, dance and act, you can embrace any role in costume. And they’ll give you a chance."
Looking back at "Annie," which has held up for all these years, Quinn added that the film had so many messages for audiences to take away.
"But I think the universal theme here is we all wanted to be accepted. We all want to be loved. That’s the bottom line of everything," she said. "We all want unconditional love. And we all have struggles … It’s really about love and acceptance, which we so greatly need these days. It’s such a great, beautiful story of accepting each other and family. I’m proud of it."