Actress Brenda Song Says She Felt ‘Underpaid and Overworked’ on Disney Shows

Actress Brenda Song said that she felt “underpaid and overworked” while working as a child star for Disney, adding that the company put child actors through unsafe working conditions.

Song revealed her thoughts about working for Disney during an appearance on actor Dylan Sprouse’s Wildmen podcast on Tuesday. She starred on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody from March 2005 to September 2008. In one particular instance, Song recalled how she fainted when filming a hot tub scene that was later revealed to be over 250 degrees.

“I just remember breathing heavy and my chest felt really hot. I just went, ‘Am I having a panic attack?’ Song recalled. “And then all of a sudden I remember [seeing] stars and [then I was] gone.”

Only when Song fainted did the crew realize that the hot tub had been set to 250 degrees.

The actress also reflected on feeling that the child actors were “underpaid and overworked,” noting that they did not even receive residuals.

“I look back on it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, we did actually pay them to work.’ We basically did,” she said.

Sprouse, who co-starred with Song on the show, said that it if had been on a different network, “we would have seven generations of children that would not have to worry about what they did [for money].”

“We would have seven homes,” Song added. “Disney did give us a platform to be sitting here right now. So it’s very hard to complain about certain things.”