What happened to Melanie Wright Sprouse? All about Dylan and Cole Sprouse’ parents as actor addresses child stardom

Cole Sprouse recently appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast and opened up about his childhood as well as his rise to stardom as a child actor.

Sprouse and his twin brother Dylan first appeared in the American sitcom Friends and the 1999 film Big Daddy before earning their breakout role in the Disney show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

The Riverdale star revealed that his acting gigs as a child were a “means of income” for his mother Melanie Wright Sprouse. He also shared that he and Dylan worked to put their daily bread on the table:

“I think there’s two types of kids within the child acting business. There’s, like the thespian children who choose to do it, and then there’s the working class kids that, in our case at least…"

He continued:

"I mean it started, really, as a means to put bread on the table. And also allow my mother at the same time to be a mother, but to make her main focus and her job our careers.”

Unfortunately, Melanie Wright Sprouse suffered from mental health and addiction issues. She allegedly lost all the money Dylan and Cole Sprouse earned from Friends and Big Daddy before losing custody of them.

Speaking about his father, Cole Sprouse mentioned that the former wanted him and Dylan “to be normal kids” but also saw their acting career as a valuable financial opportunity. He said that bagging The Suite Life of Zack and Cody was similar to earning a “golden ticket”:

“It was like the golden ticket from Willy Wonka… It was a great means to an end.”

He said that the Disney show provided them “an amount of stability and consistency and routine” that was necessary for him and his brother in the wake of the custody battle.

Cole Sprouse also mentioned that he and Dylan escaped the scrutiny their female peers were subjected to during their Disney days:

“I think in very many ways, my brother and I were lucky mainly because we were young boys. Like, the fascination when we were younger, at least on the Disney Channel, was like, of Miley and Selena and a lot of these girls, because they were heavily s*xualized, which is another huge f***ing issue.”

He continued:

“My brother and I in very many ways went through all of the same trappings, except the lens wasn’t on us as tightly, which I’m very, very grateful for.”

However, Sprouse also shared that he was “an angry kid” and witnessed the way child stardom often became a form of “elected trauma”:

“Celebrity and success and, you know, financial excess or surplus in a single generation is an elected trauma in very many ways.”

The former Disney star said that without “delegitimizing” other actors’ experiences, he holds a different view of his stardom as a child actor:

“Because a lot of those kids came from privilege. You know, I find that a lot of the times it’s much easier to complain about the business approach of a larger studio when you don’t need the money as much.”

Cole Sprouse noted that he does not “regret” his child stardom “at all” because it brought him a life of financial stability and surplus today. He said that if given the same choice, he will “probably do it again.”

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What is known about Dylan and Cole Sprouse's parents?

Dylan and Cole Sprouse no longer have any relationship with their mother (Image via Getty Images)

Dylan and Cole Sprouse were born in Arezzo, Italy, to American parents Melanie Wright and Matthew Sprouse. The twins’ maternal grandmother, Jonine Booth Wright, was reportedly an actress and drama teacher, who convinced their parents to let their sons into acting.

The Sprouse family reportedly moved to Matthew and Melanie’s native Long Beach, California, when Dylan and Cole were four months old. Melanie reportedly pushed the twins into acting for commercials nearly barely a year after they were born because of the family financial’s needs.

In a now-deleted Tumblr post, Cole Sprouse shared that he would not have pursued acting if not for his mother:

“My brother and I were put into acting when we were 8 months old by our mother because we needed the money. I never made the decision to join the arts or acting specifically. And do it was never really my passion. To be honest, if she never thrust me into it, I probably never would have thought of it as a career choice for myself.”

During his most recent appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Sprouse said that his parents were “part of a school slash cult.” He said that he could not “really figure out what it was” but mentioned that his mother was an art teacher while their father was a physical education teacher.

The family of four later moved to Switzerland shortly before Melanie Wright and Matthew Sprouse parted ways. Following their divorce, Melania took the Dylan twins back to the U.S. and got them to pursue acting as child stars.

Cole Sprouse said that he and Dylan were 10 years old when their custody was “stripped” from their mother and given to their father. He added that while his mother was “wonderful and artistic,” she was financially irresponsible:

"I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this. In very many ways, I was lucky for it not to be discussed. When my father was given forced custody, we had pretty much lost everything from the youngest parts of our career. That would be Friends and Big Daddy. My mother was an incredibly wonderful and artistic woman, but she was financially the most irresponsible woman ever.”

The actor also shared that he currently has no relationship with his mother:

“In truth, she lost her mind. I think it was the consequence of some alchemy of addiction and mental instability and it's probably the greatest wound in my life. It's also the greatest driving force for my continuing in this industry. I miss her a lot.”

Cole Sprouse also said that he feels indebted to his father and that he only stopped helping his family with bills “three years ago.”

“[Matthew Sprouse] put a lot of his life on hold in order to ensure that my brother (Dylan) and I were ok.”

He also said that it was his father, brother, and himself in their family.