The Disney sitcom Even Stevens was Christy Carlson Romano‘s breakout role that lasted for three years opposite Shia LaBeouf, but reveals how their relationship has become strained.
Romano has been promoting her new memoir, Once Upon a Trainwreck: The Fall and Rise of a Child Star, which details her rise as a young actor and the dark moments behind it. She spoke with PEOPLE about how, despite playing brother and sister on Even Stevens, their off-screen relationship became anything but what fans expected.
“We’ve just always come from two completely different worlds,” Romano explained. “I think that he was going through a lot … and I was on the sidelines of that, so to speak, also going through my own thing.”
The actor had recently posted a throwback photo on Instagram of her and her co-star on set and wrote that she had only wished they were there for each other at the time. She reiterated that they had been going through their own battles.
Romano revealed in her memoir that it often felt like the crew was “trying to pit Shia and me against each other.” While admitting that Disney did help foster a tense environment on set and between the two stars, she doesn’t blame them.
“Whether or not it was the executives unknowingly, playfully accepting the banter and saying, ‘Well, this is good TV, this makes sense,’ not thinking this was something related to a lackluster work environment that wasn’t actually helpful to the home life stress balance,” she said.
“That’s not really for the executives to decide. They’re worried about their bottom line, and I totally get that, but that’s just being part of an adult working system.”
Are Romano and LaBeouf still in contact after so many years? The answer is no, with Romano explaining that their relationship ran its course the way it should have.
“I honestly think that that relationship played out the way that it was meant to play out… It’s interesting to see it play out over time from the hindsight of 40-year-old me, looking back like, ‘Oh, so that’s how that was meant to go,” she explained.
The Cadet Kelly actor has no regrets about her years on Disney Channel and was “absolutely” glad to have had them.
As Romano shares a deep dive into her childhood past in her memoir, LaBeouf has been in the hot seat for a few years as an actor. While having starred in blockbuster hits, there were often been reports of LaBeouf’s erratic behavior and intense method acting that caused tensions on set.
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