Glüme Harlow – A Star Is Born

After a painful upbringing working as a child actor from the age of six to provide for her family, Glüme Harlow is making music about reconnecting with that little girl and conquering Hollywood on her own terms

- By Hannah Ewens. Photography by Andrea Riba

In the 90s, Glüme Harlow watched a biographical movie of Judy Garland which depicted how Garland helped her family buy a house. Harlow's own family was poor and living in LA, an expensive city, so the idea of working as a child actor to help with money excited her. She was six years old. Her mother, who she describes as a "scary stage mom", steered her fledgling career. Playing roles in 102 Dalmatians, Kingdom Hearts and a Hayao Miyazaki movie, Harlow was enamoured with older actors and the gorgeous costumes and sets.

Homeschooling was the only option that allowed her to work flexibly in the theatre and Hollywood. Her mother fed her a concoction of drugs to keep her awake through the day for auditions and work and to sleep at night to be well rested. "Mom really had the paediatrician down," Harlow says today, styled in a full 30s glamorous dress while at the bar of LA's Beverly Hills Hotel. "I was just chugging bubblegum medication, amphetamines, sleeping medication."

She continues: "I paid for everything, and I did not have a childhood. I didn't really realise that or grieve that until I was older because a lot of it was fun. My mom wasn't. That's probably why I liked acting so much too because it was a place to go away from home." Arguments would erupt when Harlow wanted to go to someone's birthday party or try out her new skates, as these were seen as distractions from her job. "I found my diary recently from 2000. It was like, 'I hope I make friends this year. My mom probably won't want me to, but I'll try. I read that casual entry and was like, 'That's so sad.' The tone I was writing it in I can tell I thought that was normal. But no, that's not for a kid," she says.