Christina Ricci Reveals How Cher Protected Her on 'Mermaids' Set: 'She Never Wanted Me To Feel Insecure'

She says Cher took her under her wing.

By Brenda Alexander

Christina Ricci could count on Cher while filming Mermaids. The actress, who famously starred as Wednesday Adams in The Addams Family, is opening up about her time working with the icon. The film was Ricci's big screen debut. She was just 10-years-old at the time.

"Cher took me under her wing, and she recognized that sometimes you could be on a set, and you don't know exactly what is going on behind the scenes — power struggles, or different issues," Ricci said in a recent chat with Demi Lovato, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. "And if you don't know any better, and have no experience, you can think it was your fault. And she never wanted me to feel insecure."

Ricci was mandated to her academics on-set in between takes. But she says Cher gave her an outlet. "She was great. I spent all my time with her," she said. "I used to hide from tutor school in her trailer eating See's — she was obsessed with the chocolate See's lollipops. It was the first time I had ever seen sparkling water, also. I was like, 'These rich people with their bubbly water!'"

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Cher was her on-screen mother but also a mentor to her. "I was really lucky, in that when I first started, I worked with a lot of women that were very strong," Ricci added. "They were great talents, but they were also very strong and had boundaries and had rules about how they were treated. And that's one thing that I definitely got from her. It was my first experience, and she was really in charge."

Mermaids was released in 1990. The family comedy-drama was based on Patty Dann's 1986 novel of the same title. Set in the early 1960s, the movie follows a neurotic teenage girl who moves with her wayward mother and young sister to a small town in Massachusetts.

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