'Heavy and weird': Why Beaches child star walked away from acting soon after the hit movie

If you're like us (and our mums), you can't think of the movie Beaches without crying.

Once you've wiped the tears and composed yourself, however, we'd like you to focus on the two child stars who almost stole the show from their more famous older on-screen counterparts.

Mayim Bialik and Marcie Leeds played the younger versions, respectively, of Barbara Hersey and Bette Midler's characters Hillary and Cecelia, or 'CC'.

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The 1998 movie Beaches is one many of us have bawled over. (Buena Vista Pictures)

Just 13 at the time, the young actresses well and truly capturing the spirit of the two Hollywood icons.

Their unforgettable early scenes in the 1988 movie set the characters' years-long friendship in motion.

While smoking under the boardwalk in Atlantic City, CC spots Hillary wandering lost on the beach, unable to find the hotel she's staying in with her family – and a friendship is born.

So, what became of Bialik and Leeds after their star-making appearance in Beaches?

Mayim Bialik

Mayim Bialik (right) and Marcie Leeds played the younger versions of Barbara Hersey and Bette Midler's characters. (Buena Vista Pictures)

Even if her name doesn't ring a bell, you've likely seen the actress on your TV screen in the years since Beaches, the movie having smoothed her path into stardom.

In the late '80s and early '90s, she appeared in several iconic programs, including Webster, MacGyver, Doogie Houser MD and Murphy Brown.

However, it was in 1991, three years after Beaches was released, that Bialik embarked on one of her most memorable roles – as the titular character in sitcom Blossom.

The role (not to mention those floral hats) made her a household name and a '90s TV icon.

Bialik continued racking up TV credits (and a few movie ones) after Blossom wrapped in 1995.

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Bialik, pictured with co-star Joey Lawrence, really rose to fame through the hit '90s show Blossom. (Touchstone via Getty Images)

She voiced characters in numerous popular animated series, including Recess, Hey Arnold! and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, had a starring role in The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and appeared in episodes of 7th Heaven, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bones and many other shows.

However, it was The Big Bang Theory that re-established Bialik as a small-screen star.

The actress landed a guest role as neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler in season 3, and was then promoted to series regular the following year, playing the role from 2010 to 2019.

Bialik has since stepped into a very different kind of TV role, that of quiz show host.

She began hosting duties on Jeopardy in 2021, but has temporarily stepped down from the role as of May 2023 in support of the Writer's Guild of America strike.

Acting aside, she's also kept busy with various projects including a podcast, writing books, running a women's lifestyle website, and writing and directing her own film.

The actress played neuroscientist Amy in The Big Bang Theory. (CBS)

Reflecting on her time filming Beaches for the movie's 30th anniversary in 2018, she admitted it was a somewhat hard watch for her.

"I know Beaches is so special to so many people. It is for me, too, but in a different way," she wrote on her website GrokNation.

"It was this movie that changed my life and catapulted me into working on sitcoms, which determined the course of my career and life.

"Beaches is hard for me to watch because I'm awkward and my voice is annoying to me and that's just the truth.

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"I know Beaches is so special to so many people. It is for me, too, but in a different way." (Getty)

"But I am so honoured to have been a part of this movie which has touched so many lives and hearts."

Marcie Leeds

While the young star did continue acting for a short while – with credits including TV series Beauty and the Beast and telemovie Wheels of Terror – she ultimately pivoted into a different career path altogether.

"After Beaches, I did an episode of Parenthood with Leonardo DiCaprio," she told Bialik in a 2018 interview for Beaches' 30th anniversary.

"That was the first time I had kissed anyone and it was actually really heavy and weird for me, so I decided that having to deal with stuff like that was not what I wanted to do. I decided after that to leave acting."

Leeds, pictured in 1989, quit acting not long after Beaches came out. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)

Lees said she also wanted to become more involved in sport and other school-based activities.

"[T]hose are things I didn't get to do when I was younger because I was always working and auditioning for parts," she added.

"At that point, because of Beaches, I was in higher demand in the acting world and I was getting more phone calls for projects and things like that and I kept telling my dad, 'No, I'm done'."

After putting a pin in her acting work, Leeds pursued a career in medicine, inspired by a school lesson in biology.

She went to school in the Caribbean and became a surgeon, largely focusing on abdominal procedures.

Just for a bit of fun, here's Leeds and Bialik in 2018 when they recreated their first Beaches scene. (YouTube)

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Though she starred in one of the most beloved movies in recent history, Leeds told Bialik she wasn't often recognised as she began her new career.

"In medical school, I never told anyone about my 'former life' for fear of people misconstruing why I brought up the subject," she said.

"In residency we were required to do a talk in our fifth year about what our lives were like before medical school.

"So that's where I eventually unloaded that information, and the chair of the department came up to me and said he was so floored and had no idea!"

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