Why Alicia Silverstone’s Stardom Faded After a Blazing Start

Alicia Silverstone’s rise in the early ‘90s was nothing short of meteoric. She burst onto the scene with her debut in The Crush back in 1993, nabbing the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance the following year. Not long after, she became a familiar face thanks to a string of Aerosmith music promos, which only boosted her profile further. But it was her role in Clueless (1995) that really put her on the map, turning her into a pop culture icon almost overnight. Despite this, her career didn’t quite follow the path many expected.

Typecast and Tough Choices

After Clueless, Silverstone found herself stuck in a bit of a rut. No matter the genre, she was often cast in roles that felt like variations of Cher Horowitz, her character from the film. She struggled to land another hit of the same calibre, and some of her choices—like middling action flicks and forgettable rom-coms—didn’t do her any favours. The much-maligned Batman & Robin didn’t help matters either, and the momentum she’d built up started to wane.

Over time, Silverstone spoke openly about the less glamorous side of the industry. She shared stories of being body-shamed and hounded by the press, which chipped away at her passion for acting. While she’s had some solid moments in her career, and her net worth sits at a tidy $20 million, she somehow faded into the background despite three decades in the business.

Stepping Back from the Spotlight

Clueless may have been a classic, but it changed Silverstone’s approach to her craft. In an interview, she reflected on how the film shifted her from being intuitive and playful to more calculated and stressed about her choices.

Before Clueless, I was much more intuitive and playful and had more confidence about what I was doing…After Clueless, for a minute I got a little stressed and made it more intellectual or something. I had about three or four years of this strange feeling.

She admitted that acting remained important to her, but she needed to step away at times to regroup.

Acting is important to me, but I have taken breaks from it at times, and then come back to it because I loved it so much. I’ve figured out that you can do all the things.

Rather than chase every role, she turned her attention to activism, especially after the disappointment of Batman & Robin. She said, “I really just got into activism and my desire to make the world a better place.” Activism gave her something positive to focus on, especially when the acting world felt a bit grim.

The Fallout from Batman & Robin

Directed by Joel Schumacher, Batman & Robin quickly earned a reputation as one of the worst films of its era. The cast was stacked, but the film’s childish tone, dodgy jokes, and overstuffed cast left punters unimpressed. Silverstone, who played Batgirl, copped the brunt of the criticism. She picked up a Golden Raspberry and a Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst Supporting Actress, and the tabloids were relentless, even taking the mickey out of her appearance.

She later recalled that the experience soured her on acting for a long stretch.

They would make fun of my body when I was younger. It was hurtful but I knew they were wrong. I wasn’t confused. I knew that it was not right to make fun of someone’s body shape; that doesn’t seem like the right thing to be doing to a human.

She described the working conditions as less than ideal and admitted,

I stopped loving acting for a very long time.

Things only started to turn around when she found a new agent in her thirties, who encouraged her to take on roles she genuinely enjoyed. Her passion for performing was reignited on stage in David Mamet’s Boston Marriage.

Both The Crush and Clueless are available to stream on Prime Video, while Batman & Robin can be found on Paramount+ and HBO Max.