Amanda Peterson children news centers on a former child star whose life trajectory illustrates how early fame, trauma, and mental health challenges intersect with motherhood. Peterson, best known for 1980s teen comedy Can’t Buy Me Love, had two children before her death at forty-three.​
She was married twice—first to Joseph Robert Skutvik, then to David Hartley. Both marriages ended in divorce, with Peterson reportedly single at the time of her death. Her children exist mostly outside public documentation, protected from the scrutiny their mother faced throughout her abbreviated life.​
This isn’t a story about celebrity children. It’s about how a mother’s unprocessed trauma and mental health struggles occurred alongside parenting responsibilities that received little public acknowledgment.
The Childhood That Preceded Motherhood And Shaped Everything After
Peterson was the youngest of three children born to Dr. James Peterson and his wife Sylvia in Greeley, Colorado. She entered entertainment early, credited as “Mandy Peterson” before transitioning to her professional name Amanda.​
Her breakthrough role came in Annie, where recent viral attention highlighted her powerful solo performance as a child actor. The talent was undeniable. The pressure that came with it less visible.​
At fifteen, Peterson was raped. Her mother Sylvia revealed this trauma publicly after Amanda’s death, explaining that her daughter felt profound shame and never wanted people to know. “I think it affected her forever,” Sylvia stated during an interview on The Doctors.​
Peterson’s father noticed immediate personality changes. “After that she became so defensive, less trusting. Some of the sparkle was gone,” Dr. James Peterson recalled. He also confirmed his daughter had significant bipolar disorder.​
Thing is, Peterson entered adulthood carrying unprocessed sexual trauma and mental illness while transitioning out of child stardom. Then she became a mother. Those realities don’t exist in separate compartments.
The Family She Built And The Privacy That Protected Her Children
Peterson married Joseph Robert Skutvik first, later marrying David Hartley after that relationship dissolved. She had two children whose names and ages remain largely absent from public record—a deliberate privacy protection that stands in stark contrast to her own childhood in spotlights.​
Her sister Ann-Marie revealed during the Doctors interview that Amanda never discussed the rape with her. “She did not tell me about it. She did not talk about it with anyone,” Ann-Marie said. “I think for her to carry this secret, this burden of his assault must have been overwhelming”.​
Here’s what that silence cost: Peterson mothered while carrying trauma she couldn’t process or discuss. The emotional labor of parenting requires presence and regulation that untreated PTSD and bipolar disorder make exponentially harder.
Her mother described Peterson as clean from drugs for a long time before her death, emphasizing “this was not, in any way, a drug thing”. But Peterson had struggled with substance abuse earlier, likely as self-medication for mental health symptoms and trauma responses.​
The Final Days And What Her Death Meant For Her Children
Sylvia Peterson spoke with her daughter the day before Amanda’s death. “She was in bed, and she’d had a wonderful day, and we were planning on a dinner the next day,” Sylvia told People. “So it was just a very, very big surprise”.​
Peterson died suddenly, leaving two children who lost their mother before she reached fifty. The circumstances created not just grief but questions—about mental health, about hidden struggles, about whether more intervention could have changed outcomes.
Her last photoshoot occurred in 2012 with photographer Ryan Hartsock, who recalled her as kindhearted with the greatest smile. “Really, any time that we were together, she was a kindhearted, great person,” he told People.​
From a practical standpoint, Peterson’s children inherited loss compounded by public curiosity about their mother’s death. They became footnotes in articles about child star tragedy rather than individuals with their own grief experiences.
The Context Of Child Stardom And Generational Trauma Patterns
Look, the bottom line is harsh. Peterson experienced sexual assault at fifteen, developed substance abuse problems and bipolar disorder, cycled through two marriages, and died alone at forty-three. Throughout this, she mothered two children whose experiences remain appropriately private.​
What actually happens to children of parents with untreated trauma and mental illness? They often develop their own challenges, they learn dysfunctional coping mechanisms, or they break cycles through intentional intervention and support systems. All three outcomes require acknowledging the pattern exists.
Peterson’s family revealed her trauma publicly after her death as explanation and advocacy, not exploitation. Her mother emphasized that carrying sexual assault shame overwhelmed Amanda, preventing the healing that might have altered her trajectory.​
But here’s the thing: public discussion of Peterson’s struggles occurred without much mention of how those struggles intersected with her mothering. Articles focus on her child star past and tragic death, not on the two children navigating life after losing their mother.
The Privacy Choice That Honors Peterson’s Children Differently Than Her
Peterson’s children don’t appear in viral videos, nostalgia articles, or tragedy retrospectives. Their names, ages, current lives—all deliberately shielded from the attention economy that consumed their mother’s narrative.
That protection represents the opposite of Peterson’s experience. She performed publicly from childhood, her personal struggles eventually becoming entertainment content for multiple media platforms. Her children get to exist privately.
What I’ve learned from these patterns: children of troubled celebrities face unique grief. They mourn privately while strangers consume their parent’s story publicly. The narrative hardens into simplified tragedy framing that doesn’t capture the complex person they knew as parent.
Peterson’s final shoot photographer remembered her brightness and kindness. Her mother remembered planning dinner together the day before she died. Her children remember something else entirely—the daily reality of Amanda Peterson as mother, not as child star or tragedy symbol.​
Turns out the most significant aspect of Amanda Peterson children news is its absence. The lack of information represents successful privacy protection for minors and adults who didn’t choose their mother’s fame or her public dissection after death. That absence is the story.
