Kirk Cameron: "I Sympathize With Lindsay & Britney"

Mike Seaver part of an FBI operation?

It sounds ludicrous, but that's exactly what actor Kirk Cameron claims happened to him during his heartthrob-making run on Growing Pains in the late 1980s. And that's only part of a laundry list of shocking events.

“I had my manager steal a lot of my money,” Kirk, whose autobiography Still Growing is in stores now, tells OK!. “I was part of an FBI sting operation to catch a pedophile stalker who was hunting me down. Difficult things were happening in my family during my parents’ separation. I had to fire my mother as my manager.”

The former object of teenage girls' affection can certainly sympathize with the plight of today’s stars, including Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus.

Having been a child star himself, Kirk, now 37, says the pressure and trappings of fame are definitely hard to deal with under the spotlight. What's worse is being a money-making "product" of media conglomerates.

“Things head south after awhile for so many child stars and I can understand why,” Kirk says. “I understand what it’s like to be in the limelight. I was getting 10,000 fan letters a week, and I was on the cover of every magazine out there. There’s just so much pressure because in essence you’re a product that big corporations are making millions of dollars off of, and so as a 15-year-old kid, you’re put into a heavy-duty adult pressure cooker with big responsibilities. Every decision that you make is going to be affecting millions of people and millions of dollars.”

As a result, Kirk turned to Christianity during this time to reevaluate his life and values. A founder of the Christian ministry, The Way of The Master, Kirk and his wife Chelsea Noble, with whom he has six children, has spent the past decade spreading the word of God — and speaking out against that "It" Hollywood religion, Scientology.

“I think Scientology is kooky,” Kirk says. “I think L. Ron Hubbard had some imaginative ideas, but the bottom line is that it’s false, not real, and my advice to people is don’t get mixed up in cults and false religions but seek out the true and living God and try to honor him with all your heart. You can do that by reading the Bible.”

By Valerie Nome