Where is he now? The kid from E.T. tells how he avoided the pitfalls of child stardom

Henry Thomas, the former child actor from Steven Spielberg's E.T., has told of how he didn't fall into the child star trappings of drug and alcohol abuse.

Promoting his role as music icon Hank Williams in the film The Last Ride, Henry told RadarOnline that growing up away from Hollywood culture was a determining factor in his teen life.

"We lived in South Texas, so I didn't grow up in Hollywood or Los Angeles, and my family weren't in the industry and that helped a lot," Henry told Radaronline.

"If your life revolves around the business then it is much more accessible. I'm sure if I was a teen or in my twenties and had a bunch of friends running around and going out I would have done the same thing that a lot of these young guys and girls did."

One of those being his E.T. co-star Drew Barrymore, who had a high-profile struggle with marijuana and cocaine as a teen.

"It upsets me that she had problems because she was so young, I saw it on the news and my mum cried out, 'Poor Drew, oh my god!' but I didn't relate to what was going on as I was so far removed."

Luckily Drew got back on track, and Henry is sympathetic to a lot of his fellow child stars who've experienced public drug and alcohol abuse.

"A lot of young people experiment and get into trouble, I think everyone makes such a big deal about that and gets wrapped up in the 'Child stars gone wrong' scandals, but it happens all over," he said.

"Teenagers experiment with drink and drugs everywhere — not just in Hollywood."