Alison Sweeney is the latest Hallmark star to jump on the social media trend in which modern-day parents reveal to their kids what they were like in the 90s. On March 13, 2026, the “Hannah Swensen Mysteries” actress and screenwriter posted some awesome throwback pics from her early days on “Days of Our Lives,” where her TV career started in 1993.
Sweeney, now 49, has countless wonderful memories across the years she’s played the iconic character Sami Brady. After joining the “Days” cast as a teen, she recently acknowledged to EntertainmentNow that she was “so lucky” her parents shielded her from the kinds of experiences and relationships that caused intense mental and physical harm to other kid actors at the time.
Alison Sweeney Says Her Parents Were Very Protective When She Was a Teen in Hollywood
Just 16 when she landed the role of Sami Brady, Sweeney spent 21 years as a series regular on “Days of Our Lives” and has returned periodically, including for a story arc in 2025 to memorialize Drake Hogestyn’s character, John Black, after Hogestyn’s 2024 death.
In her throwback post, Sweeney included some of her autographed, babyface headshots and set pics with co-stars like Bryan Dattilo and Christie Clark. Now that her own daughter Megan is 16, Sweeney told EntertainmentNow that it’s “wild” to compare their lives at the same age.
“At her age right now, I was driving myself to the studio and, like, doing these very crazy scenes on the show, at 16,” she recalled. “That was the first year I was there.”
“I kind of never really recognized it until I was an adult, working with kids myself, how grateful I was for my mom and my dad,” Sweeney continued, noting all the horror stories from former child stars who were taken advantage of by much older producers, directors, and co-stars decades ago.
“Everything you see coming out now, it’s all just a function of how messed up the power dynamic of all of it was,” she said. “I was so lucky.”
Sweeney said that if her parents ever felt uncomfortable about a situation or scene, “They were like, ‘I’ll take you home. Let’s just not do this one.’ Luckily, I didn’t have that, really, but their (approach) would have been like, ‘We’re not doing this right now.'”
When the documentary “Quiet on the Set” was released in 2024, chronicling the on-set abuse endured by many former Nickelodeon child stars, Sweeney told the Daily Mail, “I completely have so much compassion. My God, these heartbreaking stories are just devastating and I can see how it could have happened. But I’m just grateful that that’s not my story.”
Alison Sweeney Says It’s ‘Very Possible’ Her Daughter Megan Will Follow in Her Footsteps
HallmarkSweeney admitted it was “very weird” realizing that her daughter Megan made her TV acting debut at 16, just like she did. However, Megan’s role in her mom’s February movie “Romance at Hope Ranch” was a far tamer experience than Sweeney’s sultry daytime soap at 16.
Megan, who’s an accomplished equestrian, has many ideas for future careers, Sweeney said, but her time on the set of “Romance at Hope Ranch” might influence her to follow that path.
“She really loves performing, so it’s very possible,” Sweeney said. “She does it in high school, she performs with the drama department. And maybe in college she would want to do it. She loves doing a show … to perform in that way. And what a fun outlet, what a great way to express yourself and get that out of your system and to be creative. But then if that’s not how she wants to make a living, that’s great, too.”
“I think it’s great that she’s had this experience, and she can make of it what she wants,” Sweeney smiled.
