ELIAS PHOENIX SPEAKS OUT: FROM CHILD PIANO PRODIGY ON ELLEN TO ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE AT HOME

Elias Phoenix was just 7 years old when audiences watched him play piano on television with a wide smile and his trademark top hat. Nearly 13 years later, the former child prodigy is opening up about what he says was a deeply painful childhood behind the cameras.

Phoenix rose to national attention in 2014, when he appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and showcased his piano skills. Before that, he had already performed twice at Carnegie Hall and finished second in the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition.

For viewers, he appeared energetic, confident and joyful.

But Phoenix now says there was another side to his childhood that the public never saw.

In an extensive interview with PEOPLE published September 25, the now 20-year-old musician described what he alleges were years of emotional and physical abuse involving his late mother and his twin brother, Zion Phoenix.

FROM CARNEGIE HALL TO NATIONAL TELEVISION

Phoenix’s rise began when he was still a young child.

His musical ability brought him to Carnegie Hall and eventually to national television. In 2014, he appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he performed piano and spoke about his life as a young musician.

Phoenix now describes those television appearances as some of the rare moments when he felt free to be himself.

“The performances were amazing,” he told PEOPLE, describing them as almost an escape from the difficulties he says he experienced at home.

He later appeared alongside his twin brother Zion on America’s Got Talent, further establishing the brothers as a musical duo.

But according to Elias, the pressure surrounding his performances became increasingly difficult.

ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE

Earlier in September, Phoenix began publicly discussing his childhood experiences on X.

On September 16, he posted several videos that he said were recorded in 2017, while he was preparing an audition for the Juilliard School.

In the footage, his mother can be heard yelling at him and using profanity while he prepared for the audition, according to PEOPLE’s account of the videos.

Phoenix alleged that the incident was not isolated.

He claimed that his mother and Zion repeatedly subjected him to emotional and physical mistreatment, including before some of his performances.

He also alleged that Zion once locked him outside the family home.

Phoenix’s mother died of cancer in 2020.

Because she is deceased, she cannot respond to the allegations. PEOPLE reported that it contacted Zion for comment but had not received an immediate response.

“GENUINELY A MIRACLE I’M STILL ALIVE”

Phoenix has also described what he says were lasting effects of his childhood experiences.

In his social-media posts, he alleged that repeated comments about his weight contributed to him developing anorexia.

He also described struggling with severe self-hatred, depression and suicidal thoughts.

Phoenix said the experiences affected his relationship with music as well.

The piano, once at the center of his childhood fame, eventually became something he associated with pressure and painful memories.

Yet he says he has continued creating music on his own terms.

In August, he posted a new video to YouTube featuring a song he produced. It was his first YouTube upload in six years.

He has described his current music-making as something that belongs entirely to him rather than something dictated by other people.

A CHILDHOOD THE PUBLIC NEVER SAW

Looking back, Phoenix says the contrast between his public image and private life was enormous.

On television, audiences saw a talented little boy enjoying his moment in the spotlight.

Behind the scenes, he now alleges that he was dealing with intense pressure and mistreatment.

His experience also highlights the complicated reality that can exist behind the image of a successful child performer.

Phoenix says performing gave him an escape, but the expectations surrounding his talent also became connected to the difficult experiences he describes.

Nearly a decade after stepping away from the spotlight, he has now chosen to tell his story himself.

“I’m finally Elias Phoenix,” he told PEOPLE, emphasizing his desire to define his identity outside the child-star image that first made him famous.

STARTING OVER

Phoenix has largely stayed away from the public eye since his childhood appearances.

In March 2024, he announced that he had passed his final GED tests. The following month, he marked his 18th birthday.

His return to music has been quieter than his childhood career, but he says it is now happening on his own terms.

His recent disclosures have brought renewed attention to the former child star and the family life behind the cheerful television performances that made him famous.

The allegations he has made about his mother and brother have not been adjudicated in court, and the available reporting does not independently establish every incident he describes.

For Phoenix, however, speaking publicly appears to be part of reclaiming a story that he says was controlled by others for much of his childhood.

The boy who once sat behind a piano on national television is now 20.

And this time, he says, he wants the world to hear his story in his own voice.