Roxy is no longer kidding around
IT'S tough breaking the child star mould. Take Miley Cyrus, who continues to shock the world with her ludicrous antics during her transition into adulthood.
South Africa's own blue-eyed blonde beauty, Roxy Burger, reigned on the small screen as a KTV presenter for nine years before taking a sabbatical from the limelight. Now she's back as the co-host of MTV Choice with another former child presenter, Sade Giliberti.
"It's difficult to come out as an adult when you've grown up on TV. Even to this day, people think of me as a young girl. Sade and I are working hard to stay relevant.
"Many (of our peers) just go the men's magazine shoot route so that people can see them as sex symbols instead of kids. But that's not the route I wanted to take because you become this sex bomb, and they forget that you're talented," says Burger (27).
As part of her journey from kiddie TV star to grown-up, she presented and produced Teen Gospel Live in 2007 and took part in the celebrity Survivor South Africa: Maldives reality series in 2011.
"I did Survivor as a strategic move so that people could get to know the real and grown-up me. You just couldn't fake it there."
A lover of fashion with boho and hipster chic influences, Burger launched an online store this week that will cater to a style she describes as "classic and elegant with an edge".
The online store Oh One One - the name reflects the Joburg area code - is a collaboration with her long-time stylist Sarah Mitchell.
Burger laughs off the idea of pulling a Miley, but as someone who's also been in the limelight from a young age she can't help but feel for the former Disney princess.
"I feel really bad for Miley. We have minuscule pressure here compared to the Americans. It's incredibly difficult to break the Disney stereotype. I do think it's ridiculous what she's been doing, though. She's trying too hard to be different, like it's forced. I think she's rebelling."
Burger herself has dipped her toes in the Disney pool. In 1996, she played the love interest of the leading actor in the Disney made-for-TV movie The Sorcerer's Apprentice, an experience she describes as "fun and cool".
She also starred in the Discovery Kids TV series Scout's Safari in 1998, which won an Emmy for best children's TV series.
As for Hollywood ambitions, Burger says: "Nah, that's not my vibe. I love my country too much."
South Africa must be doing something right when it comes to child entertainers.
"We're not a celebrity-obsessed culture in South Africa. I remember standing on the red carpet of the 2007's Kids Choice Awards in LA and seeing teens faint at the sight of the stars. That doesn't happen here."
Perhaps it's her parents who have helped her stay grounded. "I come from a family of teachers; everyone's a teacher, from my great-grandparents to my parents and sister," she says, adding that she's too impatient and temperamental for that.
"My parents always treated what I did like a job and never glorified it."
At her age, she's not exactly past the sex kitten sell-by date, so would she consider getting herself back on the in-demand A-list? "I don't see myself ripping off my clothes. But who knows, I might just do something else crazy!"