8 of your first celebrity crushes all grown up.

Everyone remembers their first, real celebrity crush. You can’t deny it.

For me, it was Jeremy Sumpter.

Even writing his name still brings a smile to my face. He was an actor, the star of the 2003 remake of Peter Pan, and when I was 12, he was my everything.

I had posters of him. I wrote diary entries about him. I wrote letters TO him. I was enraptured, enamoured and in love.

And then a few years later, I saw him in a TV show as an adult, and my inner 12 year old was completely devastated.

He wasn’t bad, he was just different.

In a bad way.

Yes, I know I am being judgemental and that I had unrealistic expectations based on a 12 year old’s fantasy. But despite it all, I’ll still remember him as my first true love.

And besides, many other celebrity crush candidates have since taken his place, and he was in no way my last love.

So I decided to dig a little deeper and find out where my generation’s popular celebrity crushes are now.

1. Devon Sawa.

Devon appeared in Now and Then, Casper and Little Giants. He was what childhood dreams were made of.

Now? Well now, he’s still doing fairly well for himself:

Sadly his acting career hasn’t aged as well as his face. But, you can still see him in such hits as The Philly Kid if you’re looking for a trip down memory lane. But you know, maybe not, the guy is full on sexist these days.

He sent a Tweet earlier this year saying, “Girls are not allowed to answer my sports questions. I’ll let you know if I have fashion questions. Thanks.”

Boooo, hiss.

2. Jonathon Taylor Thomas.

JTT had the “childhood crush” thing down pat. He would flash his baby blues in Home Improvement and an audible sigh from teenage girls would be heard across the world.

Now at aged 33, JTT is still a heartbreaker. Just look at that confident yet relaxed pose.

Although he’s not acting as much, he did attend Harvard University. So he’s doing OK for himself, really.

3. Callan Mulvey.

Oh Callan Mulvey, you bad yet beautiful man. Bogdan Drazic’s love affair with Anita in Heartbreak High was both brilliant and jealousy inducing. For years he held a special place in Australian girl’s hearts:

Now, he has been acting and aging fairly consistently, and looks like this:

If anything he looks even better. Good work, Drazic.

4. Leonardo Di Caprio.

I’m sure we’re all very aware of what Leo’s doing now; it mostly involves dating many, many supermodels.

Nonetheless, taking a trip down memory lane to Titanic days is still very worthwhile.

Comparatively, he’s still doing OK today at 40 years old:

Keep on keeping on, Leo.

5. Corey Feldman.

I’ll be honest, Corey was a little before my teen-crush time. But according to reputable sources only slightly older than me, in movies like Stand By Me he did heartthrob, and he did it well.

Now, he does heartthrob… OK.

He has since appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in recent years, which, as it’s a cartoon, has eternalised Corey as an ageless character until today.

Clever move, Corey.

6. Ryan Kwanten.

We’ll always remember Ryan Kwanten as Vinne, one of Home and Away’s beautiful lifeguards.

Now, Ryan is still really, really good looking:

He is still acting but left his role as Vinnie in 2002, which we can all agree is very disappointing for both us and his fictional on-screen wife and family. You might have seen him (ALL of him) recently in True Blood.

7. Mathew Water.

You might remember Mathew as Bronson from Round the Twist. A left of centre choice? Sure. But his cheeky ‘tude was just delightful, and an absolute crush of many.

Since then, he has appeared in a few TV series like Snobs and Darwin’s Brave New World, and looks like this:

Not too shabby Bronson, not too shabby.

Although they may have changed in appearance, our first celebrity crushes still hold a special place in most of our hearts. And for that, I’m sure our 12-year-old selves are eternally grateful.

Are you still in love with any of these heart-throbs? Who have we missed?

 Here’s some more smouldering child stars for your viewing pleasure.

Want more? How about:

11 stars we met as children, and are oddly attracted to now they’re grown up.

The biggest teen heartthrobs of the 90s: where are you now?