What Child Star was the Inspiration for Disney’s Ariel?

I don't think I would have guessed it in a million years.

Now most people would be thinking of a girl with red hair, but it is actually former child star Alyssa Milano.  During an apperance on the Wendy Williams show Milano revealed a little known fact about herself: She was the model for the character of Ariel in the beloved Disney animated feature "The Little Mermaid"even though she didn't know it while the movie was being made.

"I actually was, yeah! Which I didn't know when it was going on!" Milano said when asked about her influence on the 1989 film. "I didn't know that when it was going on. But they asked me to host 'The Making of "The Little Mermaid" and it came out there that the drawing and likeness of the little mermaid was based on pictures of me from when I was younger."

[Yahoo]