Michelle Williams:

Wise up, parents, says the 17-year-old star of TV's sexually charged Dawson's Creek. Your teens aren't innocents. "Kids today have been exposed to so much."

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Advice from Michelle Williams

s an actress on Dawson's Creek, the most talked-about TV show in high school cafeterias, Michelle Williams is a poster girl for teen angst. She plays the new kid in town, a role that mirrors her own life.

Williams moved from Montana to San Diego at age 10. "It's tough. When you're new, everyone's looking at you. Adults appreciate vulnerability, but kids pounce on it. So you have to put up a good front. I tried to be stronger, better, tougher."

Williams, 17, is almost a woman but still a kid. She's in Toronto filming Dick, a comedy about two girls who meet Richard Nixon, and during this lunch interview at a first-class hotel, she orders peanut butter and jelly off the kids' menu. She's eaten that sandwich every day for a month. Yes, hotel staffers told her she's too old for the kids' meal. "I pointed out that on the menu it says they'll be happy to honor any special request."

The actress has many special requests. She asks adults to resist being condescending to teens, and stop "discounting" teen romances as puppy love. "It's so frustrating for us when someone is patronizing. First love is a do-or-die love. You can't dismiss it. It makes kids resentful."

Watching the sexually charged themes and unabashed dialogue on Dawson's Creek (WB, 9 p.m. ET Tuesdays) can give adults "a point of reference," Williams says. "You'll be empathetic to kids' problems and pressures. Kids today have been exposed to so much -- on the Internet, on TV. It opened our eyes at an early age. It's a completely different [teen] culture today."

Critics say the teens of Dawson's Creek sound too mature. Williams agrees; she has to look up words like "apoplectic" when they appear in scripts. "The smart thing about the show is that the characters say what teenagers wish they could say."

Given the show's edginess, some families are surely uncomfortable watching it together. "If that's the case," Williams says helpfully, "have parents watch it in a different room."

Advice from Michelle Williams

Photo Credit: RUSSELL MONK FOR USA WEEKEND

Michelle Williams will write or call a reader who seeks advice. By July 19, write to "Straight Talk," P.O. Box 3455, Chicago, Ill. 60654 (fax: 312-661-0375; e-mail: talk@usaweekend.com). Zaslow is an advice columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.