Jenna Ortega Says She Received "Disgusting" DMs As A Child Actor

27 August 2024, 16:53

By Sam Prance

Jenna Ortega was encouraged to join social media at a young age but immediately saw "dirty edited content" of her as a child.

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Jenna Ortega has opened up about why she stopped using X/Twitter and the "disgusting" DMs she used to receive as a child.

Jenna Ortega may be best known for her roles in Wednesday and the Scream movies these days but she's been acting ever since she was just 10 years old. In 2013, she appeared in Iron Man 3. She then rose to international fame after landing the lead role of Harley Diaz in Stuck in the Middle on the Disney Channel. Jenna also acted in Jane the Virgin and You.

As a child actor, Jenna was encouraged to use social media but she's now explained that she had a really hard time with it.

Read more: Jenna Ortega Explains Why She Isn't Interested In Dating Anyone

Sabrina Carpenter and Jenna Ortega on the set of ‘Taste’

Talking to The New York Times, Jenna said that she was exposed to sexually explicit deep fakes of her as a child on X/Twitter. She said: "Did I like being 14 and making a Twitter account because I was supposed to and seeing dirty edited content of me as a child? No. It’s terrifying. It’s corrupt. It’s wrong."

Jenna added the first DM she ever opened was "an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals". She was just 12 years old at the time. She started the account because managers encouraged it: "I used to have that Twitter account and I was told that, 'Oh, you got to do it, you got to build your image'".

Jenna then explained that it became all too much after Wednesday. She said: "I ended up deleting it about two, three years ago because the influx after the show had come out — these absurd images and photos, and I already was in a confused state that I just deleted it.”

Jenna Ortega discussing Jane The Virgin in 2016. Picture: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Discussing her decision further, Jenna added: "It was disgusting, and it made me feel bad. It made me feel uncomfortable. Anyway, that’s why I deleted it, because I couldn’t say anything without seeing something like that. So one day I just woke up, and I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t need this anymore.’ So I dropped it."