Jenna Ortega left Twitter after receiving explicit AI photos of herself

Jenna Ortega talks about the dark side of being a child star that she has experienced in the age of social media.

The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice The actress, who began her career at the age of 9, recalled the moment she was confronted with disturbing AI-generated content that used her likeness – and she didn’t mince words about the impact it had on her.

“I hate AI,” she said The New York Times in the latest episode of The interview Podcast. “I mean, here’s the thing: AI could be used for incredible things. I think I heard something the other day where they said that artificial intelligence could detect breast cancer four years before it progressed. That’s wonderful. Let’s leave it at that.”

But, she continued, “Did I enjoy opening a Twitter account at 14 because I was supposed to and seeing dirty edited content of myself as a child? No. It’s horrifying. It’s corrupt. It’s wrong.”

Ortega compared the technology to “Pandora’s box” and said: “It’s out there now. We’re going to have to live with the consequences.”

The star added that she had been exposed to explicit content before the recent flood of AI images. “One of the first – actually the first DM I opened myself when I was 12 – was an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals,” she said. “And that was just the beginning of what was to come.”

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She further explained her decision to deactivate her X-Account (formerly Twitter) after the success of her Netflix series Wednesday.

“I had this Twitter account and I was told, ‘Oh, you have to do it, you have to build your image,'” she said. “I deleted it about two or three years ago because after the show came out, there were so many absurd images and photos coming at me. I was already so confused that I just deleted it.”

Of the news, she said: “It was disgusting and I felt bad. I felt uncomfortable.”

Then Ortega had an epiphany. “One day I woke up and thought, ‘Oh, I don’t need this anymore.’ So I stopped.” Stepping away from Twitter, she said, was part of her “learning” to protect herself.

The actress began her career in 2012 and received small roles in sitcoms and a brief appearance in Iron Man 3. She rose to new heights of fame when she played the young version of Gina Rodriguez’ title character in the series Jane, the Virgin and the lead role in the Disney Channel Original In the middle. In recent years, she has cemented her status as a modern-day scream queen with appearances in films such as 2022’s Scream, Studio 666And X Your role in Wednesday, catapulted them into the big leagues.

While Ortega expressed gratitude for the sudden fame, she also admitted that it had made it “much, much harder” for her to deal with her mental health and insecurities.

“I’m really working on not being so self-critical or just killing myself over things that really don’t matter at all in the grand scheme of the world with the news and things that you see,” Ortega said. “I should be having so much fun right now. So much fun! And I’m not. And I should be. And I’m trying to remember that.”

For more of Ortega’s thoughts on her childhood fame, check out the podcast episode above.