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In an interview on The New York Times‘ “The Interview” podcast, the 21-year-old actress shared that she quit X, formerly Twitter, after being bombarded with fake pornographic pictures of herself, created using AI technology.
“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?” Ortega revealed. “No. It’s terrifying. It’s corrupt. It’s wrong. It’s disgusting.”
Dealing With An Overwhelming Number Of ‘Absurd Images’
“The first [direct message] I ever opened myself when I was 12 was an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals. And that was just the beginning of what was to come,” she said. Ortega revealed that she was also sent AI-generated child pornography of herself.
Initially encouraged to join Twitter to build her image, Ortega ultimately decided to delete her account two to three years ago due to the overwhelming influx of disturbing images after the release of “Wednesday.”
“And then I was greeted with this stuff, and it’s just disgusting,” she added. “I deleted it because I couldn’t say anything without seeing something like that. And I don’t need to be seeing that every day. So, one day I just woke up and thought, ‘Oh, I don’t need this anymore.’ So I dropped it.”
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Ortega’s Rise To Fame
Ortega’s career began with roles on the Disney Channel series “Stuck in the Middle” and movies like “Scream” and “The Fallout.” However, she gained widespread recognition after the success of “Wednesday” on Netflix in 2022.
Ortega is set to star alongside Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder in the highly anticipated sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” directed by Tim Burton and scheduled for release on September 6.
Reflecting on the pressures of fame at a young age during the podcast, Ortega admitted, “I’m so underdeveloped. My prefrontal cortex isn’t even fully there yet, technically, you know? I want to be making the mistakes and learning from them and falling on my face, and maybe the opposite: I want to be extremely confident, and try everything, and do everything, and be the biggest risk taker in the world. There’s a lot more at stake now, whether I like it or not.””
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Ortega’s Distain For Social Media And AI
In a previous interview for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series in 2023, Ortega discussed the darker side of social media, stating, “Social media, what it does to anyone our age, it’s such a comparing game. It almost influences bandwagon mentality. … It’s very manipulative.”
Ortega, who has a deep connection to the horror genre through her work in “Wednesday,” “Scream,” and “X,” expressed her disdain for AI technology, despite acknowledging its potential benefits in fields like medicine. She recounted her horrifying experiences with explicit content from the moment she joined social media.
Ortega is now focusing on learning how to protect herself better, though she still maintains an Instagram account.
Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Jenna Ortega right now. Come back here often for all Jenna Ortega spoilers, news, and updates.
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