Jenna Ortega revealed that she stopped using Twitter/X after coming across AI-generated sexually explicit images of herself as a teenager.
In an interview with The New York Times, the Wednesday Star actress said that she was encouraged to create accounts on social media platforms to help build her image early in her career, but she deleted the accounts two years ago after coming across “ridiculous images and photos”.
“I hate AI,” she said. “It could be used for amazing things. I think I saw a story the other day about how artificial intelligence can detect breast cancer four years before it progresses. That’s amazing. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Did you, at 14, create a Twitter account because you had to and enjoy looking at salacious edited content of yourself as a child? No. It’s horrifying. It’s corrupting. It’s wrong.”
Ortega also said unwanted and “nasty” messages played a role in her decision to quit social media. She recalled receiving her first direct message from a social media follower when she was 12 years old. It was “an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals, and that was just the beginning of what was to come.”
“It was gross, it made me feel bad, it made me uncomfortable,” she continued. “Anyway, that’s why I deleted it, because I couldn’t say anything without seeing that stuff. So I woke up one day and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t need this anymore,’ so I deleted it.”
Jenna Ortega attends the Christian Dior Spring/Summer 2024 womenswear show as part of Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France on September 26, 2023. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
The actress is currently promoting her role in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, a sequel to the 1988 cult classic that hits theaters on September 4. Directed by Tim Burton, the film stars Michael Keaton, Ryder and Catherine O’Hara returning to the franchise, along with newcomers Ortega, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci.
Ortega spoke about the close friendship she developed with Ryder on the set of the film: “Obviously, being a part of a sequel and it’s been so long since the original, I guess I just wanted to put my head down, do my job, show my respect and read my little book on the side,” she said.
“But I think Winona was very welcoming, and so was Katherine. [O’Hara]I think like everyone else, I had little choice but to become part of a family, and I’m so grateful for that, because while filming and working together, Tim’s sense of fun made everything we did feel like we were all telling the same jokes, having the same ideas, and being on the same page.”
“It felt like a free and collaborative space, but I can guarantee that once Winona and I started talking on set one day, we just kept talking,” she continued. “Four hours later, we were still in the same position, completely still. She’s the best.”
Ortega recently collaborated with Sabrina Carpenter in the horror-inspired music video for her latest single, “Taste.”