"I hate AI"— Jenna Ortega says she was sent edited explicit pictures of herself when she was a minor

Actress Jenna Ortega’s stardom is something that every budding actor would look up to. However, like many female stars, she also had her share of experience of the darker side of the internet. In an interview piece published by The New York Times on August 24, the Wednesday actor revealed that she was sent edited and explicit images of hers on Twitter (now X) when she was just 14 years old.

When asked about what she felt about AI (Artificial Intelligence), Jenna Ortega replied that she hated it. She felt that AI could be used to better scientific and medical advancements just like how the technology is used to detect breast cancer years before its progression. However, she also added,

“I hate A.I…. 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.”

The actress was sent AI-generated images of herself. She recalled that the first message that she opened when she was 12 years old contained an unsolicited image of a man’s genitals. The reason for deleting her Twitter account a few years ago was that there seemed to be no end to the number of unsolicited images she kept receiving. She then mentioned,

“It was disgusting, and it made me feel bad. It made me feel uncomfortable. Anyway, that’s why I deleted it (Twitter), because I couldn’t say anything without seeing something like that."

---

Jenna Ortega acted in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The actress’s upcoming film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in which she played the role of Astrid Deetz will be released on September 6, 2024. In the August 22 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jenna Ortega said she was also filming for Wednesday Season 2. She is also a producer of the series this time. While interacting with Jimmy Fallon, she recalled how she used to be scared after watching horror films as a child.

Jenna Ortega then added,

“It’s really weird too cause on Beetlejuice, we did all practical effects. So, it’s like toys and you know, interactive things, which is so much better than staring at a tennis ball when you’re acting”

In the interview, she mentioned that she saw the original Beetlejuice movie when she was eight or nine years old and that she had a ‘recurring’ nightmare of the same. While growing up, she used to share a room and had the bottom bunk of a bed. She once had a bad dream of Beetlejuice coming down swinging around the railing of her bed wearing a Superman cape only to offer her grape juice.

Jenna Ortega has five siblings and she is the fourth child. She grew up in the Coachella Valley. Although her family members were shy, Jenna was loud and extroverted. She recalled how her family would make trips to Disneyland, which, she used to call the happiest place on earth, back when she was a child.