NEWSJenna Ortega Blasted for Saying She Was 'Unhappy' After 'Wednesday' Fame: 'So Sick of People Complaining'
Jenna Ortega opened up about feeling 'unhappy' after her 'Wednesday' fame, sparking backlash online.
Jenna Ortega’s honesty about her rise to fame isn’t sitting well with everyone.
The 22-year-old actress opened up in a recent interview about how starring as Wednesday Addams on Netflix’s hit show Wednesday changed her life — and not for the better.
“To be quite frank, after the show and trying to figure everything out, I was an unhappy person,” Ortega admitted. “After the pressure, the attention – as somebody who’s quite introverted, that was so intense and so scary.”
She didn’t hold back, revealing how online negativity affected her mentally.
“I feel like being a bully is very popular right now,” she said. “Having been on the wrong side of the rumor mill was incredibly eye-opening.”
Jenna Ortega said fame after 'Wednesday' made her unhappy.
Ortega also explained that her Wednesday role has kept her from growing into more mature characters.
“I’m doing a show I’m going to be doing for years where I play a schoolgirl,” she said. “But I’m also a young woman. You just don’t feel like you’re being taken seriously.”
“You know, it’s like how you’re dressed in the schoolgirl costume,” she added, pointing to the way public perception often boxes women into certain roles.
Online critics slammed Jenna Ortega for complaining.
She called out the unrealistic expectations people have for female stars.
“But girls, if they don’t stay as this perfect image of how they were first introduced to you, then it’s ‘Ah, something’s wrong. She’s changed. She sold her soul,’” Ortega explained.
“You’re watching these women at the most pivotal times in their lives,” she said. “They’re experimenting because that’s what you do.”
Jenna Ortega wants to take on more grown-up and creative roles.
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Despite the backlash, Ortega made it clear she’s ready to evolve and take on more adult and creative work.
“I’m very grateful for my audience,” she said. “And I want to be able to give back to them. But I also want to do things that are creatively fulfilling to me.”
“It’s finding that balance of doing movies that they might be interested in and then doing movies that I’m interested in,” she added. “And then I want to be able to line up all of my girls and see something different in all of them.”
While Ortega was just being real, her comments sparked a heated response online.
“Cry me a river,” one user snapped, while another wrote, “So sick of people complaining about easy jobs they made millions on.”
One critic added, “I bet the huge 6 and 7 figure paychecks she took for the role weren’t that patronizing though,” while another chimed in, “Right? She still cashed those checks.”
'Wednesday' is set to drop on Netflix on August 6.
But fans came to her defense fast, insisting people were missing the point.
“SHE DIDNT F------ SAY THAT YOU D-- C--------,” one supporter exploded.
Another pointed out, “Many of you only read the headline and not the article.”
A third added, “Y’all weird. Everybody complains about their job, I’m not seeing what the problem is with her doing it.”
Season 2 of Wednesday is set to drop on Netflix in two parts — the first hitting screens August 6, followed by the second on September 3.
Harper’s Bazaar interviewed Ortega.
