When fame hits you like a train (and it’s not the express)
Ah, Jenna Ortega. The queen of resting bitch face who conquered us with her dead look and her humor that was blacker than office coffee. But it turns out that behind that success that made Netflix cry with emotion (252 million streams, nbd), there is a 22-year-old girl who just wanted to have a damn Starbucks without the world treating her as if she were the incarnation of Wednesday Addams.
“I feel like a living meme”
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar (because of course, vogue magazines are for normies), Jenna dropped the bomb: “Fame is like a Tinder date that doesn’t know when to leave.” Between the harassment from fans who believe she owes them her soul for having watched the series 17 times, and the haters who crucify her for breathing badly, the girl confessed to feeling “incredibly misunderstood.” Translation? That the “touch grass” generation urgently needs… well, to touch grass.
“To be honest, after the show, I felt like that GIF of Kristen Stewart rubbing her face,”she admitted. And going from Disney Channel (where everything is glitter and songs about empowerment) to being the face of mainstream goth is like changing from Taylor Swift to Billie Eilish in one day. Emotional whiplash, level: God.
The syndrome of “Do you see me as your waifu or as an actress?”
Here’s the plot twist: Jenna worries that she’ll be pigeonholed as “the weird kid at school” for the next 84 years. “I’m trapped in a paradox: I’m a grown woman playing an eternal teenager,” she said, while we all remembered that Riverdale still exists and we broke into a cold sweat. Luckily, he has already signed projects like Death of a Unicorn (A24, because obviously) and one with The Weeknd (will it be another After Hours or something that won’t give us nightmares?).
But the most real thing was when she blurted out: “Dressing like a schoolgirl makes you feel like you’re being treated like a cup of ‘Live Laugh Love'”. That is, mansplaining but in the Hollywood version. #FreeJenna.
The future: less Addams, more “adulting”
Despite the burnout, Jenna doesn’t hate her fans (bless those who didn’t send her threats for shipping her with Enid). “I want to do things that make me feel alive, but without stopping giving them content that they love.” That is, the balance between art and algorithm. The second season of Merlina? It arrives in two parts (because Netflix loves the cliffhanger more than its subscribers): August and September. Prepare for more dirty looks and possibly a cameo from Lady Gaga (the latter is fake, but dreaming is free).
Do you identify with Jenna’s exhaustion? Share this with that friend who still thinks fame is like Emily in Paris. And if you want more celebrity stories that romanticize suffering, take a look at our related notes. #MentalHealthMatters.
PS: Jenna, if you read this, we know you have a cello and talent. When is the gothic-acoustic album? 🔮
