Jenna Ortega deletes account over ‘disgusting’ explicit images

Jenna Ortega has revealed that she deleted her Twitter after receiving explicit AI-generated images of herself as a minor.

Jenna Ortega is no fan of AI.

The 21-year-old actress revealed on Saturday’s episode of The New York Times’ podcast, The Interview, that she deleted her Twitter after receiving explicit AI-generated images of herself when she was a minor, the New York Post reports.

“I hate AI,” she said. “I mean, here’s the thing: AI could be used for incredible things. I think I saw something the other day where they were saying that artificial intelligence was able to detect breast cancer four years before it progressed. That’s beautiful. Let’s keep it to that.”

“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,” she added.

Ortega says “disturbing” images forced her off social media. Picture: Getty

“The first [direct message] I ever opened myself when I was 12 was an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals,” the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star also said. “And that was just the beginning of what was to come.”

Ortega explained that she initially made an account on Twitter (now X) because she was told it would help her “build your image.”

“I ended up deleting it about two, three years ago because the influx after the show [‘Wednesday’] had come out — these absurd images and photos, and I already was in a confused state that I just deleted it,” she shared.

Calling the AI images “disgusting,” Ortega continued, “It made me feel bad. It made me feel uncomfortable. Anyway, that’s why I deleted it, because I couldn’t say anything without seeing something like that.”

“So one day I just woke up, and I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t need this anymore,’ ” she added. “So I dropped it.”

Ortega still keeps up an Instagram account, with 38 million followers. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Ortega’s star rose thanks to her leading role in the Netflix hit Wednesday. Picture: Netflix

While Ortega quit the Elon Musk-owned social media platform, she does have an Instagram account with over 38 million followers.

The Wednesday star said that deleting her Twitter was part of her “learning” to protect herself.

Ortega started acting at age 9, with some of her earliest projects being Iron Man 3, Jane the Virgin and the Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle.

In her interview with the NYT, Ortega explained how she looks back on her choice to launch her Hollywood career at such a young age.

“There’s times that I regret it, there’s times that my parents regret it,” she said. “Looking back, I wouldn’t change anything. I don’t believe in that because if anything, I’m incredibly grateful for the lessons that it did teach me, and it did teach me so much.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission