JoJo Siwa claims she was ‘taken advantage of’ as she discusses being a child star in Hollywood: ‘I had shady deals’
JoJo Siwa has opened up about being a child star in Hollywood.
The 20-year-old former Nickelodeon star told Nova’s Smallzy’s Surgery on Thursday that she feels like she was “taken advantage of as a child.”
“I had shady deals and yes, I was made fun of and taken advantage of as a child, but not in a sexual way, it was a business way,” she said.
“I think when I hear the dark stories of children… that child stars were groomed or in the worst cases, child stars were abused. I mean, it’s so sick.
“But I have to say that I really appreciate those child stars coming forward and being open about their stories, because those are things that I’ve been lucky enough not to have to deal with. But it’s still going on.’
JoJo Siwa has opened up about being a child star, telling Nova’s Smallzy’s Surgery on Thursday that she feels she was “taken advantage of as a child.”
JoJo rose to fame after joining the cast of Dance Moms in its fourth season at the age of nine.
However, she recently ditched her kid-friendly image and unveiled a sneak peek of her latest song, Karma, in which she describes herself as a “bad girl.”
“I was a bad girl, I did some bad things / I swear I did it all for fun and it didn’t mean anything,” she sang in the first verse.
“Another late night, another crazy mood/And I didn’t think twice about what it would do to you.”
She goes on to sing that she’s always been a “wild child” and that it was only a “matter of time before” she “screwed it up.”
The Nickelodeon alum, who became a sensation among teens for her hits like Boomerang, dropped her first swear words in a song.
“Karma is great, I should have known better / If I had a wish I would never have messed with it,” she declared in the chorus. “Karma is ab**ch/And she’s with you now.”
“I had shady deals and yes, I was fooled and taken advantage of as a child, but not in a sexual way, it was a business way,” she said
Much to the shock of many of her fans, Jojo also uploaded a close-up photo of her bum and several racy images, including her turning off the camera and holding another woman’s waist.
Many commentators compared her shedding her kid-friendly image to Miley Cyrus, a fellow former child star, who also shed her squeaky-clean “good girl” image in an extreme way.
“She’s basically letting you know that she’s not a kid anymore and she won’t act like one anymore… so if you don’t want your kids (who followed her because she was a kid) to see her doing adult things this is your unfollow warning…it’s not that hard to read and understand,” one fan wrote.
Another referenced Taylor Swift’s hit, Look What You Made Me Do, writing: ‘Sorry old Jojo can’t come to the phone right now; Why? Oh, because she’s dead! So excited for this new era of Jojo!’
JoJo rose to fame after joining the cast of Dance Moms in its fourth season at the age of nine. She is also known for wearing large bows in her hair during her adolescence (pictured in 2018)