Jenna Ortega has Obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD.
Opening up about it in a new profile with Vogue magazine, the Wednesday star reveals she first started realizing something was different at age 7, when she started waking up before her siblings to perform a ritual of sorts in her routine:
“I had to open the bedsheet a certain way, and open the drawer one way, and brush my hair in a slow-paced way.”
To this day, even with the help of having tried therapy and medication, she still experiences urges to do certain actions, and she admits when she’s under a certain amount of pressure — whether it be overstimulation from travel or work — she’ll “just bite the bullet and do the routine.”
Except now that also includes making sure she always steps on set with her left foot first, saying the phrase “take care” over and over up until a particular amount, counting to 71, etc. Acting, however, gives her a break from the mental stress. When she’s working she can’t give in to those compulsions, “you have to breathe,” as she says.
Related: Jenna Ortega Stars As Your New Robot Bestie In Klara And The Sun!
And she’s been a professional since the super young age of 9! Now 24, though, she says she’s not sure if she’d really recommend the job for a child — at least not one that young. While she admits she “so desperately” wanted to get into the industry at the time, looking back on it she asserts “less of a workhorse expectation put on these kids” would obviously be for the better.
Before her mainstream breakthrough on the hit Netflix series Wednesday, Jenna used to be a Disney Channel kid. She got her first BIG role on Stuck In The Middle which premiered back in 2016 when she was just 13 years old, but even before her Disney days, Jenna landed smaller roles to help fuel her dreams.
Back in August she spoke to Esquire about her experiences as a child actor, too, telling the mag how she tried so hard not to make a fuss over anything — even her needs:
“I wasn’t asking for a sip of water. I would go all day without eating, drinking, whatever, because I wanted so badly to not be in the way of anybody. Maybe that was my mistake, was not actually looking after myself.”
Poor Jenna! She def shouldn’t blame herself. She was just a child. It’s understandable a TV or movie set is really busy, but shouldn’t it be someone’s job to look after the child actors on set? To make sure they take water and food breaks?
You can watch Jenna talk about this around the 7:13 mark (below):
Back to her Vogue feature, she also touches on the topic of her love life… in the sense that she WON’T be touching on it further, ever. When asked about it, she makes sure to be as clear as possible:
“I don’t think I’ll ever approach that part of my life, my personal life, with the public.”
Noted!!
Read her full article in Vogue here!
[Image via MEGA/WENN.com]
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