Jenna Ortega Admits She ‘Could Have Used My Words Better’ After Facing Controversy for Rewriting Her

“I think it was hard because I felt like, had I represented the situation better, it probably would’ve been received better,” Ortega said.

Jenna Ortega. 

Jenna Ortega is reflecting on the past controversial comments she made regarding the script for Netflix’s Wednesday.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress, 21, opened up about her intentions when she said she would alter lines for her titular character in March 2023.

At the time, Ortega was met with backlash from people who felt she was disrespecting screenwriters, but she explained that was not how she viewed the situation at all.

“To be fair, I think I probably could have been — I probably could have used my words better in describing all of that,” she said.

“I think, oftentimes, I’m such a rambler.

I think it was hard because I felt like had I represented the situation better, it probably would’ve been received better.”.

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams.

The Miller’s Girl star said she was surprised that her remarks upset so many people, labeling the experience as “dystopian.”.

“Everything that I said felt so magnified,” she added.

“I felt like a caricature of myself.”.

The lesson she took away from the experience: “You’re never going to please everybody,” she said.

A self-admitted “people pleaser,” Ortega went on to note that understanding others’ perspectives is also important.

“I got sick of myself last year,” she joked.

“My face was everywhere… so it’s like, fair enough, if I were opening my phone and I saw the same girl with some stupid quote or something, I would be over it too.”.

Jenna Ortega.

Thinking back to the public reaction, Ortega also felt like being a woman played a role in the way her comments translated.

“Women have to be princesses,” she said.

“They have to be elegant and classy and so kind, and when they’re outspoken, they can’t be tamed and they’re a mess.”.

Filming for season 2 of Wednesday began in May, and this time around, Ortega won’t have to worry about pushback for taking creative direction because she is a producer.

She told the outlet that having a say in the series’ prosthetics and Wednesday’s cellos are the things “I live for.”.

Jenna Ortega on ‘Saturday Night Live’.

Last Spring, Ortega appeared on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, where she talked about shaping Wednesday Addams into her own vision of what the character should be.

“Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all,” she said on the episode.

“Her being in a love triangle made no sense.

There was a line about this dress that she has to wear for a school dance and she said, ‘Oh, my God, I love it.

Ugh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ And I had to go, ‘No, there’s no way.’”.

She then said of the writers, “They would be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’

And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”.

Season 1 of Wednesday is available to stream now on Netflix.