JoJo Opens up About 'Insecurities' She Felt Filming 'Aquamarine' at 14
The singer ventured into film early on in her career.
JoJo is opening up about her first major film role. The singer, who's first single "Get Out" was released when she was just 13, made her film debut in Aquamarine a year later when she was 14. But while it was an exciting time, she says the experience led to her having issues with her body image.
On the Sept. 18 episode of The Viall Files podcast, the singer, now 33, told Bachelor alum Nick Viall and his co-host and wife, Natalie Joy, that the film "was my first big movie that I had done." She says she "was playing the tomboy" in the 2006 film and noticed a difference between she and her peers. "I was not as skinny as the other girls. I felt really like —" she used her elbows to mimic a larger body "—next to them."
"I just remember feeling like that, and I was like, 'Oh,' " she said, shaking her head. "So from a young age, I think, we're all kind of aware, or we're measuring ourselves up next to other girls — and I was no different."
Luckily, the full experience wasn't bad. She explained that she "learned a lot on that set," which was "awesome" to film in Australia.
Thanks to streaming, the film has its own cult classic, which JoJo finds fascinating. She says the fandom is "funny — it is! I hope that that word isn't offensive," she explained, "I don't mean it like that, but it's just so funny because it's, like, just such a silly movie. It's such a moment," she continued. "It's like a little cult classic, low-key, for girls of our demographic. It's nice that women my age who have daughters, it's something that they'll play for their daughters," JoJo said.
Released in March 2006, the fantasy film followed two teenage girls as they discover that mermaids really do exist after a violent storm washes one ashore. Emma Roberts starred alongside JoJo.
