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Madison Beer on feeling "powerless" when her teenage nudes were leaked

Madison Beer – who shot to fame in 2012 after Justin Bieber shared one of her YouTube videos – has opened up about the impact of having her nudes leaked in 2014, when she was just 15 years old.

At the time, a string of disturbing videos – in some of which Madison was only 13 – were leaked online without her consent, but it wasn't until 2020 that the singer was able to address the ordeal. "When I was around 14 and exploring my body and sexuality, I sent very private Snapchats of my body to a boy I really liked at the time," she wrote in a tweet on International Women's Day, going on to explain that having the videos leaked by someone she'd known "for years" was "a traumatising experience".

Now, almost ten years on from the incident, Madison has given fans further insight into how this has affected her. "It’s unfortunately a memory I’ll never be able to shake," she said of the moment she found out about the leak, during an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast this week. "I knew in my bones that the second it was texted to me, it would end up on the internet."

Madison recalled how she "couldn’t believe what was going on" and quickly went into "crisis mode".

madison beer on her teenage nudes being leaked
Steve Granitz - Getty Images

The clips eventually made their way onto social media, going viral on Twitter and Vine, with Madison desperately doing everything she could to get them deleted. "I reached out to the person who posted it and begged them to delete it, and they just blocked me. Straight up, just blocked me immediately," she said, adding: "Every dollar I’d earned up until this point, I then spent on clearing this and scrubbing it from the internet."

"I didn’t realise until years later that I was the victim in this situation," she went on, describing how she felt completely "powerless" throughout it all and even attempted suicide.

"Many girls have committed suicide over this. I attempted to over this," she said, revealing that she was blackmailed over the nudes. "This was something that was weighing on me for years and years."

Looking forward, Madison says she feels confident that social media can protect others from experiencing the same. "I am hopeful that now, the internet would protect a 14-, 15-year-old girl who had something like this happen," she went on.

Samaritans are here to listen, day or night, whenever anyone needs, providing a safe and confidential space to talk openly and honestly. Whatever you are going through, you don’t have to face it alone. Call Samaritans free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org.

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